— smell the world around you.

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Song #1 : Reconte-Moi Une Histoire

I’ll pretend this is my short little radio station and dedicate this next song to the following people: Celso Scott, Cliffton Nash Caster, Kelsi Auld, Lisa Mae Undead, Laura Marie Taylor, and Jossette Woodmansdóttir. (There are many others I have missed, but I can remember people better with Facebook.)

Why am I dedicating the song to these people? Because this song kind of reminds me of me when I write little stories and those are the people I know who have read many of my stories (and many of those stories I’m now embarrassed to share). These people are quite special to me because they know a side of me that many others don’t!

Listen to the whole song through, the second part of the song (after the vocals) is beautiful especially with headphones. Enjoy :)

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see lyrics

 

Song #2 : Wait

I’d like to share this next song because I’d like to take a moment to express my feelings for M83, a musician I’ve been listening to for a few years. So go ahead and click play and then continue reading:

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It’s so hard for me to express my love for music sometimes… so I’ll try to keep it simple. I’ve listened to a handful of M83 tracks on repeat many times because of the nostalgia it gives me, but it could be nostalgia from another lifetime. It does what “good” music does, it makes you feel good.

For example, the composition of “We Are The Sky” from Saturdays = Youth is perfect from beginning to end. Some of my favorite songs from M83 are songs that seem like they to have two parts, like “We Are The Sky”, or like the one above “Reconte-Moi Une Histoire”. The “parts” aren’t obvious if you don’t spend time with the song because Mr. Anthony Gonzalez knows how to express two sides of a story without making it extreme, but instead he keeps it balanced and cozy. Each layer is placed perfectly and his choice of noises makes him a man who knows my heart.

Support M83 by purchasing his latest double release, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, as an LP or digital download. You won’t regret it.

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I fell in love twice… Once through her captured moments, and then another time when I read her bio. I’d love to meet this woman one day.

Click here to see her porfolio.

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Click here to see her portfolio.

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i can’t stop loving this. this woman is amazing.

 


see article

see lyrics

 

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1. a dream

Morning:
Before I forget, I need to write down this dream…

Afternoon:
Damn it! I didn’t write it down so I don’t remember!

2. sleep, storm, shelter.

I love bedtime with rain and a storm. It’s like a train… it makes me feel relaxed and cozy.

One night a couple of weeks ago I was half asleep because the sky was making loud noises and I was listening and thinking about how you probably heard the same thunder.

It wasn’t raining yet… the sky was preparing for it. It was probably around 2am when I began to hear a bird’s cry. It was unusual because birds aren’t usually chirping late at night. It was very close by so it kept me awake. The pattern of the bird’s chirp stayed the same. Maybe it lost it’s mother? Maybe it was scared of the lightning and thunder? I don’t know… but I wanted to tell the bird it was going to be okay… I guess it was easier for me to think that because I was inside my apartment in my cozy bed and the bird was outside probably trying to keep safe.

Anyway, the bird kept chirping. And then suddenly the rain came pouring. I didn’t hear the bird’s chirp anymore because the rain was pouring and thunder was at full blast. I slept peacefully until a couple of hours later when rain slows down. I became only half asleep again… and once again I heard the bird’s cry. I couldn’t tell if the bird cried through the whole storm or if it started again after the storm passed. I looked at my phone and it was around 5am.

I have no idea what the bird’s deal was, but I hope it was okay. Maybe it was it’s first big storm and had to spend it alone. But if the bird knew that I was there too then it probably wouldn’t have felt so alone… or maybe that’s just me. Who am I kidding? It was a bird and doesn’t have the same thoughts as a human being silly! So maybe the bird was just thinking… “Chirp chirp chirp! What the fuck is going on? This storm is crazy! Oh em gee! The sky is falling! Fucking chirp chirp bitches!!”

3. shooting star

I’ve lived for almost 30 years and I’ve never seen a “shooting star”, until recently. (Or maybe I just don’t remember ever seeing one.) My first time was a couple of weeks ago and it made me emotional. And yes, I made a wish.

That is all. I just wanted to tell you I saw a shooting star. The end.

4. living by myself

The other day my sister asked me if I ever get lonely because I live by myself. There seemed to be a little concern in her question, almost like a “you should be lonely” suggestion. I didn’t really hesitate saying, “no”, but it made me think about it a little. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way right now. I’m at the point in my life where I definitely don’t want a roommate. In addition to working from home most of the time, I spend a lot of time at home anyway.

My next move will be a big one I think. It will either be me buying a house on my own or moving in with a significant other. I don’t expect or see any of those two things happening anytime soon, but then again I never know what’s going to happen. I certainly don’t feel a need to rush anything. I’m fine where I am now. I have to be. I’m just doing what I can in this journey of mine and I’m just moving along. Maybe one day I won’t live by myself anymore… because I’ll probably get a kitty. Or maybe a turtle. But you can’t cuddle turtles and I want to cuddle. The point is… I love living by myself right now. I know it’s not going to be forever. God I hope not. The only constant thing in life is change… and I’m sure as hell okay with that.

