NEW STICKERS from the homey JP!!!

Most people don't really know this, but my dad was born in Thailand... 100% Chinese though, ethnically, not to mention his father was a Chinese journalist who moved to Thailand RIGHT before the Cultural Revolution (thank God) + his stepfather was 100% Chinese... but anyways I had never been to Thailand before a short trip earlier this year...

Why do I say this?

My homeboy JP, aka the creator of the art for our Japanese Tsunami benefit song remix, has been in Thailand for work for a minute, and I just got this DOPE package today with a Thai return address!!!!



Inside: New stickers from their DOPE skateboarding company!!



Thanks, big dog! See u next time u come thru BJ! Say what up to Paul 4 me!

BONUS: You're Not Alone (Japan Tsunami relief song) REMIX ft. a lot of rappers & singers

Florida; stay laced.

There is a long history, within most religious traditions, of voices speaking into (and out of) silence.

This photographic entry finds its position within said storied narrative.

There are others; there are many others, and their stories will be told. But their timeliness is, at the moment, of rather dubious value; as opposed to these pictures, who still find themselves unpickled, fresh.

Wednesday10.28.2009

For the past week (10.26-11.3), I found myself in Sandestin, FL, at
The Navigators' biennial National Collegiate Conference.


I haven't been on the beach since some point vaguely located
within my high school years.


Windswept is rarely an apropos descriptor for my life; here, it
served well.


Jason Macneille's award-winning (really) elephant.


Mammoth, even.

Thursday10.29.2009


Lisa & Leah.

Friday10.30.2009


Ser Landelot.


Mein Doppelgänger, Jason 朱.


Capt. Joelee.

Tuesday11.03.2009

Upon my return to the Northeast (a genuine city skyline? Sight for
sore eyes!), after a lengthy and eventful day of travel, I was
greeted by a plethora of packages awaiting me, desktop.


Among them was my first pair of Creative Recreation kicks, a
complete and utter surprise gift from Mr. John Shen, a true brother
in the faith and in the flyness. A muse, of sorts, in many ways.

Thanks - deep thanks - for the hookup, 哥们儿.

Thursday11.05.2009

My parents' Xmas present arrived early, fresh off the
DHL courier from Karachi, Pakistan. As it's a custom-
made piece, I gave it a quick try-on to ensure that
the measurements had been transmitted properly,
and that I wouldn't have to avail myself of the tailors'
generous - if time-limited - return policy.


No such concerns!

Then back into the closet it was, to mellow and
mature until the coming Christ mass.

2 windfalls

(1) Winding my way towards home today after I finished grading a pile of homework (for my summer, SAT essays, as with pancakes, come in stacks), I discovered that, while the beloved fried snack outpost next door to our academy has since moved to greener pastures (no matter: I still find my super corn dog at any one of the innumerable, and now government sanctioned, stands in the area), one of the other nearby shop fronts I frequented last summer still stands sessile and open for business.

A tiny footprint on one of the jam-packed rows roughly two blocks down from my workplace, it seems, as far as I can tell, to essentially run as a one-woman operation: in the back, a fairly-sized kitchen containing freezers filled with precooked and modular ingredients; in the front, a tiny room large enough for the cook-cum-cashier to stand and take an order, fronted by a glass window with the halves perpetually slid aside and a glass display case showing off rows of fundamental-if-ornate Korean basics: a matrix of permutations on curry, tonkatsu, and the like.

This display case is, I've come to realize, inseparable from my affections for the place: without it, I'm faced with the awkward and halting process of expressing my culinary desires through mimed gestures and sheer fortune. But at this stand, of all places, my meagre stash of Korean is expended and found adequate:

Me: 안녕하세요 [Anyong haseyo; "hello"].
Shopkeeper: 안녕하세요.
Me: (pointing at display case) 하나 [Hana; "one"].
Shopkeeper: [something in Korean] (goes back into kitchen; returns in 2-3 minutes)
Me: 고맙습니다 [komapsumnida; "thank you"]. (bow; exit stage right)

Cost, too serves as a major selling point: all dishes go for under 3000 KRW (~$2.50USD), and several for under $2USD. Coming with meat, rice, kimchi, and drenched in sauces, I'm sure I'm consuming the Korean equivalent of an American $5.99 "Chinese" lunch buffet. But complaints are slow to come, if at all. As I sit in a nearby park shortly afterwards, squeezing out soy sauce and mayonnaise onto my pork, strips of scrambled egg, rice, and kimchi, I watch salarymen pace along the walkways while elementary school children flit about, playing on what I assume to be their lunch break; or perhaps in transit from school to 학원 (academy).

