The Beginning

OF WORDS SPOKEN AND UNSPOKEN - DAY 4-5

Well my dear readers, one thing you must understand is that the city is a beast. It drains you, it eats at you, and if you don't move fast enough, it runs you over. This does not bode well for our plucky hero (myself), as I'm a born and raised Californian. The mellowest breed of human, Californians enjoy strolling at our own leisure, enjoying the sunshine, and being in control of our own transportation. All three of these things are not to be had while in New York. Strolling is grounds for a sound cursing and angry hand gestures. Sunshine is rarer than platinum. And your transportation is at the mercy of the metro transit system. So as such, I needed a break, so for the majority of my day 4 (and again on day 8), I spent the day in Jersey, catching up on work and basically taking a moment to breathe. Breathing, my dear readers, is one of the most undervalued past times, and needs careful placement in any busy person's day. Considering "busy" is the standard in New York, its an absolute must in anyones schedule.

So day 4 is a wash, but day 5 promised to be just as interesting, if not more so. Because day 5 was the day that I'd make my way into the city and hang out with my friend Nolan. He was one of my few classmates back in college that I legitimately got along with, mainly because he quit architectorture for the wonderful world of graphic design. The funny thing about him is he was one of the most stereotypical Californians I knew, so the fact that he moved to New York was right out of left field. He told me later on that he did it to really push himself to work because, as the song goes, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. It turned out that I was at the mercy of the rails and I didn't actually make it to see him til later in the evening, which is fine considering the fact that we were planning on attending a spoken word slam in his part of the city, Brooklyn. Another point you all should be informed of, for the majority of my trip, I was either in Jersey or Manhatten, neither of which really matched what I had imagined as "the city". True, Jersey had the old buildings and history factor, while Manhatten had the huge buildings and bustling movement, but Brooklyn really felt like the city to me. Everywhere there were cafes and doors open, people hanging out outside bars or just chit chatting. This was what I thought of when it came to the city. Now the fun part is that I was carrying roughly two days worth of clothing plus my laptop on me when I finally reached Brooklyn. Problem? We were already late for the show. So what do I do? That's right, I bring my big freakin pack with me to the slam spot. It was a decent walk from the station so me and him got to shoot the shit and catch up. It turns out he hasn't changed all too much. One thing about my friend Nolan is he is one of the most creative people I know, very down to earth, very chill, and very artistic. You'd think New York would've fostered is already innate talent, but he told me that there just wasn't Time in the city. Something I definitely took note of that because its important to get to flex your creative muscles, and hearing that made me like the city a little less. That didn't last long once we reached the actual venue. The venue itself had a line out the door, and it was clear that on this rainy friday evening, this was the place to be on this side of town. We eventually made our way in and into the land of poetry and verse. It was a pretty fantastic space. Bar at the front, stage in the back, lots of random seating and an upper loft. Lots of cool art pieces depicting everything from a flag bearing president (you know which one), to various scenes of political and social commentary. The floor seating was packed, with literally dozens of people just sitting on the floor, so the two of us made our way up to the balcony seating. Seating is the wrong word though, as it was standing room only, but its amazing how much room gets freed up when a 6'2" filipino tries to shuffle in. Nolan disappeared to go get us some drinks while i decided to get all shutterbug on the space. After he came back the set started up and we found out that we had some pretty famous poets on tap, mainly because there was a huge event happening that weekend and this was a pretty famous spot, so all the visiting poets and artists decided to set up shop that night. Needless to say, just the intro was pretty sick. While there were fantastic poets, one specific piece set itself apart to me. It was called, "Ode to my Nerds". It should be obvious why I loved it, but if the title wasn't enough the first line pretty much sold me on it.

"Life is like Mario Brothers."

To sum it up, the verse basically went on about a story of a nerd taking a beautiful girl out to dinner. How he was the "nice guy" and was taking the girl out because her douche bf was...being a douche. His whole diatribe revolved around how he didn't understand how this pretty girl lived, how she skipped around and tried dozens of things, skipping levels and going through pipes, but that we eventually all end up at the same place, the end. And that skipping levels isn't a way to live, but to experience it all and play it through. At the end he explained the first line pretty simply.

"Life is like Mario Brothers. Not number 2, 3, 4, super, or 64. No, its like Mario Brothers 1, where there's one rule and one rule only, You can NEVER go back."

More hijinks to come my dear readers, so stay tuned.

