Hand Lettering

Today was my 51st post of creating hand-lettering type on a post-it. My original plan was not to post daily, but since I’ve started, it gets harder and harder to break the streak of not doing one per day. In the beginning, I just wanted an outlet to release my creativity for type somewhere, and to finally have a use for my Instagram account. Now, I cant go a day without touching my nib pens and getting my hand dirty with the black ink. Hopefully the streak continues, but I will for sure wont stop exploring the world to typography.
Six Months Journey
Few weeks ago, I picked up my last sets of prints from my exhibit in the SFPL. I can’t believed I had two sets of exhibit in total of about six months in the Library. I really want to thank everyone who helped me in this half-a-year journey. To my family and friends that visited, to all the people in the SFPL, you guys are very supportive and I appreciate everything.
I never thought I would actually have an exhibit up anywhere, but I have to thank God for all of his surprises. He does have a way of opening door(s) even though you thought it can never be open. From this exhibit, another door was opened, but I’ll wait till I blog that later on.
First Show of the exhibit
Here are my six prints from the show.

Birthday Wish
For the second year in a row, my friends helped me make my birthday wish come true. Another year of asking for canned/packed foods to donate as gifts. (last year’s) Thank you to all my friends and family who donated and participated, it’s truly a blessing having your support in this cause. It is the best gifts I can ever receive for my birthday. This is not really a food drive, its more of a personal way in celebrating my birthday while glorifying God at the same time. God has given me more than enough and this is just one of the ways I can appreciate him by sharing his blessings. Thank You, Thank You!!! Also, thank you to those who gave me packed/canned food and still gave me gifts for my birthday. I didn’t expect that, the food donation was more than enough!
All the Gifts given to me. @SF Food Bank

This year’s birthday had a little twist, my Mom threw me a birthday gallery-showing-party. It was a last minute put together party that had me cutting and framing for two weeks. Overall I showed about 18 pieces. Some were digital numbered and some were traditional mediums. From each pieces I sold, I donated about 30 percent of the income. At the end, I’ve accumulated $100 which I donated through the Guide Dogs For The Blind. It’s just fitting to help them out with my own vision status.
I can’t believed I actually sold some of my art pieces.I do a lot of my own art without showing anyone, but to have people pay me money for them is mind-blowing. Thank you to everyone that purchased my pieces! I’m amaze by it and it’s a confidence booster. I can admit, I was hesitant to have this gallery-party, because I wonder what people would think of them. Its like showing my art side and I sometimes feel like that’s too revealing. So, Thank you for the support, it has inspired me to keep on getting better in my craft.
In other news, My exhibit in the SF Main Library has been extended till February 2012.
Guide Dog donation receipt.

Unique Views of Life – Exhibit (1st show)
With the first set of my Exhibit finished, I’d like to show the pieces from it. The other Artist, Richard Chapman’s work were the top six, and mines was the bottom six. The second show is currently running now, and will be up in display till the end of 2011. This time, Richard and I switched with me having the top six spaces for my art.

A closer look.

