the trouble with big headphones and ipods

i often wander this dirty city with big headphones on listening to one of my ipods. i go through ipods like i go through men. :)

i feel naked without listening to my music. sometimes i do walk home and just listen to the traffic, the sirens, and just absorbing the sounds of the city. but most of the time, a walk clears my head, my shuffle list calms my soul.

my sister and i usually try to hang out once a week. usually it involves getting food, walking around, people watching, book browsing, coffee.

one of our favorite thing to do is grab a hoagie after work and go home and watch a movie.

one day we stopped into subway to pick up a hoagie. my sister was ordering hers. i was next to her. headphones on, but not on full volume. i stood there looking at the smudgy plexiglass that covered the bins of peppers, onions, lettuce, mayo.

we always get the same hoagie. italian bmt. i had my hoagie card ready. it is sad when you have a subway sandwich card. sadder when you are only one hoagie away from a free 1/2 hoagie. not a full hoagie. only 1.5.

the subway guy behind the counter was busy making the hoagie. he was talking to my sister. then he turned to me. i smiled and replied to his question. i responded, "pickles." he asked me again. "pickles," i replied. why was he not putting pickles on the hoagie?! for the third time, i replied, "pickles. pickles." he stopped talking to me. my sister was paying for the hoagie. she was speaking to the counter dude. man, i was really hungry.

as we walked away, my sister busted out laughing. i gave her a look. a raised eyebrow.

"what is so funny?"

"that guy.."

"who? the subway dude?"

"yeah, he wasn't asking what you wanted on the hoagie."

"yes, he was..wasnt he?"

"he asked where you were from. he wanted to know your name. and all you kept saying was "pickles!"

"oh..."

"so i told him you were retarded. he seemed to understand after that."

we both burst out laughing. we ate the hoagie, yes, it had pickles. i never did get my hoagie card filled, but i figure it is ok.

the trouble with headphones is that i don't listen to people. the trouble without my headphones is that i don't listen to people.

correction

it is hiro and splurt. no spurt. whoopsy.

kaossilator: i got one

anybody wanna play? i's got one. actually my girls and i all got one. count em. 3. pho reals.

also, i just wanna say, i went into brave new world comics and the dude was nice. i told him how i was treated like someone who only reads marvel.

also, lonely zombie issue 2 is in the works. so be patient lonely zombie lovers!


gotta go play with my kaossilator..this is instant awesome!

kaosilator and hiro and spurt

what i want.

for only 200 bucks why not huh?

now all i need is a japanese sidekick....volunteers?

perhaps i should be wearing sunglasses inside when i get my korg? does korg give you the dudes in sunglasses as a promotional gift?

who knows, all i know, is i have been laughing on this snowy day.

english is my second language

still a bit sick for those floating around da internet world, blog surfing. i have been rubbing my eyes, lack of sleep. lack of sunlight. (if you've notice, i'm pale pale pale). anyhow, lots of jasmine tea with honey and kumquats seem to be doing their trick. that and just asking everyone around me to baby me. i know it is a low shot, but heck, i am a baby. no, correction. i one of those people that constantly tries to please people, so sometimes, when i just come down with the icks, i just wanna have someone buy me some tea and a scone.

sigh.

work today was long. i think when one is under the weather, the hands of the clock does not move. this afternoon i was at a deposition. i was doing lead. after it was over, the boys club was asking me questions. apparently, they have never seen a girl know how to tie tie. much less have an opinion about ties. i prefer double windsor knot ties, but they look too bulky and ridiculous on me. girls can rock the ties. i can rock a power skirt suit, so why not a tie? chit chat is inevitable after these things. it is like people don't wanna head back to the office. a stalling technique.

well today, i pulled a pearl.

what does tim do?

he works in advertising. commercials. youtube type stuff. you know virile video. virile.

silence.

crickets. crickets.

the old dudes laugh and say, we could use some of those videos!

me with furrowed brow and my slanty eyes pointed upwards.

it's viral, not virile.

you say potato. i say tomato.

i threw the yellow card down. hey, english is my second language!

also, one should not address opposing counsel who are partners as doods. or dude. or tell them they are on crack when they give absurd demands.

