Dj Reflecta

This DJ's Medical Leave

2011-10-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

After dinner on Friday, I had a sharp pain in my stomach. I popped a Midol thinking it was just a cramp coming in but when my anxiety kicked in and my vision turned dark, I knew it was something I have never experienced. As I continued to get ready, I just couldn't pull myself together. I asked my boyfriend, Adam, to cover for me on his night off (bummer! I felt so bad asking him to cover because he was getting ready to go to his friends bday party!). We both thought it was maybe something I ate. I kept tossing and turning, my kitties, "Sir Puss and Boots" even cuddled next to me because they knew I was in so much pain.

I've always been a Kaiser patient, but since I had to switch insurances I wasn't feeling right going somewhere I didn't know. A few hours of pain, I gave up and called the number on my insurance card. The nurse said, "Mam, you need to go to the E.R now. Call 911." I told her I didn't want to incur any charges so I decided to wait till Adam came home. (Yes, I was being cheap in time of need haha)

He walks in and goes, "Babe! You're WHITE! We need to go now!" Getting off the bed was difficult, every movement hurt and he did his best to try to get me down the stairs with the least amount of energy. I trusted him with his decision to go to Stanford because that's where he works and knows his way around.

Wheeled into the E.R, I was told I passed out while the nurse was asking me a few questions and my blood pressure dropped. All I remember is Adam and the nurse yelling my name and I'm like "Whats Up. Hey, Hi... I'm .... zzzzzz" Then, I remember being put on a bed and screaming for air, I thought I was going to die because they put me on my back and everything hurt on my upper body. My lungs felt like they were being held down and everything in my stomach felt like exploding. I was surrounded by nurses/doctors trying to convince me I did have air and calling my name, I passed out a few times. Moments later, I was hooked up to quite a few things and going through a scan.

Everyone first thought I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured and that my stomach was bleeding because there was so much blood internally. I was so scared, Adam held my hand the entire night until I was moved up to ICU hours later. After another round of tests, they found that both my liver and spleen had a stage three tear that covered both sides with blood. I was told there are only four stages of tears that those two can go through, I was lucky that we went in at the right time. Any deeper it could have meant lights out for me.

It was so terrifying, I've never been in a hospital more than a few hours and I'm so glad Adam stayed with me for the five days I was there. He would come during his lunch, then after work until it was time to go and we even had internet access so our movie nights were still in order. I was scared to tell my Mom that I was in the hospital because she worries so much, but she beat me to the punch. She texted me my first night there and goes, "Is everything okay? Are you okay? I just want to tell you good night and remember to pray. Be safe." The guilt settled in and I told her the the next day. Since she is a nurse too, she was calm about the situation and visited me until Adam got off work. He was so helpful to me and my mom since we both didn't know where to go in this big hospital. I was really scared! I had one arm with a bunch of things hooked up, my chest had these heart things to monitor it, I was in and out of pain meds and I had the bad case of nightmares.

Due to my condition, I will be taking some time off from spinning until my liver and spleen heal. I only have one more tear left for those two spots and any way I can avoid them being hurt means I've got to live in my invisible "bubble," can't risk bumping into anything or anyone. A lot of this time I will be taking to just reflect and catch up on music, blogs, homework etc etc.

See ya'lls in the next few weeks!

Decode My Dream

2011-10-20T08:58:00.001-07:00

First part I witnessed my stripper friend kill someone in a wheelchair. She stabbed him in the chin, I helped her run and kept the weapon. It was a sharp ring, so I dropped it in the sewer thinking that no one will find it. We ran around the old park that I recognized from my childhood. Brigadoon park.

Second part. I think I was w/Adam on a hike to find this lake. Which turned out to be a pool. I wanted to swing from a tree an into the water but I said for him to go first. He said it wasn't deep and there were stairs in the pool so I don't swing far. When it was my turn, there were snakes in the pool and on the dirt I was standing on. It was getting darker, so he said we should go before we can't see our way.

Third part, "Lidia" (someone who doesn't like me in reality) catches us walking back and shes jogging. Gives us her white Chanel purse to hold while she runs and tells us to give it to her later. I knew that the purse had coke in it, lots of it.

All of a sudden, it wasn't Adam walking back w/me but someone else. I said let's leave da purse in the door of "Lidia's" apt , but the girl w/ me said no and to take a short cut through the restaurant. I found Adam on a date with a girl and she was sitting on his chair with him as he was holding her. I was furious, asked the girl if this was a date and says to me " I think so, but after this date I dunno, might be more." They grab each others hand.

I throw the purse on the table and said "here's Linda's purse, I didn't want to leave it on the door of her apt."

And then I woke up.

This dream is going to drive me nuts for the day.

Lesson Learned, prepare to Grow.

2011-08-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

When I turned 25...
I told myself anything dumb I do from here on out is plain stupidity. I can't use the excuse "I'm young!" I taught myself how to be calm and hold my poise no matter what the circumstance was. I learned to be a Goddess and grew some fierce balls.

When I turned 26...
I told myself... WHAT THE F!@# IS GOING ON HERE?! I feel like I just lost my balls! Please explain to me what the heck is going on in the same month as my BIRTHDAY!? Are you F!@# serious!?

I was reading a post by one of my Facebook friends and she wrote:
I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong...
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve...
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love... And God gave me troubled people to help..
I asked for favors.. And God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted...
But everything I needed.

In my case, I asked Him for a challenge... oh, I got one alright. I had emotional wounds that were unbearable. Then for some reason, I sat and took a breather. Cracked open my book and continued on a chapter that talked about healing, forgiveness and that "God has just come to tell you - to tell the God in you - to be aware, to make a choice, to have the courage to work through all your fears and change them." (The Mastery of Love pg. 193)

It was time to wake up. I can say that, this entire month was a growing process for me. Heck, I even learned my tear ducts work properly (I have severe dry eyes). I did somethings only a strong woman would do, to keep it together and snap out of it. I made decisions that the whole world could disagree with me on - but I understood why this was happening to me.

I felt as if there were little messages God was trying to send me and I found it in odd ways. I was having lunch with a co-worker last week and as I was listening to her vent she went into a monologue of her own. She said, "Why does he give me something, then take it away? I think this is His way of telling me - how many times am I going to show you? How many times am I going to have to teach you until you learn?" Then just today, I worked with a new guy. I know nothing about him so I listened to him talk about himself and say, "Life is Simple. I think of it as simply that." Two people that know nothing about me, but had words that stuck out for me.

BINGO! That's what it was. I had to take a different approach to life and react differently. I didn't allow self destruction, I didn't allow emotional baggage, I had enough. As weird as it seems, I even learned self love and the worth of my soul.

I now think of it as this...
Birthdays are supposed to be the bookmark of new growth. And that's exactly what happened.

What If's and Oh Well's

2011-07-24T23:38:00.001-07:00

For years, I have been focusing on the "What if's" day to day. I have worked two jobs at a time, focused on saving for a rainy day and always made sure I had a back up plan. At this point I realize that, I'm putting my time into this back up plan... and not focusing on Plan A. My goal as a DJ and an aspiring writer.

On my way home today, I had a quite interesting conversation with my boyfriend. It shook me a little but I guess I needed it. As I walked in the door of my house, Mama was watching her favorite Filipino channel and I sat right next to her, our conversation blew me out of the water.

She had me at 26 and my youngest sister at 35. I guess there is different stages of nurses and she was not able to continue to be the type of nurse she was aiming to be. The way she put it sounded cuter, but what I got out of it was that she got comfortable and said "Oh well." Decided that the income was good enough to raise a family and spend more time with us. But she also advised, not to settle (goal/career wise) no matter what the circumstance.

Mama knew what I was good at, where I've been and she put it all in perspective. "Why prepare for Plan B, if you aren't paying attention to Plan A?" I'm in and out of the house going to work, coming back home exhausted and then off it is to my gig. Off it was to do something I loved later in the week. Why couldn't I do something I loved, every day? What she also pointed out was, I'm not getting any younger. Thirty is approaching in about four years and everything is fast moving as of... NOW.

Everyone usually says, you have a life time to pursue your goals. I don't want to do that. I just wanna make it happen right now. Of course I have to humble myself and let God make things happen when times are right, but I do not want to be that old person who is still working. I wanna be like my dad, retired at 50 (ok, maybe later than that. Filipino's don't age so its hard for me to tell hahaha). Singing Karaoke, going to Zumba, flying everywhere and doing whatever he wants to do because he doesn't have to report somewhere at 7am every day anymore. I come home and I go "Hey dad, how was your day?" He goes, "Mar-beh, anak (my child). I'm retired. I get to do whatever I want. How was your day? I made your favorite sinigang (soup)" Good gosh, how I envy that.

Months ago, I was at my desk and my own managers (previously) sat right in front of me, looked me straight in the eye and told me their stories of the "What If's." One was offered a job with Paramount Pictures, but didn't take it because of fear of her marriage and the cost of living, so she settled in what she knew to stay close. The other was an aspiring actor, he had it all... the agent, the lifestyle... but didn't want to go into it too deep for the fear that his career wouldn't take off like he wanted it to be. So he settled as well. Without me having to say anything, they already sensed my joy of being a DJ and wanting to pursue my career goal. It was a day that I realized, wow... you really are human! Lol

They both grew up and till this day wondered, "What if I did pursue it," but now is stuck in "Oh well, can't go back and do it now." Took me this long to realize that I too was settling and saying my "Oh wells."

So I have a plan. It is now time to execute.

Sir Puss and Boots

2011-07-20T07:54:00.001-07:00

We spent an entire day with Sir Puss and Boots, our new kittens!

This is Sir Puss... He was my pick.

Close up is Boots... Adam's Pick. He's more of the approachable kitty and gets into most trouble lol .

SOAK at Roux

2011-07-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a night! For the entire week I was stressing over getting ready for a cotillion, then it was also partly stressing over my music for Sunday's gig for Souk. I was stepping out of my element - Hip Hop. Going into House.

Looking at the entire line up, I was thinking... "Oh man, these people are some hard core House DJ's! Totally known. Totally well rounded. Is it too late to say I'm sick?" I sat in my car listening to every track I had in my CD case for weeks making sure I memorize every song. I even pulled my BF, Adam Cova to session with me whenever we could squeeze it in. By the time I got to Roux, I was ready, I was set... I was... wait a minute, my friends are here! WHAT DA?! I could totally feel my heart sinking. Oh gosh, I better bang it out today.