Here are the pieces from the first show:
-Loveshack- (Originally for a V-Card, but only displayed the cover art in the exhibit)
-Irony-
-Sharing: Movie Night-
-Sharing: BBQ Steak-
-Music in Her Ear-
-Woman Got Culture-
Artist Statement
Here’s my short Artist statement for the 21st anniversary of The Americans with Disabilities ACT.
My name is John Ross Quevedo (JR), I’ve been legally blind my whole life. Growing up, I can always tell I was different from other kids just because everything was harder for me in the classroom, like, reading the white board, or just not knowing my surrounding as well as others. Also, for the most obvious reason, my left-eye was shut-closed before I got my prosthetic eye. I went to a regular public school system and wasn’t aware of any help that was available for me. Switching school during 5th grade, my teacher noticed I was having difficulty with my vision even after sitting in front of the classroom. That’s when she introduced me to my first vision teacher, which gave me the awareness that such help/program existed.
Art has helped me level out the field to this world, the vision world we live in. Its something I’ve done for myself since I was a child. Since I couldn’t see anything far, having a pen and paper to draw gave me the freedom to just create what I couldn’t see. Since drawing and doing art is something I can do like the other kids, it gave me this sense of security that I’m “normal” and one of them. Its not the easiest task to answer, “What’s wrong with you” to everyone. I remember I used to lie to see things, so I wouldn’t get the attention that I was different.
Urbsters (Urban Monsters) is what I called a lot of my monster illustration. They get a bad rep for being different, weird, and not normal. At time, I felt like I was the monster who was different from everyone with just having one eye, and not being able to see very well. That’s why I like to create striped horn to represent my one eye that people would always notice before anything else.
Fast forward to now, I’ve been affiliated with the Lighthouse for The Blind for a couple of years. (other lighthouse post) With only one eye, and 20/400 visions remaining, learning new techniques was something I learned from them. The blind community was so easy for me, because there was no need to explain. Everyone just knows how hard it is. It built my confidence that even though having visual impairments; I can be productive in this visual world we all live in. It might just take me longer and in an unorthodox way, but I will get it done. I’ve also realized that since I never had good vision on my right eye or sight on my left-eye, I wouldn’t know what I’ m missing since I never had it. Overall, I still feel blessed and proud of the way I’ am. I wouldn’t change anything.
The dates will be pushed back till Deceber and I’ll be refreshing my art pieces every two months or so. If you have time, please visit the exhibit starting next week. If you want to come with me< I’ll be gladly to see it with anyone.
Blast from the past: 2003
After sophomore year of HS, I got my first job as a teacher assistant at Grattan Elementary School. My job was to help out in the classroom and watch them in the yard during play time. While playing with the kids in the yard, I started drawing their favorite characters with chalk and the kids loved it! After watching me, they would just chalk it up and try themselves. They were too adorable concentrating in one spot and just drawing. For their age in an open yard, that was rare, they usually run all around. The teacher saw this, so she decided I should just draw the whole time I’m at work…which I loved! Instead of just helping in class, my job turned into in-house-artist for their room. haha. I created coloring materials for the kids and decorated the room with poster of my art work. Doing little workshop for kids was my favorite, because it reminded me of when I was their age, and how I love watching anyone draw. When my time there ended, they gave me a little party and a poster of their own with all of their hand prints out of paint. Yes, I still have it, I’ll post it when I get a pic of it.





Young Munny
My sister bought my brother and I Munny vinyl toys by Kidrobot. My bro got the colored one (left), and I got the white one (right).Each came with an accessory and a marker; my bro got a hat, and I got a cell phone. Both are not in the pictures….ooops. As you can see, Im not done with mine, I still have the face canvas to cover still plus the cell phone.
I started with markers and it wasn’t cooperating very well. It was smearing everywhere and it got messy, so I switched to paint. My bro on the other hand worked with markers, except the white paint. Trying to find a solution to protect the marker on his, I sprayed it with fixative (with a glossy finish), and the marker ink started to bleed. I think I put too much with one try, I should have put a light coat and worked in layers. I kinda want to buy a bigger Munny and try different materials like how we used tac and a rubber from my headphone to add on the Munny’s head. I’ll post my finish Munny when I finish.
The Joy of Laundry
As much as the pile of laundry builds up, nothing says, “time for to wash your clothes”, more than running out of underwear. The part I dislike the most is when the laundry is done and when you think its over, the stagnant job of folding is in front of you. Folding and organizing them back in your closet is something that has to be done neatly or else your closet will be a mess till the next wash cycle. For me, its usually about 2-3 week till I need to wash everything again. And, I don’t feel like having an unorganized closet because it tends to affect the whole room’s cleanliness. When you’re done with your load and organizing is over, it does have this sense of great achievement that you would want to pat yourself on the back (yes, that good), but the sad part is….You have to do it again in a couple of weeks.
I”m very appreciative that I have a washer and dryer in my house, because I remember going to the laundromat and packing everything. It was like chaos every week and a lot more work to be done more than needed. Instead of just a few hours of laundry, it becomes half-a-day or the whole day. It’s also very continent having laundry in your home because of emergency washes that may occur. I don’t totally dislike the laundromat. I think it creates a great setting for taking pictures. I wouldn’t mind going there again soon to shoot more life portraits.
These pics are from a couple of years ago.
Humboldt County
I know its been a couple of months since my Humboldt trip, but it took me a while to upload some of these pics from my phone.
Our Vacation House (all from the handy dandy cell phone):
Places we ate at:
My cousin’s son’s name is Jensen so we at a diner called Jensen. I really enjoyed our meal there.
And our dependable rented van:
The rest of the pics are (here).
My analog tumblr
I carry my my 5×7 doodle book (aka analog tumblr) around with me everywhere. It used to be the same for my DSLR cam, but ever since I got my smart phone last year I only carry it when I need to. I’m not a fan of huge sketchbooks because its a space eater in my bag. I do have bigger sketchbooks at home that I use here and there, but forget carrying that around. I think its the idea of taking something huge out constrain me from doing more doodle because I think of it as “the bigger it is, the more hassle it is.” Not like this small one, its just in and out. I really believe everyone should carry a pocket notebook with them at all times. Not just for sketching, just for note taking, expressing yourself way. Yes, I guess a phone can do that now, but I just prefer to just have one. Where all you need is a note book and a simple writing device. It also helps, because Im on the computer a lot, and having this lets my eye(s) rest and still be creative.