OF MEETINGS AT THE MET - DAY 3

This third day by far has taken the cake as my favorite of the trip so far. Its hard to describe a perfect day, but really I'll try. And I have pictures, so maybe that'll assist. Today was the day that another of the wonderful people I know in NYC, Nicole, took time from her busy week to give me a tour. Something my readers, must know, is that Nicole is a very busy lady at work, so for her to take a day off something tantamount to shifting a mountain. But that's besides the point. Lets begin shall we? My day began as it always does, in New Jersey, waking up and hopping on the train. However this morning was different as I brought Serin with me. If you do not know, Serin is my acoustic guitar that bravely made the trip from California with me to perform on the bustling streets of New York. I had wanted to get an early start on this day, as I knew it was going to be pretty full, so I tried to catch the early train heading in. This landed me right in the middle of rush hour in NYC. Not a good time to travel, especially with a guitar case the size of a small child. Needless to say I got off the subway with far more people angry at me than I'm comfortable with. 

However I made it to Nicole's place without a hitch. Well one hitch, she wasn't there. Turns out she wanted to get an early start on everything else before we met up, so she was out and about doing whatever it is people do in the city at 8am on their day off. So there I was on her stoop in the freezing wind tunnel with Serin to keep me company. So what do I do? I pull Serin out. Because my dear readers, my beloved guitar made the journey with me to perform for my absent companion, and so I needed to make sure everything was in working order and also to practice. I got quite a few stares as this particular block is not one of the places that one expects to see a street performer. I'm no street performer. Merely a boy with a guitar waiting for a girl. Given I've never really sang for anyone, at least no one that really would appreciate it, so its an understatement to say I was nervous. I practiced a good half of the songs I knew before putting the guitar away and resuming my waiting. My fingers were cold from playing but it was worth it, because I was pretty confident that what I came to sing was ready at my throat. Unfortunately, singing was not in the agenda that morning. Walking however, was.

After putting my guitar down and a brief smile, we walked a solid couple of miles going to the bank,

 a starbucks, and finally our bus stop ( i think, there may have been a train in there somewhere ). What I regretfully do not have a photo of is what happened when we were on the bus. It began to snow. Now being from California has really made me forget the wonder that overcomes me when I see actual snowfall. The last time I saw real snow was when I lived back east in Penn., and even then that is a hazy memory. The crazy thing is it seemed to just come from nowhere. I felt like a kid again. It was a great bus ride as well, as I let Nicole listen to one of the few songs that I wish I could sing for her, but at least I could play it. Sitting there watching the snow and listening to that song was easily my favorite moment of the trip so far. That reverie was broken however when we got to our stop and the rest of world seemed to resume as if paused for that moment. Quickly we hopped up and made off for the Met.

A fun fact about Nicole, she's one of the smartest girls I know. Using these same smarts (as well as a museum badge) we got in without having to pay the fee. I have a soft spot in my heart for museums and galleries. I'm kind of strange like that, being among the relics of the past and works of fine art, it just makes me feel good. 

As you can probably tell I enjoy telling stories, and all of the things within the museum were full of them. So as each and everything has a story, I tend to wander about museums whenever I get the chance, picking at each item or piece and just seeing what it will tell me. And should the fancy strike, I tend to whip out my sketchbook and do small sketches, just to remember the moment or thoughts I had when I was there. Nicole has the same knack, except she does so with a camera so we worked quite well as pair making our way from each and every exhibit. I'm not sure how long we wandered the halls until we happened upon the statuary courtyard. Here with the incredible light of day and the incredible works of art, we decided to have a seat and just take it all in. Me with my sketchbook, and her with her camera. We happened to sit down near this very serious artist, an older gentlemen that was exceptionally good, and was sketching one of the statuary. I in turn sat down and started sketching him. It was a really funny group, the man sketching the statue, me sketching the man, Nicole photographing the man, and onlookers watching the entire process. 

From there we moved onto the weapons and armor hall, which, if you 

know me, was one of my favorite areas, but the only real story was I found that I tend to prattle on quite a bit when it comes to weapons and armor and things like that. After protests from both our stomachs, we left the Met and headed into central park. Given it was not the fairest weather yesterday, but even then Central Park was incredible to walk through. Nicole launched into an explanation of how beautiful Central Park is during the summer months and all of the things that make the city great. Given I didn't need to know very much more to prove that to me as I was fast falling in love with the city.

We reached our destination, being this fantastic french cafe with exceptionally vintage decor and huge windows that really highlighted the temperamental weather patterns of the city. It was really hard not to stare at my companion as the sun kept popping in and out from behind the clouds to highlight her smile. Luckily I was able to snap a photo on my phone as my camera decided to die among the armor pieces in the Met. After a delicious brunch/linner, we made our way back to her apartment, completing the circuit. 

