A.JO.STO

28.3.09

Occurrences

venice beach, ca

del taco family dinner & game night

self explanatory

giant sea creature

vegas trip

eyeballs in my japanese rice ball

climbing

Tanner's changed their BBQ date because anthony couldn't make the other date.

Pictionary at POWs friend house (any guesses?)

20.3.09

2wheelin

i reacquainted myself with the old rust of a bicycle that had fallen down for some time. (note: song i wrote about said bike coming soon).

because of the cold i haphazardly put on a bunch of clothing without much thinking, only to eventually look like one who is homeless. this costume actually contributed quite a bit to the good times, because when everyone is looking at you suspiciously in CVS, you can feel free to try on sweatshirts in the aisle, closely calculate the different price to volume ratio of different Cheezit boxes, and even open the sunglass-repair kit before you purchase to see if it contains the proper sized screw.

so on my rusty junk, hair hardly constrained by corduroy hat, i set sail on my dreams: (in no particular order other than the order in which they appear)

1) buying a repair kit for sunglasses that broke summer 2007 and have been sitting on the table gathering dust since summer 2007.

2) obtaining a box of cheezits for $1.

3) acquiring adhesives to fix bern's mirror that wakes me each morn as it slams against the slamming bedroom door.

4) procuring a disposable camera to chronicle all the things i love or at least like a lot.

5. ordering some aforementioned purchases in a vulgar way on bern's nicely-made bed.

(note: i just went to upload that picture, and couldn't bring myself to do it)

18.3.09

secret spots in LA that make the best music

10.3.09

my life is still life

9.3.09

1 thing i hate, 1 thing i like

i'm sure you can figure out which is which

3.3.09

a story or two told by polaroid

blogger is being a bummer so click here to see the rest

24.2.09

Office Inspiration & Illustration

The only real tangible evidence that I had a job these past 2 months....since I spent all the money I made on one car repair bill.

These are in opposite sequential order. Prepare for time travel.

18.2.09

My life in 2 parts

Does it classify as living out of your car when you have a skateboard, 3 pairs of shoes, a laptop, umbrella, and a casserole dish in your front seat?

Guess who's cubicle can make toast?

13.2.09

Job Art

The illustrations are coming along nicely, I think the big reveal will come towards the end of my career (Feb 25).

Aside from illustrations, I have embarked into film. Move over Martin Scorsese, there's a new sheriff in town.

Derek Webb's The Ringing Bell

I've been a huge fan of Derek Webb ever since his beginnings in Caedmon's Call. I really think he has some great things to say about the world, god, and what it is to be human. I know these are lofty claims, but I think they're true.

I listened to an interview with him, however, yesterday and was so turned off by his egoism and almost "holier than thou" answers...when his whole mission and purpose (at least in his music) was to critique and dismiss that attitude that is so prevalent--especially in the church.

Moral of the story is he has a new album (came out in 2007 but I never really knew about it...so how much of a fan can I really be you are asking yourself) and there's an option to choose your own price for it. And pre-interview I would've probably thrown a 10 spot his way, but I went for $0 and referring 5 of my friends instead (sorry to Bern and the 4 other fake emails I made up).

So Derek, I hope you are listening because I really like you. And I love your music. But I think you are a little whack-attack, and maybe by my criticizing you I am guilty of what I am accusing, but I just had to put it out there.

And I feel a little guilty for it all, so I'm posting the link to your site so others can get your album for free...or maybe they'll pay...or give you an legitimate email address at the very least.

9.2.09

Cousin Commotion

As promised, another example of being a bad influence on my little cousin taylor....

Bernadette, myself, and Taylor toilet papering my parents bedroom

Visiting Great Grandma Dorothy

What's good about going to a old folks home and visiting "Gma D"?

1) Listening to her and her 3 friends talk sassy about the "romance" going on around the retirement home.

2) Seeing her gaudily decorated room.

3) Seeing pictures of my cousin and I holding ducks and not remembering it at all.

4) Remembering how precious I am despite boy haircuts and tucking my dresses into my bike shorts.

5) Kelly Edge's sweater choice acknowledging she in fact shares my passion for bad style.

