food for thought

I love bad dreams. They remind me of the goodness of life.

Remainders are what we have when other things have gone, 

but, surely, that is better than nothing?

Whatever gets you through the day only works once.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one 

you've never tried before.

We are suicides in our longing for immortality.

You are the most likely to slip and fall when things 

get too smooth.

The trouble with reality is that it doesn't seem all that real.

We are what we are; the challenge is 

to be more than we have been.

Life is the distance between dreams and reality.

Smoke Signals

I've been doing a lot of design work in Adobe Photoshop and
Adobe Flash (both CS5) lately for class and it's got my mind thinking about patterns
 and colors and graphics and layouts pretty much all the time.

I've been really busy with school and internship work lately so I
spend a lot of time at home doing work. Of course no 'stay in and study' night would
be complete in my apartment without some
incense, soft tunes and a hookah.

We bought my hookah at a store in Lokhandwala Market, one of the many markets
of Mumbai, that was filled to the brim with bright, colorful, beautiful
glass hookahs. Big hookahs, and small hookahs, and skinny hookahs, and fat
hookahs and ohmygawd so many hookahs.

DELICIOUS HOOKAHS. Glorious day! I seriously felt like I had died
and gone to heaven. We (my brother, my mom and myself) finally
decided on a beautiful dark blue glass hookah. I am proud to say that it survived the
journey from Mumbai to Brussels to New York and finally to Miami in my
 suitcase. SHWANANA. It also survived my 21st birthday bash at Casa de SpinnZinn
(which may or may not be more dangerous than going through multiple airports).

I have discovered that I have this strange obsession with smoke. I love incense, I love candles, I love my hookah and I realized the other day that I painted a design on my living room wall that looks like smoke. There's something about watching the smoke make patterns in the air that just hypnotizes me and gives me a sense of calm. I'm really enjoying these smoke
signals in my life at the moment.... everyone needs
a little something to bring them back down.

Don't cry for me, Argentina

I was going through some of my old photos from my trip to Argentina and wanted to share some of my favorite shots with you guys. Looking back on these photos is important to me for three reasons: I miss Argentina. I have the itch to travel to somewhere new again. I am reminded that I need to start taking more photos because I'm obsessed with my new camera (and I wish I had gotten this camera before my trip to Argentina because these shots would just be so much cooler....) Anyways.... hope you enjoy these!

It takes two to Tango // Buenos Aires

Vamos a la Playa // Rosario

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood // Mendoza

Paraiso // Iguazu

Far, far away // Patagonia

Polo // San Antonio de Areco

 

 

 

 

 

We meet at last // Iguazu

No pain, no gain

Yesterday I did something very exciting... I got my second tattoo!! I got a black stencil lily on my inner left ankle and it hurt LIKE HELL, but it was totally worth it. It looks fantastic and i couldn't be happier with my decision. Big shout out to Steve at Ocho Placas Tattoo in Miami for doing an amazing job.

I highly recommend this place - it's very clean and safe, and the artists who work there are great guys and do fantastic work.

Before I post pictures of my new tattoo, I want to take a trip down memory lane and recall my first tattoo. My ink-virginity was taken at an awesome little place down in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina called Jack Tattoo & Piercing by a big, burly man called Marcos (big and burly, but such a sweetheart).

Let's backtrack a little ... I did a study abroad in Buenos Aires as a lot of you know and took a lot of weekend trips around Argentina. One of my favorite trips was a trip to a city called Rosario with my main men, Darren and Juan (affectionately called Chino and Pepe). We decided on a whim to go to Rosario so we met up at the bus station after a night of partying (none of us had slept) and took a 4 hour ride from Buenos Aires to Rosario. We found the most amazing hostel - Che Pampas (if you are ever in Rosario, you MUST stay here. Nikbear approved FOR SURE) - and stayed there for 2 nights (? idk maybe it was just one or maybe it was three... it was a while ago). On our last night at the hostel we made dinner and started a night of heavy fernet and cerveza drinking with these two girls we had met from Canada and had spent the day sight seeing with. At some point in the night a group of slightly older guys checked into the hostel and decided to get rowdy with us. I really hit it off with one of them - Fede (who I affectionately called Fedex because he calls me Nike) - and we spent a lot of time talking and chilling and chain smoking together. In the course of our discussions he mentioned to me that he owned a tattoo parlor on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. I immediately started drunk rambling about how I'd always wanted a tattoo of an ohm symbol (he had no idea what that was so I drew it out for him) but I was terrified of needles and didn't have a lot of money etc etc. Fedex was all like "PSHAW! Come to my place when you're back in BsAs and I'll give you a really good price" (which he did - I got my first tattoo for under 20 US Dollars, including tip). He then proceeded to drive the drunken messes formerly known as Chino, Pepe and Nike to the bus station so we could return to BsAs just in time for our classes. Fedex - mil gracias por todo! Te extrano un monton!

