A. Rant, Esq.

Find conviction in something. How does one go though life - no, through one single day - without passion? What reason does one have to wake up and go, if there is nothing driving the action? Sorry to be depressing, but honestly, this is a serious issue, and I believe a monstrous road block to all things good. Love, Happiness, Contentment, (not complacency) and a deep understanding of and connection to something higher.

I believe God gives every person the capacity to live a passionate life. As the saying goes, if you don't use it, you lose it. It has become human nature to want everything right now, to have pleasures immediately. I think that part of what makes those things so wonderful is the amount of work and sweat and heart that goes into "achieving" or "obtaining" those things. Obviously, anything truly worthwhile cannot be had instantaneously; people become so frustrated and focused on what they do not have, that they forget the joy of the journey. Life is about the work, it is not about the result. We humans could not possibly predict the future. All we can do is the work, and the rest is out of our hands. When I say work, I mean labour of love.

Yes, be realistic, because we all need to have our place in the throngs modern society, however, do not allow your fears to paralyze you. It makes me so sad to see that happen. Everywhere. It is heartbreaking. sometimes I just want to shock people to life. Wake up! Your time here is limited, so why waste a single second perpetuating a passionless life, just to get by? If you have a family, friends children: realize that what you are doing for work is done in order to maintain the wonderful life you have, and choose to appreciate it for that. If you are constantly worrying about something else, you are missing what is happening right now. And what is happening right now - IS your life. And now. And now. And now...

Thanks for reading this Thanksgiving-inspired rant. Mine was wonderful (my holiday), and I am SO thankful to have been able to spend it with so many lovely people. My life is so rich because of these relationships, it is such a blessing to be able to share a great meal with one another. I feel all warm and fuzzy. and really, really full. :-)

bluer skies ahead

This week was a very difficult one for me. I know God does not throw anything at me that he doesn't think I can handle - and I can, of course - but GOL-LY. I am praying that this week is better...and actually, it already is. :-)

I arrived in New York City yesterday very early in the morning. After sleeping half the day away, I had quite an enjoyable day off!

We performed in the middle of Times Square this morning on Good Morning America. It was FREEZING, but really fun. Tons of fans came out to support! Now we are all squeezed into one small dressing room at the David Letterman studio, chatting, eating, sweating, until it is time to go down for rehearsal....

Just found out I get to go home for Thanksgiving. Thank you, God.

Hi there. 

I have decided to re-vamp, re-up, re-work, re-do (recycle, reduce, reuse, and close the loop... anyone remember that environmentally conscious slogan beat into our brains as elementary schoolers? Anyway...) this little blog of mine... I'm gonna let it shine.

I am sitting in my window seat towards the front of the last third of the plane, and we are London bound. The seat in front of me has been pushed back as far as it can go, forcing me to push my own seat back in an effort to reclaim some semblance of comfortable space. The vicious cycle continues all the way back to the bathrooms, row by row. It's like traffic. 

The little flight map tells me there are 4 hours and 23 minutes until we land, and hopefully I will sleep through a little bit of that time! 

It has been a while since I have been to London, about this time last year, I believe it was, actually. So much has happened since then, I feel like a different person.  A whole new career path I couldn't see before has been expanding rapidly in front of me, and it is very, very exciting - I have been writing song after song for a bunch of different artists, and have had a few of my own songs placed in films. I have always loved to write music for myself, but recently have really put thought and time into projects for other artists. It seems to be going well! The wonderful thing about it is that I can do it while I am traveling. I can have an idea (as I did about an hour ago in this very chair, on this very airplane), record it into my computer, type up any lyric ideas, and send them to my writing partner, who can take a listen, and in this way we can crank 'em out. Technology is so amazing. 

Things have changed and things have stayed the same in the Rihanna camp - lots of new band members, a whole new touring crew, new songs, new show. They have decided not to take dancers for this run, so Kim and I (the other background vocalist) do a little more running around, which is really fun. I will miss having more girls around though. 

While in London, we will perform at the Nokia Theater, for Rihanna's "world wide album release party".  It is supposedly being taped, for what I am not certain. I will find out the details and let you know. This will be our first real show since the Pepsi Smash Super Bowl event in Florida in February. We have a lot of exciting things coming up, including a few firsts for me - SNL and Conan to be specific! Conan is Dec. 1st, and SNL will be Dec. 5th. 

Ok I am falling asleep, finally, so I'm going to go with it. 

With Love, 

Ashleigh Haney :)

Be thankful, gracious, and kind.