A little side note about me, last year I started to think to myself that this industry got harder over the years. (It was my 2nd year back out of retirement) Back then, it was easy for me. I was young, everything was new to me, I wanted to go play with the big girls/boys... and I sure did. That was the goal. Now that I am back, I thought to myself, "What the heck, everyone is a DJ now?! I can't just come and show everyone a good time on the floor? I gotta WORK OUT, TAN, GET A FEW TATTOO'S and START A GIMMICK NOW!?" Hahaha Joking! But what it came down to, I was ready to throw in the towel again.

Something deep down inside said, "Remember 98? I started with House, Trance, Freestyle... but was taught by a Hip Hop DJ. I had a love for faster beats, but had to do Hip Hop because of my area. No one hired me unless I did Hip Hop." And that's what happened. I went along with it and that's what I was known for. The one who can teach you how to dougie, put a cup on her booty and shake shake now shake a lil somethin' thats the way yeaaaa! Did I like it? Yea. Did I have fun with it? Heck yea. But there came a point when I realized that I wasn't spinning Hip Hop because I liked it, I spun it because I got booked to perform and it allowed me to share my happiness of just plain mixing.

Back to Roux, I went in there and I went with what was familiar to me. A lot of it was just current Top 40's that were remixed into House. Yea, it was commercial. But closing out the night, heck, I might as well just bang it out so people can get down to something familiar with a little House twist. That's how I thought of it.

By the end of the night, I got a lot of compliments! I was talking to some people and they were like, "You were the closing DJ right? You did awesome!" Phew! Now that was a relief to hear. I had a lot of fun and it just hit me the next day. I felt accomplished and it was so good to hear my own BF say, "OMG... It was like... taking my child to the first day of school, I kind of got teary. I'm so proud of you. LOL" Hahahahah

Anyway, for those of you that went THANK YOU for sticking it out till late to hear my set! Hope to see ya'lls at my next gig at Molly MaGee's in Mountain View every Wednesday! Holleration!

Relationship Accomodations to Self

2011-07-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was up a few nights ago with a girl friend of mine and this is how the conversation went (good gosh I hope she doesn't realize I wrote everything she said! Lol) ...

Her "I'm starting to notice some change in him. Ever since he graduated from law school, he always has to be the man. Telling me how much I should drink, tell me when to go to bed, tell me what to say to our friends. Tell me when we can hang out."
Me "Nothing wrong with that. Some people just look out for each other and are busy. He's gonna be some kind of lawyer, that's work girl! Problem is? "
Her "Not just that. Even when we talk about personal issues, Mare... he always has to be right about everything and he always compares me to the females he's been with and learned from. He thinks I think just like them and runs into conclusion before I can even speak for myself."
Me "Well, knowing the way you are... The typical you would leave immediately. He will never realize what he has until its gone, but you will come to the realization of what you have settled for."
Her "I wanna stick it out a little bit, maybe he's just going through a funk because he's not making as much as a lawyer should be making."
Me "Do you think he loves himself?"
Her "Excuse me? I'm venting and you want me to tell you if he loves himself?"
Me "Its simple, relationships are based on love and fear. Love is 20%, fear is 80% in this case. Is he always trying to be the winner because he fears that he'll be less of a man? Or is he limiting you for the fear that you will be just like his ex - so he says he loves you and wants you around?"
Her " He thinks he knows how all women think - I told him that, its not how all women think. I'm different, you just kept picking the same ones and now you have someone different and you are in denial because you thought you knew everything."

This conversation dragged on for weeks (it still is). I stayed up late, talking to her as a best friend should. But I picked her brain a bit, asked questions instead of advised, picked up a new book and BINGO. I found the answer to this problem... Self love.

Before getting in a "solidified" relationship, we go through the dating thing... we give em a shot, we listen to their sales pitch and then we call the check if it doesn't work out. But the moment we change our Facebook pages to "In a Relationship" we start to doubt, we give in and do whatever it takes to make the other person happy.

Men, you open the car door each time because you know she loves it and even go to the taco stand late at night because she loves her carne asada with sour cream on her period days.
Women, we silence our thoughts to avoid being perceived as insecure and we even sometimes hand over our happiness to our men. They become our lives, they become a part of our schedule, a part of the phone call we have to make every night before we go to bed.

Lets put this in perspective... You want a cat, but all the shelter has are dogs. They are so cute! Oh what the heck, take home a pup. By the time you get home, are you going to teach it how to "meow" and poop in a kitty litter? Didn't think so. That dog needs to bark and poop on someone's front door to feel relieved. You picked a dog.

That's kind of how you have to look at relationships."The one who loves you, loves you just the way you are. Because if someone wants to change you, it means you are not what that person wants. Then why are they with you?" (Taken from The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, Pg. 77)

"There are millions of men and women, each one is unique. Some will make a good match for you and some won't make a good match at all. You can love everyone, but to deal with a person on an everyday basis, you will need someone more closely aligned to you. That person doesn't need to be exactly like you; the two of you only need to be like a key in the lock - a match that works." (Same book, Pg. 79)

I can't say that it is never okay to change for someone either, but I do know that it is never okay to change and loose self love. Romance is achieved without the presence of another person. (I'm sure my readers know I emphasize on this a lot)

In the Mastery of Love, I read a part when a guy believed that love did not exist (after a failed marriage). He found another woman who believed the same, but since they both didn't believe love was real - they started hanging out more as friends and eventually, developed feelings. One day, they're perceptions changed and made it a relationship. Moved in, the whole sha-bang. Then as they were looking at the sky, the man see's a star fall down and catches it.

He was so excited and knew this was a rare occasion. He wanted to share it with his girlfriend and handed the star to her. She looked at it in her hands and dropped it. The star shattered into pieces and it was pitch dark. That star symbolized his happiness and he wanted to give it all to her, but she could not be responsible for all of his happiness. A part of that star, if not all of it, has to be for yourself.

I've been hard on my friend and being the one to ask her questions to the point to where, she's actually giving HERSELF advice. I even also turned the tables around and said things like, "You must really like hurting your soul," or the "Hmm... his lips look as if he's wiped off the lipstick marks (women you know what I mean, you know what wiped off lips look like) yet you want to stick around just to observe a little more? Are we on the same page here?" But I'm tough on her because I love the bitch. Just saying. Lol

Tough Skin.

2011-05-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months, I have unraveled a ton of things that were being said about me. The decisions I made, the past ways I used to interact with people and of course, the life style I chose. Everybody has a past that they are ashamed of, a past that they wish they could fix. But I don't. All the things I've done, I'm thankful for how it made me today.

I'm thankful for having to experience the things I did because if I didn't, then how else was I supposed to feel human? Over time, I learned to grow thick skin. I learned to shield out those that were of no worth to me. What has been a big part of me now is, "No matter what they say... let it go."

And I have. I know what people say to those that I love, I know what steps people do to try and break up my relationship and friendships to get me to crack. But if word out there said that I'm crazy, I'm not one to trust, not one to mess with... then why would you even make that attempt? If you're just looking out for your good friends, then why am I seeing that a lot of people that say that are fake? Also, they're older than me! WTH? They (of all people) should know better.

I say fake because... they don't know me nor have my personal number. There's only a handful of people that has taken the time to have lunch with me or even take the time to have my favorite Toffee Nut Latte with me away from the club atmosphere where we are not screaming in each others ear. I personally know those that I value would know that my charm with them is real and its not one to question, because they feel that it is.

No matter what they say... I'm going to let it go. There's no point in me trying to back up the person I was, all I can do is be the person that I am. I've calmed down a lot, I've humbled myself and I have done a lot of growing up.

Maybe some should to.

Every Wednesday Ladies Night at Molly MaGee's

2011-05-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

So I've been mixing for Molly MaGee's for quite a few months now in Downtown Mountain View and now I've blossomed into... an Every Wednesday night DJ! Aww, Reflecta is all grown up! I'm thinking to myself, "They love me! They really love me!"

My first Wednesday went pretty good! My fellow Yelp girl friends came out totally decked in cute dresses and rocked the dance floor all night. Heck, they even got a group of 5 straight men dancing with themselves! It was awesome. Major love to my Yelpers 8)

The second Wednesday I came back there was kind of a good balance of boys vs girls. Of course, my honey came and his friends too which made the night flow even better! I loved the vibe and the friendliness of the people that came.

Well, I'll be mixing every Wednesday at Molly's now! Hope to meet you all there!

Nothin' But Love For ... Them

2011-02-16T01:08:00.001-08:00

I have had a roller coaster of emotions this past week. I've silenced my thoughts, I've feared to speak my mind, I've taken a step back and realized what is going on around me, about me and ahead of me. I basically had a dance with my emotions and at this point I feel as if one song, finally pieced it all together. Axwell's "Nothing But Love," all of a sudden had a hidden message for me.

Lately, I have been slowly unraveling a ton of things that has gotten everyone chatting up a storm. There were situations that I was put in where, the comfort level in the room was quite intense and the eyes were fixed on only me. There was a time that I have learned that, someone's charm was not genuine. I spent a long while holding in all this hate for the things that happened to me. After hearing, "Nothin' But Love," a second time around, it opened my heart to a different light. I've understood the message before, but the timing of it being played was all that had made the difference.

Throughout the song, he says, "No matter what.... I still got nothing but love for you." And that is exactly where I need to shift my energy to. There's no use in holding all this grudge inside of my heart, but just to forgive, let go and be thankful for the situations that were brought upon me.

Now don't expect me to be hanging out with my frienemies (friend/enemies) but know that I will do my best at being cordial and welcome a good conversation.

Sober in an Irish Pub

2011-01-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

I get nervous at gigs. I literally have to pound a few shots, drink a whole lot of foo foo cocktails to get it out of me. As soon as I walk into a venue, my first drink of choice is always a RedBull Vodka or a Mai Tai. But this time, I decided to go sober. I had in mind that I wanted more than just a one pack before the summer and I wanted to really hear what I play like without any influences. Wow, this was a gig to remember!

The night started with Top 40. Everything I know from opening to closing a venue - tossed out the window. I took in the advice I had received from previous gigs at places like Fibbar's and said, "Well hot damn, lets try this out." There came close times where I drew a blank as to why I lost my crowd, how I gained them back and then lost them again. Thank goodness my friend Stunners was there to nudge me at times and said, "Dude, just throw it in already! You got this! Just slam it in! Trust me!"

