my last reading week of my life was a nice bang to almost four years of drooling on textbooks and cramming sessions. so what did i do? instead of laying in the sun and getting my pale skin darkened by the sun, i went to tijuana, mexico and built a home for a family. it was an amazing experience to see a group of students turn a pile of wood and buckets of paint and nails into a home for a family in two days. there isn't much i can say that wouldn't sound cheesy and cliche so i'll end with a photograph.

freaks and geeks

this show has got to be one of the best shown on television. well, it is definitely on the top of my list. with all the shows like gossip girl and one tree hill, where the lives of teenagers and days of high school are too good to be true. we only wish that we could be dressed looking like we just walked off cat walk or be the most popular girl in high school and own our own fashion line by the time we're 25. yes, watching these shows is one of my guilty pleasures. but every time watching an episode of gossip girl and cringing probably every 5 minutes makes me appreciate great shows like freaks and geeks. so, what is so good about it? it makes you feel like you're on top of the world by seeing how much fun these people have by being who they are and having people to share the things they find most fascinating about this world. you don't watch this show coveting what these characters have but rather for the odd sense of connection you feel with them. no matter how geeky or pathetic the crew might be, you can't help but long to play dungeons & dragons with the geeks or hang out under the bleachers with the freaks. this show truly did die too young.

one of my favourite scenes:

Neal Schweiber: So I wake up this morning, and guess what is sitting on the end of my bed?
Bill Haverchuck: A turd?
Neal Schweiber: Yes, Bill, a turd.
Bill Haverchuck: Ewwwwww! Gross!
Neal Schweiber: An Atari video set. Is my dad the coolest, or what? So shall we say Asteriods, my place, 3:30?
Bill Haverchuck: Yeah, if that's when you wanna get your butt kicked.

you have to watch to understand!

cat eye sunglasses!

next pair of frames i need to get a hold of:

proenza schouler extended cat eye sunglasses

i first saw these glasses on charlotte ronson 2009 fall campaign video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdAr8AeCxI

you can get them here: http://www.lagarconne.com/store/item.htm?itemid=4916&sid=648&pid=648

aren't they marvelous?

i absolutely hate job hunting. what i have been doing to keep my sanity is watching season 2 of the rachel zoe project. another show from bravo that glamorizes the world of fashion, when it really is probably slave work. i don't know if this show is healthy for me because shopping online has been a current addiction of mine ever since coming back from nyc and knowing i can ship things for so cheap to jon in ny! must get back to work!

tim burton is a genius

i went to nyc the first weekend since school started. yes, i am the ultimate slacker, but why miss an opportunity to leave kingston for the eclectic vibes of nyc. after about a 9 hour of sleeping with my head to the side and mouth wide opened, we finally arrived in nyc! once i saw the apartment buildings with fire escapes, the excitement massaged my neck pains away.

i am going off topic. what i really wanted to write this post about was the tim burton exhibition. it is beyond words and must be on everyone's list of to dos in nyc. the exhibition started out entering the mouth of one of his bizarre, morbid, characters. from beginning to end, my eyes were glued to every piece. i could have spent hours in that room, even though i did feel a bit claustrophobic from the amount of people crammed into a tiny space. his pieces ranged from childhood essays to a life-size model of edward scissorhands. his ideas were endless and what what makes him remarkable is his ability to translate his quirky and sometimes dark ideas onto paper. his characters and illustrations are some of the best i've ever seen. if it wasn't for this exhibition, i wouldn't have known about the witty artistic genius behind movies like mars attack. he does not only have great ideas but amazing technical skills and i was blown away with his sketches and art work. my favorite part are the walls of endless sketches in graphite, ink, and watercolor. i do not want to spoil the exhibit for you any longer, so take a plane, a walk, a bus, or a train to the MOMA!

it is the start of a brand new year. 2010 to be exact. lots of uncertainties in this year as opposed to 2009, but i will hike through this year with courage. i will embrace to fact that this year brings along many mysteries that i will solve. 2010, bring it on!

i will start my first blog with a list of new year resolutions. new year resolutions can be quite a scam, but its a good excuse to set goals in the beginning of the year, right?

so here goes my list:

- post at least 2 blog entries a week

- be able to do one hip hop routine (hip hop classes here i come!)

- sketch in my moleskin or sketchbook at least once a week

- meet as many strangers as possible

- get a secure plan for after graduation

meet mister FUJI SAN

i climbed up mt. fuji in july. oh, what an experience. we left our dorms at around 4pm and ate a big meal before our big climb. we stopped by the combini to get some supplies. thinking i wasn't going to be too hungry, i only bought water, a box of chocolate cookies and a snickers bar. oh was i soo wrong. why did i not get those onigiris that would've made my stomach smile on that cold cold mountain. we took the bus to station 5 and that is where are adventure begins. we only had a few flashlights so i could barely see my path, but the stars gave us plenty of light. oh man was it amazing. the sky filled with specks of light took my breath away. too bad camera are not yet able to take a picture of what your eyes see. anyway, we started at 9:30pm and got up the mountain just in time to see the sun peek through the rolling hills in the distance. after 7 hours of hiking/climbing up the mountain we finally reached the top of mount fuji. it was breath taking and all the sweat, blood, and tears were worth it (the downhill part changed my mind though). the downhill was killer. in the middle japanese guys we met on the bus earlier told us we were going down a completely wrong path that would lead us to the opposite of the mountain where our bus was waiting for us. we all right then and there contemplated whether we should jump off the mountain. so, many stop breaks later we finally reached the bottom of the hill where we were so lucky to catch a bus that took us to our reserved bus back to tokyo. we were completely knocked out on the bus, but our exhaustion did not stop us from getting a good bowl of ramen. after a 12 hour trip, i finally got back to my dorm at 4pm to take a nice long shower.

the beginning

it was very windy

sun peeking through the hills

we basically slid down the mountain

sand/gravel were pilling up in my shoes

trekking down

all smiles at the top