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july 1st 2008
tuesday 11:35 pm
hi, july. please give me adventures like the ones june supplied me with. xoxo alexis
a few days ago i hung out with a friend. with no predetermined destination ahead of us we drove aimlessly around searching for a spot to take pictures. we were equipped with our yashica & olympus around our necks along with our digitals tucked into our bags. twenty minutes later my car was sitting in the grass near a forest trail. we ended up walking on the main trail for ten minutes. someone placed a small parrot made out of foam into one of the branches. it was one of the three digital shots i decided to take. we skipped over to another trail. we were on that one for nearly thirty minutes when we decided to stop in front of water. i took my flip flops off (not proper shoes to be wearing while walking through a trail lined with trees, water, flowers, bugs etc.), rolled my jeans up, walked across the cold stone blocks, and dipped my feet into the stream. naturally cold, better than a pool. it didn't last long.
we walked on going higher and higher it seemed into the forest. along the way there were many other trails to choose from. we obviously made the wrong choice because we walked for another hour only to find ourselves on a rocky trail leading to... black pavement. pavement that had newly built houses lined along it. we ended up in a neighborhood which we never heard of. there were so many trails behind us that we didn't know whether to turn around and find our way back or walk into the neighborhood. we walked onto the pavement. i took my cell phone out and tried calling a few people to ask for directions on where we were. no one answered. my friend called someone and wanted them to put the address of the street we were on into google earth or mapquest. the street was on neither because it was new.
we decided to walk not knowing what we were doing really. behind us was a car that both of us had not seen. it was leaving the neighborhood. i flagged the car down as it passed slowly wanting to know where we were. the windows rolled down. a man was driving and a woman who i assumed was his wife was in the passengers seat. i asked them if they knew how to get to the main road from where i was standing. the couple told me they weren't from here. they were checking out the neighborhood as a potential area to live in. i sighed and said thanks. i turned back to my friend and we walked on. the car crept next to us and i could hear the woman's voice faintly asking us, "do you want a ride?" we both turned around. i looked at my friend trying to read her face for the answer. the couple in the car seemed genuinely concerned. i could hear the woman's voice again, "do you want a ride? we won't hurt you." the next thing i knew i was in the back seat scrunched up next to my friend even though there was enough space for both of us. our seat belts weren't on.
it's not something i do often or at all... getting into cars with strangers. the wife turned around and asked us what road we were looking for. my friend told her the street name and we looked at our surroundings. it occurred to my friend and me while in the backseat of two seemingly nice strangers car that we had wandered far into the woods. enough to end up in a new neighborhood miles away from the main road we were looking for. part of the drive was in silence. the wife turned around every now and then to ask us questions. her first one was if we were college students. she was trying to make small talk, i suppose. we both replied at the same time, "yes." a few more minutes of silence and a few more general questions afterwards the car was on the main road. we found the street we needed to turn on to.
"you can just drop us off right here," my friend said pointing to the big iron gate at the entrance of the park. my friend and i shuffled out of the car. i remember saying "thank you so much" and the wife said she was glad they could help us. honestly, the husband looked a little annoyed about all of it. he also looked and sounded a bit tense on the drive to the entrance as if we were the ones who were going to kill them. i was suspecting that his wife was the one who wanted to help us. the car sped away and i looked at my friend. she let out a laugh and so did i. i think it was a laugh of relief. i looked at her and said, "today was the weirdest, most awkward, and hilarious day of 2008 so far." |
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june 27th 2008
friday 9:04 pm
summer. i am almost getting used to it. yesterday afternoon i lay there in the sun on the grass with my bathing suit and sun glasses on. my friend had to work so i couldn't go in his pool. there were a few guys coming out of the creek nearby. i propped myself up with my elbows on the grass and stared at them as they walked by. two stared back.
animal collective "grass"
thao nguyen "swimming pools"
the tough alliance "first class riots"
the boy least likely to "be gentle with me" |
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june 19th 2008
thursday 10:03 pm
Three nights ago I went to see The Happening with a few friends. I kind of didn’t want to watch the movie, but I did want to hang out. After leaving the theater at 12:30AM disappointed, still awake, but thirsty I wanted something to drink. I had coffee in mind so when we got to my friend’s place I tried to find some. It took me six minutes to find the coffee grounds because my friend didn’t even know where his coffee was located in his cabinets! I guess he doesn’t drink it a lot. I don’t drink coffee much, but I know where mine is. Anyways, I managed to start making a pot because another friend also wanted some. You know those people that you know only because your friend knows them? Well, by the time I was putting my preferred ratio of cream to sugar a few acquaintances came by… with alcohol.
I sipped my coffee slowly. It tasted like a cup of black coffee almost, but with a hint of cream and sugar. I was sitting on the arm of the couch contemplating whether to drink or not. A few people were already drunk by the time I decided to start drinking. I finished the coffee and had half a glass of water so the roasted taste was out of my mouth. I walked out of the kitchen, which is right near the hallway and found a couple making out. I’m not sure who they were and I still don’t know who knew them. I walked back into the living room and took a few shots of tequila with two girls. The shorter and more obnoxiously drunk one threw up an hour later. An hour later for me was trying to think of what to do with the Tanqueray someone brought.
After making a glass of Tanqueray on the rocks I went outside where people were smoking. I sat down next to my friend James and asked him who the mystery couple was. He didn’t know. I talked to a few people. They seemed half-interested and focused more on their cigarette. I don’t blame them. I was focused on the glass of Tanqueray instead of what they were saying. I went back inside and talked some more to people I knew better. Some people were trying to watch The Sixth Sense because my friend had it in his DVD collection. They were trying to figure out which M. Night Shyamalan movie was better. I told them neither. One of them flipped me off. I went into the hallway and the mystery couple wasn’t there anymore.