We went inside and I decided now would probably be a good time to whip out the guitar. This was not to be, as circumstances had her send me to a delicious bakery whilst she finish one more chore before we could hang out. I assented and made my way to this place, a hungarianbakery...appropriately named, The Hungarian Bakery. Inside I went and bought a cake and a hot chocolate, taking my sketchbook to go to town on the various patrons.  At some point I was sketching this rather regal looking old woman when she turned and looked directly at me smiled. I had no idea she knew I was drawing her, but it made me much more aware of how much I stared when I was watching people. After filling 3 pages of my book, 2 with drawings and 1 with writing, I decided to go for a walk, as the cake and chocolate were making me jittery. So I text Nicole that I'm stepping out and she informs me she's in a cab and will be back in a moment. 

Regardless I go for my stroll and walk across the street and right into a gigantic statue of the angel Michael beheading Satan astride a giant crab with the sun and moon on its back. No, I didn't have a special cake, this is an actual statue, just outside the oldest gothic church in the americas. As fantastic as a sight that it was, my camera remained dead so I had to visually take it all in. After a few moments reverie and appreciating the forms of the statue I got a call from Nicole telling me she'd be there shortly. So we agreed to meet back at hers. I'll wrap up my post there, as the rest of my evening consisted of a nice dinner in and a few episodes of the office and ending with me on the train back to jersey to ponder just what exactly i'd found in my time in the city. Til later dear readers.

OF SQUARES AND TIMES - DAY 2

So day 2 started with very little fanfare, as I was still trying to recover from the debilitating cold that struck me down when I arrived in the Big Apple. The good thing is the cocktail of nyquil orange juice and white castles did a great job and I was at roughly 75% health come tuesday morning. Better than the 30% the day before! So after spending the better part of the morning working, I began my endeavor into the city, camera in hand. So what must be common knowledge, New York/Jersey has some pretty temperamental weather. One of the temperaments being cold and grey. Taking this into account I piled on the layers and stepped outside. My cousin that I'm staying with lives in a pretty nice neighborhood, what I've been told is that its a college town and it definitely feels that way. Its quiet, and you can walk to the train station from her pad so its a pretty sweet gig. The only downside? Its a freaking hour by train to get into the city. Luckily I was leaving relatively late in the day (about 1 or 2 ish), so the train wasn't as cramped as I heard it could be. So I settled into my seat and munched on my Dunkin Donut and took in the scenery. Not sure what I was expecting, but damn was it depressing seeing some of the sights as I went. Particularly the dead trees and broken railroad tracks. It was all good as I pretty much dozed off anyway, listening to the clicking of the track and the random banter of some of the other passengers, trying valiently to keep themselves entertained on this boring yet necessary commute. Now a friend of mine warned me that the city is different depending on your first experience there. That he had went there by himself once and saw the city and hated it. Went again with friends, and saw it as the greatest thing ever. I can't say I hated it, but I can't say I instantly loved it. First order of business when I arrived into Penn station was figure out where the eff I was, a task much more difficult than it sounds. I arrived close to 3pm and was waiting for my second tour guide to arrive, Sarah. She arrived eventually but not before I paced about looking like the easiest mark any pickpocket in the city could ask for, looking at my phone and map constantly. My bad. Luckily she showed up before the creepy bugger by the hot dog stand made his move and the two of us made our way to Times Square. Now one must understand something about me before I go on my tirade. I'm from southern california, a place where you can drive down the street and see maybe 3-10 people tops. Humanity is not something I run into that often. So diving head first into Times Square may have been a bit unadvisable. Needless to say, we dove in anyway and I started to snap photos like the good tourist I am. I won't lie, Times Square was pretty darn impressive. Downtown LA is a suburb compared to just a few blocks of this place, and the sheer number of people was mindblowing. Being both a fan of people watching and architecture, it was a whole lot of fun watching people wander around. Something that I noticed about people, guys particularly, in NYC is that they're way more forward than us west coast kids. I heard catcalls (not at me, obviously) far more often than I have heard before, and some of them pretty damn forward. I was taking notes, haha. I think my favorite was these two guys wandering around that were pretty obviously not tourists asking every cute girl that walked by for a photo with them. They also pretty obviously had a jersey accent, yet somehow they were trying to convince everyone they were russian or eastern european. Highly amusing. So next on my list of things to do was to find a toy for my nephew, so from Times Square we hoofed it to Toys R Us to take a look. What did I find? So much hilarity. My favorite of course is shown here, Ducky of Liberty. Lots of them. Bright yellow and green floating symbols of liberty and justice. I couldn't help myself. I didn't buy him though, that'd be an insult to my nephew's intelligence, besides the colors just didn't quite look right together. So after the brief stay in Toys R Us and a little bit of drooling at the fantastic array of nerf weapons, we headed back outside into the cold and the crush of people that is Times Square. I checked my clock and it was almost 5 by the time we finished our random adventures through the city, so I figured I'd just snap a few more photos while I wait for my other friend to arrive. The M&M store seemed like a pretty decent candidate so I shot the main screen which contained enough M&Ms to probably give you diabetes. However, the store itself, smelled fantastic. It was like standing in the Hershey factory again when I was little. Ironically the Hershey store was just next door. And I didn't go in. After that, the adventures continued on however without the assistance of my camera (dead battery), hung out with one more friend and ended up back on the train to Jersey. Stay tuned for more city exploring, loyal readers.

