Wednesday, December 30, 2009

i'm off to kentucky in a matter of hours. this girl is getting married.




... that was then and this is what she always has been: a friend for life. :)

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

dropping a note

oh my. this warmed the cockles of my insides. i must get this book.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

sureeee thing.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

;)

Friday, November 13, 2009

a favorite

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

I love our President.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

*clicks tongue* success!

made this for mom's birthday. took me two days. this thing was huge. and, success!
is the charm city cakes hiring?

Monday, September 07, 2009

?!


found something i wrote a little less than a year ago. i must have been either really bored on the metro or really observant. either way, i am not sure what to think of this.

It is November 3, 2008. I am on the metro on way home from work and I can sense it. I can smell the stress here in Washington. I can feel it in the air. I can taste it. I can see the faraway look on people's faces when riding on the train. Maybe I cannot hear; yet, I am listening to what is arising. Two big games: tonight the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing at the FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. Tomorrow night, in the light of democracy, the face of our country, begins a new chapter for us all, as one. Our fate will be sealed... either John McCain or Barack Obama will finally bring this nation to a higher (and hopefully for the better) level.

Football and presidential election, I got my game face on. America, you inspire me.

I confess. I am a martyr, a traitor to DC natives - I badmouth this place all the time. However, it is dawning on me that what America has been waiting for is in my backyard. Moreover, I have been "literally" turning my back on to what people desire for: hope and change... It is all happening here at home in Washington, DC.

Also got me thinking about Bush's years in the White House. Have he been tending after his backyard? How can he walk through his own backyard, being so blind? He sends our people overseas, taking away their lives, away from their families.

In Bush's backyard, in the DC I like to say I don't like, there are mothers and children who experience the kind of life Bush will never understand and allows himself to be blind about-- instead of giving the people of his backyard a helping hand and/by bringing families closer together, he pulls more apart by, needless to say, sending people to Iraq.
How would you lead when it is a question of ethics?
That is what democracy is to me. It is not about what to do when we have been down spiraled in a financial fiasco; it is preserving the true meaning of America.

We see the result of ethics through action, not words. Leadership is action.

What do they say? It starts in your own backyard.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Last Lion




long time ago, when i was probably ten years old or even younger, i had the chance to perform at a charity in washington. i was to sign a song while marvin hamlisch, a well-renowned musician doing what he does best: playing the piano.

after performing, i turned to someone and went, "there was a guy sitting in right front of me and he cried. he had tears in his eyes while watching me."

"that was senator kennedy," she said, smiling at my confusion. "ted kennedy."

that was one of my most vivid memories, and to this very day, i still remember the look in his eyes. i can't begin to describe how humane they were. i have repeated this story from time to time over the years.

politics may not be the same without him, but he is finally with his loved ones. john and robert (and the rest of the "camelot" family) have been waiting a bit too long. i swear i'd burst at just the thought of them reuniting. :)


a well-written obituary on the senator: http://tiny.cc/Q3ol1

THE KENNEDY BROTHERS DURING THEIR PRIME TIME


LITTLE JOHN SALUTING AT HIS FATHER'S FUNERAL


while we are at it, i'd tell you that this picture gets to me every single time for, like, forever. i'm still in search of the original copy of that certain photograph. this was on the day of john jr's third birthday and he claims he doesn't remember doing the salute. his mother, jacqueline, rehearsed the salute with him before the funeral but for some reason, he could never get it right. jackie eventually gave up on him and only hoped he'd get it right ... and, well, we all can assume that he did. :)

for what they have contributed to the people of our country,


i salute to the kennedy family.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Water for joy

this is one of the most powerful pictures i've ever seen. i saw this at the chelsea market last may and couldn't take my eyes off it, so thought i'd share this with you. the joy on this boy's face is far too great for words.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A room of one's own.

summer comes and i remember a time when i could be anybody i wanted, traveling great travels. in a small room i had big ideas, and now i'm trying to hold on those. 

i know those days are through but i still think of you, philadelphia.

Friday, June 26, 2009

25 things about me on the 25th day of June


LO AND BEHOLD!
HERE IS JASSI BARING IT ALL.
1. when i see an old man, i would think, oh seriously... please be married or have a family around, or close friends, even. please don't let him be lonely. my heart can't take it.

2. i've been going by jassi since the summer before my seventh grade year. i was eleven years old.