3.2.09

Enjoying Work

I hate my job. But I have recently found a way to make it worlds more enjoyable.

ILLUSTRATIONS!

I draw while I talk to people on the phone. I draw on them for inspiration sometimes. I day dream.

But I was limited to pink and yellow highlighter, until NOW!

Who knew these had been sitting in my desk all along!

I will post a compilation of my work shortly.

23.1.09

For those who were concerned....

yes me and lew exclusively record using "christian guitars" for that 'heavenly' sound.

why do christians do such weird stuff?

New Recordings

my old timer friend Lewis & I have begun recording music every Thursday. To me, it has become maybe quite possibly the most lovely time of the workweek. I take that back, it is.

After 40-50hrs of laboriousness a week for us both, we've come to crave it. And I think a lot of good has come out, though as a disclaimer (though Lewis says I need to stop doing disclaimers), we are learning and getting better each time.

They are rough drafts but hopefully you like the sketch.

Go to myspace.com/poorfriends to take a listen. The new songs are "Barry" , "Through the Walls" and "I Taught Him That". We'll have one more in a week too which is turning out to be real delicious called "Around The Block"

I just thought of something, if you never listened before then they are all new to you. I guess that's good too.

19.1.09

A Tale of Dreams & Immigration & Gang Violence

In the spirit of MLK, I thought I would write a smidge about dreams. Not to worry, we will somehow cover immigration rights & gang violence as well. I am the queen of transition.

With so many networks streaming headlines like "Obama Achieving 'The Dream' Tomorrow", I think it's legit to mention that Dr. King's message was not one just of political equality. In fact, some would argue it was economic injustice that really fueled his fire.

With 40 million Americans living below the poverty line, I think we might be celebrating a little too soon. Read here to see what a life under the line actually looks like.

The facts and figures speak for themselves. After roughly 50 years we have made little to no progress. According the US Census Bureau, the poverty breakdown is as follows:

2007 - 12.5% of all people, ^[34]including

- 10.5% white people ^[35]
- 24.5% black people ^[36]
- 21.5% all Hispanic people of any race, ^[37] lived in poverty.

Obama's inauguration and future presidency is a huge step for America, but I don't believe Dr. King's dream has come. Nevertheless, we are marching in the right direction.

Speaking of marching.....(see that transition?). Two important American issues are immigration and gang violence. I bring these up because 1) they're inextricably linked to economic injustice and 2) I have the best picture of me with some mexican ninos and a burro. See figure 1. and 3) I have a funny story about both...how you ask...

It was the summer of 2008. The hotest it had been in days. Bern & I had a double date in Venice with some hipster roomates. But there was a conflict of interest.

Our community in solidarity, Boyle Heights, was marching from the Dolores Mission to CIty Hall in Los Angeles protesting the ever-present gang violence that threatens the neighborhood on the same day.

So, we did what any self respecting socially aware women would do...we lied to the boys and said we were sick. Both of us getting sick at the same time you ask? Yes, friends can often get each other sick because of the close proximity to one another. And so we were free. Free to march with our bothers and sisters of LA. Free to tell the city government that we would stand for this violence no more. Free to look fear straight in the eye and say "You have no hold on me".

And as we arrived after a 12 mile march to city hall, we were prepared to do just that. But lo and behold it was much more of an immigration rights march to be sure. Not exactly what we had intended...but I consider myself pretty go with the flow.

So, as a child of a staunch republican family who prays for a wall to be built around our country, I felt invigorated. Sure it wasn't exactly what I had intended to march on...and sure if I hadn't had some elementary spanish knowledge I might have never known we were ill-informed...but something in me was moved that day (bern...I think you know what movement I'm talking about...bahahaa).

And that's how I was tricked into marching in an immigration rights protest on hot day in LA.

Figure 1

5 things

1) These are Huntington Beach cops. They came to chase away our homeless friend sitting with us at coffee. Unless he was, unbeknownst to us, dangerous or threatening, I think that is kind of offensive to assume we wanted them to take him away.

2) I just found this at my parents. It's a Christmas card from Jerome, a guy from our church who is in jail. My stepdad flys to Reno to visit him every two weeks. He says it's his Matt. 25:36. Impressed to say the least.