Spotify Thoughts

I find myself sad thinking that one day Ani will be gone.  The sadness is just for me and I wonder if it's due to my limited imagination.  That I won't think she lived her life fulfilled?  That I'll always want more for someone like her?  That I wanted to have someone like her in my life?  That I'm clinging on to her like a sunset?

After a few more verses, it's clear that she understood she has time.  And has SO MUCH to show for it.  And so much presence.  Like that ex you can never truly hate or fail to become friends with.

That smile.

Breaking Silence, Dance Without You

Empty Large Pinkberry container, gentle zephyr, and Skylar Grey growling.

Twitter creates a clear and concise channel of communication with people that I have a vested interest in.  In the past, updates from your favorite people were few and far between.  Sometimes, I fall in love with static art and become completely crestfallen when years later, I happen to hear them speak or meet them live.  It might not even be their fault.  For now, I just want to know them better.  And preferably before the investment/obsession sinks in.

I made a metal bird for sculpture once.  Sifting through Home Depot for just the right gears, bolts, and sheets of metal was...empowering.  They say that sometimes to make the final product appealing, you have to take away choice and clutter.  With a limited palette, the direction becomes easier to sharpen.  As I limited myself to certain alloys and shapes, I wondered about the universe.  Are we the product of subtraction and clear direction?  If there is no form, there should also be an ultimate form, right?

"How can I make history with your choreography,
Take your hands off me, take your hands off me,
Before I suffocate


I wanna dance without you,
I want just let me lose myself, lose myself,
I wanna dance without you,
I want just let me lose myself, lose myself for life,
Let me lose myself."


- Skylar Grey, songstress formerly known as Holly Brook 

Day 2: JoJo's Bizarre Adventures (After I am caught, touch turns into fisticuffs)

Half the name sake of this blog comes from my favorite manga since my teenage years.  The story goes from stopping an undead vampire (with the ability to stop time for roughly 8 seconds) in Egypt to uncovering the identity of a mass murderer (with the ability to automatically reset time whenever he's found) in a sleepy suburban town of Japan to taking over the Italian mafia and becoming a gangster superstar so drugs are kept off the streets and justice is served.  Then of course the story goes to a prison break in Florida where a priest needs to complete a ritual involving the absorption of vampire bones and gain the ability to control the gravitational forces of the earth, moon, and possibly the universe so that time is sped up to a vanishing point where everything repeats itself anew albeit with replacements chosen to the priest's liking.  Lately, the manga is centered on a cross continent race across the United States, circa 1890, where runners and horse riders uncover a conspiracy to reassemble the body of Christ so that a new world leader can be found.

Um.

Yeah.

I'll take whatever Araki-san is smoking, thanks.  And may he never stop creating.

"Don't need...ecstatic 「joy」..."
"Or abyssal 「despair」..."
"A life like a 「plant」..."
"That type of 「calm lifestyle」 was exactly my goal..."
- Yoshikage Kira, Part IV: Diamond is Unbreakable



"Underneath the corset of your mystery
Piece by piece undress you from your history
I'm sleeping with seclusion in sweet disarray"

- Heavy, Holly Brook

Day 1: Vagabond (Free Translation)

"If you're mesmerized by a leaf, you can't see the tree.  If you're mesmerized by the tree, you can't see the forest.  Don't leave your heart anywhere and suddenly, you will see everything."

"When there is conflict, a demon holds its breath and gazes soundlessly.  Attaches to the heart, devours, consumes.  It doesn't make a move, but stubbornly, continuously, gazes from the darkness.  Until the weak surrenders into the dark."

"Our paths have already been completely laid out.  So, we're absolutely free."

-Vagabond, Takehiko Inoue

Seen it all before, a self dedication

Whether you're a square or a circle, learn to coexist smoothly.  Conflicts that aren't resolved lead to a mask of rage parasitically growing on you.  Before you know it, the mask becomes much too easy to put on and you start to wear it as naturally as your face.  All the good intentions in the world can't be seen or felt behind this mask.  Words come out differently.  Barbed, and sharper each time.  So sharp that it even hurts yourself before it leaves your mouth.  But the mask spews the words out anyway.

Until something has to give.

And you go your separate ways, but these holes never heal properly.  And the mask, it lurks and waits.

5 up, 5 down

Buckling your belt and realize you're one hole fatter.

Too much vodka, not enough lychee calpis.

All the sneakers in the world except the perfect pair.

Trying hard to dictate your dream before falling asleep.  And then having a nightmare.

10 boxes of cereal, no milk.

Having multiple belts with various waist sizes.

Orange juice works just as well.

Having 3D Kobe's:

Cat learns about your sleep cycle and doesn't abuse it.

Delicious food right outside.

2011, 5 days in

Last year, the mood can be marked by moments of mystification and muddled mental misgivings.  Even though the year wasn't all bad, it was not always your ideal beach weather.

Asbury Park, 12/26/2010

There were definitely moments of crazy altitude:

Sky Dive The Ranch, Gardiner NY, 11/21/2010

And meeting legends, even if pictures aren't allowed:

Stan Lee, NYCC, 10/16/2010

It was a year of confronting non-confrontation and really, just plain pwnage at times:

Diablo III Arena, Blizzcon Anaheim, CA, 10/24/2010

There were times when over a hundred thousand nerds cheered live for these two:

SlayerS_'Boxer' vs FruitDealer, Blizzcon, 10/25/2010

And times when we came together and quietly celebrated friendship, both online and offline:

Mike, Bob, and WoW Server, Blizzcon, 10/25/2010

James, Mike, Bob, Scott, Warrior Dash NE, Windham, NY, 09/18/2010

Of course, this really will be remembered as the year when the Lee and the Han family joined forces.  And James almost dying from the union: 

Lee Family, Mom's Side, Ritz Carlton, Singapore, 07/10/2010

Aaand Jee cheating the other brides out of the bouquet:

Jee and Amy's conniving collaboration, Singapore, 07/10/210

It was also a year of drinking, drinking, drinking, food, food, and more food:

Soy Milk and Shaobing with Egg, Taiwan, 08/11/2010

Banh Mi at Ninh's, 577 2nd Ave, NY, 10/12/2010

Squid Sausage at Korean Parade, K-town, NY, 10/02/2010

Bulgogi Taco at Korean Parade, K-town, NY, 10/20/2010

Meat plus bread, Beijing, 08/19/2010

Cucumber, Tofu with Thousand Year Egg, Beijing, 08/19/2010

Tasty Noodle, Beijing, 08/19/2010

Bundigie (aka korean silk worm), Seoul, 04/20/2010

We ate it.

Kalbi with the Han family, Seoul, 04/20/2010

Ho Lee Chow [sic], Itaewon, Seoul, 04/22/2010

Jajangmyeon with Bonchon, Seoul, 04/23/2010

Sushi Yasuda (stolen pic), 204 East 43rd, NY, 12/14/2010

Fried Oreo, Monmouth Race Track, 09/05/2010

Three Amigos Beer tasting, Monmouth Race Track, 09/05/2010

Miguel y Kata, Monmouth Race Track, 09/05/2010

Warrior Dash Mug holds two bottles of beer!

And now, Miss Princess Polly Ponderosa Penelope Peachfuzz is looking at me from this position: 

So I'm gonna wrap this up and head into 2011 with a page out of my dad's mentality: