Amani's posterous

My 2012 List of Things I Must do in LA

Media_httpwwwthingsto_hepth

A little late on posting this, but I still need to share my top 10 things I want to do in Los Angeles in 2012. 

I have not completed all the items on my list for 2011, so those are added to this list of 10 things. 

1) Visit Catalina Island

2) Have a meal at the Takami Sushi & Robata restaurant. Enjoy the view. 

3) Visit a karaoke bar in Little Tokyo. 

4) Take a quick hike up the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

5) Visit the Writers Guild Foundation Library

6) Attend a concert at the Music Box. 

7) Go to Disneyland and watch the fireworks show. 

8) Walk the grounds at the Lake Shrine Temple. 

9) Eat a meal at the original Roscoe's Chicken & Waffle

10) Attend a movie at the Cinefamily Silent Movie Theater and watch a movie at Hollywood Forever. 

 

Happy hunting for me. This thread on quora assisted me in discovering new places to see. I will report back as I check things off my list. 


6,817 Days

As the lights finally go off on my time with Marriott, I sit back and reflect. I certainly didn't expect it to necessarily end like this, but it is over. After 18 years, 7 months and 28 days, it is time for my Marriott "jersey" to be hung from the rafters.

From the Washington Marriott at the edge of Dupont Circle and Georgetown, to Los Angeles, California, the ride has been a wild one. I have met some of my best friends in life working for Marriott and I have met some people I would never ever want to see again. I have had some amazing bosses (looking at you Joe Brown) and had some bosses where I still wonder how did they get to the positions they were in (Larry and a few others ...) . I have seen the company go from a family company that truly practiced treating the associates well so they would exceed the guests expectations to one that is more worried about the process than the people. Amazing metamorphosis if you ask me. I was part of the Marriott family through two recessions, a terrible American tragedy and numerous other moments in history.

To commemorate my time with Marriott ending, I will review some of my personal highlights of my career:

 

  • Working at the front desk at the Washington Marriott, my dad came by to see me at work. The first time he had seen me there. He waited patiently and the came up to the front desk. I introduced him to my peeps I was working with (Simone, Valerie and maybe Rhonda) and it was just cool. A simple moment, but it made an impression. 
  • I was working at corporate HQ and went to the cafeteria to eat lunch. Sat down by myself to eat real quick and who do I see? Mr. Marriott sitting all alone reading the paper and eating his lunch. How cool
  • Working the Olympics in Atlanta. Howard has me arriving at work at 6:30 AM and handing a cash safe that had $250K in it that I had to balance every day. I remember Keith Sweat and Kut Close singing every day down in there. At least I got radio reception. Poor Marsha was good with that money too. 
  • I drove from Atlanta to Chicago to begin working at the Courtyard Wood Dale. I left Atlanta in shorts and a t-shirt. By the time I got to Chicago, I needed my coat, pants, hat and gloves. It snowed eight inches a week later.  
  • Chicago was an amazing time. Toughest physical job I ever had with Marriott. But amazing people. Ginger, Nancy, Heather, Haydee and Camille. Still very close to many of these people. Chicago remains my #1 stop on my journey across the country. 
  • The highlight of Dallas was being one of the youngest GM's ever at age 23. Living in Dallas was tough time for me. Simple as that. 
  • Living and working in Miami was so much fun and so cool. An underrated city but we rocked it. Doing sales at the Biscayne Bay Marriott was my favorite job in Marriott. We had a beautiful hotel and a beautiful city to sell with a bad ass team. Joe Brown, Eric, Bertha, Ana, Phillip (my car pool buddy) and Mr. Romero. Sometimes I look back at my time in Miami and wonder how life would have been different if I had stayed down there. But I was meant to move back to DC so no worries ... The going away collage you all made me was so dope. Best going away gift ever!
  • I moved back to DC on August 20, 2001. 22 days before 9/11. I was living and working at the Crystal Gateway Marriott when 9/11 happened. Four blocks from the Pentagon. I can still smell the smoke from the Pentagon crash. Very surreal. That was a sad time to be there but we persevered. I met KG and MBA there and we stayed very good friends. We had so much fun working there and making fun of all our peeps. (Colonel Vanilla and Baby Huey). 
  • Golden Circle in Hawaii was amazing. My brother came with and we had such a good time. He liked it so much, he moved there a few years later. 
  • From there it was the Bethesda Marriott. I grew up so close to this hotel, but had never been inside until I began to work here. I remember some painful renovations , hurricanes, tour and travel groups and working with a bunch of women and only me. I also remember two things ... Friday lunches were we would just talk and relax for an hour. I was never able to recreate this atmosphere at another hotel. Didn't know what we had until it was gone. The second thing I remember is going through my father's death while I was there. My brother sent me an IM, I told Kristen I would be right back. Then my life changed forever. I remember at the service and like 20 people from the hotel came to support. Such a genuinely nice gesture. I was so touched. I am still touched by that. 
  • Moving out to Los Angeles. The toughest move of my life but the people I met inside of Marriott here in LA have made it one of the best moves of my life. The Montura peeps, the crew at Marina del Rey and then our SFO team. Too bad we couldn't spend as much time with you as we would have liked to after launch. 

And with that it is all over. Like MJ said, I am 99.9% sure I won't return. Time to spread my wings and keep it moving ... 

(download)

6,817 days later ... 

 

45 Life Lessons

Media_httpfarm1static_oqjei

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.    Your friends and parents will.   Stay in touch.... 
5. Pay off your credit cards every month. 
6. You don't have to win every argument.   Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone. 
8.. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it. 
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. 
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present. 
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. 
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it. 
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind. 
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. 
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.      But the second one is up to you and no one else. 
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer. 
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow. 
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple. 
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25 No one is in charge of your happiness but you. 

  
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?' 
27 Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything. 
29. What other people think of you is none of your business. 
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. 
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. 
33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do. 
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now. 
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. 
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved. 
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back. 
41. Envy is a waste of time... You already have all you need. 
42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. 
44. Yield. 
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift. 

Image by mrhayata

In Action at First Wednesdays (1W)

For the first Wednesday of each month since October, I have been DJ'ing at Chelsea Pub & Lounge. The following has been growing and this past week we had stampbox.me and the LA Temptation stop by. Look at some of the pics which turned out really well. I will add more soon. 

(download)