(2) My supervisor/work buddy Jae called me today in the midafternoon. Having ducked out early due to my afternoon student reportedly having been a no-show, my first thought, naturally, was of alarm: was I supposed to be at work? But no, apparently my bosses just wanted to move some items from a recently-departed teacher's apartment (Fritz, for those of you keeping score at home) into mine.

And thus, a few minutes later, my doorbell rang (buzzed, rather), and Jae turned up with a TV, accompanied by stand, and laundry rack. Of course - for those of you who know me - you know that my mind quickly raced through some steps of swift deductive reasoning, and arrived at the conclusion that Fritz's apartment might contain other abandoned items well worth my salvaging efforts.

So, throwing on a pair of shoes, I tagged along up to the 6th floor, behind Jae and Mr. Yang, ransacking the room (what, I take it, the crime shows refer to as tossing a room) for anything and everything remaining of value. After four trips back and forth to my 5th floor room, I proudly surveyed my new possessions, feeling far more materially wealthy than had I ever before been in Korea:

2 bags of (unspecified) frozen meat;
1 bag of frozen french fries;
1/4 bag of frozen tortellini;
9 frozen hash browns;
a scattered handful of frozen chicken nuggets;
several pieces of assorted hard candy;
3 chocolate bars, and 2 Kit-Kats;
2 large boxes of corn flakes;
a bag of onion rings;
a bag of tortilla chips;
a matching container of salsa;
several packets of gravy and sauce mixes;
a large tub of brown sugar;
a tin of chocolate milk mix;
a box of Nerds;
2 tins of Danish-style cookies;
2 bottles of water;
a complete set of eating utensils (highly desirable, as I'd forgotten to bring any with me);
2 pans (for the first time ever in Korea, I may cook);
a bowl;
a plate;
two pots, including lids;
a copy of Bleach Vol. 1, in English;
2 5-pound weights;
a glass mug;
and a (what I assume is fake) Louis Vuitton shoulder bag.

(Fritz if there is anything on that list that you need, get at me.)

This was March.

We stay fly, no lie, you know this/
bloooooooooggin!

What up, party people? In the place to be,
Nah, who am I kidding? Blogs are not the place to be no more. Everyone and their momma is twittering away (literally; i'm expecting my momma to pop up on twitter anyday now... except I know that her attention span isn't attuned to the 60/60/24/7/365 internews cycle just yet) and the blogspots and wordpress accounts lie vacant. You know it's hard out here for a blog when your younger cuz rolls in all tiny and cute with teh microbloggin' in full effec'. We are primed for 140-or-less characters now: this is the txt/sms generation, after all. Gen teXt (if you use it, give props to the originator, word).

Anyways, if you don't know, now you know (you know?): I'm back on my b.s. (no Bussa bus... except maybe Bussa bus). And if you caught any of what I'm throwing out there, you're either Dallas, Rafi, Combat Jack, Prof. "Xavier" Conway, Sooey ajumah (ha! just playing 여동생), or Vic.

So then, for what it's worth: here's March through my camera. April to follow.

Tuesday03.03.2009

Waiting in Silliman to meet a student, I caught a sight of old glory, and I'm
not talking about the American flag.


Some faces on there I haven't seen in a minute... including a face that's
gonna be the visage of a married man soon.

Thursday03.05.2009


Vic had a little mishap; son tore hisself up on the court! Still he pushes thru
like a champion. Or like a bawse (nah it never gets old!).


After kicking it (in all senses but literal) with Vic, I
headed over to Living Water rehearsal. Jesse was
wearing this jawn.

Sunday03.15.2009

After a week traveling & singing with Living Water, I
headed back to New Haven for the span of a single
night (<12 href="http://www.greenecountyhabitat.net/">Greene County
Habitat for Humanity site, a 10-hour drive away in
Southwestern PA, for the next week.


KVE stickers, in front of HGS, York Street, New Haven.


pd sticker, in front of HGS, York Street, New Haven.