Towards the end of the night, I busted out some music I didn't think would work... but it caused the manager to approach me in the booth. She said to me, "You're doing a real good job!" and it came with compliments! I did it... I fist pumped it out towards the end of the night. I whipped out my inner Jersey Shore self and grabbed the dance floor by the balls. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I did what felt good and by this time I was already jumping around in the booth... I was standing on a long piece of wood held up by beer kegs.

I'll be mixing at a lot of gigs sober now a days, I really want my body in tip top shape and I don't have the personality to control my consumption when offered. Ok, maybe I might drink a little bit of bubbly when I'm out with friends, but not on the job at least (lets say that lol)

My next gig is February 5th at Motif in Downtown San Jose, CA mixing upstairs from prime time to closing. Yay! I'm a headliner for that night! Holleration!

Mr. Wonderful Vs. Mr. Wrong

2011-01-11T03:04:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends called me randomly at 1am and asks, "What does it mean when a guy doesn't pick up your phone calls or text messages?" This is how the conversation went:

Her "He hasn't picked up any of them."
Me "Well, do you have an email or are you FB friends?"
Her "Yes."
Me "Do you have mutual friends? Is he alive at least?"
Her "I don't know"
Me "Find out if he's alive. If he is, he's just not that into you. Men aren't stupid, they actually KNOW what they are lacking and KNOW exactly what they are doing."
Her "But he says all the sweet things, maybe he changed his number or broke his phone."
Me "Nope, if he did he would find any way to get a hold of you or see you. Weather it be showing up at your work or randomly popping up at your usual hang out spots."

This conversation also influenced another topic... Women getting what they want and making it work in their favor. The "I know he loves me, but he just doesn't know how to show it right," or the "He has a baby mama that's just loco en la cabeza so we can't be seen in public." Oh here's a good one, " The ball is always in his court. I know he loves me, we just have to have this important talk and if he doesn't feel the same, I'll be crushed." About a thousand phone calls/text messages later, it eats every girl inside and she continues this cycle, chasing after a man who won't even acknowledge her presence. Who doesn't open the door for her when she drives all the way to his house at night, keeps her from doing what she wants or doesn't even give her the butterflies.

Did we all of a sudden loose our captivating ways, ladies? As women we are supposed to be respected goddesses with a heart of a lion, but the beauty of a siren - as alluring seduction. It took me three books to toughen up my skin, a few failed relationships and a whole lot of listening to get to where I am at today. I'm single, I'm intimidating, I'm on a stage almost every week as a female DJ's in a male dominated industry... I deal with douche bags both day and night. But I understand my goal (in a romantic sense) is to always sell you a fantasy, its up to you to put in the work to grab the reality and allow me to continue to captivate you with my charm. It has to work both ways, girls.

I used to be one crazy bitch. Constant nagging, screaming and sometimes if the right buttons were pushed, I'll fight you like a man. After a while, I noticed all my relationships failed for the same reasons : Cheating, hiding or no closure. FOR ALL. I started to think to myself, "There ain't nothing wrong with me, I'm just not picking em right." WRONG. I lost my composure, I became ugly. My personality was gross, I didn't take care of myself mentally and I let my work take over control. I slacked off on the traits that reeled these men in the first place, my fun spirit.

"To offer your heart is to offer your desire - instead of your demand." (Pg. 139 from Captivating)

Over time, I learned to romance myself without the presence of another person. I realized what I wanted vs what I don't want and I distanced myself like a magic trick if things weren't up to standard. I'm great at listening to my friends rant about their situations and hear them hound these men. However, there's a point where I can't take seeing another woman loose her beauty because of another human being. There is more to life then having to fight for any kind relationship, I'm entirely content just being by myself and saying c'est la vie! (In wikipedia - "It is sometimes used as an expression to say that life is harsh but that one must accept it" )

I don't understand why, for some people, its hard to let go or end things without closure. Some things don't need closure because the situation is already nuts to begin with and needs to be dropped like a bad habit. I was watching a "Bronx Tale" and this kid kept hounding someone for his $20. The head mobster asks this kid why he keeps chasing this friend for something small, when he really could have said whatever to it and not even talk to him anymore. Done. It was small, so move on. I'm sure relationships are bigger than just $20, but there are just some things that aren't worth fighting for. It causes wrinkles on your face, extra baggage and even an ugly personality...

Mr. Wonderful is out there... ya just have to get rid of the douche bag that's not into you (or obsessed with you), put down your sword and find him.... with grace, ladies!

Books I suggest reading:
A) Captivating by John and Staci Eldrich
B) Dating and Extricating by Janice Dickenson
C) He's Just Not That Into You (READ IT. DON'T WATCH IT) - The full length book.

* Its 4am, I'll read this blog again in the afternoon if it makes any sense. I just had to get shit off my chest.

Molly's Last Night

2011-01-08T22:49:00.001-08:00

I had only three hours of sleep the night before. I had to hit the road early to get to work for 8 hours and I thought I was running late for this gig. As drained as I was, I belted out to "Pretty Girl Rock" while in traffic and said to myself, "I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous. I got this. I practiced. I am ready."

Yup. I was nervous.

Finally in the door, I was greeted by the bouncer who I refer to as Ludacris or Busta Rhymes. He gets on his ear piece and says, "Attention. We have our diva back, spinderella is in the building. And the word of the night is No." HAHAHA! OMG, just to catch everyone up, one of my first nights spinning for this venue a month ago, I was so over whelmed with the amount of requests and shout outs that I all of a sudden blurted, "No." Kinda one of those things where you just have to listen to my tone cuz its actually pretty funny. Like, snap my fingers in the air and flip my hair like I just don't care funny. Lol!

When I started, my friends were hanging out in front of the booth watching me. Nerve-wrecking. I had an older DJ next to me, who has tons of experience, watching me. I looked around, everyone else... watching me. Luckily after an hour, my friend goes, "Dude.... umm... you need a drink." And that is what I called, magic! Weeeeeee!

The dance floor started to fill with energy, the compliments were plenty, the requests were at a minimal (Thank God) and the crowd totally reflected the energy inside of me. It was a great feeling! The patron shots started pouring in and as I usually MC for myself, I blurted, "This your favorite girl, DJ Reflecta. Yes I am a girl and I am ALL WOMAN." Everyone teared up of laughter! I guess I am obeying my New Year's resolution, "Be Fearless." I think I was more flaming with a side of fierce. Hahahahaha

All and all, I got to play around with the mixer's effects that night... and I did it live. Which I normally don't do unless I know its going to be f-ing amazing and its gonna be an ear catcher. I had an idea on what I was doing - but it was fun just playing around! I felt like a kid with a new toy going, "OMG OMG... look what this can do!"

I had such a great time and I can't wait till my next set in February!

www.mollysmtview.com

My next gig is at Fibbar MaGee's in Sunnyvale, their sister venue, on January 22nd - I'm mixing ALL NIGHT LONG!

Until next time...
xoxo

Last Saturday Night in Palo Alto

2010-10-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh. I have never been so overwhelmed in a week that ... I forgot to PRACTICE!? I almost always find time to practice, listen to music and at least prep a set of songs I can at least play around with until the crowd comes in for the night... But I got home, changed, ran out the door and listened to the radio. As I parked my car infront of the club, I thought to myself, " I'm seriously having an FML moment."

Walked into the club and thank goodness there was a reunion rapping it up inside of the club. I had some time to recollect my thoughts, focus on a set in my head and all of a sudden a voice comes...

"SO! Are you from Stanford Class of 95?" As I turn, I'm thinking to myself... ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I look like I'm in my 40's already?! Like I got enough shit to worry about tonight!

Finally, 10:30 rolled around and I finally hopped on the turns and catered to this Class of 95" reunion (which I'm now feeling like shit that I apparently now need botox for my face). I was really shaky for this one because I knew DJ-ing inside meant trying to keep the crowd groovin with me before everyone decides its universal smoke break time until the DJ doesn't suck. My goodness, I don't even remember looking up.

I did what I was comfortable with, old school to me means 1993- 1998, main stream, hits and a side of marshmallows to cool it off. I just didn't feel as if I gave everyone the meat. I didn't feel as if I presented the juice, I felt as if... I gave everyone the lettuce. Ya feel me?

Well, my promoters said I did great. I got a lot of good complements from random people and some of the staff which was wonderful. But as soon as I left the club, I thought, "WTF WAS THAT MAREVIE?!"

Tomorrow is another day, I'll be the commercial break DJ between bands at Pearl in Downtown San Jose. Catch me there!

Waking up... to being sober.

2010-10-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

"You're career won't wake up one morning and tell you it doesn't love you anymore"
- Lady Gaga

"I woke up one morning and said to myself, I don't wanna drink anymore."
- DJ Reflecta

Actually, my body probably was telling me that it was time to put down the Mai Tai, the Washington Apples, the Blue Moon and the Sierra Nevada. I faced it, I'm not dancing to keep my body in shape anymore, I haven't been going to the gym and my diet for SURE was not healthy. I would constantly crave for a drink at the end of the day, in order to feel relieved. I would binge drink at gigs and wake up in the morning ... in time for work at 9am, looking fresh and crisp. Although I've mastered this routine, my body felt like it was ready to give in.

After my gig at Apartment 24, I decided that weekend that I didn't want to drink anymore. Yea yea, I drank excessively which probably lead to my decision... but up until now, I (mentally) really don't want to drink. I know some people can definitely control their consumption, but in my line of work as a Disc Jockey... it kind of comes with the title. If my blood alcohol intake isn't at a certain level and being at the age of 25.... There's something wrong with that picture! Hahaha Maybe I'm realizing that... my drinking led to bad decisions and I'm probably not the type of person to be able to control my consumption once I start. Oh goodness, does this make me a Born Again Alcoholic? Oh my goodness. (I could slap myself) Lol

It actually feels nice being sober before bed and not having to depend on my eye cream's magic to kick in. I've actually come to the realization of a few things that I have been doing... on my alarm clock, I have a post - it note that says, "If you keep doing what you're doing... you're gonna get the same result." Every morning I wack the shit out of my alarm clock and haven't paid any attention to it... Now I wake up and notice that my note sits on an alarm clock that plays a CD (which spins) and sits next to my turntables (which also spins). How ironic.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."
- Stolen from a friend's Facebook. Yes I read people's profiles! Mmmhmm. Emo's! Haha JK

Catch me in the mix at B4 Twelve in Palo Alto on November 5th! Booked by Adam Cova.

