Hello DJ Ms. Panda!

After joining the Rock Church and getting "right" with God, the music that I had been listening to on the radio didn't have the same effect on me.  The beats and the tempos were still great, but the lyrics felt "empty."

I tried to get into Christian music and some songs got me pumped, because they were the same ones that we were singing in worship on Sunday mornings, and the same ones that could bring me to tears.

However, I started to feel a calling bubbling up inside of me - one to start making electronic Christian music.  I envisioned myself with two turntables and a microphone - beat matching and scratching downtown at 2am when all the clubs let out on a Friday night - inviting all the party people to come chill in my music space and come back down to earth, allowing me to minister to them with musical prayer.

I just needed one thing - to learn how to DJ and match up all those beats, create those mixes and write the meaningful prayers aka lyrics.

So I began seeking - and we all know what happens when we seek - we find.

It just so happened that my church, The Rock, offers a  DJ Ministry and I hopped on board just in time for the first class.  I recruited a couple of girlfriends and carpooled down to the awesome event space called the 1825 Ministry located at 705 16th St, San Diego, CA.  

Look at all the beautiful people who showed up that night!

Here I am learning to scratch and play with the cross fader...

That's DJ Ketchup next to me! He is pretty awesome for offering up his DJ equipment to amateurs like myself to come and stumble all over.  However, he said it best that first night,

"Once I turned my equipment over to God,
I received more blessings than I ever did when I was hoarding it all to myself."

Amen DJ Ketchup!  Thank you for feeding that calling :)  Now, it's feeding mine!  AWESOME!

Here is a video of me scratching on that first night. 

I had so much fun!  It's hard not to smile when you are learning how to do something fun!

***

Tonight was the second session and we worked more on timing. Here I am scratching on REAL records.  

SO FUN!!!!

 I just wish I had a set of turntables at home so I could just spend hours on end perfecting my craft.  For now, I will just have to stalk Guitar Centers and go to these types of workshops, but once it gets to the point where I can start making my own mixes - watch out Christian music - you are about to be changed forever :)

DJ MS. PANDA is set free!

xOx,
Ms. Panda

Connecting the Dots...

dot dot dot...

Like dots that punctuate lingering thoughts, 

I heard knock knock knock, no, a bang bang bang...

It was opportunity at my door

And I saw it! And I opened it wide!

This opportunity in front of me

Took the form of a tall, well dressed lady.

I examined her - looked her up and down

And listened closely as she spoke softly.

I didn't know then, what she would teach me

That this loving person was put right there

Right in front of me so He could reach me

And boy, did He! An artist made for me!

Check her paintings out and you, too, can see.

A love of pandas, hearts and poetry

Thank you Lord, for bringing this girl to me

For this amazing opportunity!

Look at her website, and you, too, can see

Encouragement for dreamers, just like me

Art made with LOVE, and words powered by Him

Thank you Jeannette, let the loving begin!

xOx,

Ms. Panda

Here's a preview of her art for you to see!

I can already feel the stories that go with these images!!!

Ms. Panda's First Vlog!!!!!!!!!

I am a woman of my word and my last post promised a video blog, a.k.a. Vlog, to prove I did my 100th blogging idea from the list I wrote in my very first blog here.

Here is #100 word for word:

"Do cartwheels in high heels and pretend I have super powers."

Now this creative idea came from a list of resolutions that I posted WAY back on Myspace and it somehow made it's way back to life here and now.  It reminds me of my great friend, Jessie King, who I know without a doubt would do them with me anytime, anywhere side-by-side without hesitation.  For now, I cartwheel solo. 

So without any further ado,  I present,

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

xOx,
Ms. Panda

Panda Fun

Sometimes, when I blog, I feel like this Mark Meynell  image :

I started searching through illustrations of pandas on the web and found this one at Jody's Art.

I found a sample of a comic strip about a panda here.

I even found a link to how to make a panda "origami" style.

My hands down favorite panda illustration so far is this one by  Bill Carman :

He also did this beauty:

I call it "The One-eyed Bunny Snatcher"

These illustrations, to me, are a hybrid of Maurice Sendak and Salvadore Dali.

Strange but beautiful and cool all at the same time.

Just getting started...

Stay tuned!

The Love of a Panda: Part One

Once upon a time a panda lived freely in the bamboo forest of china. 

