legalize it right now, we wanna blaze one

June '07 

Doctor: "Do you participate in recreational drugs?"

My eyes briskly flitted over to my mother beside me before I answered with a guilty, but seemingly assured "No."

Doctor: "Good.  That's the number one cause of heart attack in people your age."

I put on a silly reassuring semi-smile for him as my heart rate accelerated and my chest tightened further sitting in the hospital chair wondering what the hell was wrong with me.  I'd been experiencing a chest pain near my heart for a few days now, and it had been showing no signs of weakening.  Of course, super concerned mom finally took me to get checked out after I had managed to avoid it for the past two days.

One nerve-racking EKG and a tension filled chest X-ray later, it was concluded I had only strained a chest muscle above my heart.  Probably something I was doing at the gym they told me.  Naturally, much welcomed relief flowed through me.  I had never felt such a pain before, and right near my heart?  Of course I was sort of paranoid on some level after it hadn't gone away for three or four days.

As we were waiting for test results though, all I could think was, "I actually used drugs and now here I fucking am."  Even though I knew the risk for a heart attack after using marijuana is normally only associated with the first hour after you smoke (because that's when your heart rate is most accelerated), you try reasoning to yourself and thinking straight when you are lying in a hospital bed wearing a gown that is most definitely not "one size fits all" with a machine measuring the electrical activity of your heartbeat attached to your body not knowing how the results will read.

I walked out of the hospital with orders to take three times the recommended dosage of Motrin every six hours and a good scare.  Immediately afterwards, I even proclaimed to a few friends, "I'm not going to smoke anymore, it's not worth it."  I whole-heartedly meant it at the time.  The fear and uncertainty I experienced that day was nothing I ever wanted to come close to reliving.

Drug usage is capable of presenting both moral and physical dilemmas.  I hadn't really battled either of these till this summer.  A few weeks after this ordeal, I had calmed down enough to realize I was overreacting and taking the situation out of hand.  My unlucky circumstance coupled with the doctor's inopportune question was just an unfortunate coincidence.  I've decided I shouldn't feel guilty about doing something just because the US government says it is illegal, and the health risks are minimal comparatively to recreational McDonald's use.

You don't have to agree, and I could see plenty of reasons why one wouldn't - but I've been through my internal conflicts now, I know where I stand.

Light me up!

sometimes your words just hypnotize me

i decided my honey bunches of oats had reached the right stage between crunchy and soggy as i grabbed the bowl off the ledge to the left of my bed as I gazed at upper manhattan. I took a satisfied bite of the cereal swimming in the milk sweetened by the honey clusters as I turned to look forward towards the brooklyn bridges.

"we're such ballers," i proclaimed to jessie as i realized that i had a new favorite place - 200 water street, room 2315.

if i could open my arms and span the length of the isle of manhattan, i'd bring it to where you are

my legs and arms ache unbelievabley, my eyes sting when i close them, but i'm happy. the past three days have been filled with highlights, but the most memorable was actually some (mostly) innocent fun with a man named michael c. anthony, a.k.a. my god for an hour.

i sat in my third row seat anxiously anticipating what the "best hypnotist in the nation" would have to offer me. next thing i know, i'm anxiously anticipating what i'll have to offer the audience as i sat in my front row seat on the brightly lit stage looking at the crowd.

"his philosophy is that he'll hypnotize anyone who wants to be hypnotized. thus when he announced anyone who wanted to be up on the stage would just have to go up, a horde of the audience scrambled up. i, who was more civilized, took the stairs and ended up standing in the second row whereas suki, who is not so civilized, jumped over the stage to land herself in a front row seat."
- j-yoh's blag

i was convinced:
- a corduroy belt was a deadly snake
- breathing into my shoe was the only means of obtaining oxygen
- i was deathly cold and the only way of procuring warmth was stealing it from my neighbors
- the audience was entirely naked
- a water bottle was floating all on its own
- the guy next to me pinched my butt (twice)
- i was in a dance competition with $100,000 at stake
- and so much more

not only was i captured under the strange hypnotic spell of these man's ridiculously persuasive words, i was one of those "special" few in hypnosis shows to be especially abused further for the audience's amusement. everytime michael said the word "safety," he made me believe that i was the world's first human seat belt.. each time i heard the word, i'd immediately spread my limbs rapidly to their limits in an attempt to save as many lives as possible by spreading my body out over complete strangers' laps. apparently, i "saved" four people each time.

