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Description
I'd like to show you all what I can really do. Basically, I have much more complex pictures that I work on when I have the time, or when I need to decompress. I call them my "knitting", as they take a long time to do, but are a nice comforting way to pass the time. This piece I have been working off and on at for months, but have finally completed.

Now for why I drew what I did. As everyone and their grandmother knows, I'm very fond of the New Kids on the Block. The real reason though is because of how happy they made me when I was younger and things were a little rough for me at home. Little things like hearing their music, playing with the dolls, having CFTR on in the background, buying a magazine at the store, finding an article about them in the Sun and cutting it out...all these things just gave me that little extra spark that helped me get through an otherwise unpleasant spot in my life. When I got older, I put all that away and moved on. But when they reunited, a little part of me told myself that it was okay to take those memories out, dust them off, and enjoy them. So I have been. I may be starting to dislike what the New Kids are turning into NOW...but no one will ever take away what they meant to me from 1989 - 1992.

In addition, I have an extremely vivid memory. I can remember precise conversations, smells, sights, incidents from my early childhood onward that most people would have trouble recalling if at all. When my parents died, that became a curse as well as an advantage. Imagine recalling a memory of someone's voice, or an excursion you had, or...ANYTHING..with such preciseness, it feel like it happened yesterday....only to realize that the person in question is now dead, and the memory happened 20-30 years ago.

The picture you see is a combination of the two. It's both a personal test of my memory to see just how precise I can remember things, and it's a celebration of the funny little boy band that I adored so much.

I've mentioned multiple times about my friend Michi. Michi lived on an adjacent street in my neighbourhood in Toronto, not too far from me. We'd met when we were 3-4 at Monarch Park pool, and went to the same school from JK to Grade 6. When the New Kids went viral, we both gotten bitten. But while I gravitated towards Donnie Wahlberg, she went nuts for Joe McIntyre. It was this that gradually turned us into best friends, though unfortunately we did wind up growing apart after she moved to Cincinnati and got married.

While we were still both in Toronto however, we would visit back and forth. When I'd visit her house, I'd bring my Donnie doll and my New Kids comics, her brother would let me play his GameBoy, and we'd just sit and enjoy each others company. Now, Michi's mother was usually home, and every so often she'd make us a batch of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. So there we'd be. Sometimes we'd play with our New Kids dolls. Sometimes we'd watch videos in the living room. Or sometimes she'd pore over my comics, I'd try to beat her brother's score at Tetris, and we'd enjoy a plate of freshly made cookies.

I think I've recreated Michi's room to a T. I can remember where the bed was, and the dresser, and I remember how she had Joe McIntyre pictures plastered all over her wall from ceiling to floor. I remember the stuffed animals she used to have...and I remember the little pillow thing she had on her dresser where the NKOTB doll stage was.

But that's a memory I'm very fond of, and if anything, it truly defines why I latch onto the New Kids to this day.

Thank you for letting me share this with you.

Description
I'd like to show you all what I can really do. Basically, I have much more complex pictures that I work on when I have the time, or when I need to decompress. I call them my "knitting", as they take a long time to do, but are a nice comforting way to pass the time. This piece I have been working off and on at for months, but have finally completed.

Now for why I drew what I did. As everyone and their grandmother knows, I'm very fond of the New Kids on the Block. The real reason though is because of how happy they made me when I was younger and things were a little rough for me at home. Little things like hearing their music, playing with the dolls, having CFTR on in the background, buying a magazine at the store, finding an article about them in the Sun and cutting it out...all these things just gave me that little extra spark that helped me get through an otherwise unpleasant spot in my life. When I got older, I put all that away and moved on. But when they reunited, a little part of me told myself that it was okay to take those memories out, dust them off, and enjoy them. So I have been. I may be starting to dislike what the New Kids are turning into NOW...but no one will ever take away what they meant to me from 1989 - 1992.

In addition, I have an extremely vivid memory. I can remember precise conversations, smells, sights, incidents from my early childhood onward that most people would have trouble recalling if at all. When my parents died, that became a curse as well as an advantage. Imagine recalling a memory of someone's voice, or an excursion you had, or...ANYTHING..with such preciseness, it feel like it happened yesterday....only to realize that the person in question is now dead, and the memory happened 20-30 years ago.

The picture you see is a combination of the two. It's both a personal test of my memory to see just how precise I can remember things, and it's a celebration of the funny little boy band that I adored so much.

I've mentioned multiple times about my friend Michi. Michi lived on an adjacent street in my neighbourhood in Toronto, not too far from me. We'd met when we were 3-4 at Monarch Park pool, and went to the same school from JK to Grade 6. When the New Kids went viral, we both gotten bitten. But while I gravitated towards Donnie Wahlberg, she went nuts for Joe McIntyre. It was this that gradually turned us into best friends, though unfortunately we did wind up growing apart after she moved to Cincinnati and got married.

While we were still both in Toronto however, we would visit back and forth. When I'd visit her house, I'd bring my Donnie doll and my New Kids comics, her brother would let me play his GameBoy, and we'd just sit and enjoy each others company. Now, Michi's mother was usually home, and every so often she'd make us a batch of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. So there we'd be. Sometimes we'd play with our New Kids dolls. Sometimes we'd watch videos in the living room. Or sometimes she'd pore over my comics, I'd try to beat her brother's score at Tetris, and we'd enjoy a plate of freshly made cookies.

I think I've recreated Michi's room to a T. I can remember where the bed was, and the dresser, and I remember how she had Joe McIntyre pictures plastered all over her wall from ceiling to floor. I remember the stuffed animals she used to have...and I remember the little pillow thing she had on her dresser where the NKOTB doll stage was.

But that's a memory I'm very fond of, and if anything, it truly defines why I latch onto the New Kids to this day.

Thank you for letting me share this with you.