blog twelve / I miss you, tatay.

three years ago. today. my father passed away.

he battled cancer for nearly two years after being given only six months to live.

he was not only my father. he was my best friend. my confidant. my best man.

my inspiration to be a designer. my hero.

he was so supercool.

he taught me how to draw. to be a gentleman. about friendship. to swing a golf club.

he introduced me to rock n' roll. and ian fleming's james bond novels. and kurosawa films. and the ways of the samurai.

and chicken adobo. and spaghetti westerns. and jack purcell sneakers. and how to be a rebel.

and I wouldn't be the rockstar I am today without him.

I miss you, tatay. everyday.

and its hard for me to think about that day three years ago.

I spoke to you the night before I flew out to maryland.

you had not been doing that well, so you thought it would be good for me to come out, labor day weekend.

but that night on the phone, you sounded so clear. calm. your voice sounded good.

and we talked a very long time.

I didn't realize that would be goodbye.

the last time we would speak.

the next day on the ground.

at BWI airport. after I picked up my rental car.

and I was just getting behind the wheel.

the call came through.

from tito ramon. your older brother.

telling me that you had just passed away.

while napping.

it is a three-hour drive from BWI to salisbury, MD.

and on labor day weekend, the traffic was supposed to be horrible.

I made it in an hour and a half.

I don't even remember the drive, but people kept calling me to check in with me.

see if I was ok. that maybe I should pull over and stop.

the grief was crippling.

but I had to get there.

and so I did.

you were on your bed.

cold, but peaceful.

that was probably the most difficult three days for me.

and because I don't drink or drug myself anymore / I really had nothing to numb myself from all of it.

I thank all for the support during that time and the continued support to this day.

I miss you tatay.

mahal kita.

[ r ]

blog eleven / the iPad.

ok.
let me first say: the iPad is simply fucking incredible.

and yes, I got one. and I didn't go to an apple store on the day of and wait in line.
I pre-ordered and it was delivered to my door on saturday morning. nice.

let me also say / I am not one of those types that has to be the first to buy something new and techie and shiny. usually, I wait.
but not for this.

I have owned it now for nearly a full 24 hours and it still amazes me.
there is nothing I find disappointing about the iPad at all.
I thought the lack of a flash player would kind of suck, but not so much.

the book reader is crazycool.
reading through the classic winnie the pooh / the illustrations and typography are spot on as a printed book. and there is something very smooth of watching the pages turn with a swipe of your finger.

and I enjoyed watching a HD movie last night. sound quality and the visual sharpness were pretty damn amazing.

and this morning / sipping coffee and reading through the different newspapers available was so. damn. cool.

the thing is / my laptop died last year. I don't have an iPhone. I do have an iPod Touch, which I absolutely love. and with the iPad, it takes the place of a need for a laptop. or home desktop. I spend 8-10 hours each day at work on a computer / it's nice to go home and not be on a computer but still do the things I need to do on a computer. and the large touch screen, it's just so .... nice. there was a point where I thought, maybe I should wait for the second generation model, you know, "let it work out the kinks" first ... but I just thought fuck it. get it now. price was reasonable. and I didn't want a 3G model, wifi is just fine. not interested in having to pay for a monthly plan, especially with stupid AT&T ... so. there it is.

go get yourself one.

blog ten / USA Today

I designed three full-page ads to celebrate Herbalife's 30th anniversary.

you can check the ads out today in:

USA Today / p. 4A, back page of sports [12C] and p. 5D

USA Today / international edition.

and these spanish-language papers:

La Opinion
El Diario
Rumbo
Hoy

rock on.

blog nine / give [it] up

what to give up for lent?
its funny how a lot of people use lent as a sort of de-facto diet ...
of which I am also guilty of.

so / that being said.
here is what I am going to give up until easter :

1. all fried & deep fried foods.
2. artificially-flavoured soda, i.e. coca-cola et all.
3. fast food.
4. dessert & sweets.
5. all food between the hours of 9pm and 6am.

the idea is to discontinue the feeding of the monster [my ever-increasing fat belly] ...

and finally /
6. procrastination. [this will be the most difficult. the most challenging.]

alright.

blog eight / flat tire + valentines.

I have completely neglected my blog.
or I haven't had anything to write.
or I'm just lazy. or very, very busy with the holidays and the new year et all.
whatever the case ... or excuse.

I'm back to writing. / well, hopefully.

after a tremendously long and very stressful week / I had a very nice long weekend.
two nights with miss avalon made for a really fun weekend.
I may not have got the amount of sleep that I had hoped for, but who cares. I'll sleep when I'm dead.

