can't have nice things...

just an update from a recent post about me trying to volunteer for a local community radio station only to have it burn down. apparently, they caught the guy who started the fire. here's a link to the news feed and a picture of the dog who caught him.

growing up yellow

i feel so 'with it'. one of the graphic novels on the asian american experience was featured on NPR. i found the book and the attention it received quite interesting b/c of the work i'm trying to do w/ 'yellowpages'. he's probably a better writer than i am, but of course THAT'S NOT THE POINT. we all have voice and even our little asian voices have stories to tell.

sucked in

oil prices, axis of evil, war on terror, duct tape, traffic congestion, and my horrible driving have all fed into my ever growing obsession with bikes as an 'alternative' form of transportation. i'm a little hesitant with some of these buzz words like 'alternative' or 'green'. they come with political baggage that seems to hinder the learning process. i still try not to over use the word 'recycle' in front of some friends b/c they might flip out and call me a hippie communist.

so, as obsessions usually go, i killed the better part of the week planted behind my keyboard researching different kinds of bikes and trends: road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids (bikes that aren't good enough for anything) single speed free wheels, conversions with flip-flop hubs, fixed gear conversions (or fixies as i have come to understand),... and the list goes on. even as i type this i'm straining my neck looking back and forth between my monitor and my other bike (a moderately priced khs) thinking, ' i can do that!' i can tear out the rear hub. i can cut and weld the frame! it's all nothing but blind optimism and boundless enthusiasm coupled with pure ignorance.

>>>the new YELLOWWORLD is up

i don't know why i start these things. big projects seem like good ideas in the beginning, and some where in the middle i feel the procrastination bug coming on. well, i'm happy to announce that the new version of http://www.ayellowworld.com/ is MOSTLY done.

re-doing the page has hardly taken a priority over the past year. this whole leaving japan, traveling the world, and moving back home took its toll on my creative energy.

saving and giving

i came across this story from CBS nightly news. three things about the story struck a chord with me. 1. being cheap is ok, 2. saving is possible no matter what you earn, and 3. there are actually nice people in jersey. why can't i afford to do nice things?

welcome to the working week

... a sinking ship.
last night the management at a particular trade school (which we'll call Mapital Schmidty Schmarrers) rounded up the teachers in for an 'emergency' meeting.

behind the desk, sat a large man fresh from the mean streets of the Bronx. 'people, we've got a loss in student enrollment. we're bleeding money and we need to fix it,' he slurred. i grew up with neighbors like this. on weekends, they walked around the malls with undersized polo shirts stretched over their over sized mid-sections. it was odd seeing one of them with a suit of questionable quality hanging off it. the mild austin winter was causing him to break into a sweat.

or was it the message of doom?

here is a list of problems suspected of causing the steady stream of exiting students.

1. teachers are too strict
2. teachers need to give more homework
3. classes need to be longer
4. students should be able to leave whenever
5. classes are too stale

here is a list of solutions

1. coffee for the spanish speakers
2. tea for the vietnamese population (b/c 'asians drink tea' -according to the sweating Bronx suit)
3. trips to the capital
4. plants in the classroom

back to work

somehow in between moving, finding a job, learning web design mark-up languages, entertaining friends, tearing down my own pages, designing other pages, killing rats in my attic... i've found the time to keep drawing.

burning down the house

it's official. according to the austin fire department, the fire that ended (or at least postponed) my ambitions of becoming a slacker community DJ was set intentionally. why can't i have nice things?

pimp my ride... to work

(pictured: sam and i cleaning a 20 year old 10 speed)
my long drawn out dream of taking an old 10 speed and converting to a fixed gear has been realized. well, reba's friends from san fran came out for a visit. and wouldn't you know it they want to open up a shop that specializes in recycling old bikes and refurbish them into affordable single speed and/or fixed gear bikes. points.

me and KOOP radio

(pictured: the discs reba and i were cleaning for KOOP austin)
first day of classes and i spent the morning working the fog out of my head/sleep out of my eyes. in other "work" related news. i started volunteering for the local community radio station KOOP. and the story goes like this.

1. discover KOOP.
2. seek out how to get involved.
3. get up the courage to volunteer and become a DJ.
4. reba and i clean a load of CDs
5. station burns down (again).

::: this updated american life :::

>>obama in 2008! ... and so starts this 'i can't possibly add any substance to the political landscape' blog.

life in list form...

1. the saga of JP and kae continues. they stopped by for the holidays and we put him up in a ride-a-long with reba's cousin (a rescue worker).

2. the first batch of peace boat pics are up.

3. realization that my life isn't that exciting to show off.

:::happy 2008:::

(guess which of these girls is me)
it's the new year and the world is upon us. iowa, nh, the war, polluted oceans, rising gas prices, people using corn oil as fuel... AND i'm not going to address any of that. in an effort to consolidate my online projects that mostly showcase my... exploits, i'm using blogger as a venue to talk about... myself.

mostly to keep MYSELF... up to date on what I AM doing with

comics : photoblogs : web design (coming soon - honest) : and life as the great city of austin sees to throw at me :

>>to start off with comics - my attempts at drawing my life in sequential art form and posting it online are in fact getting more and more cumbersome. for the past year and a half i've year and a half, i've tried to capture the end of a six year journey in japan. now, the move back to the states has thrown my story writing off, and i can only sketch out stories of wandering around in my living room in my underwear. so, you may notice the pace of releasing stories and updating the page has halted to a trickle. in fact i'm working at re-working the entire page completely to simplify it. keep you posted.

>>superhappysozo.com was recently just revamped (ever so slightly) to reflect a cleaner, trimmer, meaner style. the past 3-4 years of our lives in japan (reba and mine) are up there @ 72 pixels. take a look AND there's more to come.

>>web design - something in me keeps pushing me to volunteer to sit in front of the computer and make these things. now, i'm even paying to take classes to be able to do more. an other goal for the year is to put up a portfolio of the work i've done. to be continued.