She spent many days chomping away on rich, green bamboo and really enjoyed her life. 

Then, one day an evil poacher came into the panda's world and trapped her in a cage! 

He dragged her out of her happy home and sold her to a creepy wizard at the misfits market in underground 

China.

The panda was very frightened for she did not know what the scary looking wizard was going to do with her. 

She was also very hungry and her tummy grumbled for the yummy bamboo back at home.

The wizard took the panda to his castle and set her cage right in the middle of his experimental laboratory.

 
He examined the panda closely and then cocked his head and went, "umph!"

The panda was confused and scared - until she heard a whisper coming from a cage behind her. 

"It's ok," said the voice. "he just saved you!"

"Huh?" said panda. "who said that?" she turned around in her cage to see rows and rows of pandas in cages 

and other special animals, too. 

"Where are we?" asked panda.

"I don't know, but you're safe now." the voice answered. 

"Safe? I wanna go home!!!"

"It's not the same in the forest anymore panda. The poachers are killing us left and right for our furs! 

You're lucky the wizard found you before you got sold to one of the bad guys!"

"Oh dear," cried the panda. "Nothing is as I thought."

"No, my sweet, it is not."


So the panda sobbed in her cage for she knew that she would never be able to return to her beloved forest. 


Her heart ached for the fresh green bamboo and the foggy mist that would roll onto her face and wake her every morning. 


As she remembered these things, she heard the lock on her cage lift up.


She lifted her neck to see who it was. 


It was the wizard and he was carrying a plate of purple bamboo, a special recipe he had created in his lab. 


He placed the plate on the floor of her cage and if it weren't for her incredible hunger, 


the panda would have left it there all night for she was scared that it may harm her.


However, her tummy tossed and turned from her starvation and the purple bamboo actually smelled amazingly
delicious, so she took one small bite and instantly felt the power of the bamboo rush through her veins and straight into her heart. 


She soon had gobbled up every last bite and when she was finished, she felt her heart begin to beat strongly in her chest. 


Her tears were long dried up and she felt different - new somehow - as if the wizard's creation had given her 
special loving powers in her heart. 


She did not know how he did it, but the panda immediately felt trust and love for her captor. 


Once wild and free, yet now captive, the panda felt the best she had ever felt and wanted to hug every animal 
around her. 


This feeling must be shared, she thought.


She concentrated really hard on the love in her heart and sent out vibrations to her new neighbors. 


One by one, they began to stir and soon the whole laboratory was buzzing with energy and love. 


It worked! 


To Be Continued...

Now? Yes, now.

After one of my lowest days in a long time, I feel like the only way I can go from here is up.

Today's horoscope proves that the stars are rooting me on in this journey.

I keep trying, but I must start doing. And in my doing I must not quit. This is my destiny and I must live it, or I will be wasting my gift.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift - that is why they call it the present.

PISCES Nov, 04, 2011
Theodore Seuss Geisel - or Dr. Seuss - was a renowned children's author and illustrator. He was also a Pisces. For decades now, Dr. Seuss's works have brought smiles to the faces of countless children, and taught them a thing or two in the process. But his first book, "And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street," was rejected by about 43 publishers before it was accepted by the Vanguard Press. The point is, Pisces, you have a dream that you've put on a shelf out of frustration. But it has the potential to bring you and others much happiness. The stars say this is a great time to take it off the shelf, and make it happen. Dr. Seuss didn't give up - neither should you.

Ms. Panda

Who I am cannot be summed up into words.

Who I am cannot be merely my interests.

Who I am cannot be written in a book.

Who I am cannot be found in a name.

Who I am is a culmination.

Who I am is a totality.

Who I am is vast.

Who I am is me.

A name is a start.

A name is all we have sometimes.

A name gives us an idea of how we can relate.

A name is a bridge between two strangers -

And to remember that name serves as reinforcement of our interest in one another.

Yet, under the blanket of the name is where our true selves exist.

It is in this swirling, twirling of emotions and experiences, 

ups and downs of cycles and depths of expressions, 

pride in our culture and loyalty to our family's traditions,

that one being truly exists.

Yet, it is still deeper than that even.

In my cellular composition -

The things I consume -

The thoughts I think.

This is all me.

Everything plays a role in who I am.

And in who you are, too.

I see this.

Do you?