#26. illustrate your grocery list

this was from today. the hummus put me over the $8.00 or so i had in my wallet, forcing me to use some version of plastic.

#85. cut a random shape out of several layers of a magazine.

make a collage out of the results.



cameo broach and crescent moon cut-outs from the new yorker on 24 lb stationery.

#45. draw the same object everyday for a week

sharpie marker on 24 lb. stationery
sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday

#94. list ten of your habits

- picking at my lips
- grinding my teeth into sawdust
- "mad-dogging" (not on purpose)
- swearing
- eating a lot of cholesterol!
- snorting when i laugh
- spooning homeless people
- speaking vietnamese when i am really mad
- sleeping too much
- talking about rigby

#60. glue a photo of yourself as a child into your journal

i have a lot of adorable baby pictures, but decided to choose this one because i felt it captures my personality better than the cute ones. i am probably seven and my younger brothers were my best friends. i also wore that purple shirt for about ten years of my youth. and that was when i had a really cool afro, but the worst afro i've ever had comes a couple years later (to be blunt, i looked like a boy from kenya who hated to groom himself). these were also the years when i didn't really care about looking like a barbie doll and just wore what i wanted to wear. i look relatively normal here, but on a good day you could catch me wearing all kinds of crazy and colorful outfits.

#78. make prints using food

i know i am supposed to make art using food as a tool, but i am really big about not wasting food. so i thought i would take photographs of food and print them as art. here are the pictures i like the most. from top to bottom: 1. real pho in saigon 2. half a mango 3. fuji apple halves 4. real thai dessert (the top bowl has various southeast asian fruits, one is shaped like a star! and the second bowl has a sweet tapioca dish) in bangkok. 5. strawberries and bananas

#15. record an overheard conversation

i can't tell if he's mexican or just dark. he could be a half-caste, but you can never really tell in the desert. everyone acts the same. business as usual, the young girl at the cash register blinks and offers, "did you find everything you needed today?"

he quickly responds with a routine, "no." then his demeanor and voice changes as if he were going through a transformation that would turn pinocchio into a real boy. "i mean, yes. there was one thing i could not find."

"oh, are you lying to me now?" the girl flirts back.

"no, i just remembered," he defends, "that i didn't find one thing."

she has dark chocolate colored hair that's pulled into a ponytail with the characteristic sixties hair bump at the crown of the head. her eyes are drowning in black eye-liner and she is small, but with the potential to blow up like a balloon after she gives birth. she gives up trying to be flirtatious (which seems to have been confused with the generic company policy of being friendly) and bluntly asks, "what was it?" as she bags the rest of his items.

as a matter of fact, "scott stapp - the great divide." pause. as if she's hard of hearing, "the great divide?"

"is that a movie?" i was sure he was talking about a book.

"no." he seemed to grow impatient with the progress of the exchange, as anyone would. but the way he attempts his explanation makes it seem as if he is tickled with opportunity. he begins, "well, have you heard of creed?"

the girl seems to be at a loss of an appropriate response. either she has barely listened to this band (probably due to youth) or she absolutely hates the band and is embarrassed to talk about creed. an educated guess would choose the latter. i was embarrassed to listen.

"you've never heard of creed?" he returns to growing impatient. he has a bit of a beer belly and facial hair. the exact type of facial hair is easy to forget, especially from a profile view.

"uh... i've heard of them," she emphasizes. this is probably because she is still embarrassed.

"well, after they broke up, they all split up. and the lead singer - scott stapp - came out with a solo album, the great divide. i thought you guys would have it in your music section, i figured this is a new store and all." later, i went home and looked up this album. it was released almost three years ago, rendering his reasoning sufficiently unreasonable. he continued, "i had it and some guys at work stole it from me. they just stole it."

"ohhh... well you can probably find it at barnes and nobles," she pretends sympathetically. i am not sure why she pluralizes the book store chain.

"nah! i don't wanna go all the way over to the mall." i agree with him. especially for something like that. "besides, i can probably save more money with the two dollar shipping than..."

"... the gas that it'll cost you to get out there!" the girl finishes, the way old people complain about prices rising, but she's not particularly good at it.

he doesn't really listen to what she says and says over her half of the sentence, "...driving all around town lookin' for it. i might as well just order it." he looks at the receipt she hands him and stuffs it in his wallet, as he begins to walk to his shopping cart.

immediately when the line starts to shift and he is not in the paying spot, the young girl stops listening and even talking to him. he spews out another sentence or two and is amused at his own anecdote(s), but she doesn't even tell him to have a nice day. i realized i stopped listening the second she stopped also. he has kids. three of them. they were at the cart waiting and i just noticed them as the young girl begins to scan my items.

#59. list ten things you would like to do everyday

- read a poem
- take a walk
- take a picture
- cook something
- see david
- dance
- have a picnic
- tell a joke
- spoon
- add a new word to my vocabulary

#37. list all of the places you've ever lived

i'm going to define "lived" as actually working and/or schooling at the place, and for longer than a month.


CALIFORNIA
long beach (birthplace), lawndale, hawaiian gardens, apple valley, riverside, berkeley
NEBRASKA
omaha (before it was hip)
TEXAS
houston
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
washington (northwest, 6 blocks from the white house)


NIGERIA
jos, plateau state

preface

when i found this list of 100 ideas (http://www.kerismith.com/100ideas.pdf) from keri smith, i decided to use it to harness my longing to get things done. as i've closed one chapter in my life, i seem to have trouble starting the next. maybe these ideas will help me write the next chapter. although the aforementioned metaphor and subsequently, this list, are focused on two types of traditional artists (the writer, the painter), i am neither and make no claim to attempt these admirable titles. rather, i take my own spin on these 100 ideas, and hopefully learn more about myself and the world around me. the idea is, you will too.