I Finally Cut My Hair Today.

Now I don't feel so shaggy anymore. I wish there wasn't that awkward phase between long and short hair. Those that have grown out their hair probably know what I'm talking about.

"Swing Swing" 12/28/07

Rachel's debut was one of the more entertaining debuts I've been to. It didn't feel like the stuffy affair that coming-of-age celebrations tend to be sometimes. Apparently I've been tapped to do her sister's next year too. Let's hope that goes through and I better gear for that one when the time comes.

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Man, the heat is really starting to get intense here in So Cal again. Not that its nothing I'm used to, but it just seems like its come a lot earlier than usual. Especially right after a long weekend marked with rainstorms. Isn't there usually some kind of cool, breezy, in between period? Oh well, I suppose it allows for more time outside and longer days.

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I have the day off this Saturday, and I plan on daytripping through downtown LA and Hollywood if I can. Most notably, I plan on using LA's subway throughout my day. A lot of people don't even know that LA has a subway system, or if they do, its probably only because they caught a glimpse of it while watching "The Italian Job". I hear its really nice. I mean, its obviously not as extensive as San Francisco's BART or NYC's subways, but at least we're trying to alleviate traffic somewhat.

I'm thinking I can hit Hollywood and Highland, Olvera Street, Exposition Park, and Union Station at the very least. It'll make for some nice photographic opportunities anyways. Anyone else want to come with? It'll be a nice, fun day of just hanging out, and exploring.

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Speaking of San Francisco, turns out I might be going back in the end of March. That'll be fun. It'll also be a longer trip than I took back in November (and not raining), so hopefully I'll get more of a chance to explore the city and its surroundings, or at least go back to where I went and enjoy it all over again.

I love to travel. I just wish it wasn't so expensive to do so.

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Okay, I've got a great video for tonight. Has anyone seen that ridiculous informercial for the Hawaii Chair? If not, Youtube it. Or, you can check out this wonderful real life demonstration by none other than Ellen Degeneres. She actually bought a couple and decided to use them for her talk show for a day. Here's what results:

Oh, The Plans I Have For This Week....

"The Jump Shot" 5/12/07

Yep, more jumping pictures from me =). Jumping pictures are just so fun. I mean, seriously, how can you possibly jump and not smile? That's like.... inhuman.

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Oh geez. How blind am I? Okay, so here's the story: I've been living in my current residence for oh, almost 5 years now. However, it wasn't until just last night, that I realized this house has an attic.
For the last 24 hours, I've been kicking myself in the head, wondering how I went that long without discovering it. Apparently I'm not looking up at the ceiling often enough. Now that, my friends, is a tragedy. Next on the agenda is to go up there sometime this week and check out if there's anything up there. Who knows, maybe I'll find a cupboard. With an indian in it.

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It's kind of interesting that a lot of my daily routine happens after midnight. I wonder if it's bad for my health. I'll tell you one thing though, I can definitely blame it on my history of staying up nights playing video games. Oh, the stories I could tell. Heck, I can easily blame Counterstrike for causing my cousins and I our freshmen years in college. When I look back... man, what a waste. It's okay, we're all good now. Hopefully.

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Wow, so apparently 80 or so people have visited my blog in the last day (when I first put up the hit counter). I didn't even think more than 5 people visited my blog daily. And look! I've got hits from Japan! And.... I dunno, Finland maybe? It's too bad they didn't comment, like I asked you guys to (including you, New Yorkers). That would've been cool. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and just pretend they don't read english. Although that probably really is the reason.

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Does anyone get annoyed by the fact that the majority of my blog entries are comprised of little bits and pieces of random thoughts? I've always assumed that keeping subjects short might help with our current generations lack of an attention span. I mean, I love going into detail about things when I can (I did go to school to become a writer after all), but how long is too long? What do you guys look for in a blog that makes it interesting for you to read? I like to cater to my wonderful reading audience of 80 or so (see above).

Dangit, I totally realized I still haven't taken out the trash yet. Argh. At 2 in the morning. Lame. And I know I'm just gonna wake the dogs up and they'll be pouncing all over me as I roll the trash bins out. Oy. Anyways, here's my Youtube video of the night.