Series of Nightmares

2010-09-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

For the past few nights I've been having a series of nightmares! Waking up in fear that I'm still in the dream, waking up with my feet nearly off the bed or my head hanging over . I some how think that its probably because I watch all these vampire movies and having late night Jeno's Pizza with a side of Diet Cola.

Since I'm having trouble sleeping at the moment, I figured I'd share two of my most recent nightmares (that I seem to remember vividly) and hope that maybe someone can decode why I'm dreaming this.

Nightmare #1
I'm making myself lunch in the kitchen and my sister asks me, "Hmm, are making it for her too?" and I go, "For who?" Some how a little girls voice hovers over the kitchen and asks... "For me, are we still playing?" I had no idea where this came from, so I just ignored it.

As I finally finished prepping my lunch, I sat outside at our outdoor patio and had lunch by myself. I noticed it was windy out, but nothing moved on my plate and the only thing that wasn't blowing in the wind was everything on my plate.

When night finally hit, I went out. The normal 25 year old, enjoying a good time with a Mai Tai at hand. I sensed something was following me, so I started to run and I was running so hard that I felt as if something was going to catch up to me. Each time I looked back, nothing was there. But I kept running.

Something else scary happened... but I forgot. So I'll go on to my next nightmare and continue this later.

Nightmare #2
I was living at home with one of my ex-boyfriends and he goes to my bathroom. As I opened the door to ask him to pass me my make up, I catch him pee-ing all over my toilet. On the curtains, on the walls, on the floor. In disgust, I said, "Dude, what the F are you doing? You better clean this." He taunts me. So with all my might, I thought to myself, "Oh no, I'll take care of you."

So him and I totally just battle it out in the bathroom and I finally slam his head in the mirror, grab him and threw him out of the bathroom. The outside of the bathroom turned out to be the ally ways of what looked like the streets of India.

Bangles everywhere, wind chimes... Curry and spices. (Oh my goodness, what the heck was in that pizza last night!) I'm running around looking for him as I didn't get my last punch in. After searching, I get these sharp objects thrown at me and as I finally catch one in my hand, I throw it back... but only to hit my ex right where there is no sign of recovery.

I know I ran away into a dessert with a friend and we came across this empty house. It was gray inside, as if it was in a black and white western flick. All I heard was the rain drops hitting the tin cans, my girl friend goes, "Dude, we gotta tell someone what we did." My cell phone rings and one of my siblings told me to go meet her at an Italian restaurant.

On the way back, my friend tells me its going to be a bad idea. She's going to tell on what we did. I get there and my sister goes, "What have you done!?" and we take off running. All three of us is trying to tell our story and running at the same time. All I could remember was saying, "It was self defense. Besides, I didn't know where it was going to land."

Well, I'm not very good at remembering much... so this will have to do.

New Game Plan

2010-09-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to go back to school for quite some time and when I finally get around to it, it's one ticking time bomb for an anxiety attack. After 30 minutes of circling each parking structure, scrounging around my wallet to find two bucks for the parking meeter, looking for the class building, in time to at least grab a seat in the middle some where... I all of a sudden hear the teacher say, " The class is full. We can not take anyone else on the waiting list." I thought to myself, "WHAT?! I was number 7 on the waiting list! And THERE ARE SEATS?!"

So I thought of another way of going back, online school. I have been gathering school information on University of Phoenix and its gonna be one hell of a bill. What does that mean? Happy Hour drinks, cutting back on shopping and definitely Betty Crocker-ing it up at home (by that I mean, learning how to cook). It also means trying to save every buck I have left to at least keep my savings going. I don't think us DJ's have a good retirement plan HAHAHA! I eventually want to take myself on a tour around Europe after all of this!

Thinking into my past, I went to Mission College and De Anza with no problem... Went by fast which was great! But wow, I was operating off caffeine and energy drinks. The upside was making a ton of friends, the down side was loosing a ton of sleep because I had a staggered schedule between work, school and gigs. Sleep was golden.

I just think if I did online school, I could be in the comfort of my own home (or wifi equipped Starbucks) and save the anxiety attack... at least one of many! I would save on gas, parking and a useless non-DJ backpack. Hahahah

Thanks for reading my rants and raves! Don't forget to down load my current mixes on www.mixcrate.com/djreflecta

End of Summer mix and Hawaii!

2010-08-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Before I left to celebrate my 25th birthday in Hawaii, I had completed a mix titled End Of Summer Mix by Dj Reflecta & DJ mixing electro/pop. It was awesome! I haven't done one of these in a while and we're even thinking of making another one, with a different genre. It became an awesome beach tune for me as I had spent every single day in the sun and the sand.

I originally wanted to go Vegas for my birthday this year, however as my girl friends backed out little by little, I figured Hawaii would be a better trip as I've heard its a great place to go for the "newer couples" like my boyfriend and I =) Getting threw the security check points was weird! Each time I went threw the metal detectors they had asked if my boobs were silicone, I mentioned, "These are mine! No way, must be the bra." Btw, how could silicone set it off? I kept this to myself. Boarded the plane and by my luck, I sat next to the biggest guy on the trip. Sandwiched between him and my boyfriend. Yikes.

As we got there, I could totally feel the warmth and the fun that is about to become! On our first day there, we spent it walking around the near by beaches and checking out everything on foot. For some reason, I felt like I was in a nicer Americanized... Philippines. Everything was so similar! Especially the food! Every day it was rice, pork, taro and other things I really didn't know the name of... but tasted familiar.

Our first stop was the beach (of course), a Ocean Joy cruise on the Ka' Oli Oli during sunset and snorkeling! I got to see two huge turtles and a bunch of colorful fish! We got to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center (marevie.yelp.com) for the entire day and enjoyed laughing our asses off, a luao and of course a huge show called, "HA: Breath of Life," in a huge out door stadium! Even went hiking on our last day! I spent so much time at the beach that even when I arrived back in the Bay Area, I still had sand on my clothes! I was able to bring back Mauna Loa Milk Chocolate Toffee Macadamias. However, my new addiction is over now, I ran out =(

It was a vacation well needed and I am definitely doing it again on a different island. I loved the environment because everyone was so happy, so full of life and content with everything around them. I thought to myself that I would love to go to school out here or even, if I decided to have kids, raise em out there! So much to do and so much to experience!

Well, since I've been back, I'm totally missing the weather and definitely missing the atmosphere. I came back and I forgot that some people out here in California aren't so nice, but oh well Lol! Now back to work...

Let's party it up at my next gig! Pearl for Myke Famous on Saturday, September 4th in San Jose and B4 Twelve in Palo Alto for Passport.

In the Atmosphere

2010-06-21T23:44:00.001-07:00

Goodness, lessons learned from this gig... Always have an extra Serato box ready and get a new pair of needles. My headphones are even ready to break too! I'm holding it all together with duck tape.

San Francisco streets always give me the biggest anxiety while trying to get to a gig on time, Atmosphere just so happened to be on Broadway... a street I'm very familiar with. I didn't want to pay for parking over $5 so I opt for parking on a street down the hill and walked up to the club. Thank goodness I had a pair of flip flops with me! Every girl DJ should always have a pair =)

I started off my set with Santeria and made my way to a cool acoustic/rock/pop type thing (I don't know how to explain Gym Class Heroes meets Sublime, meets Lenny Kravitz, meets the Dream). My set was basically every where across the board and I honestly, don't know where the heck I was going with that set! People were hanging out and as soon there was sign of life on the dance floor, I went "all girl," meaning that I started playing, "My Humps,Tik Tok, Blah Blah, Paper Planes," and the likes.

I have got to say I wasn't quite impressed with my set that night. I'm on a mission to improve my programing for opening sets and work on steering the night. I know I'm being hard on myself, I just don't want to suck because I came back to this industry for a reason.

After that night, I decided to maybe go out again and catch other opening DJ's sets to observe. I haven't been doing so lately for various reasons, but it looks like I should start doing that again to get an idea at least. Each city is different, each crowd is different.

Well, off to my next gig! Catch me at ZEN LOUNGE IN MOUNTAIN VIEW THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 25TH!

Gigs, Mini Staycation and a Great Nap

2010-06-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, I spun at Fahrenheit for my resident spot which occurs every first Friday of the month. Of course it was a hip hop party and I was pleased to open up for Big Von from KMEL! I had a chill time opening up. The night before, I sat down with my lap top and started sorting out my music, what might work and what might not; Really getting in there and programming in my head what I think I should play. The night went real well and to top it all off, my Facebook friend came! She came by herself, I was at the gig by myself and we both had fun together! After my set, we grooved for a bit and then went to Pearl to check out another fellow girl DJ that was in town. My new heels from Nordie's (Nordstroms) were definitely broken in this night =) Now its time for adding cushion to the bottom of the heel. Lol!

After the weekend, my boyfriend and I actually had the same days off... So that meant... ROAD TRIP! Deciding to go to Disneyland on the whim, we left Sunday night and with only less than three hours of sleep, we explored both Disneyland and California Adventure! All in one day! After eating tons of fast food, tons of snacks and drinking a good amount of Red Bull, I decided that after this two day fiasco, I would change my diet. Back to my Fried Fridays! (That's when I don't eat anything that's fried until Fridays)

I definitely needed this time to have some fun and enjoy a great day. I'm definitely planning on taking advantage of having two consecutive days off. This is wonderful! =)

Feel free to check out my reviews on Yelp for places I visited! Find me at marevie.yelp.com

I can't wait till my gig this Saturday! I'll be spinning at ICON in San Francisco this Saturday, June 12th.

I feel like... I could do better.

2010-05-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

For the last two days, I've done my regular spot at Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge in Downtown San Jose and Lot 46 in San Francisco... However, I felt like... I sucked. There were people moving and grooving, but for some reason I felt as if I wasn't being myself. I wasn't programming my song selection correctly, I was just plain mixing. I wasn't using any effects, I was just being plain jane, one song to the other. WTH happened to me?! Is this what happens when you haven't been able to touch your turntables for two weeks!? Good Gosh!!! Each time I thought to myself, "Someone please get me off this stage."

I felt like, I wasn't playing the right songs (for the most part) and that I wasn't playing them in the format I'd like it heard in. At Fahrenheit, I started off with some old school because there were still people eating and I just wanted to see some head bopping while everyone finishes up. I was able to bring in the dance floor with some Prince, Michael Jackson and Boys II Men hits... however I lost them somewhere in the process between 10pm-12am. By the time 11pm hit, I was told to keep going on for another hour and as much as I wanted to keep all the hits for the next guy... I managed to throw in "Say Ahh" and "My Chic Bad." Which worked out okay, I just felt horrible for playing it that early.

