NO WAVES x STELLAR PIECE

Over this summer, I started up my own little DIY punk / skateboarding culture radio show, NO WAVES RADIO, through the University of South Florida's college radio station. It's basically the talk/music form of my brain. I remember being so nervous before my first show back in July, & if it weren't for A I doubt I ever would've built up the courage to go through with it. 

Through it all, she's been one of my primary creative inspirations for the show. Watching her grow & excel in her creative advertising classes juices me to do the best that I can every day in my own right. 

That aside, I was more than stoked to have A as my very special guest for a pre-Valentine's Day NO WAVES RADIO show. The playlist, content, & cheesiness was almost exclusively curated by Aisha herself. We had such a fun time chatting about our favorite Stellar Piece adventures, shows we've been to, quizzing ourselves on how well we know each other, as well as spinning some of our mutually-favorite tunes. Listen above & enjoy!

PS - feel free to check out my other blog, NOWAVESRADIO.WORDPRESS.COM to check out previous shows I've done, & also to check out some show photos & opinion pieces I have up there.

Thanks for being my little starlet, A. I love our cute banter on this episode. You're adorable.

Love,

J

I'd Do Anything

This past week was my & J's first week back to USF. While we are excited to get this semester underway, we are both a little nervous because we've both taken on a lot more this spring. I'll be writing for CollegeFashionista again, interning with the Dean's Office and taking an accelerated class schedule so that I can graduate in May and J just accepted an internship with Clear Channel, is still doing NO WAVES RADIO every Wednesday night & scored position as an entertainment writer for our school paper, The Oracle.  

In case you missed it, let me just repeat that this is my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. I know, I'm breaking into a cold sweat just typing this...

Anyways, we thought that having a good, old-fashioned adventure weekend was just what we needed to prepare us for the impending doom of this semester. On Friday night, J took me to the Fun-Lan drive-in to see Anchorman 2. The drive-in is one of our favorite places to go because we bring a huge blanket, snacks & can talk as loudly as we want during the film. We even brought our pal, Bentley, along.

Saturday was one of the best days I've had in a while. J came over around noon to take me to AMC Veterans so that we could watch the  new Spike Jonze film, Her. I love seeing artsy movies like that with J because we get all weird & nerdy and start pulling out all the lingo we learned in the film classes we took together. 

And I mean, how #punk do we look dressed up in all black accidentally? Sometimes, it's tough to hide just how funky the two of us are. So simpatico.

Then we drove over to Seminole Heights so that we could eat at a pizza place that we've been absolutely dying to try called Cappy's. We popped into Microgroove Records beforehand to check out some vinyl. J walked away empty handed as usual but I found a few gems that I was pretty excited about. 

One of the things that bring J & I together is our mutual adoration of the band, Simple Plan. They were my favorite band as a pre-teen(...and teen and also as an adult, if you could even classify me as one of those yet). I literally had a Simple Plan birthday cake when I turned 12. That's true dedication. So you can imagine my excitement when I walked into the store & saw their first album "No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls" sitting right on top of the CDs. It was only .99¢. That is a steal, people. I also snagged two 7"s: Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant & Take On Me by a-ha. I know, I'm weird.

Cappy's was brilliant. Their kitschy, 80s-esque decor was right up my & J's alley. They had little dated trivia cards that we played with until our food came, which could have been exciting if either of us had actually been alive in the 70s. We split a Diet Coke and ordered cheese bread with marinara sauce & a pepperoni and sausage pizza which suddenly seems ridiculously redundant to me because isn't cheese bread with marinara sauce basically just pizza...? Yup. It was all so delicious though & they played classic 80s hits the entire time. I was living in a dream world of carbs & dated pop music.

Afterwards, J took me to St. Pete so that we could check out this zine fest that he heard about. If you don't know what a zine is, they are just little paper books that people put together full of cool stuff. They can be filled with anything from poetry to art to photography. We got there & immediately felt like we were the weird ones because of how normal we were compared to everyone else. It was cool to check out a scene that we aren't really familiar with but the over-powering smell of patchouli oil made it absolutely necessary for us to leave after about 20 minutes. 