i would describe the process of hypnosis as oddly relaxing. if you can manage to focus enough and cut out all distractions, you do not loose awareness of the audience, the stage, or the fact that you are in a show.. you simple don't care. all that matters is michael's voice.

i should get myself a copy of last night's taping. or actually, maybe not -_-

how does it feel?

now contemplating:  "honestly?" - american football

honestly, i can't remember all my teenage feelings

and the meanings

they seemed too see-through

to be true

all the whos are there

but the whys are unclear

picture this

the long awaited sickening kiss

how does it feel to know we've re-written history

despite the complicated beginning to all of this

honestly

i stumbled across this song tonight.  it's not my favorite musically, but the lyrics have struck a chord.  i feel like this a lot.  i'll go back through old yearbooks and pictures and think to myself, "did i really say this?  do this?  feel this?"  its so weird.  you were so connected to those feelings once, and certain things were so important to you.  now, you've cut yourself off from those feelings because you've "rewritten" the past with your new outlook.  things change, but these lyrics sort of force me to remember the way i used to think about certain things and well, people. 

how is the powerful significance of raw moments lost so easily with time?

why does this rain pour down? i'm gonna drown

i've been down and i'm wondering why these little black clouds keep walking around with me

i have not seen the sun in days.  i'm down for a good rainy day once in a while, but this is supposed to be my last week of summerrr.

--

dear weather,

chill out.

much love,

sooks

.. and i want life in every word to the extent that its absurd

Drops of sweat steadily dripped down my forehead as I neared the end of my elliptical routine.  I usually zone-out at the gym, so I was taken aback when the man on the neighboring machine turned to speak to me.  "Switch the channel, you're gonna get nightmares," he casually warned breaking my stare at the monitor.  

I wasn't watching shark week.  David Banner's video for "Play" wasn't on (which comes on wayyy too frequently in my opinion *shudders*).  I was watching the news.

Huntington, Utah.  For the past few days, this random town has been plaguing my thoughts (I guess my work out neighbor was right).  The six miners trapped in the Utah mountain mine collapse on August 6th have yet to be found.  As unfortunate as this scenario is, it was just another tragic tale on the news to me until last Thursday.  On August 16th, three rescue workers were killed in a cave-in and six were injured.  Three men died in a failed attempt to save six others that might be alive.

There's survivable space on this mountain.  This is what keeps hope alive in the hearts of the family members of those that have been missing for fourteen days now.  This resilient hope is battling quite a heap of discouraging realities.  The mountain has been restless - heaving and shuddering with seismic activity.  Vibrations lasting as long as five minutes have been picked up, but these tantalizing sounds could have easily been caused by animals or breaking rocks.   The listening devices (geophones) work in tests, but have never before successfully found a missing miner.  The air quality, more recently, has been found unable to support life.

Are these six miners still alive?  Probably not.  But there's more to life than simple logic and reason.

I find myself unsettled by the confusing ethics of this situation.  I can't decide if the rescue effort is a waste or not.  Should these six trapped men be abandoned?  No, of course not.  Should three men have had to die in a mountain they knew to be dangerous?  No, of course not.

The search's been put on a halt.  Halt - a standstill, not a termination.  Where should it go from here?  Should we risk the lives of more rescue workers in the hopes of finding the trapped miners?  What if we lose more lives than we are trying to save? 

The numbers of "trapped" and "deaths" represent people, not inanimate objects - that would make it easy.  More than a hundred rescue workers have been on this case.  Would you risk more than a hundred dollars at the possible chance of retrieving six?  Nope.  But, how do you decide if its worth the risk if what you're gambling with is human lives?

The human element is what complicates matters.  A human life cannot have a value placed upon it.  It cannot perfectly be judged for what it is worth.  That's why I am against euthanasia  Assisted suicide without consent would require creating a standard or a line that you are no longer worthy of life after you cross.  No human should be given the power to decide who gets to live and who gets to die.

Nevertheless, in this case, we are forced to make a decision.  While searching actively risks more lives, discontinuing searching actively shows disregard for the lives of the trapped miners.  Where's the balance between reasonability and respect/morality?  It's a complicated, murky line that no one should have to bear the burden to draw.

