Yesterday was quite a great day.

I woke up and Julie drove my car and dropped me off at work for 11am. She drove home, took my mom to Yorkdale to shop and then the grocery store, then they both stayed home to cook dinner together.

Julie picked me up with the BFF, Monika when I was done work. Good thing she picked me up because I had an absolutely amazing day at work and we were celebrating with some drinks and I was overly happy and tipsy. lol.

We come home, have dinner all together at the table and then the two of them run to my room so Julie could dye Mon’s hair while I washed the dishes upstairs and smiled to myself.

As a man, do you know how amazing this felt? Your girl spent an entire day with your mother taking her shopping and cooking, and then spends the evening with your best girl friend dying her hair and doing the regular girl gossip while laying in bed.

Whenever my sister is over on the weekend, they hang out together and talk about stuff as well.

Im in a very happy place as it is and this is definitely the cherry on top…a wise man once told me, life is the most beautiful when all the women in your life are happy.

I have no idea what I did to deserve this, but I aint complaining. Im just gonna focus on maintaining.

If I havent told you you’re beautiful today, know that I thought it all day.

Shout outs to Keisha Chante for coming through and gettin tatted up! lol. Yea right! She got nauseous just hearing the machines running. lol. 

Shouts to the brother Juice of Kamakacci…its almost 8pm…and he’s still here! Dudes been here since 12pm! lol…I dont blame him…he waited for 4 months to get an appt with Adam. lolMy brother from another mother of a different color. lol. Shout outs to Dame!So what happens if you’re at the end of the rope? lol (inside joke.) Shouts to Jasmin!Shout outs to Johnny Blaze (aint a damn thang change) and Sir Lancelot for rolling through and givin me the crack…for photoshop. lol. Dont forget I still need a serial for Lightroom 2!!!Some of you guys may know who this is…some of you wont…but if you see him here, you know its a good thing. You know we’re making big “moves” if Jason Johnson is in the house! 
Shout outs to anyone who came through to get tatted, to show love, to chill, to whatever. 

I love that people come by the shop all the time.

Welcome home.

Yesterday Adam, Lisa and co, Fresh, Dame, Julie, Zenee and Andrew went to the 1 Love TO one year anniversary party at the Red Bull Sound Academy but left around 1am when the hunger pains started kicking in. lol.

We all parked right by the venue but decided it was probably more convenient to walk up Spadina to Chinatown as opposed to driving there and probably having to find another parking spot and having to pay for it again. lol…Never will I walk that walk again at 1am when Im that marved. lol. 

I dont even know where the crack we ate, but I know the food was good. lol.

I love going to eat after the club with a lot of people. But only when its with the people you wanted to come with you…you know how theres always that random dude who’s always the friend of a friend that tags a long and just annoying as fuck or just makes this awkward right? Yea, thank god we didnt have that last night. I love nothing more than good food and good conversation. 

Dinner with good friends always makes me feel so blessed that Im able to live like this. I never take this stuff for granted. 

The pics above are obviously our long ass stroll to the restaurant. A lotta people think Chinatown is dirty and ish. Unbiasly, I happen to love it. I wouldnt want it to be a nice looking neighbourhood, all clean and ish. The graffiti, the old buildings, the random garbage that floats around the corner of the building, I love the bulbed light signage, the kanji and the metal security doors that come down when the shops are closed…I love it. But then again, I love that gritty feel…I love Gotham, remember? lol. But theres so much character and history in that area. The whole area is scarred and engraved with stories of survival and age.

You can really tell that Im an urban georgraphy major through this post huh? lol

A ton of you guys probably drive by it every week and probably miss its beauty completely.

Not to preach, but dont forget that most special things exist in the most normal moments. 

Peace and love.

This Journey

So often, our minds are fixed on getting to our destination and all
that is to happen once we arrive that we forget all the beauty of the
journey there.

The journey is what gives the destination meaning.
The journey shapes us and moulds us.
It tests us and breaks us.
Loves us and saves us.

All that we are exists in this journey.
My beautiful journey happens to be Toronto.

“Point A to point B.
When will we make it a point to see?
Focus and unblur your eyes.
Don’t let Toronto pass you by.”

For anyone who didnt go to the 1 Love TO anniversary party last night, Ive posted the pictures that I submitted for display along with the artistic statement that accompanied it.

I stayed all night last night writing the piece above. I am super super critical about my work. Im still not satisfied with it, but I needed something to explain the pictures a bit. So, lets hope you dont hate it.

I just wanted to say thank you to anyone and everyone who commented on my piece and told me something in person. Its so strange for me to have my work up and displayed. Its the first time Ive ever actually put together a concept for the work to be displayed.

As you can tell, the shots werent that hard to take, and neither was the post work. I shot all these pics just this past Tuesday night. Chose them and selected them when I got home around 1am. Sent them in for print Wednesday morning. Thursday they were printed and sent to Brock and all of Thursday night was spent writing those few lines. lol

Im so honoured to have had my work displayed amongst some of the city’s greatest artists. This was the first time my arts ever been on display, and man, let me tell you, what a way to start off my exhibit game. lol. 

Some of the feedback that I received from the work was amazing and reminded me of all of the reasons why I loved photography so much. I was reminded that my art isnt just therapeutic and meaningful to me, but it is to others as well.

It was so crazy to me when people Ive never met before were coming up to me and were asking if that was my work, or they already knew it was my work without me even saying it. It is so humbling to finally be recognized for my work and not just who I work for or with. I wish you guys could all experience the happiness I felt tonight at some point in your lives.

My piece on display was almost like a blog. Some pictures accompanied by some writing. The best part of all of this was that I was able to see responses and reactions live as they were happening.

I need to do more of these.

