day 12 was a big day.  perhaps partly due to the fact that mercury is in retrograde, everything was all askew.  including my eyes - in a good way though.

you’ll not believe this.  i met with my "eye trainer" of sorts and we did some eye experiments.  taking sheets with words on them and putting them out at a distance.    the 1 inch letters were about 10 feet away from me.  at first, they looked blurry as usual.  so i was neither surprised nor disappointed.  it’s what i’ve experienced since i was 7.  she encouraged me to do some of the eye exercises i’ve learned.  in a few minutes, the letters came into focus.  and i rattled them off to her fast. 

oh my god!!!  it’s working!!!  once i get things into focus, if i blink for a second, they return to blurry and then i have to relax again into clarity.  very frustrating.  apparently over time, this will shift and i will be able to see clearly and blink at the same time.  physiological imperative i suppose.  in the meantime, i sit a little closer to my computer screen and take my glasses off as much as i can.  i’ve even lessened my prescription a bit (still within the legal limit for driving, don’t worry).  definitely a trip.  and very encouraging to watch the brain at work.

day 12′a bad skewed thing:  last night, on my way from rehearsal with rick and on my way to rehearse with adam and jeff for the hotel cafe show tonight, my clutch blew out!  i was talking on my cell phone and started saying, "oh my god.  my car.  it’s making a really bad noise."  the boy on the other end tried to talk me through a quick fix, but no go.  my stick shift was not going to get into gear under any circumstance!  thank god i was not on the freeway.  i pulled over and sat in the car for an hour while i waited for my dad and AAA. 

i had my guitar in the car with me, so i pulled it out and wrote a song.  it’s called "chase down" and i’m going to play it at tonight’s show.  i also made my self laugh periodically by reminding myself of a waiter in palm springs last weekend offering me a little bowl of chopped tomato, onion, cilantro and chili.  "would you like a side of pepe de mayo?" 

folks..he was serioius.  i was with my sister kathleen.  she loves malaprops so asked, "i’m sorry, what is this did you say?"  "pepe de mayo," he replied with a completely serious face.

"oh right!" she said.  "i love pepe de mayo."

for those of you in the midwest, pepe de mayo is actually called pico de gallo.

Tags: Uncategorized by Shaheen Sheik
2 Comments »

this is day 8 of the natural eyesight experiment.  it’s getting a bit easier.  at least i’ve kicked the mild depression about the world being unclear.  i have been able to care a lot less about what the outside world is doing.  when you can’t see the world around you, it becomes like static and white noise.  you can get quiet with your thoughts and not worry so much about things that don’t really concern you anyhow.  i find myself having lots of very intimate conversations with my friends.  up close and personal.  for those of you who are nearsighted, try it for a day.  see what it’s like to walk around without your glasses or contacts.  you’ll be amazed!

lately i’ve been obsessed with this alicia key’s song called "unbreakable."  it’s one of the most catchy and novel r&b songs written in a long time.  you should all check it out.  i’ve linked you all to a stream of the video from her mtv unplugged show. 

hope you are having a beautiful sunday and hope to see you all on friday at the hotel cafe show.  it will be incredible.  the cafe just was remodeled.  lovely new stage and incredible sound.  new song or two debuting at the gig.  we’ll have lots of fun…

Tags: Uncategorized by Shaheen Sheik
No Comments »

as if eyesight could be un-natural…  january 2003, i decided to do an experiment and see how my body would feel if i became a vegetarian.  so i went home to my parents’ place for dinner and announced that i would no longer be eating meat.  that i was going to try it on for size for 30 days and see what i thought.  in california, vegetarianism is almost like a prada bag.  folks wear it on their shoulder to let everyone else know just how conscious they are.  i wanted to see what all the hype was about.  i found that i felt a lot more energetic and enjoyed my food more.  so for me it worked.  3 years later…i’m still not eating meat (except for fish, so my mom calls me a bengali vegetarian). 

