Spoilers

I still haven’t seen the Dark Knight Rises.

Scandalous, right? I know it’s been out for a few weeks at this point, but with project deadlines and other things popping up here and there, it fell to the backburner, and I kind of…forgot about it.

And it didn’t help that all of my co-workers had all already seen it and were looking to discuss the things that happened in the movie.

I…still don’t know if he was joking about it or not.

But tonight’s the night! I’m off to go and see it, and I will finally find out for sure whether or not my co-worker was messing with me or not.

Either way, he’s dead to me.

…

(I kid, I kid. Thanks for reading, Alan~ We can talk about the movie on Monday.)

iSoHappy

Finally did it.

iConformed.

To all those people thinking, “Oh, you’re just getting an iPhone because of herd mentality,” I’ve been putting off getting an iPhone for the longest time because I really did want to give Android a chance.

Years later of crashing programs, dropped calls, and terrible battery life, my brick of a Droid forced me to turn to the “Dark Side” and go Apple.

But as you all know, I love me some Apples. And because I’m a Mac user to begin with, the switch has been incredibly refreshing.

Wuv. Twue Wuv.

2011 in Review

Phew! 2011 is OVAH, and 2012 is HERE!

According to the WordPress Summary Report I got yesterday:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

(Click the image above for the full statistics!)

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That’s a lot of love. Thank you all for making 2011 the most successful year yet for my blog!

Since Christmas, I have been reflecting on the past year, and how much has changed in my life since last January…

1. In January, I rang in the New Year with my friends in New Jersey, and spent the rest of the month battling icy sidewalks, broken apartment heaters, and searching for my snow-buried car.
2. In February, I continued to deal with crazy NYC Metro incidents, and Starbucks came out with their new “Trenta”-sized coffee.
3. In March, I talked dirty to the Starbucks baristas, got bitten by a Vampider, and packed my bags to move back to the MD/DC area to work as an architect!
4. In April, I shot my very first firearm, and shared trade secrets, including how to avoid bedtime bugs and how to make their very own photo comics~
5. In May, I enjoyed my mother’s amazing cooking, tried to bring sexy back, almost accidentally killed my brother, and went fishing for river monsters.
6. In June, I practiced my golf swing at the range, and tried to convince a stranger that I didn’t fart in an elevator.
7. In July, my family went to Orlando’s Islands of Aventure, Faith gave a shot at making her own comics, and I pondered deeply on what my Prius would look like if it was a Transformer…
8. In August, I broke down and finally got myself a new computer, and experienced one of the most disgusting things in my life, and it was all my dad’s fault.
9. In September, I went fossil hunting with my dad, helped my grandfather get Sex on the Beach, and had a stranger’s butt too close for comfort to my face.
10. In October, I got myself some new glasses, and learned how to deal with my Dad’s creeping and my Mom’s backseat Facebook driving.
11. In November, I began my very first Mini-Series comics (in which my own boss cameo’d), celebrated 11/11/11 at 11:11 am, and started my own Non-Profit Organization for Haiti by selling my comics.
12. Finally, in December, I got to try my hand out again as a photographer, gingerbread architect, and singer/dancer.

What in the world could 2012 possibly bring? 2011 had a new job, new lifestyle, new locale, new friends, and a new look for me. I lost 15 lbs, started a non-profit that raised over $1000 in a month’s time, worked for a job that I absolutely love, and am the happiest I have been in a long time. I have no idea, but I have a really good feeling that God is still going to outdo 2011~

My own goals for 2012 include becoming fully licensed as an architect by the end of 2012, taking the New Mercy Project to the next level, and Lord willing (as corny as it may sound), finding love.

And no worries, lovely readers. I’ll be sure to take you all on this journey with me. Here’s to 2012~

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

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PS: If you wanted the rest of the Christmas Videos I took, I’ve put them below!

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Profiles and Philanthropy

Phew. Is anyone else having to deal with crazy schedule juggling this time of year, or is it just me?

Anyway, I’m pleased to update you all with some news about the Haiti Project I was working on:

Over the past month and a half, 16 donors have sent in enough money to fund the Lord’s Kitchen weekly feeding program for almost three weeks: the equivalent of providing 3,500 meals!

So that you can see that 100% of your donations were given directly to Grace International, I documented the donation process HERE. We will also be receiving a progress report directly from Grace International, so that you can see exactly how your donations are being used.