Speaking about more of these, Ill actually be having my very first very own photography exhibit at the end of May. It will be for more ‘In Search of Gotham Series.” Some of it will be shots you’ve already seen on the blog, some of it will be new shoots. Ill give you all the details later. Just officializing some stuff. Im just hoping you guys are able to come out and really see the work Im putting out.

Peace and Love.

T’s and O’s.

Thank you for all the support you’ve given me all this time, I really could have not done this without you.

Special shout outs to Dame, Julie, Zenee, Adam, Lisa and co, Andrew, Mon and Seven who came out to support me and kept me company throughout the night.

Super special shout outs to Brock and T-RexXx. Thanks for believing in me and allowing me to a part of all of this. Your faith in me has allowed me to do more than I ever thought of. *Will tips his hat.

Tonights going to be a pretty big deal.
Beyond celebrating the 1 year anniversary of 1 LOVE TO’s movement, we’re actually consciously or subconsciously celebrating the anniversary of our unity as a city…
Celebrating the inevitable demise of the Screwface Capital.

Its a celebration for ourselves.

Give yourselves a round of applause.
This is history right here baby…

Years from now, I want us all to be able to say “I was there.”

See you there.

1 LOVE.
T’s and O’s

I got off work at 7pm and she got off work at 830pm…instead of our usual going out to dine, we decided to drop by the local Metro Supermarket and grab some food to cook ourselves.

Circa 930ish, we stroll into the market with our work clothes hunting for food and all sorts of ish.  I just wanted us to do something together at home, you know? Like cute couple things.

The way I see shit, is if you and your other can still have an amazing time doing the simplest things, you’ll be alright. Its the ones that are ONLY impressed by fancy restaurants, vacations and expensive clothes that scare me. lol.

Anyways, we didnt make anything to crazy fancy, but the experience was amazing. My lil sister also joined us for the cajun seasoned Shake ‘n Bake (Ricky Bobby) Chicken, the Montreal Smoked Chicken, Uncle Ben’s wild rice, garlic buttered green and yellow beans, and some seasoned potatoes. It was helluva a meal to be eating at midnight in my house.

Of course, we also set off the fire alarm in my house twice, the montreal smoked chicken was way too salty, 2 of the pieces of chicken werent cooked thoroughly and the potatoes were still raw….lol. Amazing right? Its ok, I wouldnt have had it any other way. Everything that ever goes wrong in life, is always going just right. Besides, doesnt my story sound a bit more humorous that we messed up? lol. Perfect sucks anyhow.

Let me just shout out Julie and Judy before I forget. lol

Anyways, its almost 430am and I work too damn early nowadays to be still up. I have a pretty long weekend ahead of me, so Im going to need my rest.

Ill probably post it later on, but in case I dont, dont forget to attend the 1 Love TO turns 1 event tmr night at the Red Bull Sound Academy at 381 Queen Street West from 9pm-2am! I actually submitted a small collection/series of photographs that are displayed up there.

See you there if ya aint square.

lol…sorry that was so lame. lol

Nite.

When I first seen the trailer for this movie, I was like ‘this is gonna be another one of the Wayans Brothers movies that Ive come to hate.” lol.

I figured it was going to be full of lame childish humor, too colorful and campy…like I hated Spider-Man 3…such a waste of time.

I also figured Nicholas Cage was gonna screw it up as he has with his recent movies (Cage was the shit during Face Off and Con Air days though).

But the plot was actually more serious and more gorey than I expected (which was amazing). I didnt even know Kick Ass was a comic book. lol…and I hate the fact that its from Marvel, because I think Marvel comics suck (both the artist selection and writer selection).

As impressed as I am with the movie and everything about it. This movie meant more to me than just a two hour distraction from reality. For one, it reminds and makes me giggle at the idea of me growing up wishing I could be a super hero. But most importantly, the fact that a bunch of scenes were filmed in Toronto put a huge smile on my face. As you guys know, Ive been in ’search for Gotham City” in Toronto (Gotham City representing that fantastical city where we can all be heroes as a normal everyday person in our minds), and it makes me feel so good that someone else was able to see my hometown as a backdrop for a superhero - comic book movie! It just feels good to know that someone else who put together such an amazing movie shares a common vision with you.

The movie is also filled with inspirational hero like quotes…which are actually pretty good, either theyre good or my standards are too low. lol

I dont know how to articulate the thought properly…but maybe you guys will know what Im talking about.

Trust me, take the time to go see this movie. I co-sign this shit! lol

Man, Im slackin’. I need to go design my costume now. And no, I will not put my briefs over my tights. Tisk. The briefs over the tights is probably the dumbest idea in super hero history…come on, underwear, knee high boots and cape…who the hell is supposed to ever take you seriously…and oh yea…Ive always wanted to just say how dumb it is that no one has ever figured out that Clark Kent is Superman. Like really, he doesnt even wear a mask. I guess the one drooping S curl and no glasses could really throw you off a muphucka huh?

As much as I love Batman, I gotta give it up, Iron Man and War Machine have the sickest super hero get-ups. lol…too bad their stories and movies suck though.

lol

BATMAN FOR LIFE!

Ok…it is officially too late for me to be up and still typing. Im frickin delirious right now.

Goodnite. lol.

I really have no words for the shit that Adam and Ryan did today!
I didnt know we were cooking crack like this in here!
lol
Actually, I always kinda suspected it.

I guess this is why we cant do walk-in appts no more huh? lol

Maurice of DMR Hair Studio got his very first tattoo today.

He was one of those guys who said tattoos are stupid and that he doesnt need a tattoo to be cool…lol

No comment.
*ahem.

ps. that hummingbird looks amazing!!!
pss. shout outs to Brooklyn and Seon!