Blogging From Work.

Bad. All Bad!

But I don't care much for following the rules sometimes...it's not like work is dying without me anyway! So uhm yeah. Here are my thoughts as of this afternoon:

Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies are like a drug. I cannot stop snacking on them ever since my supervisor gave me a whole box. I think I'm going to turn into a thin mint and have little thin mint babies. Wouldn't that be cute? (and delicious!).

No, I am not calling myself a cannibal...I'm only saying if the babies were cookies.

Anyway- I've been on a very tight rope lately as in I don't know what's going on with me and my emotions. But frankly I've been pretty bitchy this week. Just heavily annoyed and frustrated at the silliest things (such as this snow). Yesterday was a snow day and I stayed in the house ALL day long (except for my supermarket run for windex & ice cream) but I was extremely bored and lonely and the only thing I found entertaining was watching American Pie for the first time in like....forever. Blah..

I feel like I've reached this creativity wall that has just blocked me from all things fun. My mind has been all over the place and I just need February to hurry up and leave. I can tell you in advance that when March arrives, I'm going to be back to my old self. Right now? I'm like in this weird transition phase thanks to school. It usually takes me a few weeks to adjust!

I'm also producing 5 projects outside of school and editing my thesis film on top of that. So you can imagine how I'm trying to manage my focus once you throw in 2 internships and 5 classes. It's a little unbalancing to say the least! But like I said, just give me a few weeks and I'll find my rhythm once again. There's nothing I can't do! (or well...thats my mentality anyway).

USC decisions are coming within the next week...enough said. Do I really need graduate school? No...but would it help me? Absolutely. Imagine...to be finished with your entire education at the ripe age of 24. The things I could do would be limitless! :)

With all of this said, I think I'll try and focus back on work now. My attention span lately has been that of a newborn baby.

Wish me luck!

-Deniese RaVae Davis

Observations.

Let's start over.

Hi- my name is Deniese Davis and I'm 21 years old living a blessed life of randomness. I hate seafood, love felt-tip pens and I am addicted to chapstick. Are we with me so far? Good.

My life has been somewhat strategically planned out. That may sound a little weird but as much as I roll with the punches, I usually have already thought about actions and decisions in advance. It's just the way I think and I can't help it. I hate being caught off-guard and find myself always planning ahead in life from what clothes to wear the next day to where I'll be in six months. Some may say that's no way to live but to be honest- I live a very carefree and happy life.

Ok, so enough. I think your going to pick up how I think anyway from reading my blogs. I'm me and thats all I know how to be.

For the first time in five years I am 100% absolutely and completely single. I came to a random conclusion that I was unhappy with where my love life has ended up recently...I was talking to someone amazing but yet he was in another state. Been there, done that...me and long distance relationships just don't get along! So anywho- I realized that I magically had jumped ship again. I don't know how or why but I seem to just date people back to back without a break. You would think I have a list somewhere with people just waiting for me to give them a chance...

So I cut the in-another-state guy loose. I declared that I am going to remain single and unattached at least until I get my life together for the big things to come in the next six months. Does this mean I'm stiff arming anybody who dares to come near me? No. It just means I'm not looking for a relationship nor do I want to get remotely emotionally attached to someone. Not right now. I have too many great things going on and I think it's the best time to focus on me and only me. It's amazing to think that I've never been able to do that in the four years that I've been in college...but its refreshing to know that these last six months will be different.

I am a spiritual woman who believes in freedom and independence but yet never have truly implemented these terms in my personal life when it comes to relationships. I think it's time I start... :)

-Deniese RaVae Davis

Palacio Real

EL PALACIO REAL

courtyard view

(frontview) from street

Welcome Back!

I visited the Palacio Real the other day..its the most gorgeous place I've ever seen. With 2800 rooms and 44 staircases, its obviously a PALACE! It is the official residence of the King of Spain. The royal family however choose to not reside there and instead live in a smaller palace right outside of Madrid. When the old royal castle that used to be there burned down in 1734, The King ordered that a new palace be built on the same location...its took 17 years to complete and was finished in 1755. 

I got some video from the outside but very little from inside. Photos and video are NOT allowed once inside the palace which sucks entirely because it the architecture and designs are breath-taking. I snuck in a few seconds of video in the beginning before getting caught by a mean awful security guard lady who pretty much threatened to kick me out. So instead I opt to steal a few photos from the internet of a few rooms that I was able to see. Although there are more than 2800, we only saw about 25 on our tour.

