gratitude...

Wow, its been a long time since the last time I posted. A new year has begun already! what a crazy year 2008 was for me looking back. I went through sooo many personal changes and I moved back to Japan and all that, it seemed like forever since i got back but it has been only half a year. I've been learning and growing as a person each day and this journey has not been easy one, but I am loving it and cherishing each moment of my life.

So! Those who left me a comment, thank you!!!! I am too retarded to figure out how to comment back though...lol can someone show me how??? For the meantime, I am sending my gratitude in some other form...like e-mail. But I know I should be able to figure this out by myself...

So I am starting my new job in Feb, and I had been looking for a place to live in Tokyo. Though I have an urban living experience before, I've never lived there before so I figure finding a roommate rather than getting my own space is a good place to start. I mean, when I was in NY, I was doing roomshare the whole time, so no big deal right?? I was mistaken. Well, it seems like roomshare isn't very common in Japan! I found very few websites for that purpose and also, often times when I do find roomshare posting, its a month old. I had some luck finding potential palces, but not barely enough to justify going all the way to tokyo to see the places. I was feeling pretty hopeless WHEN!! Our neighbor, who referred me to my new work place before, told me that they bought this apartment in tokyo they don't live in on a everyday basis because the wife is a city coucil member of the City of Shimizu (Shizuoka prefecture), and needed a palce to stay while she stays in tokyo for a conference or something. They suggested I take the place and pay only the part of the monthly fee!! I havent look at the place yet, but from what i gathered, the place is in walking distance from my work, which is in Nihonbashi. What a deal!! I'd be living virtually by myself( they visit there twice-three times a month), its close to my work, and its really cool cuz it's in close vicinity with awesome places like Kanda and Ginza... I am just sooooo lucky...I have always been lucky, I think. I dont know why but things always turn out well eventually for me. I am just so grateful...I guess one of goals this year is to be a service to others and those who helped me take steps forward in my life so far and slowly give back my thanks to them...

So for a starter, I just wanted to say thank you to all the people , including those who are kind enough to read my blog, in my life...I am really lucky knowin you!!!!

Above drawing has nothing to do with today's post per se...I just like imagining things and this scene just came to me the other day. The color combination is a bit too loud, but I like how the stone turned out. Its collage, obviously, but i combined several pictures of stones. They actually exist in nature as they are...aren't they amazing?? those patterns are so ... ineffeble. I enjoyed drawing/painting this piece. onto next project now!

Sorry about the black and white post twice in a row but I am working on a colored one tonight and promise I will post it soon.

So I was working today (as of now, I have a part time position at a sports gym), one of our customer was making a complaint that one of our so-called 'sports' drinks he's been drinking everyday these past few months made him diabetic. And he swore he would never touch that drink ever again but told us to do a bit of research of how much sugar is in the drink...when I heard this, I wanted to smack him senseless for following reasons...1) ignoring all the other factors that may have contributed to this condition, and 2) taking no pain or responsibility to actually do a reaserch himself about the content of that drink so that HE can find out whats in it.

The second part is what puzzles me the most these days...like, why don't people question about things that are taken for granted?? I guess thats one of the reasons why I 'escaped' Japan, as my brother described, or I started experiment with raw diet. Who says if you are born in Japan, you have to stay where you are and go to college and party away four years?? Who says you can't have a paprika and carrot for dinner instead of a bowl of rice and miso soup and piece of fish?? Who says you have to like a TV show because in vogue right now?? Im not saying you should be a total loner and ignore all the other people's rules and belittle their sense of community, and following your intuiton can sometimes be, well, stupid - but I think we all should embrace more of our personal integrity and free will. I sort of have to consciouly remind myself of this each day now because now I am in a small community where asserting myself is not always the best strategy to get by, and as those who knows me may have guessed, it is darn hard for me to behave like one of 'them.' But I am slowly re-adjusting myself while trying to keep that personal integrity intact.