Here’s a practice warmup painting from yesterday. I need to warmup too just like all athlete, don’t want to pull a muscles. Wasn’t really thinking when I was doing this, but I guess I was thinking about Ang from Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Haha, wow! All of Ang’s features.
Birthday Wish (feed the hungry)
When I was in junior high school, 7th grade, I remember we had a food drive to donate can food and other goods. I had money saved up from allowance and I remember asking my aunt (she was my guardian at that time) to take me to the grocery and help me pick out food. I would have thought she would be opposed to the idea and just have me grab a few cans from home. She helped me pick out the best food for the best price and I remember her pitching in more than my allowance to help me.
Instead of taking the school bus next morning, she dropped me off at school because I had multiple bags of grocery bags. At school, I had to ask some of my friends to help me unload the goodies and drop it off to our homeroom. Then, I remember I wanted to win for having the most donation for our team, but as I was seeing all the food being stacked, I had this feeling of joy. I had one of those moments where I was thinking, “those food are just not a source of winning, people will be eating this.” From there, I remember I wanted to give more cans, not because I wanted to win, but because this is real, there are people that are hungry. So once i got home a took more cans from home and brought it the next day. haha
For my birthday this year I asked all my close friends to just give me canned/packed food instead of gifts or bday dinners. I have to thank Nestor though, he got me a Holga camera and treated me out for brunch. All my close friends helped me gain a good amount of food to donate. It wasn’t really a food drive where I asked random ppl, I wanted this to be more intimate to the people who cared for me by giving me goods as gifts and to support me in this. I sure do have a lot of good friends by seeing the pic below. Even though some of my friends had questions on why I was doing this, all went out of their way to help out. Dropping food at my house, seeing me, reminding me that I was doing a great thing. All of those felt good, but in my heart, it was them friends of mine that made it possible. Yes, I could have just spent my own money in all the goods, but it was more fun seeing my close ones donate with me. There are people out there who are hungry everyday, all year long. It so happens that my bday is close to all the Holidays, that it made it even sweeter for the timing. The worst is after the Holiday, when people doesn’t donate as much.
From now on, I will do this for the rest of my life, every birthday. It was a joy for me even though those food weren’t for me, I felt like they were the best present I can receive. All glory of this process is to God. He has blessed me with so much even thought at times I forget. I was blessed with great friends that helped me with this whole thing. I couldn’t ask for more.
Baking Treats
For this year, I decided to give sweet treats as gifts for friends. This is my first time really baking. I cook often, but baking is totally new for me. I had a lot of help from my friend, Joy, she helped me buy the ingredients and gave me good tips on how precise baking is. Grocery shopping for all I need was a pain itself, looking for everything and miking sure that I have enough of everything.
The day of baking everything, I started everything around noon, because I knew I was in for a long day. I was making five different treats: macademia/white-chocolate chips, brownies, oreos balls, bourbon balls, and fortune cookies. Making each from scratch was a tough process. The way I would have fresh brownies or cookies before are from either bought cookie dough or from a mixed add an egg type of mixer. My mind was all over the place, I was getting confused of all the ingredients because they’re all similar but the process was different. Next time, if I want to make treats again, I’ll probably decreased the menu and just make more of a few things. Five different treats gave me a headache!
Im just glad I finished all what I planned. It took me like 10 hours or so and was beat throughout the whole day. I was might proud that I finished and Im glad I didn’t give up on a treat. I almost did with the fortune cookies. They were very difficult to work with, making sure they’re cook correctly and shaping them before they cooled down. They didn’t tun out so well, presentation wise, but all had at least one fortune cookie.
Here are all the pics I took that day off my phone.

