Day 221: doggy!!!

Sooo cute, you can't even see his eyes...



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Day 220: my first real drink!

That I made!

Behold! The caiperinha!





I muddled it myself and everything! And it was delicious!!! Bartending, here I come! :)

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Day 219: back to school time!

Bartending school, that is!





Started my first day today and we learned sooo much! I can now free pour shots, make martinis and pour highballs and stuff. Yay!!

Just three more looooong days and I'll be a full fledged graduate!!!

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Day 218: waiting to go

Ferry ride to Jersey is so nice in the summer. Especially on Fridays.


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場所:リバー・ロード,ノース・バーゲン,アメリカ合衆国

Day 217: sing it, Mo!

He got sooo into singing dmx that his arms were flailing all over the place!! Nothing like karaoke to bring out yo' inner rapper...

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Day 216: my day started too damn early..

...for me to blog properly...

North Bergen at 630 in the morning...





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Day 215: exhaustion is taking its toll...

Completely forgot that I didn't post this last night! Hrmmm I think that as much as I love my family, I'm glad to be going home tonight after dance class. Though I will admit, the view from the ferry after a long day does wonders!





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Day 214: baby boy

I wanted a brotherly picture because today is my brother's birthday and I wanted to talk about his awesomeness... But all my pictures are of this little one...





Sleeping in my arms, it's hard not to think of how my mom felt when we were kids...

One day her son was born (exactly 34 years ago, in fact) and she held him in her arms and I'm sure it feels like it was in a blink of an eye that he's now 34 with a wife and two sons of his own... How quickly will time fly for me? Too quickly I presume...

For now, I will just enjoy the quiet moments I have. And the loud ones too.

Happy birthday, brother! To life and all its moments...

Love love love.

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Day 213: do you like my mon-keys??

Memories of what seems like another lifetime came to me today. An early morning return to my apartment after a long night of unexpected fun...





I think of two things today:

"Memories are like clouds...forever changing shape but always above us."

and

"When things end, what matters is not that everything's in pieces. It's how you decide to carry them."

Loving that I can look back and smile without wishing I were still there or hurting because I'm not. :)

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Day 212: Aguon time!

Spending some quality time at the Aguon household with Jen, Gil, and my godson Matty!





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Day 211: Who likes to rock the party?

Hrmmm... good question. Probably not me. hahah

It's Friday night and I am in what is arguably the biggest city in the world, and I am home. Reading.



That's right! Reading! I spend a lot of time out of my apartment, off doing random stuff like working and going to dance classes and seeing family in Jersey and registering for bartending school! I think I get to spend a Friday or two with my apartment to myself in my room reading!

Enjoying the time to myself....

Day 210: Golden sunlight

Nothing like sunshine to make you less cranky.

My ferry ride to Jersey just melted away the stress of today's crap...




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Day 209: the new man in my life

Meet Okinji Da Costa. The newest member of Sharon's family; thus mine. Born three weeks ago, I had the misfortune of catching a cold the very day he came into the world. Of course, I was banned from seeing him until I was fully recovered lest I want to be bathed in antibac....

Finally we've met!




I haven't even known him a week yet and already he's stolen another piece of my heart...


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Day 208: house of worship

On my way home from dance class, I stopped in to look inside...




It used to be a church. And now it's a shopping mall shaped like a church. Only in New York...

Guess it's kind of fitting when you think of how much importance people seem to place on material things. Consumerism: the new religion...

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Day 207: me and my homie

Loving how even after a month away, my boy still runs to the door when I'm visiting; still comes to sit with me to watch tv; and still finds joy in tickling me til I surrender.





How did I get so lucky?

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Day 206: Happy Guam birthday Jenny!

Just in case I couldn't see Jen tomorrow for her stateside birthday, I thought I'd post today on her Guam birthday...

The youngest of the family that's like my second home, Jen and I didn't really start getting close until I came back from college one year to stay with my sister in law for three weeks before jetting off to Japan for a semester. I'd pick her up from school and hang out, watch random teeny bopper movies and crack jokes. We've been doing the same thing ever since and I'm so glad she moved to the NY/NJ area this year!

She had to grow up so quickly and she's done it with grace and sensibility. She may be younger than me, but I can't say I don't look up to her for all she's accomplished already...





Happy birthday grel!


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Day 205: am I too old to party like a rockstar?

Maybe. I think the getting dressed to get trashed is just not my scene. Would much rather be at the corner bar chilling out...

The launch party I went to was just too trendy for me!




On the bright side, I did make a new friend, so yay! :)

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Day 204: happy birthday Arnie!