*dingdingdingding!* Hey, I've decided that tonight will be a bonus night, and I'll feature 2 videos! Actually, the videos are related, so I just thought they'd go together better. Tonight, we've got a japanese guy on the videos. Now, we all know the japanese are slightly crazy (look up their game shows on Youtube). This guy is no exception. I will, however, give him extra points for multitasking, and making an attempt to learn english. Please enjoy, and try not to laugh to hard:

Work meetings suck

Because you have to talk more about work. On your days off. Who wants to do that?

"A Very Ugly Test Shot" 2/22/08

This is a photo of me early in the morning, clearly unshaven, obviously slightly groggy still, and in no mood to take a photo. So why'd I do it? Because my shipment of "new" photo equipment finally came in that day. Probably about $200 worth of equipment that I once had stolen from me, and finally repurchased. I know I've been talking about the stuff as of late on the blog, but only because I was growing impatient.

Now, if you were to have your headshots done by me, in no way is the above photo an indication of what to expect. Haha. Actually..... maybe I should take the photo down because of that..... nah. Too lazy.

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In all seriousness though, is there anyone who's reading this blog in need of any headshots or portraiture work done? I really need to update my portfolio, and for a limited time, I'll be offering to do them for free. Heck, you don't even have to be needing headshots. If you just have free time and want some free professional photos of yourself, please contact me. Giving them to you for free is the least I can do in return for you helping me out.

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I haven't gone to Disneyland in a week or two. I think I'm overdue. Anyone wanna come with? Disneyland is always fun :).

Wow, is this seriously all I can come up with off the top of my head at the moment? I must be really braindead.

Oh! Now I know what I was gonna talk about! So you might have noticed a couple new additions to the site. I threw in a little site counter and a geographical widget to the blog. Why?

I don't know. Curiosity really. I just kind of wonder what kind of people read my site, and where from. It kinda gives me a better perspective on just how small the world can be sometimes, ya know? Like that whole Six Degrees Of Separation thing. And you gotta admit, sometimes it feels pretty awesome to know that your blog is being read halfway around the world. Leave a comment, you Parisians! J/K, I don't even know if anyone outside of So Cal reads this, cuz I only know most of my close friends do. How about a favor for me? Just for this post -

If you happen to be outside of so Cal and you're reading this, would you mind leaving a comment of where you're from? That'd be really awesome.

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Speaking of out of town, you know I'm going to Australia in the winter? Cool beans. Turns out I might have relatives living out there, and if they're there, we're gonna try and find them. I know that might not make sense if you don't know my family's backstory, but I'll try to get around to that someday. But yeah, add that on to the list of places I'm going this year, which already includes Hawaii, Florida, Mexico, and hopefully Africa as well.

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Okay, one video before I leave (because Youtube is our friend). I'm sure you've all seen this panda video before. This one's an oldie, but a classic nonetheless. Why? 1)There's Pandas, 2)There's babies, 3)There's freaking out, 4)its hard to get much cuter than this:


oh, and in the style of Kina:

@Kina
Thank you for sticking it out and managing to read everyone's posts on your blog. You get an extra gold star next to your name. Although, you did kill a snail. And that's a no no in our book.

What A Slow Saturday!

"The Way" 4/21/07

I took this picture last year while participating in a walkathon for Shelter's Right Hand, an auxiliary of the Women and Children's Shelters of LA County. It was really fun actually, and everyone who walked got themselves a great exercise, all while raising money for our local shelters from domestic violence. Everyone won that day. A random bit of trivia, I actually happened to be running while taking this picture. Just imagine how tough it was trying to take this picture while running uphill and twisting at an angle, all while trying to dodge other runners and joggers. Not too bad for a lucky shot.

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So it's raining again here in Southern California, and you know what? I actually like it this time. Even though I'm writing this at around 230 in the morning, the rain is somehow helping to fuel my creative juices right now, even though I'm kind of tired. Thank God for rain.

