my nutty buddy.

It's been a while since I've done any vector art. I'm really trying to get into that mode of illustrating again. I was inspired to do so yesterday as a tribute to a great friend - the great Skinny Ninny. What can be said about Nin in a short block of text? I'll try and sum him up as best I can, in a nutshell. (no pun intended, Nin.) I met him years ago while working in the great field of retail. He was the 'new kid ' that was hired and I remember the day he strolled into the store to start his first shift. I was folding a pair of jeans and looked up to see this thugged out, punk-ass looking kid waltz in, dressed in a powder blue Phat Farm tracksuit. I stopped what I was doing and thought "who the fuck did they hire now?" I rolled my eyes discretely and just kept folding. Damn, was my first impression wrong. We've grown to be super close pals since that time.

Nin is the kind of friend you can depend on for anything. He's probably the most optimistic and honest person I've ever met. When you need some serious advice or just a straight answer without the beating around the bush, he's the one who will give it to you best. Nin doesn't give you what you want to hear; he gives you what you need to hear. I love this about him. He's easy-going, hella smart and absolutley hillarious. I mean dropping to the floor and almost peeing your pants funny. Nin can make you laugh your ass off anytime and any place, regardless of the mood you're in. I remember driving around with him one night this past summer, aimlessly. I was having the shittiest day ever and was feeling like absolute crap. I drove and listened to him just talk about people and life and how he deals with things, and how in the end it always comes down to just taking it in stride with a smile as best you can. He explains how everyone is so caught up with these petty little things that really don't help us at all with any personal growth. We dwell on such meaningless things so often and fail to realize just how amazing life can be if you choose to make it amazing. It's not so much what he says, its just the way he goes about explaining his views. You can't help but smile. As we drove in silence for a few minutes, a Driver's Ed car suddenly pulled up beside us. We both turned to look and noticed a short, elderly Asian lady hunched over the wheel, her head centimeters away from it. She signaled to the right and made the slowest and sloppiest right hand turn I'd ever seen, just kisssssing the curb. The instructor was frantically pumping away at his break and quickly threw out his hands to join hers on the wheel. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. He turned to me and said "but did you see that shit, Lin? Did you see? I don't know how anyone can hate life with this shit going on around us all the time. It's great, man, that was fucking amazing."

I luh' you, Ninny. :)