3.1 Denim and Sweatpants

She wore a denim shirt over a plain black shirt and sweatpants. This girl was on the heavy side and her hair was as straight as a pin with her bangs snipped up to the top of her eyebrows. You’d never guess that she has a high pitch voice that sounded beautiful when she sang. This girl definitely lives in a condominium around Taft Avenue, considering the fact that she was in Starbucks until past ten in the evening. She probably lives alone in a tiny unit with recording equipment on her study table in the living/kitchen area of her studio apartment. Her bed is covered with clothes that are messily piled from the probability that she had to change multiple times before walking out the door because she was self-conscious of her figure. Her shoes are neatly lined in a corner below a window in her room, which she looks out at every night before she sleeps.

I drew something on photoshop that sort of or maybe barely even resembles her. Sorry for the crappy drawing, no tablet, just a touch pad.

1.3 Reds and Yellows

January 11, 2012

Motorcycles passing

Children shouting cuss words
Fingers typing on the keyboard
People speaking in Ilocano
Laughter
Sweat
Cigarette smoke 

I urged him to take me around the town on his motorcycle. He reluctantly agreed to my request, like I knew he would. He would never say no to me. I had perfectly established that in the past three years. He started the engine, I got on the back of his motorcycle, and we took off. The wind blew against my face and I could feel strands of my hair fluttering in the wind. We were close to a turn and I closed my eyes momentarily. When I opened my eyes, a beautiful mix of reds and yellows filled the sky. Despite the cold air, the colors that played in the sky made my body feel warm all over. After the sun had completely set, he brought me home without saying a word. My mother, my aunt, and my grandmother were extremely furious when they found out I rode on a motorcycle. Hysteria turned to anger, but I didn’t let it get to me because after all, it was all worth it. The sunset I witnessed still remains to be the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen in my life.

An attempt to capture that same sunset from December 2011.

1.2 Kindergarten

January 10, 2012

The scent of the underside of a watch
Professor talking
Seats creaking
Pen clicking
Pages flipping
Feet shuffling
Paper being torn

In kindergarten, we used to don uniforms with different floral patterns that recently reminded me of scrub suits. You were considered cool if you had Lisa Frank things, Polly Pocket pencil cases, rubber shoes that lit up, and of course, the newest Baby G you could find. I remember going up to a friend who had a baby blue Baby G, with a dolphin design that would move when you pressed the light button. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen as a toddler. My friend proceeded to take off her watch and asked me if I’ve smelled the underside of a watch. Needless to say, my curiosity got the best of me, and that I was urged to sniff the underside of my friend’s Baby G. It still remains to be one of the foulest smells my nose can never handle well.

a picture of my kindergarten class.

1.1 Dean St. Café

January 9, 2012

Freshly brewed coffee
Cigarette smoke
Rain falling on the rooftop
A plane passing overhead

I remember waking up in the middle of the night with no one by my side. In panic, I called the operator and beeped my mother asking her to call me at home. When she called, I broke down in tears, expressing the fear I had of staying in a room, all by myself, at twelve in the morning. She immediately picked me up and brought me to a nearby café where she was prior to my panicky fit. Upon entering the café, a mix of cigarette smoke and freshly brewed coffee filled my nostrils, which surprisingly suppressed the terror of being alone at night.

Runaway with me.

Run until the sun will rise.

Take this step with me.

Take me back into your eyes.

But you

are

long

gone.