I walked into one of the bedrooms and closed the door. I crawled under the sheets and took my cell phone out. I ended up drunk texting someone from here, sitdiary, at 3AM. After having a conversation with that person I fell asleep on my friend’s bed. I woke up around 11:00AM, reviewed my texts, and laughed. I’m not sure what aceshigh6996 was thinking at the moment. I walked out and my friend James, whose apartment I was in, was in the living room. He said that after most of the people found rides to get home and a few slept in the living room he found me in his bed. I guess I was so tired/drunk that I forgot that I wasn’t sleeping in my own bed. He ended sleeping in the extra bedroom on a futon.
I got back to my place at noon. |
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june 15th 2008
sunday 2:22 am
summer berry tarts
blackberries + blueberries + strawberries over pastry cream
this tasted good chilled as i was sitting outside in the heat. it was heavy in my hand, but everything inside was light. i thought about the essay that is due soon when i was out there. well, it's overdue, but you know. the sun was going down and a mosquito landed on my bare thigh. i didn't swat it off though. they're not attracted to me for some reason so it quickly flew away. i wanted a cup of something... water or tea. i realized i haven't started the paper yet. of course i know i should do it soon. i have been in a "whatever" mood lately. there were times when i had done papers three hours before they were to be turned in, but at least i ended up getting them in on time. this time is different. ugh, wtvr. ako ay pagod, srsly. |
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june 11th 2008
wednesday 2:40 pm
i have an essay due in two hours. i haven't even started it yet ;/
it's not because i have forgotten. i remembered since the day it was assigned. it's not because i have senioritis. can you get that in college? i don't know. time is dwindling and i am here writing a pointless entry. think, alexis, think! ah, it's too hot to think. well, after fourty minutes (3:20pm), i have decided to turn the paper in late. i think i made a... substantial decision. i'm probably not going to start it today/tonight. college rules |
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june 6th 2008
friday 8:00 pm
i know how to beat the heat: cake batter ice cream + sprinkles + chunks of brownie + caramel sauce + waffle bowl. i have had two of those in the last two weeks. so bad, but so good. it tastes just like birthday cake. that's the smallest size you can get, if you can believe that. i can't imagine getting a size larger.
i made brown-sugar raisin bread a few days ago from williams-sonoma's bread book. i noticed that i had five slices left so in an attempt to use it all up i made bread pudding. i have never made it or eaten it so hopefully i end up liking it. i'm on this website now (well, for a few weeks) and i log everything i have consumed everyday. my top five frequently consumed food items are: rice, evian spring water, cranberry juice, tuong ot sriracha, and diet coke cherry. i guess i usually eat a variety of things with rice and am always drinking water / cranberry juice / diet sodas. since my sister is here i asked her if she wanted to go running with me at the high school my mother works at. she got one of the janitors to unlock the gym (since there is no use for it because summer school is in session) and we ran around the track located above. well, we ran for a little bit. i haven't exercised in a while! ;/ then we jogged... for a long time. i wanted to quit, but i knew that if i kept pushing myself it wouldn't be so bad. and it wasn't. it actually felt really good even if i felt like i was half-way ready to die. that's exercising for you, i suppose. |
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june 3rd 2008
tuesday 11:52 am
it's june already!
i wish i could say i've been in a vacation type location for the past week which is why i haven't been posting anything. but no, i'm still here. blah. the real reason i've been on "hiatus" is because i have been plugged into my zune 24/7 when i'm not going to school or doing other "important" things. i got a call on my cell phone a few days ago and it was my mother. she came over twenty minutes after that call and dropped off an 80GB zune. it took me 2 hours to charge it + 6 hours to download the software, personalize my zune, add music files to my computer, transfer them to the zune, edit the album names, delete videos & pictures that they pre-loaded onto the zune, and add my own pictures & videos. phew indeed. so far i like it, but maybe i will write a review on a blog and be like everyone else, "i fucking hate the zune! get an ipod instead!" no, this micro$oft product is nice and isn't giving me problems... so far.
the past few days i have also been swimming a lot in a friend's pool because the weather over here reaches 90+ at times. yesterday i went to class and everything was canceled because the air conditioning was off for this week. i suppose we could have stayed, but i'm glad we left because it would have been miserable cooking in the already humid, hot building. i love this weather, but i don't want to be stuck in it like that. i'd rather be floating in a pool. |
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may 20th 2008
tuesday 2:05 pm
bake sale is out on itunes! i don't know why i put an exclamation mark after that. i'm not that excited about it. it's just their ep after all. i think pitchforkmedia sums them up the best, "bike-obsessed, retro-not-retro dudes" hm, i'm not even sure if i'm going to buy it. probably. i like / dislike them at the same time. some of their songs have been hit or miss with me. i really enjoy some of the tracks because they have that old school hip hop feel that i think a lot of artists nowadays can't capture perfectly. not that the cool kids are a definite throwback to hip hop. they're far from it, but i take them for what they are. their music sounds good in my car because i have substantial bass. yes, i am one of those young & inconsiderate people that plays their music loud. not all the time, but sometimes. i have played grizzly bear's yellow house lp semi-loud at night. i felt it was good night-time driving music. that neighborhood probably hated me.
my american apparel order came in earlier today. there is a store nearby, but i don't have time to drive there. i'm lazy. besides, i had the urge to get summer shirts around midnight. that's what internet shopping is for. there are six folded shirts on my bed right now. my mint shirt is on backorder, but it's fine because my order came in relatively fast. they shipped it yesterday from la and it got here today. i guess fedex is the way to go from now on. my friend came over late last night to play with the wii that i took from another friend. my internet was out yesterday for some reason on my computer so i used the wii to get online. i was on there for a while and kind of forgot that my friend had to make a mii so we could play mario kart which is the only game i have because i forgot to take more.
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may 17th 2008
saturday 11:56 pm
earlier tonight i went out with this guy who likes me. well, everyone else thinks he likes me, but so far we just make out a lot together if we're drunk at a party. anyways, we went to a thai restaurant and i got green curry with beef. it was amazing. i forgot how good that place's curry is. we hung out at his place for a while afterwards. we didn't make out. i got home and played mario kart on the wii that i took from my friend's place a few nights ago. then i spent over $100 at american apparel ;/ so much for trying to add screen printed shirts into my wardrobe! i bought some deep v-neck tees as well as a few regular v-neck shirts. i did purchase the milano chow shirts i was talking about, though. i am going to be ready for this hot, humid summer weather. ugh, i want cool summer nights as well. |
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may 14th 2008
wednesday 4:27 pm
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may 11th 2008
sunday 9:35 pm
crispy red snapper & chinese sausage rice
with pickled mango salad and vietnamese tea foam
after making those horrible sausages in class wednesday night i packed my knives up and as it was time to leave i grabbed a magazine on the way out. inside was a recipe by executive chef michael bloise from the restaurant wish, which is amazing by the way, that is pickled papaya salad on top of crispy snapper with shrimp / chinese sausage / jasmine rice and vietnamese tea foam. so that is what i made today for my mother. i made minor adjustments by using red snapper instead of yellow tail and mango instead of papaya. she enjoyed it a lot and was happy that i cooked for her. |
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may 9th 2008
friday 12:27 am
i'm hungry. i made massaman moo curry instead of traditional nuea early wednesday afternoon. i still have some left in the fridge. i have to go drive again to pick my sister up from college and will probably eat that before i leave. i was thinking about eating it on the road, but then decided that was ridiculous. i used to know this girl who said she ate soup in her car. bowl + spoon + soup. i think the "worst" thing i've eaten in my car while driving was ice cream and that's only because it's messy, but her soup definitely tops my ice cream bar. also in class that day i learned how to make boudin blanc and was so disgusted with the fact that it was a sausage that i couldn't eat it when i was done making it. i just went straight to cleaning up what little mess i had left at my station (clean as you go blahblahblah) to occupy myself as others tasted theirs. what made it worse was that it wasn't a short process at all. i really don't like sausages at all. |
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may 4th 2008
sunday 12:40 pm
kem dau do + shorter hair
i had one left in the freezer last night. so that was my midnight snack- red bean ice cream. i tried learning how to make shadow puppets and attempted a rabbit, but it was too confusing. i had a craving for sushi and wrote about it in another blog. a friend noticed it and called me early in the morning to say, "it's sushi sunday!" so that is what i am doing later. tons & tons of sushi |
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may 2nd 2008
friday 3:27 pm
my friends are out of school right now. i'm still taking courses, but will be school free for the rest of my life in a few months. that always sounds nice in my head when i say it to myself. i got this text yesterday, "i'm here with all of my library rentals. school is out! time to plan a road trip." i don't know where i want to go. anywhere, everywhere. i don't have a "dream destination" right now. i used to want to go to mali, africa. i wouldn't mind getting onto an available flight right now and going, but now all i want to go to is sleep sleep sleep unless i have to be doing something of importance. "important" things like school, work, blahblah. right now i am not doing anything important. i'm over at a friend's place and he's taking a nap. no sleep = napping when your friends come over, in his case. i spent at least three minutes watching his next door neighbor mowing the lawn. i'm not sure why. it wasn't fascinating. i guess i was just searching for something to do. the current question that keeps popping up in my head: "should i wake him up?" |
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april 27th 2008
sunday 3:00 pm
i checked back on the availability of the "hair" t-shirt by milano chow that was sold out. it is still sold out. then i noticed that the blind bargain bag dropped from $50 to $25 (5 for $25). each shirt is regularly $36. so 36 x 5 = 180. 180 or 25? i'll go with the $25. i need more shirts. i need more printed shirts. lately i've been living in solid colored tees, preferably v-neck. american apparel rut. i am picky on tops that have print on them. besides striped/geometric print shirts i have two with pictures/writing on them. one being a ryland bouchard t-shirt. i received it three valentines ago in a package along with a cd, little toy soldiers, a blank polaroid, and a post card that reads as follows: dear valentine, you must be loved by your lover more than he loves me! really! i hope you enjoy the music and t-shirt. this is the last red small shirt we have! can you tell i don't write very good postcards? love love love ryland & the robot ate me i got the other shirt from korea when i was younger that says "when is it nap time?" in korean.