5. colour lovers

Everyone once in awhile I’ll come across something so awesome that I wish I thought of it. ColourLovers.com is one of those things. The site was created “all in the spirit of love”. How beautiful is that? This site is so brilliant and wonderful and you should just go and take a look for yourself.

I also just learned that Audrey Capital invested in the idea. Audrey Capital was founded by Matt Mullenweg, who is the founder of WordPress. That man is awesome.

6. the personal side of ShiftWeb Solutions

** I apologize in advanced for the random ass rant below. I realize it probably won’t make much sense to most people unless they are really close to me and know that my heart was broken and I partly started my business to distract myself.

Sometimes, life situations slap you in the face – hard. I’ve been working like crazy trying to make something special out of my business, ShiftWeb Solutions. Sometimes I get discouraged and other times I feel great about what I’m doing. Either way, I keep going. Mainly because I realize that one day I want to support my family and live comfortably. One day, I want to be able to randomly say: “Hey, let’s go on a hot air balloon ride today.”

At certain times, you live in the present to live in the present. Other times, you live in the present to make sure your future will be great. I think I’m doing more of the latter right now. When you feel like you’ve lost so much in your life you’ll try to make up for it by filling it in with things. It’s different what you try to use as filler each time during your life because you grow and change. Right now it’s my career. It’s my drive to make a better living. Some people may not think like this and maybe I do partly because of the way I was raised. I grew up learning from my parents that hard work pays off, but it’s stressful while you have a family. My parents pushed me as a child to “finish school” and “get a good job”. It’s almost to the point where if I don’t “have a good job” I’ll feel a great insecurity in myself… because I’m almost 30, and I think society expects me to get married or something soon. It’s kind of interesting thinking about that because honestly, my desire to find that one special person has not changed since I was a teen. But when you’re young and in your early twenties and people find out you’re ready to find that special someone, they’ll say, “You’re young! Go have fun!” And then when you’re almost 30 and you want the same thing people change their tone of voice to one more sympathetic and understanding. Whatever society, I knew what I wanted before you did!

Oh, but then there is a conflict or contradiction to what I believe (there’s one in everything). See, if I were to meet someone in their early 20′s now, I don’t know if I could fall in love with them. Yes, that may seem a bit biased, but there is something about the lack of experience that’s not as attractive. I’m sure this is all in my head, but there could be a truth in some stereotypes. You know how they say your 30′s is the new 20′s? Well, that means your 20′s is the new teens… and we know how much confusion there is as a teen. Looking at the big picture, there’s always a lot of growing up to do, it doesn’t matter how young or old you are.

So the point is, I’m trying to grow ShiftWeb. It’s not easy I tell ya. I may not be doing everything right, but I’m learning. And god I swear, it’s a damn good distraction for me right now. Almost like it’s meant to be. What the hell would I be doing if I didn’t have something to concentrate on for myself? I’d probably be moping about how much my life sucks and how sad I am. I can’t let myself do that, or at least do it too much. If I keep dwelling in the pain then I’m not going anywhere. But at the same time, I have to go through the pain, I can’t go around it.

What makes someone successful? We could easily name off a bunch of wonderful things, but for me, it’s to move forward. “Well, what does that mean?” It means exactly what I just said. It’s quite simple really. I just want to keep going. I push myself to keep going because when I’m sad, I feel deeply confused and hurt. Pain is a part of life, I don’t deny it or try to bury it deep inside me. I release it, and then I think about moving on.

A good friend once told me that one of the best things about me is probably also the worst… and that thing was I had so much love to give. The good thing about that is someone will be very lucky one day… and the shortcoming is that it allows people to take advantage of me… by taking my love and ____.

Sometimes when I’m really sad I believe it. But other times I just think they love me more than I realize, or that they realize.

7. family

Years ago when my little sister Mony was still a baby, I would talk about her to my friends and then get emotional and sometimes started crying (not tears of sadness btw)… I just had that moment a minute ago, but by myself thinking about her.

I will get like that every once in awhile, but I seem to be able to control my emotions a little better now… maybe it’s because I don’t smoke as much pot like I used to. I don’t know.

I know this sounds cheesy, but there is something about children that makes me feel… how do I explain it?

I can’t imagine the intense feeling when I’m actually a mother. I guess I’m experiencing some of it now even though it’s just my sister I’m talking about, but I am 20 years older so there is difference in generations.