OF PLANES AND TRAINS - DAY 1

So I've somehow made it to NYC/NJ intact, and with quite a few stories already. This trip started out kind of rocky as I felt myself getting a pretty horrific cold right before I left due to lack of sleep and increased stressed right before my departure. My flight was at an ungodly hour so it just compounded the 1-2 punch from the weekend. Needless to say, it was the unhappy skies. It started with arriving at LAX around 5 after having a fantastic meal of Mcgriddles in the morning and being greeted by this..

 A freakishly long line winding outside of terminal one and almost making its way to terminal two. And of course, in true Angelino fashion, everyone in line was bitching. The man in front of me was on the same flight and was from Chicago and had a thick accent and consistently

 swore better than most sailors I 

knew at how long the line was. He did this on the phone with his business partner and paced back and forth much to the amusement of the line. Standing behind me were some college students that were 

crestfallen that their Spring Break was over. I proceeded to ask them what they did and most of them couldn't remember. I told them that was a good answer, haha. Another interesting tidbit, they asked where I was headed, and I simply replied New York, and they replied "Oh, yeah you look like a New Yorker." This made me feel good as I was paranoid about looking too California when I arrived on the east coast. So once 

that line was sorted out

 (miraculously only took 30 minutes), I made my way to the gate and eventually boarded the plane. I looked over in the window and noticed my luggage was being loaded (which is good, because I was paranoid my guitar wouldn't make it) but I also saw this gas cap in the runway. The trippy thing was the cap had my hometown (Garden Grove) engraved in the top. Excuse the blurry photo, but I thought that was a crazy random happenstance. So it turns out Chicago guy sat in front of me so I took the opportunity to snap a shot of his head. And then I went off and just started taking photos of the wing and sky and all that fun stuff.

So after that first flight there was a brief layover in Chicago and I hopped back onto the plane after a round of chicken mcnuggets and fries among the tired and traveling. The flight was rather peaceful as I bought some medication and basically saturated my system with it until I conked out and eventually landed safe and sound in Long Island just 10 minutes behind schedule. It was rainy when I got in but for the most part it wasn't too bad.

I ended up striking a conversation with this guy who was a bestselling author that wrote a book about the Titanic. I also chit chatted with this lady from Jamaica (the country) and got off at Jamaica (the stop). Highly amusing. The guy also used to be a comedian did these great one liners from old school comedy radio shows from the 50s/60s. Telling stories and then flipping them into jokes. Hilarity. So as the long train ride came to an end I got to see my ever cheerful cousin, Karen, who courageously volunteered to carry my backpack. 

She didn't stay that excited for long. That thing was heavy and basically tipped her over. Good try though, haha. Once we reached her apartment in Jersey we offloaded the monstrous load and whipped out the guitar for a good old family jam session. Played quite a few songs before realizing dinner must be had. Our drug of choice? White Castles. Needless to say, the first day has already been memorable and I can't wait til tomorrow.

GREAT ESCAPES

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twyla Tharp

So I'm happy to have found a new medium to play with. I've gone on a spree of munny design pieces in order to sharpen my skills at it and try out new techniques. Its funny, its not quite sculpture but its not quite painting. Its in between, which I'm feeling pretty comfortable in. Hopefully the work will reflect that.

The first is the elemental twins, Stormrose and Firelily. I did these as an experiment to see how the kind of brushes and paints I have react to the vinyl, and also trying different priming and surfacing techniques to see what works best. Firelily on the right was done with straight acrylic paint to vinyl, while Stormrose was primed first. Same deal with the brushes though I forget which was which. I think on the next project I'll try using sable brushes, as I've seen on my friend's project, it comes out pretty clean.

The next one is a work in progress. My attempt at doing a self portrait Munny. I have this hoody that i wear constantly, if you know me, you know which one I'm talking about. So I figured this would be the perfect excuse to learn sculpty so I started. I was going for the assassin's creed style hood, that's far too large for the head, though I've gotten quite a few comments it looks like a bonnet. Hopefully the paint job will fix that. Also, to test out my prop making skills, i converted a baseball bat into a guitar.