new york, late spring 2009

9. Drive

8. Innocence --

Joey (my best friend's nephew) received this birthday letter from his best buddy, Sean:

Dear Joy,
happy brithday wish came true. I wish you have a graet birthday  today. In love with your
birthday and presnts. happy b day
From,
Sean

mi cielo

7. Heaven --

"I learn foreign and exotic terms of endearment by which to address you"
- Mountain Goats, "Riches and Wonders"

6. Break Away --

Francis Bacon, detail of "Study For a Portrait of Lucian Freud," 1964, oil on canvas.

grand forks, north dakota.

5. Seeking Solace --

I took this picture sometime during high school with Roberto's Holga.
We were in North Dakota, the state that made me romanticize the Midwest.
Up until about two years ago, I wanted to run away from NYC to the Midwest.

stillness.

4. Dark --

Bart and I went to the beach the other night.
I was freezing and doing my cold dance (jog).
The beach on a February night is beautiful.
He pointed out Orion.

It was really dark, but my iPhone was able to capture a picture of this shack,
which apparently had been broken into.

slow shutter speeds

3. Light --
Summer joy rides and bleeding traffic & car lights.

amor

I might as well continue onto the second item on my photoblog project--

2. Love --

This is Bartholomew (or just Bart), and as soon as I think of the word "love" (as the noun, as the verb, or even as an adjective if you add an -ly), I think of this fella. He has exceeded my every expectation in what I look for in a partner. If you allow me to be sappy for just one moment-- looking into his eyes is consuming, hearing him speak about his passions & ideas is just as flooring as witnessing Picasso's Guernica in person, and being able to share myself with him reconciles that DFW quote I posted a few weeks ago, namely:

“There is something painful about being stuck in a body, in a consciousness, 

that can’t ever, except through conversation, be inside someone else’s.”

Photoblog Project!

I started this photoblog project exactly two years ago on an old blog that's now entirely private. So much has changed since then that I might as well start afresh. With each phrase (see below), I'll post a picture and a short blurb -- I'll start off with the first one,

1. Introduction --

Hi, there. My mom took this picture of me when I was about four, and yes, my t-shirt ironically says "SERIOUSLY CIVILIZED." I'm now two decades older, and terrible at introductions -- I'll usually go on and on about the obvious, my name, my academic achievements, and what I'm currently doing with my life -- but you can find easily find this information on my Facebook, thus reiterating these facts is excessive. Instead, I will share two quotes that have resonated with me since I first heard them and which I try to live my life by:

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.  

If you are anxious you are living in the future.  

If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

- Lao Tzu

"The unexamined life is not worth living." 

- Plato

1. Introduction
2. Love
3. Light
4. Dark
5. Seeking Solace
6. Break Away
7. Heaven
8. Innocence
9. Drive
10. Breathe Again
11. Memory
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile
15. Silence
16. Questioning
17. Blood
18. Rainbow
19. Gray
20. Fortitude
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. No Time
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars
35. Hold My Hand
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror
66. Traps
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can't
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces
77. Test
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation