Not too far into 2010 and there’s already been a slew of birthdays…

Regina, whom I’ve known for almost 20 years

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A good friend will occasionally sing “cherry pie” in the slowest, saddest way, steeped in ennui and maudlin tones. It usually happens at night, when he’s lazily surfing the web, laptop propped atop his supine chest. It’s probably not how Warrant ever intended their hair-rock sex anthem to be presented.

Still, it’s pretty adorable.

Highlights! And I’m not talking about the Scholastic magazine either…

* I enjoyed the splendor of breathtaking Big Sur with the San Hos earlier in the month for our annual local getaway. We had a spacious (though slightly creepy) cabin, in which we overdosed on junk food, magazines, and soulful conversation. Photos.

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The second issue of Electric Ant — a compendium of cool given birth by my pal Ryan Sands — will debut tomorrow at APE (Alt Press Expo). It’s definitely something you’ll want to check out if not POSSESS for your own library. And look at that juicy Hellen Jo cover!

CLICK HERE TO BUY A COPY OF THE ZINE!

Some of my closest talented friends have contributed to it, and I guess I did too. I had the great honor of drawing a page for the comic jam. It’s a zany adventure of a scruffy guy, his cyberpunk-looking ex GF, a put upon pinniped, and a lovable tooth. Sci-fi overtones, lots of humor. Even better is that I came after the distinctive Ryan Germick and before Lisa Hanawalt — she’s one of my faves.

Check it out. Comics, stories, photography, interviews, illustrations…all kinds of goodies.

CLICK TO BUY ELECTRIC ANT #2!

CLICK TO BUY ELECTRIC ANT #2!

ps – I somehow ended up on a panel on comics, zines, community, and the Yay Area at APE tomorrow. Phoebe Gloeckner is on it too. GULP. Wish me luck! Please send me all your best eloquence / public speaking positive vibes!

This was so classic and hilarious. Backstory: Hellen and Anthony both had artist-in-residency stints at the Asian Art Museum and were talking about it. If only I had an audio clip of Anthony saying “Jesus GOD.”

So one nutty night at the red velvet cake, I took advantage of Germick’s scanner / kindness and Hellen’s laptop / kindness (thanks you two!) and scanned some crap from my “sketchbook.” I thought I could slowly put some oldies up here as filler. I plan on getting back into the swing of “blogging” beginning with boring banal travel content, but there’s a lot on my mind right now. Plus I’m not quite acclimated.

Oh and for those of you who’ve seen this a million times already, I apologize. Call me a sad one trick pony

ps – Hellen was sitting on Derek’s bed, and Anthony was using the computer, which I conveniently did not draw

…and i ain’t got nothin’ to show for it, except:

one of the san hos, michelle, got married in a dreamy fairytale wedding and i’ve basically been shouting to the world that the bride should literally be a bridal gown model. are they a handsome couple or what?

another san ho, regina, got her MSW, and we’re pretty freakin’ proud. we’ve got a do-gooder case manager (and then some) amongst us, and she worked hard to get there! speaking of do-gooders, our east coast san ho jenelle passed her bar. DANG! kinda disgusting, and she’s already a visiting associate professor at a law clinic. double dang.

then there are the birthdays. i’m not sure if you know this, but june is the explosion of uterine expulsion anniversaries. everyone, everywhere, has birthdays in this month. for example, these lovely friends:

peg

susu

eric

ryry

bridge

there are tons more june birthdays.

and let’s not get started on things that have been keeping me over-occupied at work.

lastly, while i was referencing a random song, someone said something to the effect that having me around was like having an ipod shuffle. i found it very charming and sweet.

i’m pretty sure this is an extremely accurate rendering of me. derek did this awhile ago when i was in my occasional manic ranting and raving mode wherein i derail every other minute on tangents.

i was recently reunited with two boxes of old photos (thanks, knuckles). sifting through them is such a trip. it’s time consuming and frustrating, trying to sort, organize, and jettison. i realize that wow, even during pre-, mid-, and post-puberty, i took a lot of pictures.

my batman geekery started at a young age, but flourished through high school and to this day. here are my halloween costumes from junior and senior year. i remember getting really into it, going to the goodwill in milpitas to assemble a proper joker wardrobe (i think i did a pretty good job). i got up early for both outfits, spending a lot of time on makeup. when i think about all the energy and earnestness that went into those costumes, it makes me sad because i don’t think i can duplicate that kind of effort or feel that excitement anymore.

here are some teasers from junior high days. i cherish these precious photos of me and the girls i grew up with. holy moly i just saw that i’m holding a rose in the photo with the guy. if you want more you’ll have to go to my flickr. happy friday y’all. i’m beat, got a long work weekend ahead of me.

one of my earliest flickr sets was dedicated to random magical moments with friends. not necessarily random per se, but meant as storage for photos that didn’t warrant their own set. i recently started one solely for 2009 in the same vein, since my original one was getting 600+ pix too heavy (it dates back to september 2005!).

flipping through the aforementioned old album is nuts on nostalgia. dang it if it ain’t a new and crazy sensation every time i look at pictures from the past! old hairstyles, clothes, apartments, relationships, etc. everything.

holidays, birthdays, halloween, parties, special occasions, NYE…celebrations like that were documented and had their own respective albums and therefore did not go into this random one.

here are some that i have exumed from the latter.

2006:

a freakin’ CLASSIC. this one’s for his great great grandkids

whale/shark watching at farallon islands. i got so incredibly seasick

that’s our boy

karuna looks so beijing

2007:

i think most everyone in this photo had just gotten their hair did by my roommate masha. enjoy this, cuz you’ll never see derek’s hair this short ever again

can you think of anything better? the only thing missing is a puppy and kitten

sis and i shared a great day in sunny sf

hellen had an uberbadass cut

one of many adventures

imprompty bbq at my place (one of those nice times where we could rally everyone together)

stockton, en route to a morrissey concert

project runway nights. this was probably our last

the day we saw beowulf

this sort of thing helps get me through the work drudgery