I got back from my trip yesterday afternoon. It was a really awesome experience. If I hadn’t taken so many pictures I wouldn’t be able to remember everything that happened. I meant to keep a journal from everyday, but I was so tired by the end of the day that I couldn’t possibly right everything. We’d wake up early and be gone all day and then get back at night. Even then, I never got to sleep earlier than midnight. I was either editing the photos I took or chatting with my roommates.

Someone suggested I get a Flicker account to post my pictures, but I like the old fashioned way of making the page myself and creating thumbnails.

After being in the big city, it’s surreal being back home. Things are so different here. I don’t have a job to go back to, and I’m not in school for the summer, so it’s like I’m in limbo til graduation. The trip depleted all my funds though, so I do need to find a source of income, preferrable art commissions. I have a few lined up now that I need to get crackin’ on.

I met so many amazing people on this trip, I could make an entry about them alone. Next entry I’ll start posting pictures from the trip, but I feel that I should leave some type of image here. While in NY, I stumbled upon the set of Spiderman 3, and took a few pictures as I was appproching it.

I was here yesterday. It was an awesome experience. There were lots of little shops. We went to this store called Pearl River, and I bought a purse shapped like a take-out box, but made out of brocade fabric. I saw one in Mobile, but wasn’t able to get it then, and it’s been over a year, and I finally found one in this store.

We ate dinner at a place called Buffe´Xpress. You could get five items for $4. I had some fried rice, green beans, sesame chicken, a pork meatball, and fried tofu (didn’t like it). All the rest of the food was pretty good.

Today my family drove up to Atlanta. For those of you that don’t know, my younger sister Nicole and I are flying out to New York City for a week vacation. I’ve neve flown before, so I’m a bit apprehensive about that, but I’m confident It’ll be fine.

We were going to stay with relatives we got to Atlanta, but we got a late start leaving, so we ended up driving around for an hour trying to find a hotel. At last, we found one that was near the airport and reasonably priced. I was on my laptop when we pulled up, and my computer detected their WiFi service. I tried to log on, but then found that the service was not free. So I’m here blogging from my dad’s laptop.Yay.

The hostel at which we’re staying in NY is supposed to have free WiFi. So. . . I may be able to upload pics of my exploits while in the city. That would be awesome.

I just had to share this. Please watch it to the end. ^_^

Here’s another one. A guy his brother, brother-in-law, and dad dance for his sister’s wedding. I think it’s awesome that the 50-year-old dad got in on it.

+ listening to: “Finally Woken” by Jem
+ watching: Girl With a Pearl Earring

I was at the gas station buying a drink for my sister to take to her on her at the Kingdom Hall, where she was having a lunch break. I’m about to get my change from the cashier, and suddenly, someone tickles both my sides from behind.

Shocked, I turn around quickly. As I’m turning, out of the corner of my eye, I see that it’s not someone I know (it looks like an Asian guy), and fear and indignation wash over me.

As I complete my one-eighty, I confronted with a tall, dark young man, stubble covering his handsome face. Sohil.

Dude will never know how close he came to being decked.

Sohil has never touched me before. At all. I mean, we’ve had classes together over the years, and he’s a photography student as well, so I’ve seen him a lot. We’re cool, one could say. He’s Indian (he moved to the U.S. when he was about 16), and he has very strong beliefs against the mistreatment of women in his culture, as he’s expressed in at least photography projects. One being his Senior Thesis. He is also very sweet and playful.

However, Sohil and I aren’t friends. More like associates by way of similar interests (graphic design and photography). Our acquaintance is purely incidental, and we’ve never had any in depth conversations, save for when I asked him about how long he’d been here, in America, which was when I found out about how old he was when he came over. So, for our first physical contact to be something as intimate as tickling.

It’s weird, but now I realize why in some cultures, it’s forbidden for men and women who aren’t related to each other to touch. It definitely breaks a barrier, and opens the door for the relationship to go from formality to familiarity. Interesting, I thought, as I drove to to take Nicole her drink.