my parents found out that i paid for this term of college and they want to pay me back. i have been wanting a typewriter lately so they decided to buy me one. the rest of the money is going into my bank. i'm expecting a check from work and i am more than likely going to put most of it into the back as well. the last thing i officially bought for myself was a bra and a few pairs of underwear :/ a friend took me to an indian restaurant three nights ago on the condition that i go with him to his violin lesson. we were talking about college and i told him that i am going to graduate around september. near the end of school i might apprentice under a local pastry chef. i have not finalized things, but if i am offered the opportunity to do so i will. |
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april 22nd 2008
tuesday 5:40 pm
i don't like manga or anime that much. there was a time when old anime like akira was my guilty pleasure. that period of my life only lasted a few days. anyways, i was bored and tried to draw myself in a very basic "anime format." the above picture is the result of my attempt. my glasses don't look like that, but it's close enough! big hair + big glasses + small mouth
last night i visited a friend who was placing a bid on ebay for a mic and it's case. he won. i'm not sure if he got a deal on it, but he was pleased with his winnings. he wants to make his room / closet a small recording studio. he made me rap. he chose a beat in the background and told me to make up a rhyme. i rapped about growing up in the philippines sipping halo-halo and climbing coconut trees. my rap credibility went up last night, of course. i wouldn't say it was the most embarrassing moment of my life, but it was pretty silly. i can't fucking rap, but it was fun. |
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april 18th 2008
friday 1:50 pm
i woke up this morning, earlier than i would have liked to, and noticed i had missed a call. i was about to drift back to sleep but then texted my friend and said, "quit drunk dialing! it's odd that you would call accidentally just as i woke up." a few seconds later i got a reply, "you woke up because we had an earthquake. can you believe that?" i knew he was intoxicated a few hours earlier and so i thought my suspicions were further confirmed about the drunk dialing. i thought that in his drunken stupor he was making silly statements. he ended up calling me and told me to turn on the news. a 5.2 magnitude earthquake did occur today and my friend said it shook his house for 15 seconds. why do i sleep through everything?! it did not even happen in my state, but i guess the seismic waves travel. everyone that called into news stations were people who have lived in california. they were all saying, "we just moved from california and didn't know earthquakes happened here!" i couldn't go back to sleep. thanks, earthquake. |
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april 16th 2008
wednesday 9:24 pm
ako ay pagod. ako may pom lychee tea. ang iba pom tea ay magaling galing. ako mailagay sa ibang lugar ko cell phone ;_________; ugh, ano ang koyat. ako magkulang kapayapaan walang ngayon. today is just one of those days where i want to sleep in. |
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april 12th 2008
saturday 7:01 pm
one of the members from nappy roots put my name on the guest list which means i got in for free. i ended up bringing both my 35mm and digital camera. i'm not sure how the prints are going to come out. i wasn't even happy with my digital shots, but it's not that big of a deal. i was videotaping more than taking photos. the show was all right. i didn't know most of the new songs, but i still tried to get into it. my friend was into it way more than i was. the groups that performed before nappy roots were disappointing. it made me glad that i got to get in for free. i got there at 9:30 pm and ended up back at my place around 3 am. |
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april 9th 2008
wednesday 8:21 pm
i'm getting bored of nature shots! this was taken near the outside of a cave located 20 miles from my place. i think i am going to take my camera to a show i am going to this friday night. my friend persuaded me to go even though the line up is pretty horrible. it is a two day event, but we're only going the first night to see the nappy roots. i am into some hip hop, but not them. it should be interesting. i went to see kanye west, but my fisheye couldn't get good shots. some people near me were annoyed since the flash was so bright as if the "light show" around us wasn't obnoxious enough. i will be hiding behind my canon for the night ;( |
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april 6th 2008
sunday 2:56 pm
i made these early in the morning. not a nutritional breakfast, but they were really good. i think traditional cannolis are made with ricotta cheese, but i didn’t have any. i'm not even sure i like ricotta cheese because i have never had it. i made sure to use just one of my 8oz. package of mascarpone since i am saving the other for something tirimisu inspired! espresso, chocolate shavings, etc.
a friend said he will buy wine if i cook something to go along with it. the only wines i have ever had were chardonnay, blackbery, merlot, riesling, and champagne. i don't know much about their food pairing. all i know is that i have enjoyed all of the wines i have tried so far. it should be interesting. |
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april 2nd 2008
wednesday 5:46 pm
tree bird / blossom / swirl
i bought a winsor & newton compact watercolor set last weekend. i have yet to use it, but maybe i will go back out to the park where i took the above photographs. i broke the rewind knob in the car when i was opening the back to retrieve the film. part of it fell onto the floor of my car (i thought) so i was frantically searching for it. i decided to collect what i had and put it back together at my place. i ended up fixing it even though one piece was missing. how that works out i'm not sure. i went to go put my shoes on so i could leave to develop the roll. as i looked down to slip my foot in the right shoe i could see the missing piece inside. |
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march 29th 2008
saturday 10:20 pm
i messed with this polaroid
before i found my polaroid one-step close up.
“hmph, paalam!” hmph, goodbye!
a goal of mine was to take my pictures in 2008 with only my polaroid camera. i love my other cameras too much to put them down though. even my digital. i was going to put off this goal, but i was looking through junk in my closet, as always, and found my one-step polaroid. i haven’t used it in a while. i took one of my dog who was sitting silently on the stairs. just sitting, waiting. so i took a picture about 1.5 - 2 ft. away using the macro setting. i didn’t think it would work well since it was a polaroid after all, but it worked better than i expected. now all i want to do is test it out in the sunlight standing close up to people or inanimate objects.
why is this a dying medium?! |
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march 28th 208
friday 12:15 am
yesterday in the morning i went to a thrift store that sells a lot of old national geographic magazines. they were going at 50c each so i looked through most all of them. i ended up buying five issues: skylab 1974, moscow the city around red square 1978, guatemala a fragile democracy 1988, vietnam hard road to peace 1989, and growing up in east harlem 1990. i purchased the ones whose main articles were of interest to me and the pictures inside were good enough to use for a collage. that was the plan- to make a collage for each magazine. i ended up not starting any of them.
i had planned to hang out with a friend that evening, but she called me much earlier to come over. she also asked me to bring my canon. another friend of hers, courtney, was there when i arrived. she wanted pictures taken of herself. apparently she wants to try out to be america's next top model. she is pretty tall at 5'10" whereas i am much much below that ;/ we ended up taking pictures near a wall covered with graffiti. we spotted it behind small bushes and had to clear the way.