comfort list

i am coming down with some cold bug or it is just sheer exhaustion from work. so i am not going to blog today. i have been sneezing all day. it was ridiculous.

my head feels all congested and i ordered some take in for dinner. nothing gourmet. pizza. hence, i am sick.

when i get all icky, i always want to drink hot tea or cider. actually walking home, i did pop in to get a cup of their caramel apple cider. it was nice to walk home in the flurries and drink cider.

the things above are what i want to make me feel better. chubby sodas. mario. :)

it is funny how i write in my blog as if it is going to respond and say get better pearly. but whoever is reading, just browse my other entries.

i have another comic idea. i need to hook up my scanner. i need a tissue. good god.

goodness too much for little head to think about right now. back to mario and chubby sodas.

breakups, heart aches, heart breaks: my graphic novel

i have been making my own comics ever since i was an even littler pearl. in high school/college, i started to document my heart breaks, heart aches, and breakups: all inked on my bristol board. every pen stroke recording a piece of my heart ripped.

i don't know how it started. i never was allowed to date in high school. strict asian upbringing. it was ok since i was no hot commodity in high school so you can't miss when you didn't have, right? also, when i did get a date to the prom, i was soo excited. little did i know how much prom dresses cost, so i ended up sewing mine and it was no pretty in pink moment, but the same reaction from snotty girls. "how home ec of you!" sewing takes a skill. going to freakin nordstrom doesn't take much skill.

getting asked out to prom was like some magical moment in my high school career. it was like getting a red rose in my locker. it was like getting to start in the opening game, off the bench, the cheerleader on top of the pyramid, the apex. it was totally cool that me, little pearl was going to prom!

then it hit me like bricks, my parents. how did i convince them this is a study session which requires girls to wear strapless taffetta and boys in tuxedos? totally not going to fly.

i decided to just ask them and explain how important it was for me to finally sort of be accepted, etc. my parents were actually understanding and i was surprised. the one condition was for them to meet the dude. ok.....i was waiting for a catch, but there wasn't.

i worked on my dress for 2 months. simple black mandarin collared chinese inspired dress. the night finally came and the dude arrives all nice in suit and flowers in hand. i was nervous. i mean it wasn't a date, but sort of. anyhow, my parents answer the door and i greet him and pics taken. then my parents ask the dude to sit down in the dining room. they pour him tea. then my cute mama, asks him, "what time dance end?" dude: "around 12 midnight, don't worry, i should have pearl back by 2." my mama's slanty eyes go round. "2? no. no. not acceptable." dude: "ok, but the dance ends at 12, so..." mama: "not 2." dude continues to "argue" with my mama. i am sitting there, my stomach becoming heavy. no one is drinking the tea. it is getting cold. my mama stops arguing. instead, she takes from under the table, a brick. a red brick. prolly from our garden. places it on the table. dude looks at me. we both are confused. my mama places the brick on the table and with her hand strikes it, it breaks in half. "bring pearl home by 9." dude turns white (or i should say whiter). that nite, i was dropped back from the prom at my house at 8:30pm. the prom started at 7pm.

with my dating history starting off with a smashed brick, it is no wonder i documented my heartbreaks.

college is like best of series. i documented how my heart was torn and the many evil ways/methods on how i was dumped. i know, people will say the "post it" story, aka. sex in the city, but that happened to me way before that show aired. i inked my story with post it and my note was not as nice. i have another comic depicting how some dude broke up with me over speaker phone and during his band practice. yes, his band mates were present.

heart aches and breakups are hard. i mean what do you expect with words such as "aches" and "break" in the words? inking and just sketching out my breakups made it less real to me. at the time it was real. i was hurting, i was crying, but these comics show me how funny some of these situations were. it was almost like therapy.

life inspires art. i think it is the madness in life that inspires my art. it is this little satisfaction, this smirk i have. these boys may have broken my heart, but in the end i got the last laugh. i should thank them all. i got some great comic strips out of it. how can you not laugh at a little asian woman breaking a brick in half? fyi, i spent 1 hour at my prom. that was first and only date i ever had in high school.