so now i have my next experiment.  i have been wearing glasses from age 7.  and though my power is not too strong (-3.5 and -3.25) - average for nearsighted people, i’m still very attached to my contact lenses and enjoy the seeing crystal clear images!

i had long heard about yoga exercises being able to correct vision issues, but the product of western medicine and coming from a family of docs, i didn’t really believe it.  until one day, a good friend of mine came into yoga class wearing her soda bottle glasses.  she told me she was working on correcting her vision through a series of eye exercises.  2 years later, she is glasses free!

i know…i’m a skeptic as well, but i also remember what my yoga teacher says about the yogini’s body.  it’s a lab.  we experiment with postures and exercises to test the energy flow and understand what brings us closer to our center. 

in the same spirit of my vegetarian experiment, i am now attempting to correct my vision au natural.  i decided to go for it for 30 days.  i started sunday, november 6 and have asked my friends not to let me give up.  i am not allowed to wear my glasses except for driving.  i am moving around my day at a snail’s pace.  for someone as type a as me, this is a very humbling experiment. 

when i walk around, i’m not quite sure if people are looking at me, so i just smile all the time.  i don’t want people to think i’m being rude or ignoring them!  going to the grocery store salad bar is like an adventure.  i can generally tell what everything is, but i’m like an 80 year old woman checking and rechecking - there’s the added pressure of having to make sure i’m not accidently putting any meat in my salad. 

i have noticed that the puffiness under my eyes has disappeared and that when i wake up in the morning, my eyes are very dry.  odd.

i have also noticed small shifts in my eyesight.  i have moments when the computer screen gets clear again as if i’m wearing glasses.  i start to tear up every time that happens and then lose it because my eyes are all watery!  but mostly right now, i walk around frustrated and a little sad.  it’s a bummer not being able to see clearly. 

i will keep you posted periodically.  my brother is an eye doctor and i haven’t told him about my experiment.  i’m going to his house for thanksgiving and every year he tests my eyes.  by that time, i would have been at this for 2 1/2 weeks.  you’re supposed to see improvement by then.  i’m excited to test the experiment then.  countdown begins…

Tags: Uncategorized by Shaheen Sheik
No Comments »

i just wanted to wish everyone eid mubarak!  the month of ramadan is over.  i managed to fast 26 days.  it feels incredible to have cleansed myself, rediscovered my discipline and found clarity of mind for this month. 

this morning my dad and i went to eid prayers at the anaheim convention center and then i took him to brunch.  we had a date.  there were over 15,000 people praying together this morning.  imagine the power of that.  the imam asked that we all pray for world peace in these troubled times.  so i did.  and i do.

may you all be blessed with peace and love…always.

Tags: Uncategorized by Shaheen Sheik
No Comments »

last night, i went to the u2 concert at the staples center here in LA.  friends, this is the second time i’ve seen them in concert.  i was blown away.  by far one of the best concerts of this size that i’ve seen.

the capacity of the venue is roughly 20,000+.  every once in a while, i would look around the center and just take in the sea of people singing every one of the words to the songs.  many times, bono just stopped singing.  i cannot imagine a better feeling for a songwriter than to watch a stranger sing the words to his song, let alone 20,000 strangers.  i also cannot imagine what that kind of attention and adoration does to your worldview!

but the moment i just lost it was when bono grabbed a girl from the audience below him and pulled her on stage to serenade her.  for the entire song, he just hugged her in close like he was about to whisper how much he loved her while they were standing on a quiet street corner in the night.  meanwhile, he’s got a mic in his hand and he’s being blasted through a coliseum!  it was an incredible moment and a testament to what an incredible front man he’s been for u2.

i like the small shows, the intimate, "come get up in my business" shows.  i prefer them.  but every once in a while, it’s so inspiring to see what other reality exists.  if for nothing else than to bend my own.

Tags: Uncategorized by Shaheen Sheik
No Comments »