Thank you again for everyone’s generous donations, and I encourage others, if you haven’t already, to donate! I will personally be going to Haiti this February, and all the proceeds that we raise between today and then, I will hand-deliver to the feeding program at Grace International, and will document everything!

To encourage you all again, I thought that I could throw out another giveaway gift process.

If you have Facebook, and you have the new Timeline, you’ll probably want something unique and fun, right?

For the first 20 people to donate over $30, I will make you a cool, unique profile picture, and it doesn’t have to have a cartoon in it!

I do graphic design work, too, so if you have a vision, I will make it so.

The rules are the same:

1. Between now and February, I will make up to 20 profile pics for you lovely readers.
2. Here’s the catch: If you want the photo comic, you have to go towww.newmercyproject.org and donate a minimum of $30 to support the children’s feeding program in Haiti.
3. Once you’ve donated, send an e-mail to newmercyproject@gmail.com with your name, and a high res, creative photo of yourself and a write-up of your vision.

And that’s it!

Love your faces. Time for me to crash. It’s almost Christmas~!

Episode 2: The Disappearing Artist

The adventure continues…

Duhn duhn DUUUUUHN!

What will happen next??? Find out in this Sunday’s continuation of whatever this mini-series is going to be called!

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On a separate note…

WE REACHED $900!!! A special thank you to the following generous donors who have helped the New Mercy Project reach their goal in less than 3 weeks time!

• Jason Kim
• Timothy Duffy
• John Yum
• Steve Hickerson
• Tracey Tiernan
• David Woo
• Peter Whang
• Faith Whang
• Peter Kang
• Angel Vega
• Robert Armitage

You still have one week left to contribute to the Christmas Dinner and get a photo comic!

This Thanksgiving, let’s pay our own personal blessing forward by saving these kids’ lives.

Happy Thanksgiving~ Eat well…just…not TOO well…if you know what I mean…

False Front

I don’t think that people believe me when I say that the comics I draw are all based on actual events.

Anyway, I had this conversation with my mom the other day, and I realized why people probably think that I make things up.

My mom, ladies and gentlemen.

And on to news that I’m sure you’re all aware of…

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs.

Thanks to your innovations, I’ve been able to make my comics and have fun while doing it.

[CAMEOS   OF   MY   PRECIOUS   APPLES]

That sounds…weird somehow.

Anywhoo, it’s going to be a pretty busy weekend for me. Gonna be working on two big projects for Haiti, so I’ll do my best to get you guys another comic on Sunday~

Bye bye!

Overstimulation…

It was time for me to get a grown-up person’s computer.

With this blog and the projects I have in store for the future, I knew that it was time to upgrade. Introducing, the iMac!!!

As much as I love mini things…this is in no way miniature…but I still love it so~

I finally showed Mini-Grace my new setup, and she had the same reaction I did when I first laid eyes on this behemoth of a computer.

Those were her actual words when she saw caught me caressing the iMac’s 27″ screen yesterday…when I thought that no one was around.

Thanks to Momma Whang for her cameo~ I’ve heard from many of you how much you enjoy the ‘rents being in my comics, so I’ll try to bring them in more often.

I will post the final video (now that the compy is all set up) this week. Good night!

Let Me Show You How It’s Done

Per the request of Joshua on the last blog entry…

I am letting you all in on a little secret.

This is how a photo comic gets done:

What, you didn’t think that I posed myself, took photos of myself, drew Mini-Grace on paper, scanned her in, colored her on Photoshop, overlaid the drawings on the photos of myself, added text, and then finished everything to look seamless…did you?

That would take forever~

The reason why I don’t do photo comics as often as regular comics is because of poor Mini-Grace. Think about how hard it is for her little legs to have to run back and forth all the time.

Oh well. Now you know.

Preparations

I am a little bit OCD when it comes to planning ahead…

I really hope I don’t have to go to work tomorrow. Haha!

How to Cut a Watermelon

(For the kitchen-illiterate…like me.)

STEP 1: Find a tutorial on Youtube

Grace + Sharp Knife = Bad Idea

STEP 2: Cut

And then there were two!

STEP 3: Cut

And then there were...many more!

STEP 4: Cut and Package

All Packed Away!

STEP 5: POSE~! (And refrigerate)

All of my digits still in tact = Success!