Enjoy the pics and video below :)

The Royal Throne

this room was made of porcelain statues and vines

The Royal Dining Room

Segovia

The City of Segovia

Today I had my first excursion. Every saturday my school has these trips planned where we take a bus and go visit a city outside of Madrid. That city today was the beautiful Segovia which is one of the oldest and most historical places in Spain. At the bottom you will find a video of my trip as well as a few pictures that I took. I will be posting a complete album on facebook...so make sure youu check that out. Here is a description of what you will see in the video and what I saw:

The first thing we saw was the famous "Aqueduct" which Segovia is known for. It was built at the end of 1st to early 2nd century AD by the Romans to bring water from the river and is completely man-made out of granite blocks. (I only took photos).

AQUEDUCT

The Cathedral of Segovia stands in the city's central plaza. Constructed in the late Gothic style between 1522 and 1577, it is widely considered Europe's last great Gothic cathedral. (Unfortunately my battery died so I only got a photo from the outside and a short snippet video from inside). 

Cathedral of Segovia

My favorite visit was the Alcazar Castle. The Alcázar is perched at the tip of the promontory and towers over the countryside below. Like many fortifications in Spain, it started off as an Arab fort. At the end of the 11th century it was conquered by king Alfonso VI. During the Middle Ages, the Alcazar of Segovia was the favourite residence of kings of Castile, and almost each king added new parts to the building, transforming the original fortress into a courtier residence and prolonging the construction of the castle till 16th century, when King Philip II added the conical spires and the slate roofs. A fire in 1862 destroyed part of the roofs, but they were restored in the very same style they were built more than 300 years ago.

ALCAZAR CASTLE

The last visit we made was to the Church of Vera Cruz (and I wasnt able to capture any photos/videos because of my battery). But this church wasn't really a church. It was used as a sanctuary and they would drag the dead bodies of their loved ones and rest them outside. It was like a passing of the dead as they believed they would be "going with christ". The professor said that everytime he has brought students there they find a piece of human bone. I found several!! It was quite interesting. Inside they described how the church was founded by the Knights Templar (think of the Da Vinci Code) and how it was said that here was one of the first stops that the cross of Christ made. This place has been featured many times on several history programs and etc..

Overall the visit was amazing and beautiful. You all know how much I love history lol. Enjoy the pictures and video and I promise to take some photos of Madrid in the next few days...

Barack & Spain.

In the airport in New York, I bought Obama's book "Dreams From My Father" because I needed something to read during the 8 hour plane ride. I am almost finished with it 2 days later and have been deeply touched by his story. It is simply amazing to read something written by him in 1995 when he became the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review. There is something about the way it is written that you get a renewed sense of the man behind the beautiful speeches. I am sure when he wrote that book he never thought in a million years that he would eventually become President of the United States in the next decade as he hadn't even gotten into politics at that time. 

I say all of this because I wonder what he thinks whenever he goes back and takes a look at his story. It is a memoir about how this man had such an interesting and random life growing up that in some ways I could relate to. As I was reading it outside a cafe yesterday for a few hours, I counted my blessings about who I am and what I have been able to accomplish so far at only 21 years old. I think of all the things that I want to do in my life and call it overboard optimism or what-have-you but something inside my soul tells me I will achieve every one of them. 

I have began to write my own story in someway. His book inspired me to put my own thoughts down and reflect on my history. I don't know if it will essentially be a memoir just as he wrote it but more almost like a diary of my thoughts, my goals and what life has taught me. If its good enough then hell I'll send it straight to a publisher Lol but if not at least I'll have it to look back on in the next 10 or 20 years and see who I've become like Obama probably did. 

You never know what the future holds...Could I be the next Oprah? Steven Spielberg? Tyler Perry? Barack Obama?

How bout the next Deniese Davis :-)

Spain - Day 2

Well here I am. 

I finally have made it to the beautiful "ciudad de Madrid". Does it feel like I am a thousand miles away from home? Uhmm no - but only because I have adapted so easily to living here even though its only day 2. The city is beautiful, the people are so kind and helpful and it is exactly what I love about traveling...CHANGE. I think that everyone gets so caught up in their normal routines of daily life that they are afraid of change and taking time off to try something different but me? I embrace the hell out of it. It is true that I stay busy day in and day out while hustling my way through college in New York but I have never hesitated on taking chance on something "new" (well unless its a particular food..but im working on that). 