EGO86 sticker, in front of HGS, York Street, New Haven.
From the days back in the reign of terror... aka freshman and
sophomore years... relics still remain!


Josh snoozing on the lengthy drive.

Saturday03.21.2009

After a week of moderate labor, lengthy rest, and plentiful church food,
we again made the (all the more grueling the second time) 10-hour trek
back via roadway from Waynesburg, PA, to New Haven, CT.


While we stopped for gas, it only made the best of sense that I would
have the worst of luck to select a gas pump that was actually and
openly rejected under the standards and statutes of the State of
Pennsylvania.


At another rest stop; josh, burdie, and joe lee.


moh lei knocked owwwwwwt.


lill & kg.


Burdie. =)


Josh, pointing at the sleeping l & kg.

And after it was all said and done... two weeks on the
road, moving from place to place, singing and
hammering, and these remained:


A dog tag with a verse written on it, from the people of
Williamson First Baptist, in KY; ear plugs and spent
.22 cartridges from a nail gun in PA; an unused carry-
on luggage tag from the flight down to Louisville.

Sunday03.22.2009

First Sunday back to New Haven! The occasion
warranted a fresh spring look.


Play cloths season 1 at 25% off... more true-to-size fit
than I'd expected from a streetwear line. The rumors
about quality are all true, though: definitely a dope
piece.


The items from my last night's picture weren't the only
reminders of my Spring Break touring; this blood blister,
acquired on the penultimate day of Habitat work,
lingered tenderly until I finally shed it, some weeks later.

Monday03.23.2009


In anticipation of my upcoming birthday, while I was
traveling, I ordered a BAPE tee off eBay from my man
Kalvin (a/k/a Monkey Monster clothing). This joint
arrived over the course of my travels, and I waited, a
good kid, until the-day-of before breaking in & flossing
out.

Amy Jones needed to go shopping for some new shoes, and I, naturally,
felt obliged to provide an escort to downtown New Haven. For, you know,
safety.


The AJF5... Amy's brother has a pair of these back in Louisville... fire.

Then I discovered the baby shoes and it was all over... yo if I ever have
a little man running around, he is going to stay straight laced up!


These are the Skittles Dunk mini-highs.


More AJF action... XII's... greenbean? awh nawh.


Air Max boots? Wale somewhere out there shakin' right now, he's
fiending for these, i know it.


Ahhh with the premium tongue label! 熊猫, 中国文化
whaddddup? James Kim these are for your kid some
day!


And on my way back to Vic's place, from a quiet dinner with a couple of
buddies, we ran across the last and dirtiest snow pile in the city.

Tuesday03.24.2009


Headed out the door jogging... still too cold to run in
anything less than 4 layers!! Dang.


Just noticed, as I was running along, that Yale installed some new green-
friendly energy sources, including windmills on the top of Becton, our
engineering building.


Sure, why not?


Later on, wandering around Old Campus with some of the boys, we
came across a vacant (and longtime so, hopefully) bathroom in CT
Hall.

Wednesday03.25.2009


Knit ties are in this year, I'm calling it now.

And what's this????

On my way out the door I noticed a package at the front
door, addressed to me, from my boy Joe D (of NV$N
streetwear and internets fame).






He ain't lyin neither...


Joe is the king of vintage BAPE... he and I started kickin it back when I
copped a pair of 2003 (or was it 2001?) bathing ape selvage denims
from the kid... sonn is nasty with his game, he gets rid of more hot
gear than I think I might ever own, period.




Much appreciated, bro. Hope u figure out that MIDI controller & start
slayin em on the beats again!! Make sure Barry hollas at'chu!

Thursday03.26.2009


SOLE sticker, corner of High & Elm, New Haven, CT.

Monday03.30.2009

Monday nights I generally head over to kick it with homeboy Justin and
his buddy Aaron... this night Aaron couldn't make it, but I whiled away
the night with my (expected-to-be) future roommates.


Justin fixed dinner... I am gonna have to learn from him at some point.


J.


Le le.

Josh was there, too, but the only pictures I got of him
were pretty much embarrassing shots of mad eating
going on, so I felt like sparing him the internets
celebrity of that.

Next to come: all of April, and I ain't talkin bout that reporter that hung with the Turtles.