we put them in for one hour development and i was pleased how they came out. you can tell that my scanner and saving of the picture lost some of its quality, but courtney has the originals and that is all that matters. she let me keep the double of the original picture above since it was my favorite. it reminded me a lot of the harlem issue even though i did not intend it to be that way. it just happened. |
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march 26th 2008
wednesday 8:36 pm
l-r: graffiti located on the side of a small grocery store, near a vietnamese restaurant on a dumpster, and full wall graffiti on an abandoned building near korean restaurant
l-r: ‘fucked up’ tag, taggers reason? / bk / zero, 2 reason? tags again
(big in blue, small in red) all behind a korean restaurant near the full wall graffiti
sometimes i wonder what people driving by think when they see i am taking polaroids of graffiti. i have occasionally felt silly when taking photos depending on where the graffiti is located. mostly though i am in alleys, behind businesses, near abandoned places, etc. out of view. sometimes i feel like i am part of this ‘scene’ even though i’m not. i don’t partake in graffiti, i just take photos of them. i guess it’s the fact that i am there after someone has tagged/vandalized (whatever you want to call it) a spot- just me and my polaroid. i am not there to criticize. it is what it is. |
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march 24th 2008
monday 6:30 pm
i met this girl when i took my sister back to her college apartment. she opened the apartment door, walked in, said hi, and sat down next to my sister who was watching television on the couch. most of my sister's other friends i met did the same thing- walked right in. the apartment itself was small and semi-cluttered. the refrigerator looked bare with grape jelly, yogurt, applesauce, some leftovers, and the majority of items being alcohol such as smirnoff ice bacardi rum goldschlager patron silver. typical. i tried not to do a lot of shopping. i would say i was pretty successful at doing so. i bought a caterpillar (unagi roll wrapped in avocado) sushi roll at earth fare market and some ciao bella gelato to take home. i went into cook's corner saturday evening and finally bought an individual sized coeur a la creme mold with some cheesecloth. i haven't even made coeur a la creme, "heart of the cream", because i never had the proper equipment. now that i do it has been moved to the top of my list of things to make.
before i left my sister's place the fridge looked a little more full. all of the alcohol was placed behind substantial food instead of condiments and leftovers. |
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march 21st 2008
friday 8:49 pm
tonight i made cupcakes. the "3" represents my sister's number in line (relating to her sorority). i don't know. i don't know anything about sororities. i am not in one, but she is. she loves it... a lot. i'm driving her back to college tomorrow early in the morning and staying until sunday night. she assured me there would be a bed for me in her apartment since one of her roommates took off the semester. they want me to make them dinner when i get there. there is a fresh market nearby so i guess i am going to get inspired while in there in the afternoon. maybe they will have some pom products for me to stock up on. |
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march 20th 2008
thursday 8:57 am
i found an optikon 135 in my closet. why am i finding all of these old cameras tucked behind mess in there? it takes 126 film and i have yet to dabble into it. maybe i am a little apprehensive. i'm not sure. last night i finally figured out how to minimize the digital noise in my pictures. i was really worried that my camera could not take low light shots since i kind of hate flash. all is well because i can manually set the ISO. why didn't i think of this earlier before stressing myself out?! since my sister is visiting from college she has been stealing most of my clothes. i doubt i will see some of my stuff, shoes included, when she goes back ;/ |
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march 18th 2008
tuesday 5:55 pm
what's in my refrigerator's bottom shelf:
kumquats, strawberries, pom peach white tea, spinach, hot fudge!, and a carton of milk is hiding
i was near the produce section at the grocery store saturday when i came across lettuce. i was trying to decide if i should buy boston or romaine since i don't like iceberg. in the midst of my lettuce dilemma i noticed the pom, bolthouse, and naked products located below the vegetables. guess what i ended up walking out with? a 46 oz glass container of pom peach white tea. i took so long trying to figure out which juice product to buy that i forgot i actually wanted lettuce! i think i will go back sometime this week for romaine and possibly more teas / juices / smoothies. i'd rather have a fridge full of crap like that instead of beer :/
i wish summer was here already. i bought sandals and am waiting to wear them in appropriate weather. plus, i found this geometric print skirt in my closet last night. too windy and slightly cold lately. agh! hurry up, summer. i want to wear skirts, shorts, & sandals soon. |
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march 14th 2008
friday 3:14 pm
Over the past few days I have been trying to think of what I want. I recently bought a new digital camera and am very pleased with my purchase. Hi, 2008, I am no longer stuck back in digital year 2003! I hadn't really been meaning to update because I didn't think it was necessary since my old camera still worked to some degree. I caved in when I remembered that a relative gave me a gift card for x-mas to an over-priced electronic store. It took a long, long time for me to decide which one I actually wanted. After noticing that the pros by far outweighed the cons the camera was in my shopping cart. I didn't really want a new camera, but I think that it was well worth it.
I kind of want a rabbit. I've never owned one, but was looking up information online. I think I want a Dutch rabbit because they are a semi-small breed and I have read positive things about them. I even stumbled upon a cute Japanese rabbit named Oolong (fitting!), pictured above, who got famous by balancing objects on his head. Items like bean cakes, teacups, vegetables, stuffed animals, etc. I'm pretty sure I won't be doing anything like that if I decide to get a rabbit. I don't even think I will be able to get one any time soon since I own a little dog named Tai. Even though he was okay meeting my friend's cat I don't think he is accustomed to other "creatures" like rabbits :( |
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march 12th 2008
wednesday 5:25 pm
today started out pretty good. i made my second favorite breakfast dish- tocino, sinangag, itlog- sweet pork / fried rice / egg. i lounged around for a bit, played ut2k4 with french people, and did another music essay for my online course. when it became sunny, around 12PM, i sat outside on the carpet (to ward off weeds from wriggling their way up to the surface) in my small, dead garden. there is a little tree still alive, but it is pretty much dead in there. the garden is located in the left-hand corner of my backyard and is shaped like an isosceles right triangle. i drew a map of what i want in it by summertime: more stones, perhaps garden "accessories" like a little gnome!, colorful flowers of course, and a vegetable garden in one of the flowerbeds. i have grown sitaw on my super-homemade looking trellis before. i want this summer to be productive.