Even if we ultimately determine these men to be dead, do we endanger more lives to find their bodies?  Some may see no justification for leaving people to die despite the risks, but what about those already dead?  There won't be closure for these families without bodies, but again, what possible price are willing to pay for that closure?

My heart earnestly goes out to all the families involved in this tragic misfortune and the people that have to undertake the difficult task of deciding the next step. 

I have no clue what I'd do.

female addicted to retail

now playing:  "tiny vessels" - death cab for cutie

tiny vessels oozed into your neck and formed the bruises that you said you didn't want to fade

leave it to ben to talk about hickeys artistically 

speaking of ben, i discovered his blag.. or his "mog"

http://mog.com/ben_gibbard

he only updates around once a month, but it offers a wee bit of insight into what he's doing and listening to

anyway, the real reason for my entry is i've added a goal to my list for the fall semester..

1) Get All A's

2) Exercise Regularly

3) Learn Guitar

4) Explore

5) BE FRUGAL

sookie see, sookie buy.  my little spree yesterday convinced me i need to have a better handle on money.  i've got to cut back just to start developing good habits for the future!

peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!

i'm so glad that three lawyers woke up one morning and decided to open a peanut butter restaurant.

P.B. Loco <3

"Lawyers love to figure things out.  They love to argue.  And they love to eat sandwiches.  (Name one lawyer movie that doesn't show a lawyer sitting at a desk eating a sandwich.  See, you can't).  So a sandwich restaurant was a natural choice."

today's choice = yummer nummer: white chocolate peanut butter, banana, nutella 

mmmmmm!  *drools*

currently on repeat: "for what reason" by death cab for cutie

so slick with that sarcastic slew of phrases like 'i thought you knew,' while keeping me in hot pursuit

arbitrary lyric

ramble ramble ramble.  ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble! ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble.  ramble ramble ramble ramble!!! ramble. ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble. ramble ramble ramble RAMBLE ramble! ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble. ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble?!? ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble rambleeee ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble.

there's too much food on my plate

i can cross portuguese off my cuisines to try list.  david ramos, the boy with a portuguese flag in his car and imported bricks from portugal plastered onto his very american house, treated me to ria mar today!  my parents are infuriated with me at the moment so i lied and said i was going to the gym and wore real clothes under my gym ones.  shady.  i had this savory pork/potato/clam dish.  portuguese food is defined by meat.  vegetarians beware!!!  anyway, it was definitely good, like i would recommend the restaurant to a friend.. but at the same time, i don't know if i'll ever be inclined to eat portuguese again.  the meat, while tasty, is very fatty.  you can tell when you cut it apart.  kind of unappetizing.  nevertheless, its all fine and good while you're eating it, but a while later, i had this weirdly gross feeling come over me.  i felt the food was just a little too heavy for me to handle.  either way, i'm glad i finally tried it because david and i have been talking about going for ages.  it didn't end up being one of those floating plans that get talked about ALL the time but float on forever and never happen.

let's talk

ok i'm totally aware that my blogs lack real substance.  on the phone with andy, i came up with the phrase "epidermal writing"  meaning.. only skin or surface deep.  i should patent that.  yes, no, maybe so?  anyway, i came up with a lot on the phone with andy for two hours tonight actually.  we talked about everything from blagging to existence to capitalism.  it was some of the most stimulating conversation i've had in i don't know how long.  its amazing how much i can spew out when someone i'm ultra comfortable with lets me talk.  its probably record breaking.  not that they have records for talking, but if they did, i would definitely be a contender, especially when i'm excited and have multiple thoughts going on at once.  when i speak freely, its like there is no brake between my brain and my mouth.  literally, you are hearing the thoughts as i think them.  i articulate myself out loud rather than compose what i'm going to say if some one is sending me vibes that they are truly listening and we're decently close.  so talking to andy, there is no fear of any type of awkwardness, so he gets/has to hear me sort my ideas out.  even tho my blogs are unoriginal and blah-ish, dont be fooled, i'm deeper than that.  i am good at thinking out loud.  writing, now thats a problem.  something gets lost along the way between my thoughts and the pen or keyboard.  i think its because everything in my head is moving at lightning speed and i can't possibly write fast enough to capture it.  maybe i am easily bored or distracted or something because i will have a fleeting, exhilarating, exciting and interesting thought, but if i try to write it out, before the first word is down, my awesome thought has escaped me to a far off galaxy.  i can remember what it was about, but i so quickly forget how it made me feel at the moment that i experienced it.  it is gone, lost forever sadly.  so the end result is a sentence that is possibly mildly intriguing and "cute" at best.  never really something too good.  luckily tho, i've got a mouth that can move as fast as my mind so i'm able to articulate my thoughts in that way.  i arrive at decent conclusions thinking about things out loud.  its really terrible because its what you write down that counts.  it sucked in "writing the essay" first sememster because while i did really well on all my assignments and i'm pretty sure lorraine doran liked what i had to say in class, when it came time to do my final papers, i just couldn't manage to get the complicated whirlwind that was my thoughts down on paper.  as a result, my essays just weren't that good.  granted, they had not too bad ideas fueling them, but they remained trapped in my mind.  i wish i could express myself in a tangible way.  there's painting but its not as forward as writing.  i wish i could write blogs about what is REALLY happening in my head.  maybe i should have an audio blog hahaha, like a podcast lol.  but reallly, that wouldn't help things.  i already know how to talk.  i want to be able to express myself via writing better.  and its just not happening.  i can tell you everything i'm doing wrong, but i can't fix it.  andy's being really adorable with ideas and stuff and i think i will try them.  i'm going to start reading the new york times again, but this time, not just skimming the stories for the news, i'm going to try and see how and why journalists write the way they do.  also andy is suppposed to lend me this awesome book on how cut out the "fat" in your writing if he can find it.  that is awesome.  i hope it helps.  however, i do feel like i know why good writing is good writing, i just can't seem to do it myself.  i find it easier to simply talk out loud about things as the thoughts and ideas are rushing through me.  however, you may or may not have seen this side of me.  if you at least know me, you've probably seen it happen sometimes when something excites me.. but if you're really close to me.. i'm so incredibly sorry for how much of your life is consumed by my voice.  i'll try to shut up a bit and work on the writing thing.  writing is a skill, anyone can talk.

- fantabulous rapper?  no.  rantabulous yapper.

is this the place i've been dreaming of?

Reasons I am Smiling:

1) i spent 9 hours with my mom yesterday, and no bickering

- i had to take her to the indian consulate to get a visa for her trip to india

-  for once, we were on my turf and she couldn't pretend like she knew better than me.. hence we got along

2) i bought sa-weet earrings

- ok, admittedly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but... yay!

3) jessie gave me part two of her gift, and it was the most amazing thing ever

- it looks like a book, but it opens up into this beautifully designed thing covered with memorable pictures and birthday wishes from a few of my closer friends

- you are so creative jyoh!  i love it

4) andy remembers the exact moment we transitioned from mere acquaintance to friends

- "50 cents a pop!"

5) my brother said i was a great sister

- awwww ^_^

6) i rode the staten island ferry 

- the best part is its free

- wheeeeee!

7) i ate a warm and gooey peanut butter cup cookie

- i don't know if i've ever had a sweetness craving satisfied so... satisfactorexcellently

8) my bus driver was awesome and made lame jokes

- normally they never talk, but this driver was sooo adorable

9) joe showed up in front of my house at midnight to say bye before leaving for uva

- "number four, are you home?  because two dolla is outside"

- two dolla is my favorite OB rapper... he's four times as good as 50 cent

10) my eyesight only got a little worse this year 

- and i'm switching to 2-week lenses, woooo

11) raghav and i finally hung out 

- we went to starbucks at b&n and he ordered the java chip frapp like he always does

- its kind of weirdly comforting knowing what he's going to order haha - sort of like a "some things never change" type deal

last and super duper-est:

12) I LOVE MY DORM ROOM!

- thats the view from just one of the seven or so windows

- you can also see the empire state building to the left of me!

- and it all only gets better at night ;)

together, we burn it up!

since james and i have birthdays two days apart, the same-ish friends, and are in love, why wouldn't we celebrate our birthdays together?  instead of a big party like we had last year, we decided on a more tame birthday dinner.  unfortunately, a lot of awesome folks had work, class, were away, etc etc.  we still got a pretty lovely group together and had a really nice, relaxed time - it was just what i wanted.  these large group gatherings naturally happen less often than they used to during high  school, so it was great having a bunch of us being together again.  it's so easy to get caught up and forget just how much i miss some of these people.  ahh and i have to leave them again in a few weeks :(.  i love life at school to death, but i hate leaving behind my home friends.  we've grown up together.  obviously they may not know as much about me as the people that i've lived with at college, but they just know you in a different way.  its unexplainable, but its just such a casual, loving relationship i have with these people.  its a comfortable that can only be achieved through knowing each other for years.  even as we've all grown and changed, we still manage to have the same group dynamic.  yay for classic friends!  we tried to think of something to do after dinner but it was either:  too lame, we had too many people, we were underage, or parents were home.  sooo, we just stuck around the restaurant chatting it up before heading our separate ways.  BUT... not before having dessert of course.  now, you all know i LOVE peanut butter, but did you know, i also loveee cookie dough?  well, imagine my pure ecstacy and joy when i saw behind the glass case a cheesecake with the label "chocolate peanut butter cookie dough."  i dont think i could make something that good up.  me and james didn't think twice about ordering it for the table :P.  indulgent would be an under-exaggeration of the experience.  just for kicks, anna asked me for a ride tonight even tho she has a car.  we really haven't hung out all that much, but she's an interesting character fosho.  i know there are people that have issues with her, but they just don't understand her.  she doesn't always think before she speaks and tends to be guarded, but once you give her a chance, she's kickass.  when the two of us got into my camry to drive home, she stopped me as i was about to turn on the always oh so disappointing radio to pull out a tape of gangster rap that she keeps in her purse... badass!  so what did we do?  of course we rolled down the windows (literally, my car's just that old and ghetto you have to do it manually),  and we blasted that shit the whole ride home - ballllllllllllin!  we also ditched english in favor of ghetto french while taking pictures that could have easily caused near death experiences the whole ride.  well, what's life without a little risk, right?

je l'aime quand vous m'appelez grand poppa!  jetez vos mains dans le ciel si vous etes un jouer vrai!  .. je vois quelques dames ce soir cela qui devrait avoir mon bebe, bay-bee!

bless your soul, you really think you're in control?

i spent the evening with two things i can't resist, bubble tea and a friend. not just any bubble tea, but chocolate peanut butter, and not just any friend, but david zas. what i love about david is we didn't go to the same high school, we met by chance through mutual friends, we haven't hung out all that often, but we still somehow manage to oh so effortlessly have the most intriguing, intimate, and personal conversations when we are together. there's just something about him i trust. when i speak, i know he's really listening. i feel the same way when i talk to jon liao, whom introduced me to david. and i wouldn't even know jon if it weren't for jessie! jon and i spent part of our coffee excursion last week pondering aloud to ourselves where'd we'd be at the moment if jessie hadn't invited him along to that FBLA dinner senior year. i don't even want to get into how different my life would be without jessie in it, its too scary to think about. if mr. celentano hadn't put us in the same group back in gov, i wonder who my roommate would have been? the entirety of my college experience would have undoubtedly been altered. if the scheduling gods hadn't given upreet and i identical schedules in the eighth grade, who would my best friend be? the whole chaos theory or "butterfly effect" is crazily intriguing. hell, if i'd just been on a different floor of rubin hall, it would totally warp my current reality. it wouldn't be a push to say that i might altogether be a different person seeing as college was my first true opportunity to experience complete, uninhibited freedom allowing myself to discover who i really was without all the rules holding me back. was the me i am now underneath it all from the start? was she going to come out one way or the other? or did the people i met, the places we went, and the things we did mold me into who i am? i imagine its an unpredictable mingling of both. i couldn't begin to conceive an alternate life than the one in which i am presently familiar, but this particular conciousness that i've adopted as my view of the world is so fragile. certain exact, minute moments had to have happened precisely in the way they did for me to be where i am. if it weren't for meeting jessie and andy, i wouldn't even be sitting here writing this entry right now because it was their writing which inspired me to open this blog. initial conditions lead to an exponential growth in our lives, but its weird that seemingly trivial details can have such a profound influence on which direction that growth is. i'm aware that this precise thought has been rehashed countless times, but it still trips me out.

who knew life would move this fast?

currently digging: "family business" - kanye west

Happy 19th to David Lin and I! (..yesterday that is)

18 is like woahhh, i'm eeeeiIGHHHttttttttEEEEEN!! and twenty is like damn, ive been alive two decades now! .. but then again, nineteen is the last year of teen-dom. i'm pretty nonchalant about the whole deal.

the highlight was upreet called me alllllll the way from india not only at midnight to be the first to wish me a happy birthday, but also the next midnight to be the last! awwww, she is truly the bestest =)

other than that, i kept it low key at home for the day then went out for a movie and dinner. there was nothing playing . i had already seen the simpsons movie. we saw the bourne ultimatum. it was OK. it had its moments, but i absolutely would not reccomend it or watch it again. they tried so hard to distract me from their unintriguing plot with action scenes and fancy camera work. honestly, the highlight was when matt damon took the same escalator that i take to get to my gate at port authority. woot! we should have seen i now pronounce you chuck and larry or something.

dinner was alright. i dont want to say anything bad, so i'll just leave it at my mom was sweet. i'm looking forward to the friend and family get togethers this weekend tho, those should go more desirably.

nyu gave me a birthday gift sort of! the financial thingy ma bobber came yesterday, and they gave me another scholarship; 5,000 more a year (sweetness). all dad had to say tho was, "couldn't you get more?" or "why don't you transfer to rutgers?" -_-
i know a lot of indian parents really push their kids to succeed, but not mine. to college, dad was like, "can't you go to a two year school?"
during high school once, he took away my calc book while i was doing my homework and told me i could have it back after i finished cleaning the houseeee. what a freaking joke.

other joke-like things in my life include having to use my desktop all week. my macbook is being fixed up a bit for being mentally deficient. the twenty-something apple "genius" who handled my case was quite obviously stoned.

i miss my mac-daddy :(

grand theft walrus

i bought the sookie-est shirt today..
however, please note that the peanut butter is the pretty hot and tempting, really ridiculously good looking (and tasting) one in the relationship. jelly's merely cute.

..why are my brother and i singing "million tears" by groove coverage right now?
woaaa ohh oh oh, a million tears for you!

ok, time for us to watch the office! (i've got a crush on jim)
Be Professional!

a candle's fickle flame

from jamie's recent "blog or die" remarks, i've realized i'm already not keeping up with this as much as I intended too.. (almost every day was the goal)

well, at the risk of being murdered by an irish/korean air force man to be.. here i am!

hello ^_^

i spent today chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool.  my brother and i shot some hoops and played volleyball in the backyard.  then i spent some time being depressed about how i'm too big to comfortably fit onto our swing set anymore as i awkwardly tried to propel myself on it.  even more upsetting was looking at the spot near the volleyball net where the trampoline used to be.  if my parents are really that worried about the safety issue, whyyyyyyyyyyy did they buy it in the first place?  i often contemplate dragging it out of the garage and setting it up, but knowing i'll have to dismantle it as soon as my parents see it is discouraging enough for my lazy self.

later on, my brother left to go play basketball with his hooligans.  so i had the house to myself, wheee!  i popped a cd in the seldom used stereo and let my music fill the house sans worries as i got out my painting stuff.  yay for getting lost in mellow tunes and swirling colors.  i worked on my abstract death cab for cutie tribute.. its mad strange.

it doesn't feel right, but i don't know what's missing.  the composition is also giving off awkward vibes.  i never do abstract, this is tough for me.  all the solid color also makes me nervous.  the only other abstract i've ever done was a keith herring inspired piece about two years ago.

that one's pretty straightforward.  you have to be a death cab fan to understand the one i'm working on now.  still life, landscape, reproduction - those styles have always been easier for me.  my favorite work so far this year has been my reproduction of van gogh's "cypresses."

mine came out a little brighter than his and my brushstrokes are more mellow.  his strokes were smaller with more intensity.  i love the way he painted.  i think in order to become a better painter, i need to become a better drawer - more natural and confident.  this past year, i only really did one drawing.. and it was with a no. 2 pencil on printer paper >.< 

its bad quality because its a camera phone picture.  after finishing up helping kids with their homework at icahn house, we were free to do pretty much whatever with them afterwards.  one day, one of the women there asked me to sketch a picture of her son, so that's the story behind that.

next semester, i'm taking two classes for my studio art minor.  i'm psyched to feel sort of like an art student!