I have another sister who is only 2 years younger and she made an interesting point the other day. She said that Mony, who is now 7, will never love us the way we love her. It didn’t really click to me at first, but it’s true. It doesn’t mean that one love is better, but the love is not the same. A mother’s love does not compare to the love of a daughter to her mother. It’s different.

I will always be like a parent to Monyta, so she’s probably not going to understand why I do the things I do sometimes. Even though she’s my sister and she loves me, she probably wouldn’t think about trying to protect me while we walk into a ghetto Kroger. She probably wouldn’t wipe my ass after having explosive diarrhea either. That’s okay. I don’t need her to. I’m perfectly fine with her grabbing my hand to hold when we walk into the random Kroger that’s far from home in the middle of a busy city, which we had to quickly pull into because her tummy was upset. She just needs to go to the bathroom and that’s all she needs to think about. She doesn’t need to worry about how to take care of herself… because I’m honored that I can be the one to help take care of her.

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Click on any square, fool around, and make some music.

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1. …maybe even better


I saw this near Perimeter mall the other day. I had to stop and take a picture.

2. Sometimes music helps express us better

Radiohead - All I need

love you long time radiohead.

I’m the next act
Waiting in the wings
I’m an animal
Trapped in your hot car
I am all the days
That you choose to ignore

You are all I need
You are all I need
I’m in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

I’m a moth
Who just wants to share your light
I’m just an insect
Trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you
Because there are no others

You are all I need
You’re all I need
I’m in the middle your picture
Lying in the reeds

It’s all wrong
It’s all right

3. I started a business.

This “random list” for my blog has been long overdue. And the contents keep changing. I keep wanting to talk about how pathetic I am in my life right now, but I don’t want to burden you. Things happen for a reason. And maybe one of the reasons I “officially” started my own business is to help distract me from my personal life’s events so I can work hard on things for myself. I’ve been creating sites for small businesses for years, it’s time I take it to another level. See more info here

4. New projects

Aside from “starting my own business” is keeping my creativity going. It’s a way of expression. One of my new projects can be accessed on your mobile phone by scanning the QR code here. The next project is called Wave Good Hi. It’s a collaborative project with a wonderful photographer who I feel help capture my heart in different ways. I’m really excited to be working with her on this. The project is pretty unique and I hope it will capture what I want to share with the world. More details coming soon… I’ll need your help to execute it.

5. Exercise ball

I requested an exercise ball as my “desk chair” at my part time job. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

6. the Future

Who knows what the future will be? We don’t. I have no idea sometimes, but I have to keep moving, regardless. I feel I am all that I have right now so I have to take care of myself, whatever that means.

One thing I do know for sure is that I have to wear 2 fucking dresses for my sister’s upcoming wedding reception in July. First, I have to wear a traditional Cambodian dress and then a purple dress on the second day. My sister made me her bride’s maid so I can’t complain too much, but still… WTF?! I said to her it’s like making her husband wear a dress and of course she said, “he’s not a woman!” And then I thought to myself… I’m not even thinking about my sex, I’m thinking about the fact that’s just not something I wear. Last year I went to two weddings and I wore pants and a tie. Not very creative, I know, I could be, but money stops me sometimes. Who says a woman should wear a dress and men should wear pants? I can’t wait when society gets over this. They might not in my lifetime, but if you really think about, it’s quite ridiculous. Not looking forward to wearing uncomfortable clothes!

Another thing I know for sure is I will be getting my poster in the mail soon. I can’t wait.

And another thing I know for sure is… wait, I’m not sure. Nevermind.

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1. hearing blue is a tiny experimental project using the QR code. I printed a bunch of cards (shown below) to leave in random places. If people are curious when they find it, they scan the QR code and it takes them to the mobile friendly site I created.

2. If you are interested in receiving little cards to put in random places, fill out the form. I’ll send you some for free. If you are interested in collaborating a little story to add to the site, please also contact me.

Name

Email

Message

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1. Hearing the train at night

I miss it. I love the feeling it brings me when I hear a train while I’m half asleep. I feel even more at home, even though I don’t think I grew up near any train tracks.

2. The weirdest spam comment from one of my WordPress sites:

Knock at the door is tiring. People do not like to knock. This operation, which makes the exercise and sometimes even pain. Besides, knocking on the door is not always audible. The best idea is to provide a doorbell. The ring tone is much more practical and cost. Another solution is to rattle, which replaces the toes tapping and makes more noise. Knocker is still cheaper than bell. However, not everyone can sound like it rattles, which sometimes is even deafening. You can be sure that the doorbell the neighbors, friends and family will visit you often. Another option is the intercom system, which acts as a ringtone, but is positioned well away from the door. In addition, the intercom function is the function of communication. Consequently, we can remotely communicate with a person who, for example, is at some distance from our apartment and do not necessarily want to go, just want to give us something. Often, different sellers through the intercom asking if, for example, we do not need TV, just because we have to sell. Then, without admitting to a foreign agent can not refuse.

