Missing Savannah

kind of
Back in Spring; home.
I miss going out on the weekends & witnessing the people & stories Cece Fierce & I would make up about them. What am I doing? Sneaking swigs of gin to go with my grandpa's tonic & Marlboro Lights out by the garage. This neighborhood's too manicured & quiet. I remember how the old lady across the street would sit in her rocking chair & smoke outside of her garage too. Where is she now? I think the family's moved out & we have some new neighbors. (Clearly not as exciting.) Can't wait to be in New York with the Savannah fam in a new block.

-Al

GET ME OUT

One of my favorite past times is having the day off to lounge around the house but always with an endless list of things to do. Waking up in the gloomy afternoon and listening to the rain drops hit the trees of my back patio invites me to go away at a Dunhill & black brew of Seattle's Best.

This takes me back to the stories my aunt tells me of the times it would rain the Philippines. The neighborhood kids would embrace the rain and proceed to frolic around bathing in the refreshing and probably murky water. Worries about dampening their freshly done hair or a ruined new shirt were thrown into the dirt roads. Instead they took advantage of the water and made the most of the situation in contrast to the hot sun they'd been dealing with for days on end.

I've taken in the fresh green of the leaves of the south and subtle breeze that makes them dance, and it allows me to take one last breath before diving in to my final projects due by the end of this week. I'm done with my computer class, have a final in business, and 2 neglected drawings. I'm hours away from summer, and it smells damned good.

As many of you know, I have my eye on New York, and I'm hoping that she has her arms open. It's quite the populated city, and only time will tell if I can keep a strong hold.

With that said, one of these days I'm going to retreat from America and embrace the motherland that my family once left. I want to reunite with relatives I haven't seen in over a decade and get a little update as to what's going on. I want to drive through the forests and hike through the mountains. Drink out of a freshly dropped coconut and eat a green mango with salt and bagoong. Most of all, I want to meet my nieces and nephews and assure their family that even though a lot of us live across the Pacific, that they're more than welcome to say hello.

It's not often that I get a chance to stray away from these gray concrete roads, but it sure feels nice to imagine.

2 B a better me

I know my facts, and another memorable chapter in my life is resolved. The only reason I failed is because I haven't improved myself. Comfortable. No new tricks. I let everything go too easy and lost track of where I wanted to go with this. I'm ready to move on, as I preach, and be a better me.

Only good can come of this.

TRUST

A l i l s o m e t h i n t o m e d i t a t e

-Al

Egads!

We're starting on our Illustrator unit for CMPA & we're gonna be working on creating our own logo. I've no clue where to start, so I'm asking all of you to channel in your ideas by describing ME. No answer is a wrong answer, so don't hesitate to s a y w h a t ' s o n y o u r m i n d . All input is greatly appreciated.

Top 3 words thus far: fashion sunglasses fresh

Think you might have something to add? Let Me Know

I'm taking in all ideas and there a bajillion ways to reach me, so

What ARE you WaItInG fOr?!

how do you sleep

when there's so much to be done?

So many people complain about not getting enough sleep, but today I complain about not getting enough awake time!! Trust - I LOVE sleep. However, when thoughts of important lectures, sketches, work, career opportunities, and social hours to escape from said important things cross my mind, there's just not enough time in one day to take it all in.

I'm am still so very excited

about SCAD Style 2010 commencing next week. Some of my favorite people (Fern Mallis & Kelly Cutrone) are going to be here to give us some pointers. They're really the only ones I know about, but a TON of people are coming in that I want to know (Andrew Bevan, Chris Benz, Derek Blasberg, John Lineweaver, etc). SCAD continues to surprise me with their connections into the industries that I'm trying to get into: Advertising, Fashion, Journalism, and overall design. I already know that I'll be losing sleep this week due to John Rise's class, but research and question-formulating must be done for next week's presentations. I'm more excited about this than I am about opening presents on Christmas.

This quarter is going by so fast.

I constantly have to remind myself to eat, brush my teeth, and said sleep. It's already midterms, and it feels like it's just begun. I know I cry for summer all the time, but beach time and vacations can always be plugged in. That's all we really ask for, isn't it? A little time off. Then it's going back to the things we love. Summer & Fall registration also starts next week, and we all know how that's only going to fuel my fire. Hopefully I'll get all the ADVE/FASM classes I've got my eye on.

Once these next 5 weeks are over with,

it's back to HTX for my brother's HS graduation. Really, Tony, I'm proud of you. Really, I am. I hope you go to Pratt, and if that doesn't work out you can always room with me here at SCAD. Haha. We'll talk.

That week at home

will be another thrill/rush that always results in a buzz kill in the end. I wish I could be home for the entire 3 week break, but it's too much of a hassle to try and relocate temporarily with work. I gotta fund my life somehow, right? Anyway, I'm already starting my list of "Things to Do" when I get back. You already know food, shopping, and bubble tea are in order. The rest of y'all need to let me know what's going on so we can coordinate everything. I can't wait!!

In other news...

I've officially joined tumblr. >_< http://ajbay.tumblr.com. It's a little overwhelming right now, and I feel dirty about it too. I'm mainly doing it to keep up w/ some blogs, but my blogspot and tumblr will eventually be categorized into 2 distinct genres. I might just have to make a popblog and lookbook while I'm at it. Oi. You all can google those yourselves, because my laptop has decided that it doesn't want to run 10 programs and 5 windows at the same time.

You're probably wondering why I've dropped the "12" in "ajbay12." I've come to realize that people go along with "A. J. Bay" more than the other. The evolution of AlanJoseph. I really wanted to use that instead, but it's already taken. Smh.

If you haven't had enough

of my ramblings for tonight, you'll just have to wait for tomorrow.

Hopefully the Savannah rain outside my 2nd floor window will lull me to sleep.

Ciao.

-Al

back to work

hello default; goodbye weekend

Honestly,

I don't remember too much of Thursday before work... Oh!! now I remember...

I set my alarm at 8am to "leisurely" get ready for my 9:30 appointment w/ my advisor, but the thumping aches my head decided to beat got the best of me. By the time I grasped the strength to pry open an eye lid to look at the time, it was "9:30." FML. I knew Fridays were walk-in advising, so I let this Thursday be all whatever and let Lauren have the next 30 minutes free.

No sketching or park-ing had been done. This is the part where I blacked out before going to work.

The Distillery shut down early, so we hit up SEED for $3 Red Bull Vodkas & $2 Yuenglings. Yeahh boii. DJ Bean on the trackk as usual.

Wine & cards @ Adela's casa Friday. Kept it college by pigging out on junk food. In contrast, we were watching Discovery Health. Oh boy. This is what happens when you go to Bio major's turned FASM's apartment.

In more important news...

Have you ever been so so so, so so soo tiired that you're tired from being tired? Luckily for me, inspiring people and inspiring images freshen the daylight in me and all my troubles are gone. I feel kinda nerdy posting this, but dammit, I'm a fan of good work, so I'm just gonna bust out with this link.

Chris New is no one to joke about. I haven't met the guy, but he has shot a couple of friends. These friends never even told me or showed me that they were shot by him. This personally affects me because I'm having conflicts with my decision to minor in Fashion Marketing and Management, and one of my first instincts was to minor in photography. Click on his name to see his work. He's not afraid to blog his processes either & it gives his viewers a little something more to think about than just "here's my photo; like it or not."

Thanks Chris for waking me up this Sunday evening.

Who knows what good will come of this week. Only time will tell...

-Al