Went to The Alley last night in Fullerton, to watch Kina Grannis once again. Actually, just going back to oldtown Fullerton was reason enough for me to get out of the house. It's always a little bit nostalgic coming back to your old college stomping grounds. Not that I'm old. Or that college was a long time ago. I just like to remember the good times at Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton. Whatever. Anyways, I finally got my last cd, which was cool. If Kina cd's were Pokemon, then I have achieved the impossible task of "catching them all".

I also decided to steal a bunch of her stickers, with her permission of course, which is great. The fact that I took so many actually gave me a great idea for a project, which I'll detail in a later post. You'll see :).

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Before I go, I just wanted to share another quick video. This time, it's actually old footage of The Beatles' hit song, "Hey Jude". This song has always been a real favorite of mine. I can't explain it, but there's just something so completely and positively inspiring and uplifting to the song. That was a lot of adjectives in one sentence, by the way. Oh by the way, watch for around 5:28. That right there makes the whole video, lol:

Today I learned why weathermen have fake names.

it's so they can't get hunted down by angry people when they predict the weather wrong. Seriously.

"Soundboard" 2-17-08

Well, I finally got a shipping confirmation from Midwest Photo today. My photo equipment should be arriving by Friday. It'll be nice to get all my stands and umbrella's back again, however it sorta sucks having to rebuild from scratch, just because some guy breaks into my car. It's a really frustrating feeling, knowing you worked so hard to earn or get something, while a thief has to work very little to gain access to the possessions you worked for. Oh well, that's why you shouldn't be materialistic. Anyways, it'll be good to be able to get back into the portrait photography business.

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I miss Robeks. I haven't had any in a few days, which I suppose is a good thing, but I'm really craving it right now. I'm going to be sure to go in and grab some right after work tomorrow. It rained today, so once again, no photo shoot, but tomorrow will be a good day, so I have to make sure I can work with the client in a pinch the moment the sun comes out. That's what sets professionals apart from the others, they can work with what they've got, and the job still gets done beautifully. I suppose you can apply that to any job, really.

Tonight I went to the Ricafranca's to shoot some video, and we ended up watching American Idol afterwards. Quite frankly, I haven't really watched American Idol since the first season (and IMO, probably the only season with a real star.... wait, there was Carrie Underwood too from Season 4 I think), so to watch it again was kinda like trying to relearn how to ride a bike. Anyways, there's one female contestant who caught my eye:

Goshums, she's really cute. And she sings. Very well, at that (she was one of only 3 tonight who garnered praise from all three judges). And she about my age. And, she's filipino. Argh.

Now, I'm not gonna go obsess and vote like crazy every day for her. But, just being on the show has already gotten the attention of the nation. And the filipino-american community. And if there's one thing that fil-ams love, its other fil-ams. In the US, there is a ridiculously huge sense of cultural community and pride when it comes to filipinos. Why? I don't know. It's hard to explain. I guess you have to be filipino to understand. Anyways, I do wish her the best of luck. And who knows, maybe I'll get to meet her someday. She looks nice enough.

Haha, she lists Regine Velasquez as an influence, and wants to go to school to be a nurse. True filipino for sure. I don't get what's with filipinos and becoming nurses either. If you know a filipino, if you asked them, 9 times out of 10, either they, or someone they're related to, is probably a nurse. Weird.

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Anyways, one last video for tonight. Let's just say... kids say the darndest things:

I Need To Clean My Room....

... Instead, I'm writing in my blog :)

"Not So Natural Formations" 2/17/08

A cloudy, overcast, with scattered sprinkling throughout the day. A weatherman's fairly accurate description of the day. Work was long. It somehow managed to go by really fast though. A wonderful after work dinner with friends was exactly what I needed to unwind after :). Besides, there's nothing wrong with hanging out with people you love.

Happy birthday JP. Enjoy being 24 before the rest of us. I really want to visit NY before you transfer to wherever you're gonna go, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

Had a chance to make some money taking photos, but that got rained out on. Well, it was just fairly overcast in general, and I had a hard time trying to convince the client that it wouldn't be a problem (its hard explaining White Balance to those out of the loop). Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow.

I don't really have anything significant to write about tonight, which is a bummer. Usually I'm glad to write about anything, but I guess my brain is fried at the moment.

