To those who give up on love, I say trust life a little bit.

I might be single because ...

- I don't like the typical "first date"; fancy dinner and movie deal. I only like eating at holes in the walls and I have never sat still through an entire movie.

- I'd much rather go to a rooftop indie movie viewing in Brooklyn, then take a walk through McCarren Park.

- I'm not impressed with cars, at all, not even really nice ones.

- I'd much rather you ride a bike, and have you ask me to go on a bike ride with you instead of laying around, watching tv all night.

- Don't show up to my house with a dozen roses.

- Because I'd much rather be handed a little bunch of flowers that you picked & stole from a strangers garden on your way over to my house.

- $200 jeans and fancy button down dress shirts are not my gig.

- I'd be much more impressed if you wore an outfit that you put together yourself that cost you a total or $15, head to toe, thanks to some serious steals at the Salvation Army.

- You don't have to spend $100 on a nice dinner to prove to me that you like me.

- Pack a vegan picnic basket, complete with my favorite wine, and tell me to meet you at the park under a big tree. That's so much more romantic. I dislike waiter service when I'm with a handsome man, anyways.

- Planning a big "impressive" night out in AC is only going to make me miserable.

- Instead, take me to an art gallery I've never been before. Let's nerd out.

- Make me cupcakes instead of making me dinner...and we'll eat them for dinner.

- Let's bring a blanket to a big open field, lay on it, and talk for hours, instead of catching up on sleep.

- Draw me pictures when you're bored and give them to me later on when we hang out and ask you how your day was and you say, "oh, it was boring. this was all I really did." Watch me melt.

I'm insanely easy to please, I just think some people get the wrong impression.

Current listen: Radar Detector - Darwin Deez

Keep Calm and Carry On

Photo by: Nick Serechia

My life has been excruciatingly hectic. I'd be lying if I said I hated it. I love what's been on my plate. The more it piles on, the more I feel like I'm getting to exactly where I should be, doing what I was meant to do. I have my art, my music site, Music On The Incline (which, by the way, I got our very FIRST artist interview!), my New York Art project, things are going amazing at work - I'm finally getting major recognition by my District Visual Manager, AND a project I did for Marc Ecko Cut & Sew made sales fly astronomically though the roof for my store, impressing lots of people who actually matter. Things are just going really well overall. My little dreams that I have set up as stepping stones to my big dreams are all happening. The only last thing I can ask for, is that I could actually get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. I've been so .. incredibly ..  exhausted. 

It's amazing to see how you evolve. I had these big crazy dreams years ago. Some of them are coming true, some of them were just phases. But right where I am, right now, has never felt so right. I've never felt more like the Ali Pinho that I am, and that I was meant to be ... well, ever. 

Aside from the positive light of things, there unfortunately has been a bit of negativity flying around me. None of which has to do directly with me, thank God. But regardless, it's there, and negative energy is something that is never welcome in my range. I can not get into the details, but let's just say that I have a jaw of steel for being this brave to keep my mouth shut about these things that are going on. There's someone who comes to me to vent about their unfortunate lifestyle, and I can't say one word, or I literally risked being potentially hurt or even killed. I think of it as a test of character and faith. Maybe I'm put in this situation because I'm meant to be a mentor and an example to this person. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that's been thrown at me the past two weeks. Keep calm and carry on. For now, that's the only advice I can follow.

Be sure to check out my music blog, Music On The Incline, and look out for our very first artist interview with a very talented artist! I'm so honored and excited to have this project getting such amazing feedback! I'll also keep you posted on the NY Art project that I'm working on!

Current Listen: Liars - Houseclouds

Paper Bullets [ART] -New Additions-

The Concentration Complex

Jelly Legs

Modern Garden

I'll race you.

I Blame Coco

Coco Sumner

I was never one of those girls who lusted my 13 year old heart out over JTT, or ripped out every single existing picture of anything remotely relating to the Backstreet Boys, and plastered it to my bedroom walls. [Some of my friends had really creepy bedrooms. The fact that the Backstreet Boys and Nsync even existed was disheartening to the music scene enough. It just made me straight up uncomfortable seeing multiples of them. In one room. All staring at me ... or posing in some ridiculous 90's get up/bad dance move.]

When my older sister first got her license, I'm pretty sure one of the first things she did was go to Home Depot to buy a lock for her bedroom door. She'd come home to me sitting indian-style on her bedroom floor, with either the Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews Band, or Smashing Pumpkins blasting from her stereo, as I had the booklet from the cd case up to my face, trying to sing along. Needless to say, I've been thrown out of her room one too many times. 

I thought that she listened to the coolest music. My sister had as good taste in music as David Bowie was cool, was as musically inclined as Jim Morrison was musically well rounded, and in my eyes, as cool as Johnny Cash was ... well ... almost. 

I credit my sister Nicole for teaching me that mainstream music is not the good music that's out there. I remember being in my mom's Astro Van and getting more excited to hear Tom Petty's 'Free Fallin'' or 'I Won't Back Down', than I was to hear Britney Spears. I knew I wasn't a typical teenager. And I liked it.

I may have never had a crush on a boy band, but I can say that I've hit the pavement for Coco Sumner. The daughter of Sting [her birth alone made her cooler than any female on planet earth], a model, actress and singer. She's a triple threat to society, not just the entertainment industry. If I could wake up one morning and be anyone in the world, I would choose her. [Sorry Obama.] With a face, a voice and talent like that, you don't need much else in life. 