Anyways, a little while later I called Fedex and made an appointment to go in and get my tattoo on a Saturday morning. Little did I know that the night before my scheduled appointment I would be at a Deadmau5 and Desyn Masiello show in Buenos Aires and would stay up the whole night partying, then hop on a train and go 1 hour outside of the city to get my first tattoo (I was a bit of a wild child while I was abroad). My awesome friends Emily and Natalie accompanied me and held my hand for the pain that I thought I would experience, but never really did. Back of the neck tattoo? Felt like a great massage. Anyways, Marcos did a superb job and the guys at Jack Tattoo are awesome! If you're ever in Buenos Aires and feel the need to get a tattoo, definitely check this place out. They don't have a website, but shoot me a message/comment and I will point you in the right direction.

Here are some pictures from my first tattoo:

Needless to say, my first experience getting inked up left me feeling great about my decision and had me planning my next tattoo almost immediately. I had some ideas, but nothing that made me say YES THIS IS IT.... until about last week. I decided that I wanted to get a black stencil-looking image of a lily on my inner left ankle. Why lilies? Because they are my favorite flower! So I made a few phone calls to places here in Miami and got some quotes and finally decided on Ocho Placas. Went in last night and got the tattoo and made a new friend too! Thank you so much Steve!! Check out the new one:

About halfway through - you can tell that it's right on the bone and hurt SO MUCH.

The finished product!! I'm in love with this!!

And that's all for now folks! Let me know what you think!

xx Bear

Learn something new today

So today I found some free time and decided that it was time for a new blog post. I couldn't decide on a topic, so I asked my best friend Nat to give me some topic ideas. Of course, his first three ideas were horrible (Egypt? No. Rising oil prices? No. AT&T stock going down? No... Damn, kid, stop surrounding yourself with such negative things!) And then he suggested I interview him about his new found love for playing the ukulele. So I did.

An accurate representation of my friend Nat...

Q: Why the eff bomb did you pick the ukulele?
A: Well I've always wanted to play a string instrument. I tried drums and the saxophone but those weren't that stimulating. So one day I was at a friends house and there was a kid playing a ukulele and I thought "That looks like so much fun!" So the next day I bought a ukulele.They're great. They have four strings instead of six and with my smaller hands the smaller neck works great.

Q: Where did you buy it?
A: At WindWorks, a music shop here in Boulder, CO. I purchased a beginner book and a Luna Ukulele for a total of $60. Luckily, they are pretty inexpensive. If you spend over $50 you can guarantee yourself a pretty good one.

Q: What was the hardest part about learning the ukulele?
A: Learning new chords I'd say. Getting the fingering right is difficult and you put your hand in awkward positions. I would work on two chords at a time, strumming and going back and forth. Once you get comfortable with the chord you can start using it in combination with other chords and then you start making music. It really only takes three chords to have a song - most Lily Allen songs are two chords!


End interview. Ok so it's not that interesting, but it brings me to a point -- it's never to late to learn something new or at least try something new.

My mom had this great life goal (I'm not too sure if she still lives by it, but I know I try to) to try two new things every year - one for the body and one for the mind. There's a lot out there in the world to fall in love with and be passionate about. In the past couple years I've found myself experimenting more and more - I jumped out of a plane, I climbed a mountain, I lived in a foreign country, I picked up photography again, I started doing yoga, I got a tattoo, I became a certified open water diver, etc etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love the routine. I live for and by the routine. But when you're only given one life to live, wouldn't you want to get to the end of your path and look back and say HOLY SHIT I DID SO MUCH? Don't be afraid to skip work every once in a while to go do something crazy on a whim. After all, wouldn't you love to stroll up to the party strumming a ukulele?