Every experience that I partake is one that teaches me something I didnt know before or strengthens whatever knowledge I have. I am still quite young, so to be able to have all of these different types of experiences under my belt only furthers my wisdom and ability to boldly march forward and meet my challenges head on. Anyway I'll get to the preaching in a bit..lol Let me tell you about my first couple days:

So within an hour of being in Europe, I somehow managed to lose my camera and get ripped off all within the same moment. I caught a taxi from the airport to my homestay house although I was suppose to take a bus into the city and then take a taxi. I waited for the bus but yet became terrified that I had no idea what the hell I was doing or where I was going..safest bet was just to take a car all the way there right? So I already had exchanged $90 in American money which gave me roughly about $60 Euros. So whatever, figured the cab shouldnt be more than about 30? I get in..have a wonderful conversation in spanish with the cab driver who told me all about the places to see and visit (he didnt speak english at all)..meanwhile I was making videos and taking pictures on the way to the house. Halfway there I noticed the meter at around 15 euros..felt relieved because i thought that I wouldnt end up spending more than 25 for the ride so I continued our conversation and when we pulled up he pressed some buttons on the meter and said "85.85 euros". I said "come again?" He pointed to the meter and repeated the price..

Okay so it should have clicked with me then that there was no way in HELL that this was right. I checked my pockets and then told him I had to go to the bank. So i pulled out more cash in the atm, paid him and went on my way. Please bear in mind that this was my very first purchase since I got here so I had no idea what costs to expect so I simply thought that maybe the price was normal. It wasnt until the next hour when I was out buying small things for my room  and noticed how cheap it was to buy certain things that I calculated just how much american money I lost when I paid him 85 euros..that averages to almost $120. WTF? 

I was pissed. And to make matters worse - after i unpacked all of my luggage, I wanted to upload the video and pictures from the cab ride and thats when I realized that I left the damn camera in the back seat. I simply had put it down on the seat after using it and completely forgot to grab it when I left the cab. I never got a receipt nor asked for the drivers name or cab number. Shame on me for being such an easy "American" target within 20 minutes of being here.

Besides all of that nonsense, the rest of my trip has been at ease so far. The homestay lady I stay with is beyond sweet and speaks no english so it has helped advance my conversation skills. She takes care of her cute tiny elderly mother who also stays here but is always knocked out on her rocking chair, couch or on the porch.  There are also two other girls from florida staying in the same apartment with me who are from a different study abroad program with their college. I had orientation today and officially start classes tomorrow. I am all smiles and muy contenta!

Lets see..Ah! And I explored the tapas bars with my roommates and their peers last night and discovered the wine is $1 euro, beer is $2 euros and sangria is $2.20 euros. I only had one glass of the delicious sangria..but the guys from my roommates program thought they were doing big things buying bottles of wine for only 8 euros..or "bottle poppin" as they said. Lol

I plan on buying another camera somewhere out here if I can get one for a reasonable price..that way I can take pictures. But so far I can tell that it's going to be an interesting and helluva month! :)

Dreams.

Two weeks ago I had a dream that I was crossing a street with a guy (i think i knew him..im vague on who it was exactly) but anyway so we were crossing a street together at night and out of nowhere a gunshot rang out from about a block away. I dont remember where the guy went at that moment but I do remember the bullet hitting my face.

I woke up in a startled panic. Had I really just dreamed of being shot in the face? Sweating and my heart literally beating out of control, I reached over and took a sip of water. It was 4am and there was no chance of going back to sleep before waking up at 5:30 for work. I was scared. I laid there for the next hour trying to figure out what the dream meant. I even looked it up in 2 separate dream dictionaries. All I got was some blurb about the subconscious. 

Well, death is my greatest fear. So what the hell was the dream trying to tell me?

One week later - Brandon G, a friend of mine in Vegas, was murdered in a hookah lounge parking lot. He got into a fight with a guy and while hitting him...the guy's friend shot Brandon in the back from behind. Brandon laid there pleading for his life. The guy pulled back the trigger again and killed Brandon with one more shot to his face.

My dream of being shot at had not surfaced in my memory until today. 3 days later after Brandon's death. If I had somehow foresaw the violence I do not know. I wonder if perhaps the guy in my dream was Brandon somehow? I know it is something I will forever think about. 

I think about his death and I get a pull on my heart, my eyes get watery and I try so hard to hold back the gentle tears. Was this not the same guy I had seen so many times when I was home for winter break? The same guy who at one point deleted my number from his phone because I would stop answering his texts. The same guy who persisted over and over again to come over and chill and hang out because he lived down the street. I always turned him down because either I had other things to do or I was scared to put myself in that predictament because he was an attractive guy but I did not want him to get the wrong impression. I surely wasn't interested in him in that way...but I know he had no wrong intentions. He just merely wanted to catch up and have a good time. 

I honestly regret my actions. I wish I would have taken the time to chill with him and his friends..and now a month later he is gone. 

Another act of "Vegas Violence". Murder by the gun...

I'm sorry Brandon G. 

You are truely missed by many...

R.I.P.