semi-upbeat playlist for the day- twee, indie pop, synths,
afro-pop, handclaps, and a few indescribable descriptions:
animal collective "fireworks"
black kids "hit the heartbreaks"
architecture in helsinki "heart it races"
joe lean & the jing jang jong "lonley buoy"
voxtrot "mothers sisters daughters & wives"
vampire weekend "cape cod kwassa kwassa" |
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march 11th 2008
tuesday 3:23 am
Spring break is officially over. I spent the last few days drunk. I got off of work on Thursday and went to my friend's apartment- the same one I went to for graffiti photographs. I was really only intending to stay for a few hours, but it started to snow a bit and everyone there convinced me to stay the night. I planned on leaving the next morning, but it didn't work out like that. My friends invited more people to come Thursday night since it was all right for other people to drive over, but not for me to drive home ;/ I got minimally drunk because I was planning on going home by 10AM. Everyone slept on either the living room or kitchen (it was carpeted also) floor. I remember seeing the top of someone's head I didn't recognize in the dark a few inches away from mine before I went to sleep.
I woke up around 9 in the morning and a few people were already up. Some guy whose name I cannot remember right now was snoring pretty loud. It was annoying. I tried to leave, but again everyone convinced me to stay a little longer. I ate breakfast with them. It was pretty bland- coffee made with a horrible coffee to water ratio. Not really breakfast worthy, but that is what mine consisted of that morning. It started to snow some more and we sat around trying to think of what to do. Everyone around me came to an agreement on inviting more people over for the night. They made a requirement that everyone invited had to bring alcohol and if they couldn't obtain it they had to bring someone along who did have it.
I drank, put together a playlist on my hypemachine, drank some more, danced like a fool, drank some more, went outside for a drunken snowball fight, made-out with a guy who has a crush on me, drank some more, danced some more, sat down on the kitchen floor, heard someone throwing up in the bathroom, ate some pop rocks, drank some more, made-out some more with the same guy, and finally decided to quit drinking at 3AM. I went to sleep. This time I got the living room couch instead of the slightly hard floor. My last image was of everyones plastic red cups covering the entire surface of the coffee table in front of me. I woke up with a slight hangover. This time I drank some left over orange juice and made toast.
The snow was starting to melt a bit and we didn't want it to leave. We tried to come up with everything we could do that reminded us of the cold. A few minutes later we were in a grocery store standing in the frozen aisle. Some people wanted chocolate ice cream others wanted vanilla. Only me and my friend Brittany wanted something other than plain vanilla or chocolate. Another friend ended up spotting a bag of mini individual ice cream cups, half of the cups were vanilla and the other chocolate. We thought it was perfect so we bought it. I was content with it on the drive back to the apartment. I drove back to my place to shower and put on a change of clothes. I contemplated on staying put and staying sober, even though I had a bottle of rum in the house. Still, my bottle of rum was way better than being around 10 bottles of everything else.
I ended up driving back. We did the same thing as the other nights. This time with a little less people. We played drunken Cranium and I was put onto a team with three other Asian people. They named our team the "AZNS" and I was cringing behind my plastic cup full of... something. We won. The only reason we won was because the other team forfeited. They lost two of their teammates along the way. I guess they got distracted by the people around us who weren't playing. Someone suggested we go to McDonalds and get some iced coffees. They were trying frantically to find a sober person. I felt pretty bad for In-Hye because the 6 of us riding in her big car kept changing our orders. I didn't change mine. I just wanted an iced coffee like we all originally agreed on. An iced coffee for all of us ended up turning into hamburgers, french fries, and more food for the people we left behind.
We got home and drank some more. One of my teammates from Cranium insisted on teaching me how to "crank dat soulja boy." I kept telling her that I wasn't that drunk. I turned on the television and tried to watch something but the music around me was too loud. I kind of felt bad for the person living above. I didn't drink anymore and watched everyone around me. Some people were reserved and not drinking anything. Others were pouring their 8th cup and doing a horrible job at that. And there I was sitting on the couch watching everyone. I drank straight out of the bottle of cranberry juice in front of me. I left at 4AM when I was sober. My bed felt 100% better than anyone's living room floor or couch. I was woken up at 5:20AM by another friend, who wasn't at the party and was not drunk, who wanted me to go eat breakfast with him. I had to decline, but not before saying "Are you serious?!" I woke up the same morning to a quiet room. |
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march 5th 2008
wednesday 12:15 pm
i went to my friend's apartment downtown yesterday. she recently won a bid on ebay for a 35mm olympus om-1 and wanted me to come over with my canon to take photos. while i was driving over it started to rain lightly. then after a few minutes it started to pour down heavily, stop after two minutes, start again, and stop. luckily, it stopped by the time i pulled into the back of the apartment. when i opened her door i startled two other friends who were sitting on the couch nearby. it was a nice surprise! i didn't expect to see either of them since they go to college elsewhere. spring break for both of us is this week, but i didn't know they were coming down.
we decided on going down to the train tracks "close" behind her apartment. she told us it was going to be close since she was taking us through a short-cut. twenty five minutes later we were standing on the tracks. some of us had mud on our shoes and jeans. some of us were bundled up behind our thick jackets, hoodies, and scarves- it was that cold! i was wondering how much time it would have taken us if we were to go down the long path. what i did know was that i had accidentally crushed someone's empty heineken bottle with my left foot and stepped my right foot into thick mud while going down a small hill. getting my favorite jeans dirty weren't a concern at the moment because i just wanted to find the graffiti she said was "close."