3. i'm quite aware of how much i've grown during the last two years of my life -- i'm constantly grateful for the courage and strength (with the help of my family and close friends) that i was given to help me going through the most complicated times; especially the blessing to know i was still able to smile every single day, regardless. sure, i "mellowed" down; yet there's still that good ol' little firecracker in me. it is a liberating feeling to realize i can overcome challenges; learn more about the world by being out there: free, crazy, and getting stronger. no, that does not mean i'll go back to two years ago and do it all over again. those times are long over, finished, and done with. that little firecracker is here to stay, though... showing you she was not born yesterday! :)

4. i can't, can't, can't stand gore-ish, disgusting stuff you see on movies, or in real life, or in pictures, or even by description. i just... can't. fathom. the. thought. or. the. sight. of. it. period.

5. i get inspired easily so it's no surprise that i'd find various career paths so exhilarating. for instance... one day i'd want to own a children's bookstore with a bakery; then i'd want to be a lawyer; then the next day i'd decide i want to be a guardian ad litem; there was even one day when i gave being a kindergarten teacher a thought; i am currently jessica s. baldi, b.s.w. (whoo pee doo. big deal.) which means i have a degree in social work; but i'm also thinking about being a nutritionist; i also wanted to be a family judge, and being a school principal was my latest inspiration. but truthfully, i would drop all of that to be a mother of many and wife to one.

6. that brings me to this: my family is my life.

7. i admire sarah silverman and nicole richie. i know you may be thinking,  "is this girl for real? interesting choices." interesting, indeed but i have my reasons and they're damn fine reasons.
(edit on february 5, 2010 - they are not the only people i admire, mind you. :))

8. i'm the only vegetarian in my meat-eating jewish family.

9. that brings me to this: i'm jewish. here, i present you my gorgeous hebrew name:
rivka shifra bas shoshanah. only if that was my real name, as well. i would love to get married under a huppah (which is also gorgeous... and oh so cozy, personal, intimate). i'd put my-husband-to-be's foot to the task of crushing glass because, oh what's a jewish wedding without the sound of a breaking glass? mazel tov!

10. what's up with all this talk of marriage and kids? i have no idea considering how single i am. who says you have to be taken to be settled down? last i checked, i'm pretty settled down (well, kinda :D). yup that's my declaration of independence. ;) i've had enough relationship experiences and i'm serving my time of being single so it all balances out pretty well. right now, a star is in the ascendant. i'm not looking, i'm not steering clear of relationships altogether, either. i will fall in love when everything is in the right place, the right time, and when i least expect it. besides, i don't want anything that is big and flashy. i want something that is true, honest, and real.

11. if i didn't live in such a teeny, weensy, bitty deaf community, albeit feisty (the one i'd always compare to hollywood--more about that some other boring time), i'd get a head start on writing an autobiography of my life so far. i only can imagine how much it will impact people, and perhaps even make a difference. more often than not, i'd be so, so, so tempted to just go ahead and do it, no matter which community i am in... but goodness gracious great balls of fire, it WILL make people go... thud. hmm... that may be kind of fun to watch. ;)

12. i love to travel. i traveled a lot when i was a kid. i still travel a lot, and will continue doing so. :)

13. i get this fuzzy, warm, and tingling feeling in my stomach whenever i witness or experience
strangers' generosity first handed. i'd notice small things, like when someone lets you cut in the line at a grocery store. a gesture like that means everything to me.

14. oh, that reminds me. i had that momentous self-discovery in one of my classes last semester. even though i rarely get mad, nothing sets me off like when i see someone being vindictive to someone else. whoa, golly-gee, hell has no wrath like a woman scorned. never knew i had that in me. i left class secretly floating with a smiling gale. THAT FELT GOOD.

15. i'm a sucker for foreign films.

16. i love hiking. i love walking. i walk everywhere. fourteen miles a day? sure, bring it on. been there, done that. being in nature is a big part of me.

17. i'm a homebody. i have no problem with staying in on weekends - often i'd be puzzled as of why some people would feel otherwise.

18. i favor-favor twitter over facebook. i'm much more "active" on the micro-blog rather than the latter. (edit on february 5, 2010 - ah, the novelty has worn out, i guess. i twit so much less but still use it occasionally to follow news and people i admire)

19. i'm a hardcore chocolate whore that it's just ridiculous.