3. Papercut

Why, paper, why?!!

4. “Look A Little Closer”

Below is a short short I wrote in 2005. It was featured in The Anatomic Air Review (Issue #1). I revisited it and have decided to share because I like it and I’m sure very few people have read it. My little sister was about 2 years old at the time of this story. Enjoy!

One beautiful morning, with the sun shining into the room, I was getting my baby sister dressed. She started staring across the room and my heart started beating faster since I knew that there wasn’t anyone else in the house. It’s silly, but sometimes I fear that maybe she would be able to see a ghost that I couldn’t see, you know, like in the movies. I thought that moment had come.

I quickly looked into the direction that she was staring off to and asked, “What? What are you looking at?” I didn’t see anything, but the room as it usually was.

“What’s dat?” She asks as she glances at me… but I still didn’t see what she was talking about.

“What is what?”

“What’s dat?” she asks again, staring at whatever it was.

It took me a few seconds to figure out what she was asking about. As soon as I saw what she was staring at, I smiled. “That is dust.” With the sun shining into the room, it made the dust flying around right in front of us more visible than usual.

“Duss?” She says returning a smile.

“Yeah… dust,” we continue to stare at the dust that was right before our face, flying around the soft quiet air. They were in all shapes and sizes, flying in their own unique and thoughtless ways, as if they had a life of their own.

My baby sister quickly tried to grab some dust into her little hands, only to open them up to find nothing. Thinking that she didn’t catch anything, she continued to try to grab more dust. I joined her in this little task as we enjoyed together what was right in front of us, as it is in front of us all the time.

5. Should I work for Free?

I need to use this as a guideline. I’m printing it up and putting it up by my desk! Funny and brilliant: Should I work for Free?

6. kickstarter.com

Came across this site awhile back and seriously thought it was one of the coolest concepts ever. Kickstarter.com is “largest funding platform for creative projects in the world.” This is where you can go to organize funding for your project! They highly support creative projects such as music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing, etc. Each project is an independent creation from someone like you! Start your own project or discover other projects and support them!

I definitely plan on using this for my next big project. Keep a look out! I’m currently writing it now and will be looking for collaborators after I’m done with the writing. I’m very excited about it! Kickstarter gives me hope in helping me raise a couple of thousand of dollars for my next publication!

7. Big Love

Boy, my latest project sure did bring a lot of drama in December. After three years of my creativity and writing deciding to go on hiatus, I finally found my creative spark again recently and created “Big Love“. This project had been in the works since early 2009, but after a hard drive failure and losing my ideas, I wasn’t motivated to revisit the project until recently. I remembered most of the concept, recreated it, and wrote up it up from scratch again.

I was so excited to share it with everyone and it was perfect timing considering it was the holidays. Little did I know, people made assumptions and saw it for something much more than I intended! The assumptions caught me off guard, but after some thought I came back strong and confident regardless of what people thought.

Obviously, this was deeper than my project Big Love itself. Just like anything else in one’s life journey, I learned a lot about myself and about other people. I also learned the more real, honest, open, and creative I am, the more room people give themselves to find something to talk about. A part of being human, especially as an artist, you are bound to be misunderstood. It is unavoidable. In my early 20′s, I probably would have tried to explain myself… but the older you get, the more you choose wisely what to put your energy towards.

So good night! Time to go to bed…

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1. Title of project: “big love”

2. Details: a letter in super cute tiny envelopes / 1″ x 1.5″ / the letters are written in tiny letters / Letter One released in December 2010.

3. More info: Big Love can be subtitled “letters from you to me”. This project involves letters in 1″x1.5″ envelopes that I think you’ll enjoy. Read about your experience and adventures while taking a long walk on a trail. The trail makes you forget where you are… oh, and you’ll occasionally wake up someplace new, too.

4. Letter Two will be released in January 2011. This is an ongoing project of letters until I get tired of making them. I plan to have at least 3 letters to share.

“I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen because cooking takes too long and I can eat up everything quickly… but I like to make salads because of all the colors.”
–Jennifer

5. Here is a snippet from Letter One: “you wake up peacefully and realize you don’t know who you are or where you are. you are in a forest of some sort and it is very pretty and lush. as you sit up, you notice you have a friend who is asleep in your arms. it’s a tiny gray elephant, about the size of your two hands put together. you hold the elephant and look at it. he or she begins to wake up and blinks a few times and then yawns. it is so cute! you decide at that moment you’re going to love it forever. it’s possible you already decided that, but you don’t remember anything so you will have to make decisions all over again.”

6. Big Love (letter one) is currently only available by postal mail. Draw a picture of an elephant and send it to me with your letter requesting Big Love (letter one). You can find my address on the contact page.

7. Thank you dystatic for the envelopes!

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