having learned once that 'close' to my friend doesn't really fit into my idea of 'close' i was prepared to walk and walk some more. which is exactly what we ended up doing. the wind started to pick up speed and was crashing against my face. if you've ever walked on a train track then you know it's not wise to walk backwards on it. at least, not on this train track. so i had to bear the wind making my hair go in every direction. we reached a bridge and graffiti was practically on every column holding up that old bridge. it wasn't until i took my first shot with my canon that i realized it looked like people either 1) were living there at one point or 2) currently came down there to have a place to sleep. maybe that's just a typical image under any bridge. i don't know. i haven't been under a lot of bridges!
instant shots:
TOP ROW: ms. pac-man, trashville two zero zero four, i missed the last train sunday
BOTTOM ROW: abolish capitalism, so7 n.y., mixtape and bones r.i.p ?!
it started to rain a little while we were under there so we stayed put with scattered paper, clothes, bibles, and what looked like a campfire. we joked around saying that we were going to light the remaining logs, but it never happened. i don't think i wanted to stay down there too long anyways. i was actually starting to get hot so i took off my scarf. i guess my body was trying to compensate for it being so cold outside. when the rain finally stopped we walked back along the train tracks, up the muddy hill, climbed over a fallen tree (as there was no way around since this was the "short-cut" we were taking), and walked down to my friend's apartment door.
when we got back we drove to a hole in the wall diner. we met up with two of my friend's friends- my acquaintances. it started to flurry when we got our orders in. while i was eating my bun & cream (grilled honey bun & ice cream) i was hoping that the snow would stick to the ground instead of melting. it wasn't cold enough even though it felt like the conditions were right. we drove back to her apartment and watched the news. primarily cnn covering barack obama and hilary clinton. there is only so much political coverage i can handle in a day so after an hour of that i decided to leave. i drove in silence for a while. i dropped my film off at the nearest developing place. then i drove home with "future reflections" playing. when i got inside i climbed into my bed and fell asleep. |
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march 1st 2008
saturday 1:22 am
i wanted to buy this shirt by milano chow but it was sold out. ugh, yumao uto!
today is going to be one of those cleaning days. there are dishes in my sink. i usually don't do that- leave them in over night. i hate waking up to dishes! i also need to fix the coffee pot because it was leaking earlier. yet another reason to use a french press! i think vacuuming, re-arranging my bookshelf, throwing away junk, and doing laundry are also on my to-do list. my room looks decent since i am never really in it. whenever i get done cleaning i tell myself that i will try to keep everything organized. then a month or week later i find bare hangers with clothing at the bottom of my closet (trying on, taking off, throwing on floor), magazines / cameras scattered around, sheets and sheets of papers pertaining to school on my desk, and just unorganized things in general.
i'm working on it. |
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february 27th 2008
wednesday 11:45 pm
it's been snowing over here since yesterday afternoon. there was a lot of accumulation which resulted in all of the schools in this area closing. i knew this because when i went to check my mailbox i could see a few high schoolers throwing snowballs at each other. at 2 o'clock today the sun came out and cleared some of the snow from the roads /lawns. before that time it was cloudy and i was feeling lethargic. i didn't do much in the morning except make my favorite breakfast- eggs in a bird nest. i also made a few cups of coffee from my french press which i stole from my mother. it is the best way to have a cup of coffee! or maybe my taste buds are tricking me :/
when the sun came out i was reading a food magazine. i forgot what it was called, but it was lying around near my bookshelf. i came to an advertisement for a loaf of bread, either sara lee or pepperidge farm. i was inspired. i went into the kitchen, pulled out a bread recipe from my memory, and made it. while the dough was proofing i decided to call my sister and ask her what she thought i should use the bread for. her answer would determine how i shaped the dough. she told me that she was busy and to call back later, but i wanted the answer right at that moment. she was a little annoyed, but quickly told me to use it for sandwiches. then she hung up. so here is how they turned out:
i did make plain ones, too. they are about the same size as a kaiser roll. i am not sure. they are of moderate size. so tomorrow at work i am having a sandwich with my homemade bread. |
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february 23rd 2008
saturday 8:28 pm
screenshot of my recent flickr photo w/notes- a lost camera i have been trying to find for nearly two years. where was it? in the midst of piles of clothes in my closet. it's competing with my "new" old minolta right now. of course, the canon has more sentimental value as it was my dad's first 35mm & mine as well. anyways, i suppose i need to keep better track of things! later in the day i found a package on my porch after coming home from grocery shopping. inside was my late valentine present- a golden wood box full of chocolate faux nigiri:
tuna & tamago nigiri are supposed to be at the bottom right.