20. when i was freshly sixteen, i had bravely went under the knife so that a four-hour plastic surgery could be performed on me. consider my life changed. i fully support the whole concept of cosmetic up-do's. does wonders to a person's self-esteem. but... please, i'm begging you, for the sake of yours, try not to overdo it.

21. i was told of this tale: at eighteen months old, my father exhibited me to my aunt and said, "watch this," then threw me, YES-LITERALLY-THREW-ME, into the swimming pool. i had no floaters on, nothing to rescue me in case i drowned my-toddler-self. my aunt freaked the inferno out but there was i, my head above the water and swimming by myself. she looked at me with shock, saying to my father who was smiling and beaming with pride, "this is definitely your daughter."

22. even though i'm such a girl -- i love dresses, accessories, shoes, make up, and everything there is about being a woman -- i love getting dirty nor am afraid of skinned knees. in fact, i play football in the mud while raining; jump into my torn jeans and set up tents; dig up dirt; i have fun driving a bumper car; i want to go sky-diving and to bungee jumping. i'm fearless like that.

23. i'm mostly comfortable with smaller crowds.

24. i make some kick-ass eggplant parmesan. the best. just ask valerie.

25. i was born in america with italian parts, just so it happens my mother is russian and somehow i'm also irish, german, and scottish
(edit on february 5, 2010 - for most of my life, i was mistaken. i'm nowhere near scottish. i'm actually swiss. even better. :D). i'm currently studying french and i love mexican food. what do i say? i'm a worldly woman. :)

Wednesday, April 01, 2009


ser·en·dip·ity (ser′ən dipə tē)
noun
  1. a seeming gift for finding something good accidentally
  2. luck, or good fortune, in finding something good accidentally
  3. an instance of this
  4. lucky coinciding of events.
  5. and my most favorite word in the entire world.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Vivere la vita!

yay for sunday. and, can't friday come any sooner? there should be an official diagnosis for both spring fever and senioritis combined. whatever that would be, i'm having a severe case of it. besides, the weather isn't helping either. it's just so bipolar and manipulative, one second it's all sooo friendly looking all encouraging and sunny then the next thing i know it's raining cats and dogs. then the next, it's cloudy. you know the rest. due to this weather, i'm already restless and so ready to get back to where the hot sun is. i just came from phoenix, where it was 90 degrees! so from that to this... humph. talk about sweet torture.


 
i want to feel THAT heat on my skin again. summer, how far are you?

bursting the bubble here now. i can stop dreaming. i work tomorrow, classes tuesday... work again, then classes again. etc, etc. it's not all too bad, actually. :)

i'm finishing up this book, the holy cow by sarah macDonald... and holy cow... it's good. really, it is. the cover of the book is admittedly a little loud - see this? that.


but it's so educational, hilarious beyond comprehension, and so very honest. it speaks of an australian journalist moving to india and experiences the turnabouts of life in india. there is so much about that country we do not know about. she had befriended with so many kinds of people, we see that no matter how different those people are, they all still hold the same innate indian belief. through her journey, we see everything about that country is so bizarre, yet so spiritual and dedicated with their rituals. she attended ashrams and weddings, celebrated their holidays, participated in exorbitant festivals, saw the rich and the poor - you name it, she been to the deepest of that country and came out showing the world india the way she saw it.


she celebrated passover with bunch of israelis in india. who does that? (well i know i would love to!)


the thing is that... sarah macDonald is not jewish. this particular act shows the true spirit of togetherness, respect, and humanity.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Tomorrow is fresh...

... and with no mistakes in it.

friday night in. talk about bliss. i'm positively lethargic, so you can only imagine how deep-fried my brain is. still, that did not stop me from thinking earlier about 'mistakes' that people make. i'm as human as i can get so naturally i have my own share of errs, yet i do try to learn from them. experience, to me, is the name we give our mistakes. i also believe others' screw-ups could be our own lessons, as well which is why we don't befall upon the exact same mistakes at the same time. everyone learns a lesson in different ways, different times in their lives, and at different places. it's so important to be able to listen, and unfold how you're able to learn from the others. whenever i feel downright shitty about screwing up, i think... OK, i'll deal with it now and say look, this is also a lesson for you, too. mistakes that have been made do not sum up a person as a whole, really. i remember mentioning to a friend before about how it's rather odd that when a person is mean, we'd be subjective about it. but when a person is nice, then nice is just nice.
 

