Some excellent advice that was passed onto me when I mentioned wanting a career change into art and feeling like it was a little late in the game for me...

it's NEVER too late, Paul Gauguin didn't start painting until he was 40, there's no rush, it's not like there is a cut-off date ;-) so if you think you would like to do it, just do it, start today, it's really the only day you ever have.

thank you, oh wise one ^^ [smakeupfx]

A very close, good friend just got invited to the University of New Mexico, for five years on their dime, to finish a masters program. We're going out for celebratory drinks this evening. I'm so happy and excited for him but at the same time... =( he's gonna be so far away...
and well... that sucks. *sigh*
Interesting being happy and sad simultaneously.

Some love poems I wrote...


I want to be your once upon a time,
And long to be your happily ever after.
And in between,
all the chapters.
Filled with joy
and with laughter.

~~~

Swayed by your sorcery and
transformed by sensual alchemy
Tangled in erotic obsession
Object of sexual possession
A voodoo doll, stuck through and through
With pins and needles of wanting you.

~~~

I'm prone
vulnerable
bent over backwards by my desire
savage me
ravage this body
I relinquish my flesh
I surrender my soul
I give freely my love
No longer am I a prisoner
of loneliness
I am your captive my love.

~~~

A fleeting glimpse upon waking.
The dream watering my eyes,
blurred by the morning sun.

Your body was there for the taking.
If I had only been quick enough
but dawn came to claim me.

I wander through the day aching.
Empty and waiting to be filled
by that which you carry within you.

A legendary love in the making.
Eternal, immortal.
There is no end, only the us that will always be.

~~~

Two souls bound.
You write in me
like the pages of a book.
The scent of white paper
the scent of skin.
The scent of the ink
the scent of our sin.
Gentle arch of an open tome
like your lover's back
stretched on the bed.
The next chapter waits
for your ready quill.

My best buddy, Jason, has been doing Aikido for several years now and highly recommends it. A very spiritual martial art. There is a dojo right around the corner from where I work, so I am going to go check it out on Saturday afternoon. Jason and I will probably participate in a class next week sometime.

http://www.baltimoreaikido.com/index.php

How exciting! =D A local tv crew came by the bed and breakfast today to interview the owners and take pictures of the rooms for inclusion on a program to promote tourism in Baltimore. In the daily goings on in the B&B, I am a behind the scenes presence, so when the producer asked if I wouldn't mind them taking some footage of me in the kitchen... I was like, uh uh.. er... *embarassed* kind of. lol But she said I wouldn't have to say anything, and I had a double batch of chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven anyway...
So, four people crowded into the kitchen. I stood at the ready, oven mits on my hands. "Action!" lol I open the oven, put the cookies on the wire racks to cool...
"Cut!" Wow... that will be some fascinating footage, I'm sure! They asked if they could film me tomorrow doing some other things, I suggested setting up for afternoon tea. I'm ready for my close up! =9

3rd tattoo appointment on March 14th - wooooo this is addicting. But this is the last appointment for a long time as the cash flow is tapped out.
*sigh*

From Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do


To see a thing uncolored by one's own personal preferences and desires is to see it in its own pristine simplicity.


Art reaches it greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom finds man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.


The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "Against" is the mind's worst disease.


Wisdom does not consist of trying to wrest the good from the evil but in learning to "ride" them as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves.


Let yourself go with the disease, be with it, keep company with it - this is the way to be rid of it.


An assertion is Zen only when it is itself an act and does not refer to anything that is asserted in it.


In Buddhism, there is no place for usuing effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.


Do not run away; let go. Do not seek, for it will come find you when least expected.


The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creations the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.


Art reveals itself in psychic understanding of the inner essence of things and gives form to the relation of man with nothing, with the nature of the absolute.


Art is an expression of life and transcends both time and space. We must employ our own souls through art to give a new form and a new meaning to nature or the world.


An artist's expression is his soul made apparent, his schooling, as well as his "cool" being exhibited. Behind every motion, the music of his soul is made visible. Otherwise, his motion is empty and empty motion is like an empty world - no meaning.


Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it is a work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty.


Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.


All vague notions must fall before a pupil can call himself a master.


Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of human life. The aim of art is not the onesided promotion of spirit, soul and sense, but the opnening of all human capacities - thought, feeling, will - to the life rhythm of the world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be heard and the self be brought into harmony with it.


Artistic skill, therefore, does not mean artistic perfection. It remains rather a continuing medium or reflection of some step in psychic development, the prefection of which is not to be found in shape and form, but must radiate from the human soul.


The artistic activity does not lie in art itself as such. It penetrates into a deeper wrld in which all art forms (of things inwardly experienced) flow together, and in which the harmony of soul and cosmos in the nothing has its outcome in reality.


It is the artistic process, therefore, that is reality and reality is truth.

Amusing...

Got a phone call. One pissed off individual I would say. Insisting to speak with *mumble* 
"Who?" I ask.
*mumble*
"What?"
*mumbles furiously*
I say, "Look man, I have no idea what you are saying, you've got the wrong number!"
"FUCK YOU! PUT HIM ON! I WANT TO TALK TO *mumbles*"
*click*
*ring*
"PUT HIM ON THE FUCKING PHONE! GODDAMN IT! I KNOW *mumbles* IS THERE!"
"Sir...You.."
*screaming and cursing*
"Sir..."
*screaming and cursing*
"HEY! BUD!"
*silenced*
"You. Have. The. Wrong. Number."
*screaming and cursing*
*click*
*ring*
"This is still the wrong number, man"
"Is this xxx-4701? *pause* Oh wait... 4707."
*silence*
"I'm sorry ma'am."
*click*

LMAO

Front page of the Washington Post had some very bad news today =( 
Hunter S. Thompson commited suicide yesterday... his wife was at the gym apparently... he was alone in the kitchen when he shot himself in the head with a handgun.

WHY WHY WHY!?!?!

Why couldn't it have been Rush Limbaugh on a pill popping bender or something? *sigh*

wooooo - my first badge!!! ^^

LMFAO
oh those wacky Chinese and their wonderful toys...
Front:


Back:


Package - high, tightness, excellent, or else inferior. LOL Who can argue with that?

2nd appointment made - I go back under the tattoo gun on March 1st...
I couldn't stay away for long.
=/

yay! Busting Dad outta the hospital today =)

So, went in for testing around 1pm on Wednesday - dropped my Dad off to wander around Georgetown while I was at hospital. I was done around 5pm and we went to dinner with my aunt and uncle (who I am donating the liver to) around 7pm. Shortly after we sat down, my Dad apparently had a very small stroke. So, I'll spare you the details but we were back at the hospital. People recognized me from earlier in the day, "Waht are youstill doing here??" *sigh* guess they better get used to me huh? So, my Dad is doing better - still in the hospital for a day or two longer for some tests. Man, Im fucking exhausted. Life - the hits just keep on coming dont they?

I hope everyone reads this and feels the overwhelming desire to tell the people they love just how much they care about them. Because one second you can be ordering wine at dinner and the next, you're on the way to the hospital.
Take care guys.