i was tempted before i decided to take a picture ;) |
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february 21st 2008
thursday 4:15 pm
RECTANGLE1: turkey / havarti / spinach / mustard on ciabatta,
leftover blueberries, star fruit, ocean creature crackers
RECTANGLE2: kiwi, dark chocolate pieces, savory bin-bin rice
cracker, roasted red pepper hummus, sweet baby carrots |
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february 20th 2008
wednesday 3:15 pm
messy morning hair + what i'm wearing: $4 white tee and $30 35mm minolta. i'm also wearing a bracelet that my grandma got me from the philippines that i really like, but you can't see it :( |
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february 16th 2008
saturday 3:06 pm
It's Saturday and I don't have anything planned. I can't stop eating these mung bean cakes that are stocked up in my fridge. agh Anyways, I want to go to this "hidden find" place called the Mart. It has a lot of antiques and vintage finds. I haven't been there in a while, but I have purchased a few things. Some of the items are expensive and some are relatively cheap. I know that they sell cameras so I will be looking into that. I kind of want to find a record player even though I already have one. I would like a smaller one so it can go on my vintage side table. I threw out my old radio/cd player in order to "minimize" the space in my room a few weeks back. I figured I wouldn't be needing it, but sometimes I find myself wanting to listen to music in my room. There is also this other place near college that has a mix of things including apparel so maybe I will go there, also. I want to find a record player, cheap cameras, unused notebooks, old film, a new bag, and shoes shoes shoes. I'm sure I will come home with more than what I originally wanted. |
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february 13th 2008
wednesday 11:04 am
strawberries, coffee inside lion sauce bottle, yellow dog container holding mini coffee cupcake, japanese crackers, turkey / provolone / mint chutney on asiago cheese bread, chocolate creme koala's march, botan rice candy |
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february 7th 2008
thursday 2:12 pm
my second attempt at putting together a bento:
BOX1: strawberries, blueberries, sliced carrots & bell peppers,
ranch inside rabbit sauce bottle, white rabbit creamy candy
BOX2: avocado/carrot/green onion roll, spicy sesame chicken,
blue cat container for wasabi, soy sauce in panda & bear sauce bottles |
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february 3rd 2008
sunday 6:23 pm
I'm watching Puppy Bowl IV instead of the Super Bowl. My dog keeps growling at the television screen and whimpering because he can't play with the puppies. He is also going crazy right now watching the kitty halftime show. Anyways, I have occassionally found myself flipping from the puppy bowl to the super bowl just to catch the commercials. Supposedly, it is a big deal to have your commercial play during this time slot. I caught a glimpse of a trailer for the movie Wanted. It looked all right so I decided to check it out on IMDB. The director's name, Timur Bekmambetov, sounded very familiar. It turns out that he directed the Russian movies Night Watch and Day Watch which I have recently watched. I'm not sure if Wanted is going to be a good movie, but I might be willing to see it since Bekmambetov directed it. Plus, James McAvoy isn't too hard on the eyes! ;) |
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february 1st 2008
friday 2:26 pm
tai, my little dog
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january 29th 2008
tuesday 4:14 pm
desk with art supplies, vintage side table with zines / cameras / jeans, tall mirror, chair with thrift store bag / scarves / moleskine notbooks, platform bed, television on dresser
what's in your bedroom? |
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january 26th 2008
saturday 5:35 pm
i'm going to explore the disposable camera.
just a step above polaroids, a step below digital.
i’ve become increasingly drawn into the world of photography apart from digital. polaroids, 35mm, panorama, lomography, deadstock, pinhole. maybe i am bored of being able to change a picture just because i didn’t like the lighting or the way my face looked in it. i’ve been using mostly everything besides digital lately to capture moments with friends, including the faces they wish they could have deleted prior, or something silly or insignificant. but through my polaroids and 35mm film i have embraced those imperfections and trivialness.
yeah, i suppose i could just keep those ugly photos on my digital camera, but there’s something about those other formats out there available. i’ve already been delving into polaroids, dusting off my dad’s old canon, becoming a part of the lomographic society international, and sweeping thrift stores for cheap 35mms. all of the before mentioned are “point and shoot” in some way or other. maybe some a little bit more complicated by setting aperture, sliding in a color filter, but nothing crazy. p&s nonetheless.
what am i trying to get at? i don’t even know, really. today i was walking in a store and came across a row of disposable cameras. i’m sure i’ve used one at least once in my life, but i can’t remember. probably on an educational field trip in middle school where the only thing i shot was my friends goofing off. you know, the kind of stuff you’re supposed to shoot with disposables ;/ curiosity, a sense of nostalgia, and a “what the hell” later brings me here: to a $3 camera lying right beside me. so, what the hell, right? point & shoot, send off to 1HR photo, collect, and review. exploring the simple beyond. |
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january 16th 2008
wednesday 2:32 pm
promo leaked ;/
hot chip: made in the dark
shake a fist
wrestlers
ready for the floor
we're looking for a lot of love
it's pretty good. only about two of the tracks (that i heard) i disliked, but perhaps i should give them a second chance. i've only listened to the album in someone else's car so i haven't given it a good listen. i put some of the songs on my hypemachine so i can hear hot chip while playing ut2k4. ut3 requires more than my pc can handle so i don't have it...yet! i am still stuck back in 2004. |
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january 10th 2008
thursday 1:48 am
i added "pack bento lunches" to my 43T list so i can get a move on with that. i actually made one 4 hours ago (yesterday) so i can eat it today in about 10h 12m. of course the things i made were not as nearly as cute as the things i've seen on other blogs. ugh, practice practice practice! what is inside my bento right now:
top compartment;
small onigiri (+ small plain w/furikake on top)
red thai curry w/basil shaped into tiny stars
bottom compartment;
carrots shaped into mushrooms
bell peppers shaped into grass
condiment bottle full of sriracha
" " ranch dressing
lotte cookies in small cup
the exact same ones i received on x-mas:
sriracha is in the panda bear & ranch in the bunny.
having not been satisfied with the state my digital camera is in (dying!) i opted not to take any pictures. i think the 2 cameras below are out of my mind, for now. i am having too much fun messing around with my new, old 35mm cameras. i even found a link on how to make a matchbox pinhole camera. not too big on pinhole photography, but it should be worth it (especially for costing under $4!). for anyone else interested: fun fun |
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january 1st 2008
tuesday 11:14 pm
I think I am going to be spending a lot of 2008 with these two:
ZENIT 122K SLR & LOMO LC-A+
I've got too many 35mm cameras piling up around my room already, but that's all right with me. My digital camera is acting strange which probably means it's dying. Right now I can't find it anywhere and I am not really worried about that. I find myself bringing either a polaroid or 35mm camera when I go out anyways. |
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