HIPSTER RUNOFF

Chasing her up the hill
She turned around and I thought she looked beautiful
& I took a picture of u & U took a picture of me
& that moment was captured forever
& it's the only memory of her that remains

[Img via lookbook]

& I took a picture of u & U took a picture of me

A Short Story by Carles (based on real events)

////////////////////////////////////////////////
It was the summer that I lost my virginity. We went away to the coast for 2 months, my parents forcing me to leave my desktop computer at home. Back then, we didn't have laptops and wireless internet--just dialup. But still, that made it even more meaningful since I was a tween, and I used America Online--not just the instant messenger client [via iChat]. It was the longest I had ever gone without using the internet since I was born.

Her name was Sarah. Her family was staying in a condo down the beach--a little bit nicer than the condo that me & and my parents were going to be in. It took us 2 weeks before we said hello to one another. Playing hide and seek in the hills, chasing one another around the sand dunes. It was the last days of our youth, and we were about to become man and woman. They say you haven't lived life until you have love. And some even say until you have loved AND lost.

One night we snuck out and built a campfire along the shorelines. I brought a boombox and played Incubus and Sigur Ros's hit album "()". We talked about who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do--I wanted to be in an a band and she wanted to make short films. The night seemed to last forever--we had stolen a bottle of Boone's Farm Wine, and eventually got so buzzed that there was no distinction between what was 'meaningful' and what was 'idealistic tween banter.'

We went back to her room. She took off her clothes. I looked at her. I loved her. I felt her. I loved her. I felt her. She took off my clothes. I felt like I was in a French film about misfits who are 'coming of age.' She was beautiful. She made me feel beautiful. This was making love. This was not just two horny teens losing their virginity. This was my summer without AOL. We made love. We held one another. We cried and laughed. We came and we grew. We came and we knew. If I had a camera, I would have snapped her photo because her face was warm with love.

The sun started to come up. I told her that I loved her. Sunrise on her eyes glaring against her skin beautiful she was mine forever in that moment with the sea mist in the air with our aroma of love and teenjuice.

I snuck back into my condo. I fell asleep feeling complete for the first and only time in my life. I woke up 1 hour later since it was time for breakfast.

The next day, she was gone. I found a note on her window that was for me. Her dad had to go back to the city because of an emergency at his company. She left her phone number at the bottom of a Polaroid picture that she took, but the number had been smudged. All I had left was this memory on film.

& I took a picture of u & U took a picture of me
& if we had known that this was going to be our lasting memory
We would have done it all the same
We would have done it all differently

To this day, I use the internet to try to find her. Match.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, google.com--whatever sites have people on them and allow you to search for people. One day I will find her. Her name was Sarah. She was my princess. She was my queen. She was my first. To this day, she is my definition of 'perfect love' and I have never treated a woman with such respect because no woman compares to my romanticized recollection of that summer.

& I Took a Picture of U & U Took a Picture of Me

This has been an excerpt from Carles' upcoming novel The Tween Chronicles--A Search for Meaning. Please let Carles know if you have more story suggestions for the upcoming compilation book Chicken Soup for the Alternative Soul.

Yall, I was at a music festival last weekend to see The Justices, and I watched this band from Brazil on an indie stage, and instead of a lead singer, they had a ball of recycled materials performing.

[Photo by GVB]
<3 sustainability <3
Srsly tho...it's a good thing that Lovefoxxx is teaching people that recycling is good for our planet. For the longest time, I didn't believe in recycling. I thought it was just an initiative by politicians in the late 90s to 'get re-elected by giving people an extra trashcan that is a bright colour.' Part of me still thinks that it all goes to a landfill, but it's just to make people feel 'better about themselves/the direction of our planet' and/or add more labor jobs to 'the simple men' in our economy.

Do yall believe in recycling? Or is it the same as 'believing in God' to true alts? Do yall throw empty Sparks cans/PBR cans/Bottles of Grey Goose in the trash or in a recycling bin?

Sup with the Earth, yall? They say it's gettin bad, but it feels the same 2 me. :-( :-) :-P h8 Hurricanes.

<3 Landfill Wookie Yetis <3


[Photo by Julio Enriquez]

After being bombarded with so many blogposts and traditional media outlet BLURBS about THE DEATH OF THE POLAROID, it was refreshing to see some one taking the initiative to utilize a new form of outdated technology for the sake of being unique.

Disposable Cameras: Big in 2009?
Disposable Cameras: A threat to the DSLR industry?
[Photo by KissAtlanta]

Polaroid cameras and film will never die, so please don't max out a credit card hoarding boxes of Polaroid film to sell on eBay in 7 years. Polaroid is probably going to license out the production capabilities to some ass hole businesses (like a subsidiary of Urban Outfitters, the yet-to-be-founded Chinese rival of American Apparel, Dim Mak, or HipsterRunoffCorporateHQ), and those companies will sell Polaroid cameras and film to target markets consisting of your less-than-artsy friends, and also parents looking to get their 'spoiled, yet creative' child a Christmas gift that is more authentic than the traditional digital camera.