I stumbled upon her existence completely on accident, [Best accident I ever encountered] and am now completely entranced in her music. Check out her video for Caesar by clicking HERE. This video reminds me of this one day/night in Brooklyn. [We'll save that story for another day.]

Turn off your radio. Go to an indie cd store and just pick something up. See what other people are picking up and maybe just buy it on a whim. There's SO much good music out there if you just turn your radio off and find it. If you want the names of some good bands that you've never heard of, that's practically the entity of my vocabulary, so hit me up!

Current Listen: Caesar/18 With A Bullet - I Blame Coco

Brooklyn

Photo by: Gabe Cariola/Ali Duda (BFF)

I owe you seven days of apologies.

I've been spending many of the last seven days in New York. Three, to be exact. Thursday night I went to this awesome place, Barcade, in Brooklyn with my good bro Rob. They have twenty to twenty five old school video games, which I devoured with my soul. We stayed at his sisters in Clinton Hill, where we devoured 3am falafel and woke up as the sun was rising to the most amazing view of Brooklyn I have ever seen in my life. We walked around Clinton HIill all day Friday and did some awesome stuff. We came up with a new business venture (which will soon be released), and picked up some old/awesome chairs that someone was throwing in the garbage. We picked up them up off the sidewalk, and carried them back to his car. When we saw people walk by we would stop & sit down, talking about how uncomfortable the curb looked, just to make people laugh. It was nice to see smiles on such a beautiful day. Thinking about moving to Clinton Hill instead of Willyb.

Sunday was another Manhattan/Brooklyn day. I brought some friends to my "home town" in Brooklyn to see where I spent all of my free time. I brought them back to Barcade, where I got high score on Ghost & Goblins and Ladybug, and probably spent a total of $20 in quarters on playing games, ate Thai Chow Fun until it bled out of my body, and was serenaded by my waitress. Then I found a playground in the middle of Nolita, where I flipped over the side of a swirly side, body slammed onto the pavement beneath me, and now have bruised ribs. All in the name of fun. I forgot how exhausting being a four year old is. (Pictures to come soon, I promise.)

It's been an awesome past week, to say the least. It made me realize how I can't let a single day pass me by without doing something out of the ordinary/fun/productive/beautiful. It also made me realize how much I really do belong in Brooklyn. How much happier I am there, how much more free I am there. I've been asked, numerous times, why I don't live there yet .... because I am Brooklyn.

Big, big things have been happening. I've never been happier with the direction that things are going and I've never been more excited about life. I'm loving every single minute of this life and taking it all in for what it's worth. You should all be doing the same.

Current Listen: Wind Phoenix - Cymbals Eat Guitars

Visit The Lineup, my music site, where I reveal my latest discovery/reviews on underground/indie music that you should grow to love. Right now.

Paper Bullets [ART] -New Additions-

The secret about girls is that ...

Falling Away

I have ten fingers. And I will use them all.

Chat Roulette

Meet guys like this guy on Chat Roulette.

WARNING: This is seriously graphic/hilarious/disturbing/slightly unbelievable. Please be so kind as to not judge ME, as I was nothing more than an innocent bystander. The looney tunes in this situation are the ones to be judged. 

I'm not sure if you've ever heard of a new social networking site (well ... sort of), called Chat Roulette. A friend of mine was giving me the run down on it. Of course, my skeptical side had to poke and prod. Basically you just type in www.chatroulette.com, click "Allow" to turn on your video camera, and random people show up on your screen. No signing up or anything. It's completely 100% anonymous, aside from your face, of course. I could have been Helen Keller who worked at a Laundromat if I wanted to, and an Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast to the next guy if I felt compelled to be that. You can either choose to talk to them, or "next" them, by clicking next. The very first face that showed up on my screen, was a man that has nappy long blonde hair and ears gauged SO big, that I could probably fit my fist through them. Terrifying. The following list are the next few people I saw, in actual order:

A middle aged man's penis ... make that two. AND one man in red tighty whities with gut rolling over the elastic. Not cute.

A very hairy man with a completely solid unibrow.

Someone's dad.

A guy that wanted to play guitar for me. (Had his camera not frozen, I would have let him.)

A group of 5 very, umm, "unique" kids.

A guy who wouldn't show anything BUT his pecs/guns.

A guy who stared blankly at me for a solid 3 minutes and 20 seconds. (I timed him.)

A midget (I am not kidding.)

And a 12 year old girl from England who instantly judged me.

However, I did find one legit human being in this pool of creepy specimen. His name is Paul, an  awesome kid from Manchester, UK. The first, and only, ACTUAL person I talked to on here. He's the editor for the show Most Haunted. (He could be lying, yes, but that's a pretty random fact to make up about yourself, no?) He also told me that he used to work in a stationary shop selling pencils. He always hated his job until now. I can see why. 

Then I talked to some guy ... an unexplainably good looking guy, mind you, who was from Portugal. His name was Fabio (typical), and he works for a computer company, although by the looks of him, I think Calvin Klein underwear modeling would be a much more suiting career choice for him. Just sayin'! And I kid you not. My pop pop used to wear these shirts, it sort of looked like a polo, but it has this little pocket on the chest. Fabio was wearing one, old man print and everything. I was hysterical when I saw him on my screen. Absolutely died. 

While I felt completely and utterly creepy talking to these two people, it was actually kind of cool to talk to someone from the UK and from Portugal, in the same day. Not exactly something you get to do everyday. While I definitely don't see myself sitting on this thing all night while I'm bored and have nothing better to do, it was cool to at least check out. If you decide to do the same, please be warned ... its 90% creeps out there. Fair warning!