p.s.

I'll post more when I doctor up my computer. She's sick.

UMMMMMMMMMMM

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

None of them bring me any closer to you..

eh, I'm just having a moment. :)


Close your eyes, press your cheek against a cool surface, and listen:

Mark Velasquez's work...

There is a link to his blog to the left, which will redirect you to his other sites also:

http://markvelasquez.blogspot.com/

I absolutely love his work. He does a lot of sensual feminine shots.. By sensual I mean nude and he has a sensual, genuine way with words in expressing the model to his audience. He's one of those artists that I can't not look at his work even if I wanted to. Each story is so intriguing. He is a captivating writer. Whether his encounters are brief with these women or not I'm not always sure, but he does a great job illustrating that he "gets" it. I find that rare to come across in men. That's not to put men down, it is just that some are more perceptive than others. I know I know, the same can be said about women too.

You truly have a gift Mark! I hope to work with you one of these days! :)

:)

Nothing too hi-tech here, just a way for me to look at SF pics fast... and you too, if you wish.

All I know is...

I know nothing.

ha. no. but yea.

I know that this time last week, I was changed. I walked into my first boutique in SF and when The Rolling Stones' "She's like a rainbow" came on, everything seemed a bit clearer for a minute. I love seeing things in a whole new light. :) The song specifically brought me back to this amazing commercial that I hadn't thought of in a while:




Just because everyone should watch these if they haven't:







Where did that clarity go???

Journeying to and from SF...

Here I am 4:19pm East Coast time. I arrived here at 9:30 am and I've been sleeping alllll day. I'm still a bit worn out but I've been itching to write my thoughts on SF.

First of all I'd like to say aside from SF, I always meet the most interesting people on plane rides. Granted the planes rides are usually 3 hours or more. Maybe it's because someone doesn't want to sit next to another person for that long without having made any convo? Ironically enough though, most people I talk to do not share these same experiences I usually have. It would be one thing if I was the initiator also, haha, but I'm not usually. I love it though, maybe people can sense that.

On my ride from Chicago to SF I met Frankie. He was on his way back to Hawaii, he is currently stationed there. An interesting fellow Frankie was, to say the least. He is originally from Boston and had a bit of an accent, but he thought I had a southern flare as well. I think part of the reason we talked so much is because we liked the sound of each other's voices more than our actual words. :) After my couple bloody mary's and his jack & cokes we got pretty deep about wanting to survive without all of our modern technology. Sure, we were talking about not caring if the plane crashed because we could survive... haha. I looooooooved Frankie's tatoo, which can be seen here:




He had an incredible story behind it too. Anyway, he and I talked for hours, grabbed some dinner at the airport, and he told me about his secret marriage that had just occured the previous day. So sweet! I can't wait to catch up with him and find out more about his daily hiking trips back in Honolulu.

So my experiences in SF, I'll try to sum up here: taking the BART, being picked up by a friend of a friend's (who was an amazing liberal sweet girl named Serena), hanging out at a crazy German bar in the Mission, sitting on the corner of Valencia & 18th in the Mission people watching, eating in a yummy Taqueria, eating breakfast at Tartine's (which was phenomenal!!!!), attending the annual gay Jesus hunk fest in Dolores Park (one of the best experiences ever!)*, eating delicious Thai food, exploring the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing MILK at The Castro**, so so so much eating and shopping, exploring and shopping down Haight St, staying in Haight, walking miles and miles throughout SF, Lombard St, the Victorian houses, having a passionate debate about the economy with a homeless man, The WAVVES show at Bottom of The Hill, eating Sushi at Domo (the owner was sweet and bought us a few shots of my fav Nigori Sake), people smoking weed and drinking clearly in the public almost everywhere, eating amazing Italian at Mario's, Sacred Grounds coffee house (best Caramel Machiato's I've ever tasted and their food was on point too), finally visiting The Red Victorian although the food was nothing to brag about (the idea of the place is amazing though), visiting MOMA and seeing the brilliant William Kentridge's work, late night rides on the buses, IN-N-OUT BURGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Fisherman's Wharf (a bit too touristy for me but still should be experienced), Golden Gate Park- Hippie Hill, Ramsi's bath tub, HELD OVER VINTAGE STORE (best vintage & their music playlist was great)!!!!!, overall it was almost too much for me how amazingly beautiful the city was. I love the landscape! So many incredible views throughout the city... Even though a lot of it is city-esque, there is still a lot of greenery, amazing trees and plants. I will definitely live there at some point. No doubt in my mind.


*The Annual gay hunk Jesus contest in Dolores Park was such an eye-opener for me. I've been raised to think liberally and open-minded about sexual orientation (thanks to my Mom). To see the vastly different views from SF to conservative VB was shocking for me. Of course I've heard it, but to see it was a completely different experience. I'm so thankful I was able to witness it. Personally, I loved how liberal and relaxed SF is. All I could think about in the park that day was how amazing it was that so many families were there with their little kids. To be a child raised in an environment like that would be really special. Most of my friends were like, "Yea I love it here, but I wouldn't raise a family here." All I could think was completely the opposite.

SF reminded me a lot of NY, but with a much more relaxed attitude and better weather. If I get into Grad school in NY, I will be happy with that, but I know I'll make my way out to SF to live sooner or later.

**Seeing MILK at The Castro was unbelievable. Being right there in all of that history that took place was so moving. I BALLED my eyes out in that movie. I usually tear up at sad stuff, but this one I was almost hyperventilating. I love watching passionate people with good hearts trying to change the world. It was a shame what happened to Mr. Harvey Milk, but he was such a noble man and did wonders! I recommend seeing the movie regardless, but I'm so grateful I was able to see it where I did. Sean Penn was awesome, the whole cast was great. The movie just made my crush on Sean Penn grow exponentially. :)

Overall I had a remarkable time. I can't wait to go back!

On my journey from SF to Chicago, I met a man named Cesar. He upgraded my seat to first class, which was very nice and very random. I have the feeling he's done that quite a few times. :)



We go on to the plane, get comfortable, and start talking more. This was the first time that I sat "first class" and I've always been curious about the differences ever since Jerry Seinfeld's piece on that. haha. Basically, you have an attendant bugging you more and you have more leg room (which was actually a nice plus for my stems). He was curious about the camera around my neck and asked to look at my pics. Note, this is a very personal question to ask a stranger. It's like sharing a diary in a way. I knew I didn't have anything too inappropriate on there so I let him browse my pics. He showed me his fantastic point & shoot Canon. So we swapped cameras and looked at glimpses of each other's life. He bought me coffee when we got to Chicago. He was on his way back home to Indiana. Cesar.. Short, filipino, smart, funny, quite bold, and uhhh 40 haha. He gave me his info and told me he hoped that I contacted him. I can only imagine the number of girls he does that very same thing to.

That was such a bizarre situation I sort of feel like I was set up. haha. Like okay which one of my friends is messing with me?

Life is ummmm? Something. The reason I shared all of that is because I meet such amazing, different people all of the time. For some reason, for me, it often happens on plane rides.

It's all a part of the experience. I <3 SF! :)

Now it's time to work on pics.

Ch Ch Ch Check it ouuuuut:

Check out these awesoooooome bags by my dear friends, the GC4! Love, love, love them:

(Click photo below)



Oh and they come with FREE music! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

"Just say NO to the WHACKNESS"

This happened in uh, January, I believe? I've had the idea for a while now, just hadn't had time to illustrate.

Here's the story...

One Saturday night after my girlfriend Niki and I had finished running into random people's yards with Christmas decorations still up and snapping photos with their decorations, we met up with her boyfriend and his friends at a local bar/restaurant. The night was going really well. One of Derek's (Niki's boyfriend) friends introduced me to his friend, we'll call him, Whack. First of all, Whack was wearing a Baja which I thought was so awesome and old skool. He starts talking to Niki and I and there was a lot of laughing, he was really charming, funny, and cute. He was talking to us some about his interests, his background, where he went to school... blah blah blah. Then Derek was ready to go home with Niki, and I was left there kind of by myself. I knew other people there, but Niki and I came there together. I thought to myself "Damn! I really want to talk to this guy but I should probably go." Not even a minute later, Whack walks up to me and is like, "I want to buy you a drink and talk some more." I'm thinking, "whoooo!" haha. (Note to readers, I don't usually find guys that intrigue me this much to where I would agree.)

So Whack buys me a drink and we sat in a booth and talked for a looooong time! He was telling me how he used to teach History in South America. He really had done a lot of cool shit and he was only a few years older than me. Then he starts feeding me the lines telling me how pretty I am and he starts guessing my ethnicity... Italian, Asian, Greek, Indian, etc. He didn't guess by the way, I had to tell him. Last call was approaching and he told me he really wanted to take me out to dinner. I'm like "okay, I need to figure out my schedule and I'll let you know." He asked for my number and I was hesitant to give it to him at first, because I think giving your number out in a bar is just so cliche, but I did. ha.

He texted me late that night telling me again how beautiful he thought I was, etc. (laying it on thiiiick, ha). The next day he calls me to ask when I'm free for dinner, I told him the next Friday. Throughout this week he had been texting and calling me non-stop. I'm thinking "wow, is this guy desperate? really interested? or what?" I was still excited to go out with him, nonetheless, because he seemed like a really cool guy. I told Derek that we had an upcoming date and he warned me that Whack had an upcoming baby on the way with some random girl. Of course, Whack would not have told me this during our first conversation. Knowing that though, I still wanted to go out with him. I didn't tell him I knew either.

Thursday rolls around, Whack called me that night to confirm our plans for Friday night. He said he was going to make dinner at his place and to come over around 630. He assured me how excited he was and all of that. I let my sister know that night about the plans. The next day I ran errands during the day and I hadn't heard from Whack. That was weird to me because of the over-texting he had been doing the past few days. I just ignored it though. Later that evening I got ready and still no word from Whack by 6. I didn't have directions yet so I thought that was weird. I sent him a text that said "You still primping?" No word back. 7 rolls around, no word! 8 rolls around, nothing! I called him and there was no answer. I start calling my girlfriends then because, honestly, I was soooooooooooooooooo worried. Doesn't add up right? This guy was completely stoked for a week, then the day of, no word? I wasn't even really mad, I was just worried.

I never heard from him AT ALL Friday night. Saturday I sent him a text and I said, "hey, I just want to know if you're alive." No word! I really was a wreck too, because I thought something awful happened. Sunday morning at brunch with my girlfriends I filled them in on everything. All of our crazy thoughts were said.. "Maybe he lost his phone and doesn't have your number?" "Maybe his baby mama went into labor." "Maybe he was in a car accident." There were numerous thoughts. Niki finally had me convinced that maybe his baby's mama went into labor because apparently she was due soon.

Meg finally says to me, "what's his number? I'll call him from my phone." haaaaaaaaaaaaa! I hadn't even thought about that! Meg calls his number and there was no answer. We all leave brunch and a few minutes later Meg calls me. She says, "Michelle! That number called me back!!!!" Meg was too nervous to answer the phone though so she didn't. I was piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed! I mean what the fuck? The very least he could have done was let me know he was alive! So anger gets the best of me and I sent him a text along the lines of "Look. I don't know what happened but you could have had the decency to call me. I already knew you had a baby on the way!" Secretly, I knew if he read that he would definitely respond. He sends me a really long text back about how he really wanted that date to happen, but there was an unfortunate event and he couldn't make it. He said he knew he had fucked up, but I needed to understand. Basically I said, "Sorry for your tragic event. Sounds like you have a lot going on. Take care."

He still didn't even have the decency to call me! A few days later he texts me again about how he wanted to make it up to me and take me to a nice Italian rest... No joke was texting me like everyday and I was just flat out turning him down. He wouldn't stop and then he told me was going to Diving School in South Carolina in a few days and wanted to see me before then. I said I was busy. Sooooo... Mr. Whackness and I never had our date. He is listed under Whack in my phone and he still texts me often. I don't even respond anymore.

What is crazy about this whole situation, is where the photo comes in. My younger sister, Lindsey, was with me a couple of days after him standing me up. She told me she was shocked when I told her what happened because the night before our "date" she prayed for the date not to happen if he wasn't the right one for me. She said she got a weird feeling about him when I first told her about him. There I was laying in bed praying about how I hoped everything would go awesome the next day. It really amazed me. I think that's why I never gave him another chance. I mean CLEARLY he wasn't the right one for me. haha.

Life... so unpredictable. I love it. :)

Who would have thought?!

That working out to this song would be soooooooooooooo satisfying:



Thanks to the randomness of Pandora for that by the way! ;)

p.s. I'm struggling lately trying to figure out what my place with music is. I know I have this deep connection that I'm trying to figure out. Maybe I should stop trying to figure it out and just roll with it? I've always felt I've had a strange gift with music. Whether it's the ability to recognize an artist and a song by one note or just my vast appreciation for all of it.

This song is what gave me a kick in the arse after watching BIG LOVE. Something just struck a chord and now I can't discover what it is:

yes!