For the next night, I spun at Lot 46 which was a much older crowd. To be honest, I don't know too much about Old School and 80's hits so I did what I could. I started off slow with "Return of the Mac" and then took it to some good ol' TLC and SWV. Then after the birthday announcement, I started fast with the "Birthday Sex" remix and then brought it almost ... everywhere... I went to rock, I went to pop, I went to.... another planet and beyond at the point of no return! =( Gosh, wth was I thinking?!

I guess its back to the drawing board. Time to really clean up my act.... These past two sets are unacceptable. Even if people were dancing. Hmmph! *crossing arms*

Relocation is a 50/50

2010-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

As the end of my lease draws near, I thought to myself a year ago that I would move to the Orange County area to do a little growing up. I felt as if I needed to be away from my Bay Area life style and experience a new... Because if I didn't do this now, I might never do it. I might end up staying in one place the rest of my life. If I kept doing what I'm doing, I'm going to get the same results. Along with these thoughts of wanting to move, I also became very concerned of my DJ career.

The original plan was to stay in the Bay until the end of August; Perfect timing to start Fall Semester at a new school, new area and even maybe start a new job if it were attainable. I had high hopes of getting a day job at another salon because I'll be in the nations most plastic capitol. Along with that, I understood that I probably wouldn't be getting a gig within my first year because I'll be on new territory, with not a soul to give me a chance. I figured it would encourage me to hustle, view other DJ's sets and build upon my own.

Now for the down side, what if I didn't find a job in time? What if my only choice was to get back on a pole again? What if I don't learn from this experience and end up coming back up to the Bay... still sounding like the same ol' Reflecta. Deep down inside, something was telling me that if I went, the goal is not to fail... but what if I become so solitaire I end up becoming a beach bum and turn into something I wasn't? I'm a social butterfly, but from the last time I went down to LA to network, I was turned down like an ugly girl.

Here in the Bay Area, I've been working on a lot of stuff to prep for the summer. Personal projects, shows, gigs etc. I've gone so far to meet with folks to try and further everything... but what if I left and I loose all connection? There are things coming up for me in the next few months and I would be stupid to leave if it was what would really help my career and my financial well being. What if it opened the doors for me to go to different areas without having to be shot down almost 99% of the time?

I recently had a conversation with two of my closest friends and both had the idea that, "Not everyone has the luxury just to up and leave like that... you've gotta cover your grounds and make sure you don't miss anything on that list." Then again, we thought back to another friend of ours who did move to Las Vegas for about two years... He didn't really get too far, but when he came back... his club mixing ability blew us all away. It was a major improvement and also, his mentality changed a lot. That's what I would have been content with if I did make this move, I might not make it too far... but its the improvement mentally.

I'll admit that I haven't been making the smartest decisions recently, heck... sometimes I come close to loosing my sanity. I just need to do a little growing up, that's all. But am afraid to leave for various reasons... Times coming up close and I'm so back and forth with it! GAH! Decisions Decisions.

This DJ's Love Life

2010-04-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Situation #1
I was hanging out at Temple SF a week ago with brand new single friend of mine; As someone random (he was so gangsta) was getting us a drink, he hands me mine and goes, "I don't know you, but just so you know... the guys that you like will never get far and they'll always finish last." As he leaves me stunned, another random guy (who was not his friend, looked rockabilly) pulled me to the side a few seconds later and said, "I know you don't know me, I know you FOR SURE don't know him, but using guys is just not nice. I hope someone works out for you." I was left speech less.

My girl friend who noticed my facial expression was like, "Dude, it's a sign."
I went, "What kinda fucking sign is that?"
She goes, "Good question."

Situation #2
Long story short, I dated a room mate of mine which did not work out. He went to San Francisco to do sound for LMFAO and another fellow DJ goes, "Oh, DJ Reflecta? She's a dope ass chick, but I dunno about dating her. She's kinda... ya know."

What is going on? It boggles my mind how three random guys, not knowing me closely, not knowing me at all, had the urge to tell me something I might have needed to hear. Maybe I am doing something wrong with my dating life? Maybe I am doing something wrong....

Last night was Easter Sunday and I had a sudden calling to go to church. I haven't been to church in years, but last night something was telling me to go. I caught the 8pm mass and as I knelled to pray, I had this one on one conversation with God. I finally came to the conclusion that I shouldn't be a robot. I have to be doing something more than the just (career wise)... And I'm actually going to pay attention to my past horoscope that mentioned, "In 2010 you must find love dear Leo or else you'll never find it." I think I'm actually going to be open to the fact of a relationship... not just dating to just find out what I like.

I know what I like, I know what I want. I want my DJ career up a notch (and a huge step up). I can't be stuck at a desk all day with this awesome phone voice and this incredible MC tone. I want to be behind a mic with huge head phones on, hyping up people that I probably won't meet but know that they'll know my voice or mixing ability as.... I dunno, "Reflecta during Traffic Hour" Hahahaha something to that extent.

I want someone to love me for all my bad romance. Someone to actually understand the way that I am and laugh real hard with me. Someone who absolutely adores me and tells me that I'm beautiful no matter how I get ready for a gig/work or how mad I get. Someone who understands that I am a certain way because I'm destined to be someone different with all roles I have to take part in ... because at the end of the day, I'm just Marevie. I'm not looking for a twin, I'm looking for someone who can groove with my life's beat.

"Cheers to the douche bags that left me, to the losers that cheated on me and the brave son of a bitch that has yet to meet a Marevie."

I'll be spinning at Fahrenheit in Downtown San Jose, CA this Saturday for opening set! Be there early!

First time with a Drummer. First time at Soul Central.

2010-03-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

These past two gigs were awesome yet nerve clenching! Friday was my first night spinning with a drummer from midnight till closing. Saturday was my first Soul Central party in which I had to spin old school. Both nights, for an hour and a half/two hours.

I was so nervous I didn't know what to do with myself. I spent nights of lost sleep to practice and really make sure I have all the songs I needed and my play lists organized.

Some how, some way... the DJ gods opened up the heavens for me and said, "You're gonna do great damn it." And I did! The first night, Friday at Motif I spun with Chris Paxton on the drums and I kept one thing in mind... Keep everyone on the floor. I get nervous spinning down stairs sometimes... People tend to gravitate upstairs no matter what. But I banged it out and I said to myself, "You bitches are staying in my gosh damn room, you're not going anywhere!" And mentally it worked! I kept the vibe upbeat, happy go lucky and honestly... I played as if I was in the Diva in the crowd, waving my hair. Lol! Playing with a drummer was awesome, I dropped a few songs out of no where and he just rocked on. Also, pulled some other stuff I would have never been brave enough to do... but did. It was great! Can't wait to do that again!

On Saturday, I got to spin for Soul Central and I was hired to do Old School. Honestly, I was born in 1985 and my hearing didn't develop til 1992. I totally missed the 80's and I kinda hung around the 90's (I was still watching the Sesame Street around that time! LOL) Some how some way, I thought about the old TLC, the old Color Me Badd and of course ... Michael Jackson, Janet, Madonna, Paula Abdul, Vanilla... oh how the car goes boom... omg... Prince... Bel Biv Devoe... I thought to myself, whatever my older sisters were playing in the car on the way to school are the jams! =) That night I got my best friend's approval which matters a lot, she didn't say, "Eh, you did... alright friend." She said, "Got damn Marevie! You are picking some good ass shit!" Phew. I hope the promoters liked me, I'd really like to play that stuff again, its almost a history lesson for me. I had people dancing before 10:30pm! To me, that's a huge compliment to the DJ without having to say anything. Of course, towards the prime time range, people were requesting hits so I left that all up to David Q.

I can't wait for my next gig this Friday! I'll be playing at Farenheit in San Jose on April 2nd. I hope to see you all there!

Shoulda Stayed Home

2010-02-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

When your body tells you its nap time cuz you're tired, you do it. I should have listented to myself because now I kinda wished I stayed in my cave!

Since it was going to be stormy in San Francisco last night, I decided to stay local. A girl friend of mine caught me before I left work and asked if Iwould go out, I agreed only under one condition ... I have to go to the gym before I head home to get ready. After working out for about two hours, I suddenly felt tired and really just wanted to stay home and curl up on my bed.

I really didn't feel like going out, but I felt obligated to. Actually, I was! Gosh. Forced out of my room, we went to the Brit in San Jose to check out the band, "Spazmatics." These guys were dressed as nerds, but totally gave the bar a great vibe! I even got to talk to one of the guys and he was so sweet! Surprised that I actually came up to him to keep a conversation he goes, "I'm going to pretend that you're not this hot so I can talk to you, " and I'm like, "What?! Am I ugly? I'll leave you alone" and he goes, "You're super hot... but you're making me kinda nervous. A little intimidating." Haha! Cool cat, but had to go on stage again, so I continued on wandering around the bar alone at this point since the person I came with started cup caking with her boo. This always happens! I'm either the great wing woman who has to talk to the hot guys' ugly friend for conversations sake or I end up being the girl friend to hold everyone's purse.

A couple things I noticed... Everyone had a Shamrock shirt on (for those of you that know ... HA! Go figure right?!) and I became a magnet for all cougars, male puma's (between 30-40) and just weird wangsta's. What a night I had! The girl I came with met up with a dude that was around our age (24-26) but goodness.... It looked like he had brought his old OLD friends with him! Me, trying to be a nice, felt like the weird asian girl with the older older men. I felt so awkward and left them to go make some random friends my own age... at least tried to. Only to find that alot of people my age was cup caking too! WTH!?

Being by myself, I made my way to the stage and just grooved to the band, jumped around, flipped my hair and enjoyed my beer with my random M.I.L.F.S with boobs. It was randomly fun, but I was just a little pissed.

Blah.

Lesson learned, stay home when feeling like it.

Risking a Move

2010-02-23T00:52:00.000-08:00

After getting back from a week long trip to Southern California, my view of moving changed. I felt fear. The kind of fear of being alone, the kind of fear of trying to make things work, the kind of fear not knowing what is in my future unless I face that fear and do all that I can to make the best of it. But out of all of that... I feared that... I might not get anywhere.