At my work, there are swimming classes for kids going on everyday and I see hundreds of kids everyday - it is truly refreshing to communicate with them because they are just so - full of curiosity and enthusiastic about discovering new stuff!! I mean, if I have a piece of paper, they are like, what is it?? If I wear my hair differently they are like what happened to your hair etc etc....they just question things because things are just what they are and they see them as they are without putting them into a previously assigned category. They jump and run all the time, full of energy but all of a sudden turn grumpy if something goes awry without regard to what others might think. I know I know, adults and kids are different but I think we can learn so much from kids - of course as we get older, maturity and respect for altruism take over some of our childish traits, but essentially, we can appreciate that beaty of having childlike personality.

ha, this post turned out to be long, but I guess my point is, don't call me weirdo! haha

Thank you!

Thank you all for responding to my blog debut e-mail yesterday. I will respond to each one of you for an update of whats happening in my life but in the meantime, I just wanted to say thank you for your quick feedback. But next time you do, leave a comment damn it!! lol jkjk

Anyhoo, Im sure it's no mystery that when one spends his/her youth in a certain place, the palce becomes your dearest home, be it real home or not. To me, that's NYC. I spent my college years there and the city holds so much memory. Everytime I hear someone mentioning to NYC, it makes me wanna cry cuz i miss it SO much. There is something about that city - the hussle, the street, the people, its culture...everything. Having said that, I am at a place where I am ok not being there physically. I have friends who I connect from there via phone, e-mail or whatever, and mentally i can always be there. I don't mean it like a psycho way, but four years of living there totally changed me and its memory is always gonna be with me, and I KNOW that I will go back - hopefully as a professional artist next time! So today's drawing is a tribute to my hometown.

Oh, boy, what's up with the shoe-throwing incident yesterday?? I mean, the Prez was lucky he wasn't hit by, say, a piece of human organ (bootlegged from somewhere) or something cuz if i were an Iraqi reporter facing the very man who deflowered my country, I would surely be doing this. I am glad he is going to be literally history in a short while. I am sure he is a lovely person if you ever meet him, but only accomplishment person if you ever meet him, but only accomplishment hes ever made, as him, but only accomplishment hes ever made, as far as Im concerned is he contributed some fummy blooper clips to YouTube.

Oh boy, i gotta run now. Guess I'll catch up later!!

So my obsession with Jock Nordstrom still continues and I bought another one of his kids' books...what's amazing about his work is that people consider his work to be modern and kind radical in a sense that the usage of color, texture, techniques etc is unprecedented, and yet it feels so warm and fuzzy and reminds of me of something I've experienced before and have been missing it and searching for it for a long time. Like everyday-ness we tend to forget amid the busy schedule we have nowadays. There's a scene where Pekka the dog goes to a pharmacy to pick up a medicine for Sailor, but he gets distracted by shoes in front of the bakery and tries them on - I mean, does it have any significance to the story line? Absolutely not! but sometimes we are attracted by things that might impede our pursuit of true meaningful, purposeful path and go sideways, or even go awry and it's totally ok and worth it. Kinda of my life in a nutshell, haha.

Anyhoo, Im really excited about starting my new job in Tokyo - first i wasn't cuz it's a marketing related job and God forbid I know NOTHING about marketing and business but life is all about learning and discovering new self, methinks. So Ill be moving to Tokyo and start living on my own, which I used to do ever since I was 17 and Im MUCH excited about going back to the living alone situation. I love my family but I just can't be around people 24/7! So if anyone is gonna be in Tokyo area, lemme know. I told one of my friend the other day that I was gonna be working for a marketing company, he told me he ca't possibly imagine me doing that. I thought the same thing, but at the same time, I wouldn't know unless I do it. If I totally hate it, I can always quit. I'll be still working on my drawing anyways...

Above drawing is another one for my book, and it's thanks to Shannonmarie, an awesome raw foodie who is a culinary super-woman! She posted raw version of gingerbread man cupcake the other day and I thought of drawing this for my kids book. It reminded me of my childhood, when I wanted to throw everything in the kitchen into my cupcake...its always fun to concoct something completely new and not follow the recipe. Maybe that's why only accomplishment I've ever made in the kitchen is a mess, huh? oh well. Thank you Shannon for an awesome inspiration!