To make the best out of our trip, J & I looked up a little dessert shop called Everything Dolce. We split the most delicious tiramisu and a cafe con leche & read some of the little zines that we picked up. On the drive home, we blasted the Simple Plan CD. We both know every single word of it. It's moments like these, when I'm screaming lyrics full of teen-angst in unison with J, that I feel so lucky to have someone who just gets me. He accepts me for all of my weirdness. He lets me listen to Electric Avenue while I'm getting ready, no questions asked. He picks out lame 7"s from the 80s that he knows that I'll like to show me if he's looking through bins that I missed. He takes me to the drive-in. He makes these little detailed mental notes about what makes me happy & then does those things every day. He gives me room to grow but gives me unending support. That is love & I am just so lucky to experience it in this way, with this wonderful person.

I am simply mad about you, J.

Love,

A 

Panini Palz

There comes a time in every relationship where things get serious. Maybe it's when you introduce each other to your parents, maybe it's when you move in together, or maybe you play it safe & adopt a pet. Well, A & I are virtually inseparable & are already spiritually adopted by each other's families. Oh, & we don't really take too many things very seriously anyway...

So, we went halfsies on a Panini Press & decided it was time to be adults.  We picked out the one we wanted at Target, but they were sold out. Rather than settle, we waited patiently (proud of u, A.) 

Once we brought her home, we unpacked her & A nearly immediately burned her hand while I tried to read the instructions. Once we figured out how to turn it on, we made some grilled cheeses & basked in our newfound glory. After years of eating slimy pressed sandwiches at the USF Dining Halls, ya boy knows how to press a grilled cheese. #peacesign

While I handled the GC, it's still obvious that we're novices with this thing. Word to the wise: don't spread anything on a sandwich before you press it. Hot slimy mayo, yuuuuucckkk.

Same purchase, I bought a big pitcher for making Crystal Light iced tea in, something that was a staple at my parents house growing up. Somewhere in my house is a photo of four-year-old me, standing next to a miniature Christmas tree, smiling in disbelief that I'm taller than a tree. But since I don't have that scanned, just look at the photos of me with a massive mason jar of iced tea for a similar tickled expression. I doubt I'll ever lose the kid in me.

Oh, & we've got big plans for this panini press thing. Cheese & lunch meat is just cracking the surface, friends. We're talking gourmet fruit-enhanced sandwiches, panini pizzas, DESSERT PANINIS (thanks for the cinnamon vanilla sugar powder from New Orleans, mom!!) & any other crazy concoction we can come up with. You're all cordially invited to a panini party at my apartment~~

I'm quite excited to be experimenting with a new toy with my pal, A. Nothing says, "wow, you guys are the most domesticated 20 year olds I've ever met" than being hyped on a sandwich press grill & a beverage pitcher, but we are who we are & I wouldn't change us for anything. 

PS - I'm serious about that panini party.

Love,

J

Before You Go...

A is my best friend. When you spend half the amount of time with someone the way I have with this little lady over the past year, it can feel as though they've become a part of your being. On the rare occasion she isn't around, everything feels weird. Call me crazy, call me in love. Either way, cue the Beyoncé. 

They say time flies when you're having fun, but whoa. We've been having such a lovely time off from school visiting my family in South Florida, that we didn't even see an entire week go by. I guess that's what happens when you sleep until noon a few times...

To send Aisha back off to the 813 with some down-to-the-wire adventuring, we snuck a quick-slash-all day trip down to Miami to visit the Pérez Art Museum. It's no secret that A & I adore museums. Between MoMA, Sex, the Met, Henry Plant, & beyond, I can say that PAMM is one of my all-time favorites we've seen together. A & I love contemporary art, & PAMM was full of it. Initially, I was a little bit full of chips & queso to really appreciate the bottom floor, but once we stepped foot in the typography-themed room above, I was enamored. I love fonts.

There was a large sign at the museum's entrance, proclaiming all professional cameras be checked or left behind. Since A & I are both very #professional & #punk, we decided to sneak it in her bag & see what we could get away with. While too shy on the first floor, we snagged some photographs in the Ai Weiwei installation & of a massive steel structure in a solitary confinement-cool room. 

So yeah, maybe we've only got to spend just over a week apart. Maybe that makes us silly for making such a fuss over such a short period of time. Either way, A, you're my sunshine. The holiday season is gonna seem a little bit gray without having you around here to help with my mom's arts & crafts.

Thanks for all the fun, bug.

Love you, miss you, can't wait to prance around New Orleans with you,

J

Thanks to Mean Jeans for the title inspiration.