I am not a big fan of valentines day.
overpriced flowers. overpacked restaurants. over it.
but I will admit to having a rather nice valentines day.

didn't start out well /
walked outside to find a flat tire.
apparently I had driven over a screw.
nice.
well / $160 for a new tire.
but get to tire shop to find out my tire is actually fixable ... so out with the screw. patch. $20 bucks.
and / while at the tire shop, miss avalon turned to me and says: "daddy, I love you. happy valentines day."
<3

so / after a nice lunch, I took her to the office to work on her art project for school.
her school is celebrating its 100 year anniversary / so the art project is creating something with a 100.
originally, miss avalon had the idea of collecting paint chips [100 of them] and creating a collage of the chips into a flower.
but her new idea was to wear 100 different outfits / photograph and make a collage of the photos.
good idea / but the thought of her changing in and out of 100 different clothes combination made daddy's head spin a bit ...
so I suggested: I have probably over a 100 images of you [mostly in different outfits / definitely all different looks and times and events] ... why not print these all out and you can make a big collage of the 100 photos?
yes, she liked that idea. / and she suggested: "can we go to your office to work? and then go get mini-burgers at the bowling place?" [the sliders or mini-burgers at lucky strike are one of her favourite things!]

so, we spent the afternoon into evening of valentines day at LA Live.
at the office.
working on her project.
"daddy, this is SO fun" she kept saying.
and / it kind of was.
it was certainly fun to be there when things are really quiet.
no stress.
nobody else there.
and it was fun working on a project together <3

so / after the project was completed.
we headed down to lucky strike.
which was packed. because of valentines day.
and the NBA all-star game.
and apparently, tina marie and keith sweat were playing the nokia theatre.
so / people-watching was at a premium.
lots of couples.
in red.
lots of tight pants.
and red shoes.

best quote of the night /
as we're ordering our mini-burgers and drinks, the waitress says to us: "my name is asia and I'll really take care of you two tonight" ... to which miss avalon said to me: "her name is asia? that's not a name, that's a continent!"

its nice to experience a place differently.
I mean, I'm here everyday. and I still enjoy it.
but its very nice to experience it with my little girl.
walking through nokia plaza.
holding hands.
showing her the work I've done throughout the building, to chorus' of:
"cool, daddy"
"that's really beautiful, daddy!"
"wow. I like what you did here, daddy."
"nice job, daddy."

feels pretty good : )

and now, being back here at work.
I miss her.
but it makes me feel good to remember our time here.
on sunday.
great day.
[even if it was valentines day]

; )

blog seven / christmas songs

first of all ... let me just say.

I can't stand christmas songs. really.

not only are they played WAY too often, over and over and fucking over again.

BUT, they start getting played earlier and earlier each year.

it makes stupid christmas shopping even more painful.

but that being said. my list of my favourite christmas songs.

or the ones that I can bear to listen to ... on occasion.

in no particular order:

"christmas (baby, please come home)" / great intro. I dig the U2 version best.

"blue christmas" / elvis presely. the best christmas song ever. especially since I live this song every christmas I spend apart from my little girl : (

"frosty the snowman" / harry connick, jr. does a nice rendition of a silly classic.

"little drummer boy" / david bowie + bing crosby. unlikely duo. great version. check out the video. classic.

"jolly old saint nicholas" / only because my daughter learned this on the piano and I dig her version.

"silent night" / you cant ever go wrong with this version on a cold christmas eve night with a choir singing ... comes off the list if any contemporary singer records it or tries "to make it their own" ... or stupid instrumental versions.

honorable mention:

"hark! the herald angels sing" / dont ask me why, always liked this one. especially singing it during mass.

"holly jolly christmas" / both equally enjoyable and infuriating.

and merryfucking christmas to all those radio stations that ONLY play christmas songs during this time of year.

: )

blog six / empire state of mind

"...shit, I made the yankee hat more famous than a yankee can..."

- jay-z / "empire state of mind"

yeah, its my current favourite song.

maybe, its because the first time I heard it was before game 2 of this year's world series.

in new yankee stadium.

before my beloved yankees beat the phillies on their way to their 27th world series title.

because jay-z rocked full yankees gear [unlike other artists at big game events wearing neutral colors, being political and not taking sides] ... no, not jay. yankee hat. yankee bomber jacket. nice.

because alicia keyes sounds good singing the hook. [unlike rihanna's annoying vocals on "run this town"]

because derek jeter was bopping his head to the track.

and joba chamberlin, too.

because its a really, really good song.

because jay-z writes smart. sharp.

and because jay-z rocks.

I love LA. but I heart NY.