i have had close ones totally messing up... and i forgave them. for some people, i've seen the good qualities surpassing the bad; it's their good qualities that will be remembered by. i'd know. life is really too short to hold grudges.

i'm not saying i always find myself being off the mark... *laughs* i'm just saying i'll never feel less of myself for the lessons i've made. :)
 

i came across a saying earlier by maya angelou:

"you may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, i'll rise."

anyway, i have a confession to make... i've been harboring this secret for a long while. i'm ridiculously addicted to the twilight series. i could have sworn that stephenie meyer must have done some kind of philter while writing this series. i'm mesmerized, captivated, and enthralled with this mythical world of hers.

the thing is that, i was never particularly intrigued by fantasy novels-- sci-fi ones, me usually say "see you later." i'd usually see myself finding no excitement in overly popular-crazed books, for i found the harry potter series mind-numbing. i never finished the first book, not even halfway done. twilight, on the other hand, makes my heart flutter. i'd think, stupid vampire book, i need sleep! it's for tweens... i tell myself.... still i melt when edward tells bella he prefers brunettes.
 

vampires. for as long as i could remember, i always thought they were hot. always somewhat had a thing for them.

damn, i've been bitten.
 

before i go and tuck myself under covers with a good book (my kind of night), here's a photo of the day:



giggling is my god-given talent :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Reeling back in, yeah!

the name is jessica but i've been going by jassi for so long now, i can't imagine being anything else. 

so, call me jassi. :)

i'm twenty-four, and was born in this granola crunchers' paradise of maryland also known as takoma park. i love takoma park, it being in the vicinity of washington, DC and i have this intense love and hate relationship with DC. i'm a vegetarian who loves chopped liver, cheese, and fish. as of today my favorite color is red but it's high likely that it may change tomorrow. i have a chocolate lab who is the love of my life even though he annoys me with that heart-wrenching puppy look of his. i love being in nature and to take long walks on a beach. i also love the cultural-high, sultry-feel, and the originality that i find in cities, above all in new york city. i am not afraid of heights but am terrified of the dark. my favorite season is autumn, yet, i love how summertime makes me feel timeless and carefree. i'm the lovable kind of scorpio... albeit complicated and mysterious. ok, ok... enough about me... for now. :)

i used to blog on xanga, and it's pretty much nonexistent these days. besides i got a little tired of it, myself... sometimes i'd take a leisure stroll on my old blog site and, i... cringe. especially at the earliest posts. i cringe, and then i laugh. i'd find myself thinking about how much time changed, and even though as it goes day-by-day ... we don't feel a thing; looking back now, everything is so different. anyway, yep, as you may have noticed, i stopped blogging. i'm just going to do what everyone else does: blame facebook. (they blame facebook for EVERYTHING now. that poor thing, being the scapegoat) ;) no, really, i also was ready for some changes. i know i've been off the seat for a while, especially from doing blogs... just because i don't blog anymore doesn't mean there aren't trillions of things occurring in my mind and happening in my life. in fact, there are considerably a lot of them.

i'm having this wonderful and familiar itch now and like what i'd say more than often in the past: i'm so ready to write my life away! i've been having oodles and jumbles of stuff to talk about. so, what do i do? welcoming myself aboard!
 

internet, ready or not, i'm back.

i remember my very first blog site. i was fifteen and a sophomore in high school. internet was the newest and beyond comparison the finest thing around. i created an account at some ultimately teen-girl-ish - yes, a very pink-ish and tacky site (i was fifteen!) - where teen girls come and moan at their adolescence privations. yes, i was one of them. i'd sneak and blog at the computer lab in my high school. nobody knew i had one, not a single soul and thank goodness. it was my little secret. a cute little (yes, a little pathetic one, as well) secret. i'd write about "what recently happened in the hallway five minutes ago! you won't believe it, you won't believe it!" totally hyperventilating that a guy i liked looked at me and... smiled. i also said, "jassi is the name and mad-flirtin' is the game and since when do i go by the rules?" BUWHAHAHAHA. please. seriously. what was i talking about? i was practically a saint back then, i kid you not. drugs, sex, and alcohol were off limits by choice. yeah, i was a smart kid, had a good head on my shoulders and all that jazz. :)

give me time, and when i get the "feel" with this entirely new way for me to articulate myself, you so can bet i'll write so much you'd get so sick of me. 

i will, at least, try. :)