What I noticed about the area in hanging out with friends and meeting people, there's tons and tons of talent. Which is awesome because, I need to be around people who are really doing what they can to make things work and follow what they enjoy doing... but here's the thing, I'm not looking to move to chase after my dream of becoming a "most requested" DJ... I really just want a new change in scene, but fear that I might not ever get a gig down there. Follow?

The biggest things I'm so concerned about is where is my DJ-ing career going to go and no one knowing my name. Here in the Bay Area, at least I ring some kind of a bell. Might not be a big bell, but Dj Reflecta is a "Oh, wait.. I heard of that name... who's that again?" Another concern is my job, what if I don't find another place to work at? What if I don't find a quick job in time? What if... just what if . How am I going to provide for myself for the first few months?

Priorities is key and a friend of mine mentioned that I should take frequent trips down to make an easy transition. Try to get side gigs, use that time to only network and really look into what I might be getting into as far as a day job may go.

However ... I have until April to make this decision. If I decide to stay, I'll probably be apartment hunting with a friend of mine so that we can live together. If I decide to go ... but all of a sudden change my mind, then where am I going to stay? How am I going to afford somewhere to live that is around, or less than what I am paying now?

I honestly, sometimes think of the move being good at times... Good to just get away and focus, re-think and observe other DJ's, focus on going back to school and finishing this long lost Journalism dream I've had... But its just that fear of not doing well and having to come back home to only say I didn't accomplish anything.

I need to make a decision.

Xanh and Motif

2010-02-22T01:11:00.000-08:00

Gosh, was this week weird!? I usually spin at Xanh in Mountain View at least one to two times a month and most of the staff knows me pretty well, nice folks, familiar faces here and there at this restaurant turned lounge at night. However, something was different about this night. I somehow felt nervous. WHY?! I don't know why. Not to be rude, but its really hit or miss on my nights... I either get a dancing crowd, a sitting down and mingling crowd... or sometimes, even just a couple people at the bar. I started looking down on myself and thinking, wow... is something wrong with me trying to pull a crowd in a little place? I'm getting the word out, I get at least 2-3 friends to come out here and there with their friends.. but damn. However, I also thought to myself... I'm a DJ. My job is to sound good, give everyone a good time and market MYSELF. For it to be dead like that... it really made me think.

Then came Saturday, I was scheduled for the midnight to close shift in the upstairs room. Jason Dee did a great 11pm set and really made me think about MY OWN sets at 11pm at other clubs... this guy really prepped the night well! By the time I went on ... they finally let people without wrist bands come up... I thought to myself, "Play Hits." So I'm playing hit after hit and this little voice in my head went, "Remember... your Oh Shit songs, your Feel Good songs and your Cheesy and Cheddar songs." I got away with playing the Electro versions of pop/hip hop songs and rock. WTF. I felt like putting my hands up like DJ Tiesto and jumping around in my booth! I attempted to mess with singles (songs without introductions) and just slamming stuff in. Turned out okay I suppose, everyone was singing and dancing! I did some ball-zy stuff last night!

What really made my night is, there was a drummer there by the name of Chris and my friend D-Roc from Spinatiks did a set together... It was awesome! I really digged it, so I started dancing randomly with my girl friend infront of the stage... who kinda was just chill with her beer... and then some random girl just came up to me and goes, "Hey! Go to the stage and tell the drummer to take off his shirt!" WTF?! He actually did! But... left a tank top on. LOL! Nice guy! Quite HANDSOME too ;)

Well, that was my gig week. I don't have any other gigs lined up, so I think its a sign to work on my programming and make some demo's.

Industry Tuesdays at ICON SF

2010-02-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

I spun for "Industry Tuesdays" twice at ICON in San Francisco and both times I felt as if I failed with my programming. Last Tuesday, January 26th was my first night at Icon. I got to hear Benzo and Brian V's set before I went on to get a feel of how the direction of the night was going. By the time 12:45am rolled around, I was a little tipsy already.

I kicked off with a few current hits that were a bit up tempo, such as "Baby By Me" and "Gangsta Love." I noticed it already hit 1am really quick so I brought out my Red Red Wine and my Skeelo's "I Wish." With the pressure of having to play "Invented Sex," after I was winding everything down... I was really scared to throw that in. I'm used to being on beat or at least have a short 8 count before the lyrics came in... but that song on my end was just the echo that went "Hey girl hey girl ahhhhhh ahhh ahh." I didn't feel like I had the balls to just drop it out of no where, but my buddy told me that I should just drop it at a certain point. I quickly grabbed my MC ( I don't remember if it was Romeo or someone else) and did it. That night, I felt like I was on beat... but just my song selection was way off.

I could have played some 90's hits to wind it down or end it with a current HOT HOT HOT track. I could have done different, but I know I can't blame it on the alcohol I consumed that night. I met a lot of people at the end and I had really good compliments, good reviews ... but honestly, when it comes down to is how I felt about my night. I must have done something good that day, because I got booked for the next Tuesday! YAY!

By the time Tuesday, February 2nd rolled around... I was expecting a mixed crowd again and the same formatting. By the time I walked through the door... damn, these people look pretty rough. Excited to see friends that came to Icon just to hear me play made me think of what kind of stuff I know they listen to. However, my opening DJ made it hard for me... I was on at 11:45pm and I kind of witnessed the crowd drown before I even got on. The pressure was on!

All that was going through my head was, "Reflecta... you better pull out all tricks in your hat and man up here." First few minutes, cool got the crowd going and KEPT them on the dance floor. After a few more drinks sent my way... I became my worst critic and I kept second judging how a song would do if I threw it in after a certain song, how the vibe would go if I threw this in, if its too early to play a fresh hit... Stuff like that. OMG. Instead of the super friendly drunk that I am, I became paranoid. I became scared of everything I played. However, apparently it did some what okay because everyone kept dancing till the end of my hour set.

Then again... I felt like shit... again. WTF is up with my programming for slower songs below 110 bpm?

Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't drink before or during my set. I know it impairs everyone's mind just a bit, but I really only want to give excellence. I want to be able to leave my booth and someone come up to me to say, "You were FANTASTIC. You gave me excellence!" Okay, well maybe not like that, but ya'lls get what I'm talking about! Lol

Today, I spent a few hours making a live demo and I really just spent those times being frustrated. After recording, I would think to myself... "Oh wait, I shoulda played this song, that song. I could have scratched this in, I could have dropped this at this time etc etc." UGGGGHH!!!! Tomorrow is another day, I will try this again.

Change in Scenery

2010-01-19T02:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not married. I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have kids... I don't even own a house.
Move to Southern California? Sure why not.... Then as I get closer to the date, I get cold feet. Great.

To make a long story short, I live with a buddy. Rule of the house was that if my buddy gets married, all of us (roomies) moves out and that would be the end of our lease. Once I told myself that I needed a change in scenery, I'm gonna take it as an opportunity to try one of the nations most known area for Entertainment, Southern Cal... the new's slowly crept up on me and all of a sudden.... WAM BAM! My buddy is engaged and my lease is up in June.

I thought I was set on moving some where outside of my comfort zone, but as I think about it only being four months away... I'm getting a little shaky. I've lived in the Bay Area all my life. I know Northern California like the back of my hand. Everyone I know is up here, I can get lost and still find my way home. I can have a day off and still know what to do with myself. If I needed a friend to chill with, my best girl friends are all up here.... But if I leave to Southern Cal, all I got are fellow DJ's and maybe a few friends that are now professional dancers. If I were to leave, I may or may not have found a job in time. I may or may not have found my connections to keep me as a working DJ.

My reason for moving down south is to dip myself in an environment that suits my personality and my goal within the whole Journalism/Mass Communications and DJ-ing deal. If I stayed up here in Silicon Valley, I'm probably going to get fatter, get married, have kids and end up being some Engineer or even end up being a nurse. But up here, I stick out as a DJ. Down there, I'd probably fall into that "Model/Dancer Turned DJ" phase everyone is going through.

Ok... I confess, I was a model at one point and had an agency represent me. I was a dancer for a dance group and even ended up teaching classes as a Hip Hop instructor. But I started as a DJ and discovered those along the way. By going down South, what if I get turned down all the time. What if I don't find a day job in time, what if I'm in a rut again. Then what? What if I get lonely? Like... Who's going to be my partner in crime?

Decisions Decisions. I really like where I'm at in the day time and ... well, I'm not booked as often as I want to be... but I love the people that surround me.. But if I want to make things better for myself, I think taking this risk would be rewarding. I would be away from a few distractions and be able to focus a little more on continuing my education.

I need to make a decision... and not regret it.

Food, Vodka and a Comedian

2009-12-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

I bravely stepped on the scale yesterday... and it read, "140 lbs." GOOD GOSH! For work today, I totally just took out my Fat Pants that were in the back of my closet because its the comfiest one! There goes my self esteem. But, it was so much fun last week! Can we talk this? =)

For Christmas I ventured to Stockton and grubbed like a mad woman. I had tamale's for breakfast, eggs, sausage and 4 plates for dinner. It was absolute mayhem and it felt like my stomach was on over drive saying, "Oh no, Marevie, I'm not done yet! " hahaha! Felt so nice to just be with family and friends this time of year... Being single over the Holidays isn't so bad after all. Or should I say, I've gotten used to three years of it!

Day after, I went to the Filipino Kings of Comedy event at the Improv in San Jose with a friend and I got to sit in the center, infront of the stage!!! I could basically extend my arm and touch the comedian. I was super close, I thought I was going to get picked on! Of course I didn't, but I just remember getting the looks from the comedian and me thinking to myself, "OMG, its gonna happen!!!" After the show, I caught some of the comedians at the door and can we say star struck here? OMGYG!!! (Oh My Gosh You Guys) I got to take a picture with each one! Except for one, he was the popular one that got all the girls. Lol!

After the show, I decided to check up on my roommate who borrowed my mixer for Loft and behold... I find a drunk random girl trying to hop on it. Thank god the guys got her outta the booth in time before I channeled it in my mind to go over and slap a bitch. Ugh! I don't ever tolerate drunk people who try to go and touch equipment! Its one thing to be requesting song after song, but touching stuff? Oh, no bueno. Time out there! Lets put a dunce hat on ya and make you sit in the corner! Hahaha

The very next day, I had to work. Bright and early at 10am! Wow, was that a challenge. I got to the salon at exactly 9:58am did my few hours and slapped on some ice skates to meet some fam. I nearly ate it on the ice but my inner ice princess came out =) I did so well with not drinking this day, so proud of myself! I had this belief that the only cure for a hang over was to drink more... unfortunately, I was corrected lol! But I still ate more after skating and it was more a feast! It was soooo good.

