Work With What You Have

Yes, I have gotten lazy, but I am still alive.
February has actually been a big blur.
There was San Francisco, Tahoe, Birthdays, Valentine's Day, Anniversaries, and a whole lot of other things going on.
As greatful as I am to have been out and buzzing for the last month, I am tired.
Only last week have I realized that I have not doodled anything, written anything, or worked on any personal projects in a while.
I did however have a chance to play with my Nikon and take some fun pictures.
Picture taking with the Nikon is a different feel than the compact digicam papparizzi sessions.
It feels nice to have so much more control. I won't post pictures up from that day, because I don't want to post pictures of someone's baby all over a blog they know nothing about.
But trust me when I say they were cute.

I am a person who wants their cake and eat it too.
So I want to try to maintain socializing and being active while still trying to get my creative juices flowing and work on little side things. How does one get so much energy without having to resort to drugs and red bull?
I hope I figure it out because I feel worn.
I may also be feeling worn because I found out that a friend of a many of my friends died yesterday along with his girlfriend in the fire that happened in Chinatown. He was 32 and she was 33. Too young.
I had trouble sleeping because I truly felt for the family and friends. I met him a couple of times and I had a chance to get to know his brothers and sisters, so it is quite sad to hear news of the death of someone. Even sadder when you can put a face and story to the name.
A moment of silence for Tony and Anna.

As I said, they died too young. They're not much older than myself. And it makes me think about how much I have done and how much more I want to do. So I'm trying to do the best with what I have - which is in perspective a lot more than what other people have - and make the most out of things.

Black Buddha and More

Happy Lunar New Year! (A bit late, but still worth saying since festivities last all week long.)

2009 - Year of the Ox.

I'm going to miss the Big Chinese New Year Parade on Sunday, February 1st, 2009.
I missed it last year too. I guess that's just the way things work out.

But that's okay. I didn't miss the big Lunar New Year's Eve family dinner and New Year's Day dinner. I also didn't forgo the superstitious traditions of not washing your hair on New Year's Day. Hoorah!

On Sunday, I finally got to try out my brand spanking new SB-600 light (courtesy of AXH).

And I found out that I still have a lot of learning to do about composition and how to make the light work for me. It was bright here, not so much there, and not at all a few times.

I'll keep practicing in San Fran next week. Can't wait!

And here's black Buddha! (and more...from Sunday night's festivities.)

SAD?

I normally don't like to post anything unless I have been doing things...but if I were strict on that then I would not have very much to post.
I was reading A.M. New York and I came across a health article about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I guess this is basically seasonal depression characterized by sadness, lethargy, irritability, lost of interest, impaired concentration, and in several cases, oversleeping and overeating.
I was reading this, and I was making mental checks of all these symptoms!
I think I have just found my diagnosis.

Apparently some cures would be a Caribbean vacation, a mild antidepressant in the Prozac family, or long walks in the daylight.

What?!?! Dark Chocolate and Jalepeno chips should be on that list of "cures".

Anyhow, I just wanted to mention that little bit of information.
And Today is Inauguration Day! Happy New President Day!
I'm watching the inauguration as I write this. (Finally, the 2 computer screens at work come in handy.)
I have to pee so badly, but I can't pry myself away from the speeches and the beautiful instrumentals of YoYo Ma.
And Barack Obama is now officially president!
Hahaha. The dumb newscasters nitpicking. They say he "bollixed" the speech by saying "to" the people instead of "of" the people. or something silly like that.
Reporters need to find better hobbies.

I have to say the turn out in D.C. looks even more powerful than the crowds that gathered the night he was elected. Pretty amazing.

My current philosophy is, "Tomorrow will be a better day."
On winter days, I just love listening to Kirk Franklin.

Just Pathetic

January 15th. My first post of the new year.

Pro - Pay Day! Woot woot!
Con - No pay raise, so pay check is still as crappy as 2008. What happened to "out with the old, and in with the new"?

Pro - I'm updating.
Con - I have nothing to update about.

Pro - I've gotten past my Twilight madness and I'm reading "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs.
Con - I still think about Twilight. And I haven't been able to get myself to do anything else but eat, sleep and read for longer than 15 minutes.

Pro - I went to the James Jean Kindling Opening on Saturday, January 10th. AND I touched him and got my photo-op with him.
Con - I didn't bring my Fables Covers book for him to sign and I would have liked him to be wackier. (But I'm told artists are more reserved people. pffft. whatever.)

Some things from the Exhibit. Check it out.



Admiring from afar and upclose.



Some other wonderful things from the same building:
Tom Duncan: In Serach of Lost Time, 6th Floor.


Kim Foster Gallery, Various Artists. 1st Floor.


Getting over a cold now, so I have no more excuses to not do more this year.....except it's so damn cold out and there's a recession, so money's tight.....

Year End Slump

2 more days until 2009.
It's been quite a December. But the last week or so has just been zipping by. Zipping by, but not in a productive sort of way. It always makes me kind of grumpy to refelect and know that I haven't been doing more. No motivation to PS lately. Hopefully after the new year, I'll get pumped by all the festivities and new year resolutions to start doing my personal projects again.

Most recently, my only "accomplishment" was that I finished the Twilight Saga. Instead of waiting up for Santa, I was up finishing the fourth and final book, Breaking Dawn. It wrapped up nicely. Needless to say that I was wound up and suffering from Twilight withdrawal.
The whole Christmas day was spent rereading the draft of Midnight Sun and sifting through fan sites and discussion forums. I know, sad isn't it?
On Saturday, I finally got to see the movie. I was in a state of disbelief! How could they screw up the movie so badly? The movie was set at a pace so fast that you couldn't understand where the attraction between Edward and Bella came from. I was prepared for a bad movie, but that was a whole new level of bad. It's true that most movies can't compare to the books they are based on, but it's doable. Harry Potter may lack in certain areas, but the scenes and acting were far better. The Notebook, the movie was (in my opinion) quite comparable to the book (if you like that romance sort of thing). Even the Da Vinci Code movie was good.

I've gone back to reading Twilight again. Just going over the story and trying to figure out what went wrong with the movie. Hahaha. I've gone a bit over the top.

On another note, I want you guys to know I don't live and breath Twilight. I recently saw Che. It wasn't 5 hours. I think it was about 4 1/2 hours. Be warned that it is $18/adult movie ticket since it is technically two movies. It was a long movie and since I am not polished on my Che history, I couldn't fully appreciate it. But it was a pretty good film overall. I'm catching up on my Che knowledge now. Viva la revolucion!

*Edit: Note that Twilight seems to only be liked by those with 2 X chromosomes. If you know any guys who liked Twilight, let me know. Haven't met one yet, so that would be interesting.

The Two-Five

Snow and a day off. Love it.

Don't Bring Me Down!

I woke up in a great mood. This doesn't happen too often.
Usually the cycle is to bitch, moan, roll around, grunt, bitch some more, roll myself out of bed, and be grumpy all the way to work especially because it's too damn early to deal with people who walk all slow in the subway. Then while at the VoS, I surf the internet and work intermittently.

I came into the office and the sink isn't working, so I have to forgo washing subway grime off my hands or run to the bathroom. (FYI, I nixed the hand washing, because I didn't want to walk down the hall to wash my hands. Don't judge me!)
Then as I was reading my morning emails and the big honcho announces that as saddened as he is by telling us, there will be NO bonus this year. Luckily I already knew through the grapevine or this would've really soured my mood.

Ah well, I'm hear to tell Murphy and all this other bad karma around me, "Don't bring me down!"
Happy Tuesday.