Very, very small pond.

A week or so ago an enterprising group of students photographed me from the eyes up for a tumbler design contest poster. At the time I didn't think much of it. I just assumed that they wanted diversity - the bunch of us from MICA being the only non-asians around made us the go-to guys.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I walked into the OUA main lobby to be greeted by a four foot high poster of my forehead.

I'm like a local celebrity here. Well, that or the town freak. For the sake of fairness let's say I'm somewhere in between. My skin color and my height are enough to make me the focal point of any crowd. Throw a me-centric ad campaign in there and, well, let's just say I don't blend in.

Sometimes it's a ridiculous ego boost. Oh, hello Japanese Art School! Check out my skin color! Listen to me speak my native language! Isn't it amazing? Just like TV!

There are, however, some days when you don't want everyone to stare at you. Days when you don't have time to shower, or wash your clothes, or put on deodorant. It's enough to make me seriously self-conscious.

So what do I do? Well, either I try and stay immaculate or go for broke and stop caring, I guess. Let's just say I'm moving from the former to the latter.