I got these tin cans and bags from the trusted Walgreens…gots to love that store!

This is how they were packaged.


This is the havoc I created in my kitchen.

At the end, after hours of melting chocolates, mixing ingredients, I rewarded myself with yummy dim sum.
2.1 MP Faves
I used to think that I would never use my phone camera unless Im taking a note of something. Ever since I gotten my Blackberry Bold (story) I’ve been using my special 2.1 mega-pixel camera for more than I thought I would. Now, I use if for snap-shots, sources for sketches to be vectorize or rendered, showing-off food on twitter, and for BTS during shoots.
I don’t take DSLR cam everywhere as I would like to because of its bulk, so this phone gives me that comfort of always having a camera everywhere. Normally, I would just snap away at random thing without thinking, but I’ve been actually using some photography knowledge while using the BB cam. I would change white-balance to manipulate color temperature, think about angles and composition, and cover the flash (only when desperately needed) with a paper towel for softer lighting. The flash is the worst of the worst in this camera-phone.
I actually think this has better my camera skill just because the simplicity of it and working to be creative with such parameters. No photoshop were used, just straight off the phone.
From this device, I’ve built up a few fave photos. Here’s the first post for this ongoing random pics from a 2.1 mega pixel phone-camera, the Blackberry Bold.
A Good Change
It’s Christmas morning and still in bed wanting to find out what time it is, so I routinely checked my phone. I was confused, everything was blank except a small message. Instead of getting a present from Santa that day, I received the message, “Sim card rejected.” hmmm in the naughty list? I was confused and didn’t know what to think of it, tried to call someone, go through the menu, even took out the battery, but no luck. My SEVEN years old phone broke on me.
The only link from sophomore year of high school to present day was gone. I didn’t get to wish or receive any Christmas greetings that day since everything was closed. I didn’t get to an At&t store after a few days later since I was spending the Holidays with family. No phone for a few days was hard.
At At&t, the sale person said I have to get a new phone with a new sim card cause they’re now using a different network. Christmas money down the drain and the worst part is I couldn’t retrieve any of my contacts. For seven years all I had was my simple phone with no special features, only a flashlight (does your phone have that?..thats right!!). Now, its time to move on so I got myself a smartphone, a Blackberry Bold 9700. I was like a kid again, not knowing how to use my phone. My sister who has and recommended the phone to me had to teach me. I finally have Bluetooth and i know everyone has that now, but my phone was ancient. What a big contrast from my nokia to a blackberry. To put this in more use, I FINALLY joined twitter. ahhh!! I don’t join social networking sites, except for flickr but hello social media. I retrieved a few numbers from checking old bills, but still working on the others. I guess it is true, “Sometimes, you just have to move on, cause there’s bigger and better fish in the sea.” hehe
My Question Mark
I really don’t know who she is but I already know I love her. Always thinking this in my head, I can’t picture who she is, all I can see is a question mark, but not just a regular one, but a beautiful question mark. hahaha that was lame. Playing with question mark characters, I decided to use it as a heart-shaped when using two characters in a mirror image. Then I took it a little further, and decided to create it as a “mystery girl.” Yes, my imagination is dorky! No, Im not a hopeless romantic like I’ve been labeled a lot (thanks friends), it something I have faith in and something I pray about. I don’t pray about anybody just to be in a relationship but for the right person, the one and only. I want a complimentary relationship, like orange and blue…green and red…..oh another idea color wheel/scheme of love. hahaha Dang, this blog thing is gonna bite me later, I got to stop putting some personal stuff cause its out in public. Maybe little by little and I should stop now. Here’s the process…enjoy
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His and Hers
I have two old film cameras (Yashica Electro 35 GSN) from the 70′s that still works. Since they don’t make the batteries for these cameras anymore I had to buy an adapter for modern batteries, I have one so far. The metering lights for both still work, not perfect but good enough and that is what matter the most for this all manual rangefinder.
As many of my friends knows, I tend to imagine a lot, especially with the whole love theme. (see) Well, here’s another segment to the non-stop series involving these love birds camera. I always like the idea of simplicity and just enjoying each others company, not that Im against extravagant things, I just prefer simple things over it. It’s not what you do but who you do it with, right? I think it’ll be great one day just to spend an afternoon in the city with your significant other, enjoying each others company while taking pics with a his and her camera (these yashica electro 35). Capturing a snapshots of the “Good Time” and just learning more and more about each other while enjoying a beautiful day. ahhh Heart tickled much! So For now, I’m Keeping these two film cameras till I find that lady to give the other pair to. haha seems like a lost wedding ring but with cameras.