Starting with my dad, there's just a string of birthdays in my family this week. Next is Arnold.

Growing up, I never used to be so close to Arn. He was always just hanging with my brother and sister and since they thought I was a loser, Arn did too. At best, I was part of the scenery of his life; there as one very quiet piece of his family, never fighting but never close.

It wasn't until I was in my last year in college that we hung out a lot more often. It was strange to find that he missed me when I wasn't around. I think that realization surprised him too...

I'm still probably closer to his sisters, because we've spent more time together, but that entire family is like my second immediate family. Almost as if I have two extra sisters and Arnold, my extra brother. He's here to defend me when I'm hurt, cheer me when I'm sad, help me when in need, sing when I need a partner to do "all cried out" and he's just...here.







Happy bimirthday buddy!!

Love love love

Day 203: happy birthday Dad!

Today was my dad's birthday. If you want to get technical, his birthday on the other side of the world (which is where he was born and where he's at) is already over, but as this blog is subjective and relative to me, I'm celebrating today.


... I've been thinking a lot lately about my parents. Not just my dad, but my mom too. I'm feeling a little guilty that when February 20th came, I didn't really take the time to honor my mom. Sometimes, I feel like, even though I have a record of every single day I've lived this year, the days have still managed to bleed together that I didn't even realize it was the 20th of February til after the fact. Sigh. Epic fail, Joyce. Seriously.

I've always been a daddy's girl, because me and my dad have always had more in common, but I find that as I get older, I've taken after my mother a lot too. The friendliness, the generosity, the die-hard-do-anything-for-the-people-she-loves spirit, the helpfulness... that's all her. My temper comes from her too. hahahah Seeing how I can connect to both parents makes it a lot easier to see that I'm not just a daddy's girl. I'm my mommy's girl too. Just like my parents don't love me and my siblings in the same way, I can't love them the same either. It's not that I love one more than the other, but that they're different people to love. I talk books and movies with my dad, and I talk everything else with my moms. She does most of the talking anyway. :)

Now that my parents are so much further away, it's so hard to catch them on the phone. Between the time difference and my crazy schedule, I find it difficult to make it work so that we can talk regularly. It super sucks. But I hope they know that just because I'm not around as much doesn't mean I don't think of them every day. Or miss them any less...

Anyway...

If anyone ever asked me where I started with photography, I could probably say it all started with my dad. He's had a camera (both a regular one and a video one) for as long as I remember. He captured every single special occasion we ever celebrated, every school concert, every awards ceremony... For everything me or my sister or my brother were in, my dad was right there, snapping away (while he had the tripod going so he could film everything too). It was great that he owned his own company, because I'm sure he would have been fired otherwise for leaving in the middle of the day all the time to see me in a spelling bee, or have a class party for my sister's birthday, or watch my brother's volleyball games...

So... growing up, me and my dad were like two peas in a pod. I loved most of the things he loved: watching tv (Quantum Leap was my favorite, but he watched Star Trek alone), reading books (we could spend hours at the bookstore...and DID, much to my mother's annoyance in later years since she would come with and ended up falling asleep in one of the Barnes and Nobles chairs), going to the movies, playing with toys and electronics (which were toys anyway)... so picking up a camera was something I picked up from my dad. He was great at encouraging it too. When I was ten, he bought me one of those plastic cameras that came with a book appropriately entitled "my first camera" and that was the start of it. The film was expensive as all hell because it wasn't regular 35mm, they were 110s, I think, which was twice the price and cost much more to develop. But he bought it and I still have some pretty awesome pictures from that camera... some involving me in a bunny suit hugging my grandpa. I'm hoping it was Easter then...

I never really stopped taking pictures since then. I've gone through that first dinky plastic camera, to getting my own little point-and-shoot after the film for the plastic one got to be too expensive, to eventually getting a better point-and-shoot after graduating high school... and then I discovered the SLR. Dad convinced Mom to get me the Canon Rebel 2000 for my 19th birthday so that I could take black and white photography in school. That opened up a whole new dimension of photography for me, and it's only continued to grow. I don't know much about what my dad thinks about the kinds of photos I shoot, but I hope he knows that this great love for it came from him... I don't think I would have ever thought to even want to do something like this project if I hadn't liked taking pictures in the first place...




So to you, Daddy... Happy Birthday! My camera collection and love for film started with you... I wouldn't be where I am without you... well, I wouldn't be ANYWHERE without you. (and of course Mom. I love you Mother!!)

So lucky to have amazing parents. They're not perfect, but they're pretty damn awesome.

Love love love.



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Day 202: because nothing says liberation like finadene marinated barbecue chicken!

Happy Guam Liberation Day!






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