BTW, it's getting brutaly cold here in Nagano though the mountains are capped with snow and uber pretty...I should post the picture of that. I was driving yesterday and I almost hit a herd of monkeys, who happnened to be crossing the street. It gave me a stroke almost...you don't want your first car accident memory being hitting a bunch of monkeys do ya?? Not that hitting 80-year-old grandma any better...but you know what I mean. Drive safe everyone!

SO I had this crazy night where I stayed up all night again and went for a stroll around 4 am　in the morning. I love it when there's nobody else around and I feel like I own the world. Anyhoo, I was drawing a scene from my kids book idea and it hit me pretty darn hard yertserday that maybe i can make a raw food book for kids. I mean, eating raw and making healthy doesn't have to be all blant and boring and I could help them realize that by showing them how exciting it is to discover true quality of plants and raw produces. Growing up, I always liked stories about things like concocting elixir out of herbs and whatnot...I guess I could do the same with raw food. I know there's a book like Anastasia out there but there are so many books for kids encouraging them to look at the bright side of this lifestyle, right??

I still suck at collaging - maybe next time Ill make the background first and then paste character on top of it.

Another drawing I did today...its kinda mess cuz it totally was an experiment. I did some collage but it didnt turn out well. I guess Im really obsessed with beatuful flowy wavy hair and wanted to make a use of it as an art technique, but I sucked at it. Will keep experimenting...

I love starting my day with a bowl of green smoothie. This mordning I had spinach/orange/banana/apple/lucuma smoothie....mmm I can't get enough of it! Raw food and creativity go hand in hand for me - if I eat raw and keep it light, I have more creative energy. Wonder Picasso or Martise and the likes were raw foodie. Maybe not. huh.

My first blog

I decided to open up my own blog sphere. I don't really know where this will take me or how long it's going to last but I want to share my kids book ideas and daily (mostly stupid/nonsensical/weird) thoughts and daydreams...

The title is actually a very good reflection of the hodgepodge of things I like. I've taken some German courses in the past and I LOVE the language, and of late I've been fascinated by Swedish art culture so it's there. Ehon is a japanese word for kids' (picture) book and thats what I am passionate about the most these days. I am also an experimental raw fooder - meaning that I eat mostly raw but eat anything that helps me function at a maximum level and gives me mental clarity so maybe some days I would talk about my raw food journey, if I feel like it. Iam also a proud member of Give It To Me Raw (talk about talking dirty!!). You can learn so ,uch about raw foods there.

Life is really funny - sometimes you do things you did not intend to and end up getting an unexpected result - be it good or bad. Sometimes I think about life and its meaning (simply because I have so much free time as of now - lucky me!) and wonder if life has any meaning at all, like the universe is doing its own things and we are just going along with it. Well, I don't want to get into that too much on my first day but just wanted throw that in here.

Speaking of nonsense, I came across an Swedish artist called Jockm Nordstrom the other day, and man, his work blew my mind!!!! I've bought two of his picture books and LOVing them, reading like every day. For me, a good indication of whether a book is good or not is if it makes me wanna hang out in their world or not. And his world, I totally pack everything I have right now and leave!!!!!! Some call his work modern/nonsense type of art and I love the fact that he is not, at least to me, trying to preach or lebel or difine anything for anyone. Things are just there in his world, embracing both goods and bads. This approach resonates with my mindset so much right now and can't get enough of his world...

So my goal for the meantime is to post at least one art idea for one post , preferebly each day. I started working on my first book and started drawing and making the basic plot...see what happens. I have all these ideas but me being lazy and never been to any art school and whatnot, my drawing skill seems to be far behind. But you gotta start from somewhere, right??

so the above is something I draw cuz i wanted to draw something Japanese but modern at the same time.

and the one after that is my kids book idea.