Living For Vision Loss
As a visually impaired person (blind with left eye, 20/400 remaining, right eye), resources and skills to maneuver around independently were lacking. I used to just not try and put borders around me that I can’t do the “normal things.” I’m a confident person but when it comes to conversation about my vision and what my limitations are, I would always just try to avoid it or just give simple answers. I was simply embarrassed of being different and not fitting in. A lot of times I would just lie that I can see things, since no one else could understand my vision. It’s hard explaining to someone that I can’t see very well but I’m not completely blind. There’s a lot of different things that plays a role into vision like: lighting, depth, glare, color, contrast and others. It’s not just I can see this and that. I’ve learned that this world only understand either you’re completely blind or you’re not, the ones in between like me is something different. I’ve had help from vision teachers as a kid but as a stubborn little one, I would just ignore everything and was not willing to accept that I couldn’t do what everyone else can do. Now, being much more older and more mature (ha, me mature?), I’ am realizing that help is actually a good thing and it’s not really taking anything away from me as a visual-impaired person. And, I also realized that I really needed help to just be more independent. The Lighthouse for the Blind was something I’ve known, but have always neglected because I just never thought it was something for me; I didn’t really knew how it would help me. With persuasions from family members, I finally joined the department of rehab, and eventually lead me to the Lighthouse for the Blind.
In the Lighthouse, my first lesson was mobility. In mobility, helpful techniques such as crossing the road safer was practiced and the proper cane skills were introduced. With new skills in the streets, I can now honestly say that I feel more comfortable traveling and exploring different areas. That cane sure is magical. Opening a new door lead me to more doors to be opened. My mobility teacher gave me more info of the Lighthouse and he also recommended me to join the Learning for Vision Loss class (LVL).
Not really knowing what I got myself into, I showed up with an open-mind at LVL class and basically became a sponge to something I wasn’t really comfortable in talking about. I was shocked that there were simple everyday skills that can make things easier for me. Labeling, lighting, and other techniques were taught. Different items such as the compact (not the make-up) and talking devices were introduced. I really like the compact the most, I feel like it can help with restaurant menus and reading contents of packaging. I guess I can say I see the world a little bit more clearly now with the new tools and techniques that I’ve learned. I know it’s not fair but sometimes I need to put more effort on planning ahead and solving problems just to get me ready. The resources that were taught can help like transportation scheduling and what my rights are as a disabled person in public. With all these new technology that was shown, practice is a must for all, because it takes time getting used to it in our own individual ways. I also learned a little something about myself. All this time I’ve been creating systems that work for me to get what I needed to do to get it done. As one of the key advice I learned is to create your own system, my knowledge was enhanced to use a system for other scenarios and it has made things easier.
One of my favorite segments of the class was when a guess speaker who has similar conditions as us share their experiences and their stories. It’s inspiring to hear their successful stories and how they fought obstacles during hard times. It was also nice hearing the tools that work for them because it’s something I can use now and in the future. That was so great about the class, a lot of devices were shown but each individual had their favorite tool.
The most memorable about taking this class and something I will always cherish forever is the relationship I built with my classmates and instructors. Being the youngest one in class, I thought it would be hard talking and realting to all of them. I actually enjoyed being the “baby” of the class because everyone gave me some sort of wisdom that I will never forget. The age teasing was also fun for me. I will truly miss the camaraderie that we had and the simple good times that was shared. It was so refreshing relating to similar experiences with everyone. I felt like there were less explaining just because everyone knew how tough it is being visually impaired and living in a sightseeing world.
