Thursday, January 15, 2009

Sketchy Cinnabons




This all started when i was in downtown toronto and decided to cop a cinnabon.

I sat down to feast on the warm delicious sweet layers of cinnabon greatness before it got cold when i remembered I had my SLR on me. I wanted to catalog the delicious meal hence me snapping this pic




This drew the attention of the man to my right (who's name i never got). He started talking to me asking me why i was taking the photo. In any case he then proceeded to tell me some shit about his life and he seemed like a bit of a strange but harmless artist. He had hitchhiked alot, went backpacking over Europe , and drew murals all over. He showed me some of his sketches and I looked at the one he was working on currently. He seemed harmless and actually had some interesting shit to say so i passively continued my conversation with him as i ate.

here is a pic of said man



I was about done my cinnabon when some asshole security guards came up to us and ordered the man to leave. They said some bullshit about how he didnt have a GO train ticket and thus wouldn't allowed to draw or sit in that area. I got herded out as well as i had my SLR with me and they gave some bullshit reason about how I couldnt snap photos there. For a second I thought the artist dude was going to start a fight with the asshole rent-a-cops but alas the verbal argument never escalated.

Standing outside the subway entrance now he had mentioned he was broke and starving since it was freezing today in toronto (almost -30C with windchill) I decided to help him out and give him enough money for so he could at least get a hot dog. He insisted that I take the drawing of Nadeen from him, and I thanked him for it thinking that I would now be left alone.

As I was about to leave he started following me along to the subway. I paid my fare and he said he was going to the bloor line as well. Thats pretty common but it started setting off alarm bells in my head.

I was ambiguous about where i was going and he mentioned he had some friends place he was gonna try to reach. I asked him what station he was getting off at and when he said the same station i was going to i thought oh fuck how am i gonna get rid of this sketchy guy.. there were also alot of warning signs when he tried to use techniques on me to gain compliance, lucky im street wise so i know when someone is tryin to hustle
some of his techniques are probably often used in high pressure sales and the like

techniques like creating future plot lines , using us or we (remember when those rent-a-cops gave us trouble, when he was the one who was getting shit), handing me the drawing so i felt like i owed him, having me carry his bag briefly when we transferred lines.. etc etc...

Anyway he kept talking to me throughout the ride, and I had to fake that I had to get off at an earlier stop than i really had to. Luckily he started to talk to another white dude on the train (bonding over bon jovi) so he was relatively occupied when i got off the train ..

I transferred trains so i could be on a different one than him and i beelined home thankfully i didnt see him again.



Fortunetly you don't have to live through an awkward adventure yourself to own this truly unique and beautiful piece of art. It can be yours for a good price. Please give it a good home
I am now accepting cash offers. Please contact for further inquiries.


cliffs :
eating cinnabon
meet weird artsy vagabond white guy
get kicked out by rent-a-cops
he follows me and starts to creep me out with extreme sales tactics
metal gear solid stealth

moral of the story be careful while eating cinnabons

2 comments:

Eugene Kan said...

Good to know you made it out ok, coulda turned ugly... or not.

Regardless, the delicious photographic nature of a Cinnabon mixed with your Asian-derived love of candid food photography could have gotten you into a world of hurrrrrt haha.

Rocky Li said...

lol tell me about it

dslr carrying asians are a big target these days