make it rain.

migz.ca says: (10:19:20 AM)
i iwish i never had to pay rent, i'd be rich

h o n l i n e says: (10:19:34 AM)
i wish i was rich. i'd never have to pay rent

super nintendo sega genesis, when i was deadbroke i couldn't picture this.

I took a walk around town after work for about 1.5 hours to see Christmas lights in the heart of the city. Nice to see all the decorations up. All that's missing now is freshly laid snow. Soon enough. Soon enough...

Been playing some Xbox here and there lately. The new dashboard on the Xbox got a lot of hype, but I'm pretty disappointed with it. Not so much with the interface, cause the interface is cool. But more about the fact that Microsoft completely ripped off the Wii's Mii's. Microsoft called it Avatars, which is fine, but the sounds, the face selections and features are all so Wii-like it digusts me. It's very cutesy and cartoony but the Xbox's player demographic is hardcore gamers... I would've expected something like a Grand Theft Auto character style instead. Le sigh...

Eshwin came over last night with Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. My new roommate Jon, Eshwin and I just played two player for a while, and the graphics are cool and nice, but at the same time, it lacked fluidity. The moves felt really limited, compared to Soul Calibur 4, but once you find out how to do them, it's actually not too bad. It wasn't until we tried the Story Mode that I realized how well thought out this game was for a fighting game. We haven't beat the game yet, but so far, the plot beats the story modes of many fighting games I've played. I'm happy with it, overall. Not as good as Soul Calibur though.

My mind's been heavy with thoughts and my heart's been heavy with emotions lately. Weird that I'm not heavy in weight though... No? No? Dry. It's not that I'm lonely; I gave up something great to be alone. It's not that I'm sad or unhappy; I have fun doing what I do every day. It's not that I'm feeling empty; I have much to live for, I have goals and all. I think it's more that I can't get something out of my mind. Mayhaps I should listen to some Billy Ocean...

HEY! YOU! YES YOU! GET INTO MY CAR!
Get out of my dreams! Get into my car! Get out of my mind! And into my life!

Ah... I'll say it once more. Where would I be without the 80's...?

goodnight trouble.

Nice.

Productive at last... Not in terms of the usual day-to-day productivity where I'm just doing mindless routine work cleaning, paying bills, and facebooking. No. I turned down some beer and video games to work on my own personal work. This is the first time in a long time, and it felt good.

I forgot how much fun personal work can be... The artistic freedom with no limits. Now that's what I'm talkin 'bout. What is this I'm working on, you ask? A personal pet project for shits and giggles... I was thinking of posting a preview of what I've been working on, but I think that would ruin the fun. Soooo... I'll stop talking about it...

Hair report: Coming up on 3 months now. During these three months, I've gotten a very minor trim before Thanksgiving, and one actual haircut at Lattitudes at the Eaton Centre. Overpaid for the styling, but I needed it, and in the end it looked good. Next haircut/trim will probably be before Christmas.

I was listening to a bit of Phil Collins on the way home. Sussussudio! Sossossogood! A productive day and night, some good music and good sushi for lunch and lots of Indian food for dinner... Goodnight trouble indeed.

my thanks, for all that you do.

I did some major cleaning last night after some shopping to prep for the new roommate — who just moved in today and is soooo awesome. Good pick, Fred Hon, good pick. I packed my summer clothes into the suitcase I bought for LA, and took it into the basement storage. In there, I saw my Christmas tree that I got as a gift last year, around this time. I quickly set it up and put on a Christmas CD to get myself into the Christmas mood. Made me so excited...

After that, I went through my shoebox of cards and letters. These cards and letters I've accumulated from a very young age. I think the oldest letter I still have dates back to 1990, when we first moved out of St-Gabriel-de-Brandon to St-Hubert, just outside of Montreal. I have since started collecting all the cards and letters people have given me. I went through each last night, most of them being birthday or Christmas cards. Some Valentine's Day cards.

Reading each of those cards and letters last night made me realize so much. That even if I wasn't a big deal in your life, I was still thought of. Whether we still keep in touch or not, or whether you even liked me or not, doesn't matter. The fact remains that you affected my life somehow, directly or indirectly. And I thank you all for being in my life. I don't regret meeting anyone of you. Whether you intended to or not, you've changed me life and have helped me become who I am now.

I took the time last night to take photos of some of the cards and letters that I've received and posted them on Facebook. I know I have more. I have yet to finish sorting out my room and find more hidden treasures, so I will post them as I find them. Hope some of you still remember the childhood we shared. Once again, thanks for the memories and for being a part of me. And I'm sorry if I never returned the favour...


Here are only a few of the photos. The rest are on Facebook.

Valentine's Day cards from my classmates in Grade 5, when I first moved to Kingston.


A postcard from Brooklyn, a postcard from LA, a birthday gift wrapping, a Nissan Skyline toy from Brooklyn, and a flyer for Tides Gallery Show.


Scrabble and birthday gift wrapping, a Christmas CD, a birthday card, some post-it notes, and an envelop which held a key.


Two out of four finger puppets for my birthday, and a Valentine's Day card


A dried out red rose from wedding and mini-mousepads with the newly weds's designs on them.

this world is strange, sometimes.

It all began with a simple "Hello."
By chance, by fate, it matters not.
In an ocean of crowds
The strangers did meet.

It requires perfect timing
For the perfect chemistry.
Strangers become friends.
Friends become lovers.

Each other's secrets they did hear.
Each other's soft caresses they did feel.
Each other's sweet kisses they did taste.
Through their memories, immortal their emotions did become.

In the passage of time, old memories may fade,
along with some of the most meaningful moments.
But they will never forget their first memory of each other.
It all began with a simple "Hello."

I've been doing a bit of writing the past few days just to get things out of my chest. I think Karma's been catching up to me. It's been a bit of a roller-coaster of events that's been bringing me up and down and down and up. That aside though, it's been an okay enough day so far. Despite the cold, seeing the snow layering the ground has been fairly soothing and calming.

Walking home from Spadina and Queens Quay after hip hop class, I looked up at the sky and watched the snow come down as Sarah Slean's California came on my iPod. Oddly enough, it felt so fitting... Not so much the lyrics, but more the music itself. On the other hand, all this snow is making me think of Christmas... I'm finding myself missing L.A. and NYC more and more these days. Maybe Toronto's boring me. Who knows...

I got John Legend's album Evolver a couple of weeks ago and I've got to say that I'm really loving it. One song that I'm really into is Everybody Knows. Something about the song itself is a bit different from the usual John Legend and I think that's why I like it so much.

Even better than Evolver is Raphael Saadiq's Sometimes. It's so uplifting. I'm not a heavily religious man myself, but his whole album The Way I See It makes me look at the greater scope of life; think less about my life and more about the world. And the song makes me think of the Temptations, The Jacksons, and all the greatest soul artists.With music these days constantly following mainstream with a slight change, it's really nice to hear something totally different, totally new, in an oldies kind of way. Something about re-inventing the old (when done right) really attracts me.


watch Raphael Saadiq - Sometimes >

love is in the air...

I was honoured this past weekend to be one of the groomsmen of a most beautiful wedding. I was further honoured to do a speech for them. The groom of course made a speech too. A very emotional speech which I think touched everyone in the room.

The reception was fun and eventful, and I was so happy to see my friends get married. The joy in their eyes could not be described in words... Congratulations Richard and Jenna! Thanks so much for the great food and entertainment (and sooo much wine...)!! May your love and happiness last forever! Peace be with you both.

xoxo

Photo courtesy of Andrea Acosta-Duarte

chicken and thriller mix.

Sitting here, eating my Swiss Chalet, listening to some Michael Thriller 25, I couldn't ask for more... Good food into my stummy, good tunes into my brain, awesomeness epitomized.

It's been exactly 2 months since I last shaved my head. It's gotten quite the length! I only touched it once before Thanksgiving to try and even out the strays. The hairs touching and tickling my ears have been driving me nuts! Especially with my glasses clamping them down forcing them outwards. I've been waking up with cowlicks, which I haven't seen in a long time. At least not on my head. I'll probably have to go for a trim this week or weekend to prep it for Rich and Jenna's wedding next week.

As for the facial hair, it only lasted a week. Nobody at home could take me seriously. My mom said I looked like a hahm suhp lo (pervert in Chinese), my brother was thoroughly digusted, my cousin couldn't even finish a sentence without being interrupted by laughter... So off my face it went the next morning. El sigh.

In other news, Suzuki.ca finally launched! Another project I worked on will be launching some time this week also. Anyway. Time to relax. Beat it.


a week's worth of growth. gross.

a text down memory lane.

Spent some time typing away this weekend. I was recording all the text messages that I've kept since I got my phone in May of 2007. Lots of hours I'll never get back... I'm only through half of them so far.

Backstory: My stupid phone limits me to 250 text messages in my inbox, and won't save any outgoing texts. I've spent many hours trying to figure out how to save outgoing texts, but to no avail. Sometimes I'd get text messages from people replying to my texts, but then I'd forget what I sent them. Not fun, as I have to waste a text message asking them what it was I texted them about. This past year, I've been a major text fiend; my inbox has been exploding with messages that I've constantly had to delete in order to make room for the new. But I kept about 240 of them for the memories.

Anyway, my plan was to type out all the text messages that I've kept into a word document so that they're still accessible without taking up room in my phone. So that the memories still exist. Like I said, I've only been through half of them so far, but it's been pretty funny looking back. I have a quite a few favourites. They'll remain anonymous, but you know who you are.

"Its okay. Im okay."

"You're a dork..."

"What omg... Kinda hot i wont lie... We'll talk later."

"My stomach is fukked. Holy shit what a day."

"I dreamt we found you a crazy camera for 250.. We were both so bewildered. Then we went to the us border and started to run and jump, eventually the jumps became higher and higher and we eventually flew over the border fence.. It was wicked."

"Cannonball just came on my iPod"

"Wings are wide/ i no longer hide/ my mind is bright and i will fight for a longer sight"

"You have your health, talent labido, but most of all, good friends! Good clothes are new clothes, good friends are old friends. Peace be with you!"

"Yes! Ha ha what you want to know? :-D"

That's are what memories are made of. The best and worst of times. You won't know what's best unless you've had what's worst.