Well, I guess my new "diet and lifestyle" routine starts today. Its time to put down the 3rd martini glass, hide my debit card from myself again and start on my Summer 2010 body!

I had so much fun in 2009, so in 2010... Let's do it again!!! =)

Champion Shift

2009-12-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

My neck, my back... how it hurts! But well worth it. I rarely do mobile gigs, so I feel like a wussy for complaining about the amount of weight lifted. Haha! For the non DJ, mobile gigs means that you provide your own equipment for a private event.

Friday kicked off with my normal 9am-5pm shift at Atelier Aveda on Santana Row as a DESK Jockey, it was mayhem. We had to move things around, get everything prepped to fit my equipment by the window and balance answering phones/customer service things ... my anxiety was thru the roof, but I did a really good job of keeping sane and calm. Transformed into DISC Jockey by 5:30pm till about 8:30pm at the salon for our 7 year anniversary... packed up, headed home to drop off equipment and back on the road to Mountain View for my gig at Xanh Restaurant on Castro.

Formating for the event at Atelier was kind of something knew for me, I did Holiday music but made use of my effects on my mixer to blend them in... not too educated on Frank Senatra's Jingle Bells songs and the Beach Boys Christmas songs I had going on, but I made it work somehow... someway! I played alot of girly pop too in between the Christmas sets, which looked like a 20 minute Christmas BLEND and then 30 min pop/rnb/hip hop/ electro thing. And alternating between the two. So much fun, some of my coworkers stayed for the snacks we had out and listened to my set! My friends swung by as well.

When I went to Xanh, I attempted a House and Rock set. I'm on a mission to get it! I will get this!!! But of course, had to do what was comofortable with me for a good hour. During my set, two of my Myspace friends actually came too! It was so exciting to meet them!

Over all, I'm so glad that Friday happened... I still got it in me to pull a 12 hour day with work the very next morning. I believe its time for a mimosa =)

Myke Famous and Epic Entertainment

2009-11-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

I had super fun feeding off the vibes this past, "Friday the 13th" weekend! It was my second time mixing for Myke Famous at B4 Twelve and my first time EVER in Santa Cruz for Epic Entertainment at Aqua Bleu. I must share!

So, Friday night I get to the club super early to make sure I get parking in front of the club. I was so starving, but didn't know my way around the area. I went inside and viola! They were still serving food! I had taco's at B4 Twelve and I tried this weird, almost tabasco but not, sauce. My mouth was on fire for my opening set! I tried to wash it down by drinking more beer, but that was a bad idea in itself already. Hahaha! My opening set went okay, I was surprised some of my friends were there early enough to hear me spin (totally loves!). I don't know what was going through my mind to stay in the 75-115 range in an hour tops, but I did it some how! Haha I was on a mission to play my Maroon 5! That night I wore my black tube top looking dress, with leg warmers! It was cold! I braved it out and just didn't care because... its cold out, my calves are too muscular for boots... so I slapped on my jazzy leg warmers and wore it through out the night =) It came in handy actually when I went outside to meet the other DJ's in the outside room! I got to meet DJ Lindsay and only caught the last 30 minutes of her set =( I guess we were spinning both at the same times in different rooms. It was so fun to see Chris Larot, GBeats and Ajaxx spin that night!

Come Saturday night, I feared it. I had never spun in Santa Cruz, I had never driven the 17 by my lonesome... I really did not know what to expect and my friends were texting me, "No Drinking Marevie! I mean it!" I sneaked in a few drinks, I just had to! But of course, I knew my limit. I got to spin around 11 till close and I got away with so much. I started off with Tik Tok and worked my way around my Britney's, Timbalands, Justin's and of course... I just HAVE to.. my Lil Jon! There were times where I was scared of throwing in certain songs, but I manned up and just threw it in. I got away with AC DC, I got away with Skee Low, I got away with Ice Cube and even ... Yup... I done got away with O.P.P YEA YOU KNOW ME! What da... and for the ONE TIME, I wanted to try a trick on my heavy ass control records, I turned to the side and the owner of Motive was there! Crud. I wanted to dig myself a hole cuz it didn't sound the way I wanted it to. I hope he stayed for the rest of my set (I swear I did good...aside from that part lol) The party was so cool, people were so nice here and welcoming! I came by my lonesome and made some good acquaintances. I especially loved the girls on the tables serving chocolate strawberries on their bodies! My friend Dj Shea let me fill in this gig, and I'm so thankful he got to let me take his spot! It was so fun listening to Dj RCade this night too!

Anyway, this week is going to be super chill. I'll be spinning at Xanh in Mountain View, CA this Friday November 20th at 10pm till 12am, so I hope to see all of you there!

Late Realization

2009-11-12T00:54:00.001-08:00

I finally woke up this morning, and "smelled the coffee beans." On my way to work this morning (about an hour late), I feared that I was going to loose my job. That it was going to be the last straw, that I had used all my cat lives.. and another day with not having my hair on point? Oh my goodness, my bosses would have a fit if I put my hair up in a pony tail one more time. But I was given a chance, I don't make too many mistakes... but how many chances will I get if I don't upgrade my performance? With that, I started to notice other things.. my DJ career, my lifestyle, my personality.

Each day, I wake up to my alarm clock which has a pink post-it note that says, " If you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to get the same result." It's just now sinking in. I've been on my own for the past seven years and every day consisted of : school, work, dance, DJ. I never sat back and looked at my lifestyle to think, why does my life feel like it hasn't moved? How can I improve?

I came back to the industry as a DJ, I dived into a new avenue in the day and I put school on hold. I've said to myself, its not going to be the same, I'm gonna make it... and what am I doing. I'm sitting around waiting for the phone call to spin at a club, I'm being a robot at work and I'm not even blogging/writing as much as I used to. I had it going for me at one point, but I never took advantage of it. I have connections to learn from, I have opportunities to make myself stick out... but am I? Nope. I'm still sitting at home, waking up to the same job and waiting for someone to book me or notice what a great job I'm doing at work. That's all I'm doing... waiting for someone to notice me. It just can't be like that anymore. I can't just keep waiting for chance, I have to make chance happen.

All I can do now, is to keep in mind that I have to change my day. I have to manage my time better and really make this work. I'm 24 with no responsibilities except for myself. What da fuck am I doing.

Sabor for Ladies Night

2009-09-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was really nervous for this gig. Because I am a San Jose native, I knew what Sabor had in store for me. It had mayhem, it had... a ton of familiar faces! What fears me the most is... people know me, there's people there that has really gotten to know my life, gotten to know my personality and what if I fuck up? What if I clear the floor? What if... I throw a song that nobody likes and the owner boots me off the stage himself? What if...

Before each gig, I practice for most of the afternoon. I wanted to mix girl friendly music, but I also wanted to get away with a little rock, a little bit of somethin' somethin' that would make those say, "Yea, that's a Marevie mix." I guess I put so much thought into it at home that it was disaster each and every time.

As I was getting to the club, I go through the usual mayhem. People usually talk shit about me and I can hear it, "What the fuck. That girl is in a dress, heels and carrying a huge ass back pack." Then I get to the club and the usual again, people in line going, "What is she doing just walking up to the front? Since when did you start DJ-ing here?" with that snicker... Like I wasn't supposed to be there. In a tone that I didn't fit in. Being the person that I am, I usually just deal with it, tell the bouncer with the awkward face I was the 11:00 DJ and then his face adjusts to, "Oh! Okay oops, well you're cool! Go right in."

My best buddy RQ helped me calm my nerves down a bit, but my other buddy Ms. Mojito over there sure didn't do her justice! Got damn it. I get there and I'm doing a lot of observing. By the time 10:50 rolled up, I didn't even do my usual pee pee dance to the bathroom before getting on stage. I went up there and for some reason, my B+ game kicked in.

I played recurrent songs that ranged from Yin Yang Twins, Lil Jon, Mariah Carey and the likes... I went from RnB to Hip Hop then I carried over to Hyphy music, cooled it down with Bay Bay Bay and then brought it up to a polka dot bikini groove with a twist of Bebot because the club was packed with so many Filipino's. I was actually scared to throw in that song, but I had a lot of good reactions. People were jumping around, doing their thing and singing along (to the point where I can cut out the music and have everyone just sing the song itself). Now, my buddy that came with me was always (for years) the person I would always be nervous around because of his feedback on every nitty gritty detail. But I actually got a decent review! Wow, now that makes me wanna even work on my mixing more! I think I did okay, on a scale of 1-10... he gave me a 6 which is awesome. Decent enough. What would you rate it as? Lol

I had so much fun last night, I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I rocked by new American Apparel dress with the slouchy side shoulder... but what bothered me was this fat douche bag kept trying to take my sparkly diamond bracelet! He kept pulling on it like, "You don't need this. Its stretchy so it must be fake. I'm not leaving with out it." And I said right back, "Look fat boy, its BEBE okay. It's mine, and its not gonna fit your fat wrist." I just walked away. Eww. What a douche bag. People like that piss me off, if a girl is rockin it... you never go up to her and try to take the spot light. He was even wearing this ugly ass - not even Tiffany Co legal - colored shirt like he was flossing some Forever 21 for Men shit. I'm sorry, I was really pissed about that. My friend even said he probably wanted it for a fancy cock ring. HAHAHAHAHA!

Well, that was my night. Now I'm enjoying some wine at home. Have a great night!

Irritated in the Booth

2009-09-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

After weeks of restless nights, I forgot that there was that ONE thing that bothered me as a DJ... People coming in my booth; Jumping on the stage causing my needles to skip or even just coming to the booth to have a full blown conversation with me... while my headphones are over my ears and my monitors on blast. Then moments later, after (in my mind) politely excusing them until the end of my hour, the person will come up to me saying, "Why are you being so rude?" Another thing I've noticed, there aren't ever any bouncers regulating it during my sets! They'll be around, but not even approaching my unwanted guest asking whats up. When ever I approach a DJ booth with a male spinning, even if its just a quick hello or to grab my back pack, a bouncer will always tell me "You need to get off the stage, you can't be up here." I always have a hard time explaining that I'm a DJ too!