Going through the LVL class has gradually helped me to be more aware of my conditions. I now understand that everyone needs help in someway and that is not a bad thing at all. I’ve also become more vocal toward my family and friends about my vision and have opened up on asking for help from them when needed. My confidence of using tools/devices out in public is a work in progress but it has steadily improved. The class opened my eye (singular since I only have one eye) to the blind community for support cause before I didn’t want to have any part of it. My creative juice gave birth to my weekly Doodle Tuesday, where I would sketch something and post it online in my blog. Thanks to Richard for inspiring me to sketch something during my time in the Lighthouse, this will continue every Tuesday from now on.
Thank You Teachers and Classmates for the great opportunity that I can always look back and say it’s one of the pages in my life that would be highlighted because it has helped me accept and be more appreciative of what I have. Wow! This seems a little emotional, like a graduation speech or something. I can just hear the grad song. I’m so ready for the certificate for being blind. Kidding!
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P.S. I also have the portraits of my instructors and classmates in my next blog. I’ll probably have it posted by Friday or this weekend.
Here’s Richard with all of my doodle/sketches, the one who inspired me to do Doodle Tuesday.
Promotional Gifts
I wanted to give a little gift to my friends at The Lighthouse for The Blind, but I couldn’t think of what to get them. I know that I wanted to give food and somehow put my websites/contact info in it. I was thinking of buying a cake and just sharing it with everyone but I wanted something more individually packed and personal.
After going to an eye-appointment last week, I ate lunch with my Aunt Bonnie at Red Ribbon. Red Ribbon is a Filipino Bakery/Restaurant, and it was a perfect place to look for a cake, but then I found individually packed mamon (sponge cakes). I know it was a good start so I bought 12 pieces. They were individually packed but I didn’t want to just give it in its own plastic (ugly presentation) and I still wanted to put my infos.
Later that day, my assistant, Sokhon, took me to Michael’s craft store to look for nice individual packaging. There, we found the perfect size boxes that fits the mamon and it also came with a sticker sealer. Since they were white boxes, I was thinking on just writing down my infos. When production was going on to put everything together, I tried to put one of my Urbsters promo and it was perfect, since the box had a clear plastic on top to show my logo. With my Urbsters promo in, I didn’t have to write all my info in each one of them anymore (that would’ve took so much time).
All of the people I gave one to liked it and they thought it was such a cute little gift. With positive feedbacks like that, I couldn’t stop thinking to give them out to clients as a thank you promotional gifts.
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simple surprises,
a fresh warm blanket from the dryer,
spontaneous text that says, “i miss you.”
small notes that says, “i love u,”
its the little simple things that counts.
Cookie McMuffin
Tonight’s dinner was a home made McMuffin or should I say home built McMuffin.
Ingridients:
- English Muffins
- Flat Sausages
- A slice of American Cheese
- Eggs
I Started taking pictures of my McMuffin and I noticed that it was a little too boring. Looking around to add something to the picture, my sweet tooth got the best of me, so I started eating a raisin cookie (run out of the chocolate chips and white-chocolate & macadamia nuts). BINGO!! Instead of using the English muffins, I thought the cookie would make it interesting. I could’ve just easily switched the muffins to the cookie but I was too hungry so I quickly swallowed the first batch of McMuffin and made a new batch for the cookie idea.
Yes, I ate the cookie McMuffin and It wasn’t really a good combo but I still finished it. After chewing it for a while, the taste started to make sense, but remember I was really hungry.
So these are the pictures from tonight’s dinner.
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A bunch of wisdom
My mama cleaned and checked my teeth yesterday. I’ve been having problems with wisdom tooth (bottom-left) lately, and my whole right cheek is swollen from the inside of my mouth. It’s not really the wisdom tooth but it’s the way its growing and how its affecting my whole mouth. The tooth is growing but there’s not enough room in the back, so the pain is from the cheek that I’ve been biting down on with my extra tooth. OUCH! So my mom talked to one of her dental friends, an oral surgeon, to schedule a procedure to take all four teeth out. Don’t know when yet. Im not looking forward to this but they promised I’m gonna be all drug up, but its the recovering part that I’m worried about. oh man!
My mom also used me as a guinea pig with their new hi-tech x-ray machine [pic: bottom-left]. It was weird because I was standing-up during the procedure, but It was also cool because it scanned my whole skull [pic: top-right]. haha I also took a pic while my mom cleaned my teeth, all with a blackberry phone.
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