Honestly, it pisses me off sometimes how people don't get me. My job as a disc jockey is to reflect what the crowd's energy is giving me, most of the time reflecting my energy to them. I want to be able to groove with MY crowd and really give them a good time. Imagine being a dancer on stage with a dope ass routine you've worked on, all eyes on you and ONE person tugs on a pant leg like, "Hey, talk to me" and really pushes it. Totally messing you up before a sick ass move or worse, when there's someone of importance (i.e booking agent, manager etc) standing in the crowd. People are watching and with DJ's... people are listening.

I used to be really good at just toning everyone out, putting up my index finger to signal ," Gimme a sec," but its really pissing me off that folks come to the stage for more than a two second conversation. Those two seconds better consist of, "Gotta business card, I have a song request, do you want a drink," even feed back telling me how I could maybe steer my mix in a second or anybody for one quick photo with me. Those I love and don't mind at all.

There are some Disc Jockey's that do great with having full on conversations while mixing and having someone just stand there, but what you all must understand... I'm human and when there's a speaker on full blast, its gonna sound like I'm yelling like a mad woman regardless. Half the time, I AM pissed because guys are coming up going "Damn ma, got a man? Where's you're man at? Can I take 10 different pictures with you? What brand is your lap top? What's Serato?" Yet just stands behind me or even to the side of me on stage! UGH!!! Just makes me so irritated!

I'm just upset at whenever I say, "Hey, can we talk after my set?" or "Sure, I'll catch ya in a few," turns into me being portrayed as this mean, short tempered girl! Some people just don't understand, REAL human beings get irritated once in a while. If everyone was so fucking nice all the damn time, life would not make sense.

Good Night!

August Mayhem

2009-08-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

It has been absolute mayhem this month! I had a few gigs a week, my birthday and finally went through the transition of turning into a full time employee at my day job... I'm looking in the mirror thinking, "Alcohol and Fast Food... 10 pounds extra!" Good lord, it's time to manage my time right so I can at least make it to the gym at least three times a week! My power walking during lunch theory backfired. Blah! Guess its time to go back to my Fried Fridays, in which I can only eat fried food on Fridays and my Monday Mocha days, the only day I will allow caffeine. Anyone want to join? Lol

This month was definitely a great experience for me as a person and as a Disc Jockey. There were it's ups and downs, but hey... I've gotta learn the truth somehow! A few things that came across my way made me think twice about the way I form my mixes at clubs and the way I am as an individual, outside of being Dj Reflecta. We'll save that touchy subject for another time.

Time management is key for me now, I wanna be able to get stuff out of the way instead of just going through the routine of "work, spin, work... work, spin, work." I want it to be more like, "Practice, spin spin spin, work... Practice, spin spin spin... yoga." Something to that effect! I guess I'll figure it all out as I go!

Goddess at Motif

2009-08-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun at Goddess again! This time it was at Motif in Downtown San Jose. I had spun for this club before for my FIRST come back gig this year and I wanted to make up for it. Honestly, back in May I really was just getting back in the groove of having that ear for music, that sight for a hot song that would work for the crowd (and my set sucked major that time). A couple months back in the scene, I think that my visual perception of the crowd and knowing what to play has just clicked.

I started off with Twista's "Overnight Celebrity" and managed my way to get to some baby makin' - juicy lovin' - body groovin'- monkey shakin' songs that even I was weary about throwing in because what if the next guy wants to play this song? What if I'm playing this too early? What if, it kills things? I just went with my gut instinct and told myself, "I'm gonna throw it in, you're gonna love it, ya'll are gonna groove and its gonna happen." I even threw in a few Hyphy songs ranging between E40's "White Girl" and The Team's "It's Getting Hot in Here." I didn't want to play anything semi-new until 11:15pm... 15 minutes before my set ended. By the look from my angle, I saw that everyone was dancing on the floor quite early! The line outside must have gotten in that fast.

Overall, I thought my set went smooth! I didn't flip out as usual. I wasn't nervous anymore by this time, I had gotten used to being on a stage... infront of tons of people and observing where this mix needs to go. I'm actually getting it (again)! Now lets only hope it stays that way. Hehehe!
Next Gig:
Friday, August 14 I will be at B4 12 in Palo Alto for CRUSH
Saturday, August 15th I will be at Voodoo for opening set and closing at Britannia Arms in San Jose! Get on my guestlist!

Email iknowdjreflecta@yahoo.com before 5:00pm the day of the gig! I hope to see you there!

Put it On @ Suite 181

2009-08-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to be back in San Francisco! The place I call home, as a Disc Jockey. Where I've started, where I've played and definitely the scene that I love. I got an offer to spin for ipartyevents and it was for "Put It On." Willie from Day 26 was going to be there and it was supposedly a black dress party... Apparently as I looked out, I was the only one in a sassy black dress! Oh well, I felt cute for a night.

I did an opening set at 10pm and I was the first to arrive, of course. As I introduced myself, the manager just kinda let me have at it at the booth.... the set up was simple enough. I started spinning some smooth R&B and recurrent hip hop, but as soon as I looked at the incoming crowd... I literally thought I was doing something wrong, until I figured out every one was still getting drinks at 10:15pm! Lol Anyway, I wanted to get them all on the floor, I wanted a crowd.. I needed to pump it.

After a few seconds, I figured it out. This was a ghetto crowd! WTF am I doing?! I wanted to ease into it before doing anything drastic, so I played a few songs from Too Short and grabbed some balls to throw in some songs from Pitbull. That's what got 'em. Now I just need to flow with it.

It was definitely a hard opening for me, but I made it work. Opening is always tough for me because its a game of guessing what type of crowd this is and where I'd like to steer my mix. I love it, I hate it... but since I'm barely returning to the world of DJ-ing, I think this would be best because it test's my mentality. I live, I learn. But hey, I got to take a picture with Will though! Hehe Just gotta find that photographers website because that link on the card isn't working! I'll post it soon =)

On to the next gig! I'll be at Goddess at Motif in Downtown San Jose this Friday, August 7th!

Goddess At Avalon

2009-07-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

Spinning at Avalon was going to be a flashback for me. I used to come to this club when it was BackBeat as a teenager for the minor parties in 2001! Anyway, this was my second gig for MikenTribe and I was excited to meet the other DJ's! Since it was such a short gig because of the outcome, I took it as practice time. I opened up with some old hip hop, ranging from Ciara, Petey Pablo and even Yin Yang. I don't know what the heck I was doing! I just went with it.

By the end of my opening set, I was a bit upset that I MYSELF didn't even feel it. I just felt so blah that day, a mixture between boy drama and reality. I just thank god no one was there to hear it! Ugh. Lesson learned, next time... I'm rocking out in my car, doing my yoga hours before a gig just so I can get in the mood and release anything that has happened because by the end of the day... I'm DJ Reflecta and I wanna rock.

My next gig is at Suite 181 for Heat Seekah's in San Francisco on August 1st! I hope to see all of you there. Promise to be in a better mood!

Retro Active @ Britannia Arms

2009-07-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to spin for MikenTribe at Britannia Arms! The event was called Retro Active and I was the opening DJ. Having done my homework since I've gotten hired for the gig, I thought that I might get away with a little bit of rock. I went online and checked out yelp reviews, their website and of course, the night was named a 80's and 90's night. Being a child of the 80's... I really didn't develop my ear for listening to music till the mid 90's because I was stuck listening to Disney music the whole damn time! Homework was much needed.

Only four hours before getting ready, I decided to practice. Everyone had left the house (or so I thought) and I decided to rock out in the scorching 80 degree weather in my room. Still in my work clothes, it didn't cross my mind on what to wear. I wanted to just get in there, throw on my favorite rock songs ranging from Nirvana, Korn, Linkin Park and a cross over to Gym Class Hero's, Shwayze and even a little bit of Coffee & Donuts from Kevin Rudolf... when it came time to get ready, I thought, "FML! I HAVE NO JEANS?! WHERE ARE MY CUTE TOPS?! WHERE?! WHO WHAT!? Crap." When in doubt, I reached in the back of my closet for my purple dress from Bombshell Boutique and my Cathy Jean shoes. I knew I was a little dressed up, but what the heck... I didn't do laundry!

When I got there, everyone was so polite! I got to meet the manager and the bouncers, which totally helped ease my nerves a bit. I walked in, thinking "Brain don't fail me now!" Haha. Before my set started, I looked around to notice there were a few folks a little older than me so I started off with B52's LoveShack. Throughout the first few minutes, I played songs from artists such as Prince, MC Hammer, Rick James, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and made my way to Fall Out Boy, Jonas Brothers... I even threw in a quick AC/DC.

Then all of a sudden, BAM! Hip hop heads came in and so I tried to test the waters... good lord, the waters were tested. I went with the flow and tried to blend the two genre's together, trying to get away with it. Some good, some bad... but I managed to keep all the girls on the dance floor, finally. I guess I did something good. I knew it was a 80's, 90's night... but with that crowd I just went with what my gut told me... however in my head I thought, "Oh man, I hope I don't get yelled at tonight for not following."

By the end of the night, I got some good reviews and people really liked it! Phew. Okay, I can now pee calmly. I observed the next few DJ's and kept alot of it in mind for next time... maybe I should try this, try that.

I really liked that venue, it was so chill and none of that "Downtown San Jose" mentality types. (For ya'll that live here, you know what that is... I'll keep that for a different blog.)

Well, on to the next party! I'll be at GODDESS for MikenTribe again at Avalon Night Club in Santa Clara on Saturday, July 25th. I hope to see ya'll there!

Turning Semi-Vegitarian

2009-06-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I had taken a much needed road trip to Orange County and the smell each time we passed by the slaughter houses made me gag. As a friend and I hot boxed my car with cigarettes to try to get the smell out, I decided that not only am I going to quit smoking but I am also going to give up on beef/meat in general. My stomach can't handle it anyway!

Just recently, my body hasn't been able to take in meat. I can get through a meal, just because it tastes really good, but minutes later I'm having the biggest stomach ache of my life and dropping chocolate bombs in the pacific ocean! Yucky. I did a little research on the internet and I guess from the American Heart association the kind of vegan I wanted to be is called "Semi Vegitarian," where I cut out the meat, but I can still have seafood and dairy. Perfect!

I'm thinking this would be my way to loose more weight if I cut meat completely out of my diet and just drink a protein shake to fill in that gap (or find another way to get the nutrients I need to get through the week). On the bright side of it, I'll even be able to teach myself to cook. How exciting! This time I won't be offended if my roommates don't dive into something I've made.

Now let's see how long I'll last.