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By the way, do you like the stream photo I took above? I'm trying my hand at landscape photography a little bit, and I don't think it came out too bad. What I really wanted to practice was stream/waterfall shots, and since I live in So Cal where pebbled creeks are somewhat of a rarity, I had to improvise by going where I knew I could find one: Disneyland. California Adventure to be precise, but I still think it was a fairly decent shot. My only gripe is that I didn't have a tripod handy, so the rocks aren't as sharp as I'd like them to be. The water came out nice and milky though, which was the main emphasis, so it wasn't a total loss.

I guess I'll actually turn in early tonight. That's... different.

What? Today Was a Holiday?

Before I even get anywhere with this post, check this out:



Check it out, Kina sent a shout out to me on her video! How cool is that! For sure I'm getting her something to show my appreciation at her next show.

Well anyways, her show last night at the Hotel Cafe was just spectacular. Have you ever listened to an artist, and you just get the chills? I was experiencing that during her whole set. She's really that good guys. And her personality is just as wonderful. She's really sweet if you meet her in person. Her and her family.

Anyways, here's a few shots of last night:

If she ever happens to be playing in your area, be sure to go see her perform live! I guarantee you'll enjoy it :).

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Argh, I'm such a noob. Today I was restringing the guitar ( the cheapy nylon strings just weren't doing it for me, always go bronze or better if you can help it), and I accidentally snapped the 4 string while tuning. The darn string swiped at my neck! So now I've got this long gash across my neck. It looks like I tried to commit suicide or something. I hope no one gets the wrong ideas when they see it. On top of that, I need to buy another 4th string! Gah, back to Sam Ash. And I have one dorky nylon string sticking out like a sore thumb. It's fairly noticeable when I play it. Whatever. My sister's getting annoyed that I'm trying to practice, but I'm gonna keep on doing it. I'm polite enough to not get crazy when she's having her late night conversations with her boyfriend, which usually turn into shouting matches at the end of the night anyways. If I can stand having to listen to her scream her head off once a week, I'm sure she can handle me playing guitar for an hour or two.

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Well, I think my clothes are done in the dryer. Time to do some clothes-folding before I go to bed.

Well Now, I Haven't Been Here In A While

Paradise Pier 2-16-08

I forgot just how much I miss California Adventure. I took this picture just today, but looking at it... 3 or 4 years of my life suddenly come flooding back into my brain. The 50th Anniversary, Club Club Buzz (CCB), dancing the Block Party Bash, following behind the parade and singing "Welcome To Our Family Time", sitting as a group watching the greatest fireworks show ever.... and all the people I've been privileged to share all these memories with. 2005- Nicole C, Tim, Tracy, Michelle, CJ, Davey, Casey, Mika, Nicole R, Jayna, Jeff. 2006- Nicole E (that's a lot of Nicole's), RJ, Rachel, Dinah, Hannah, Jessica. 2007- Mercedes, Zahara, Veronica, Heidi, Jose, Tracey.

What's really sad is that I haven't had contact with a lot of these people lately. I miss them. I miss my Coldstone friends, my Johnny Rockets friends. Yes, everyone eventually parted ways... but these are friends I always thought I'd keep. I think its time to start making some phone calls.

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Anyways, as sad as the thoughts I'm thinking are, they still can't overcome just how happy Disneyland makes me feel. I love the fact that it's my home away from home. Whenever I had a bad day at school or work, I'd just make my way there, and the stress was gone. I'm glad I have a way to escape when I need, otherwise I'd probably go crazy.

I got the new Jack Johnson cd from Amazon today. Amazon's usually pretty quick with their deliveries, so I'm a bit surprised this one took a while. It doesn't matter though, because it's been on repeat for the last 3 hours now. Jack Johnson is awesome. I wish I could play guitar as well as he does. And the music he makes is just so.... chill. It's like, you can't be in a bad mood when listening to him. I love that. His mellow and upbeat personality extends into his music and just reaches into your soul. There are so many people who wish they could have that kind of effect with their own music. One day, I'd like to see him in concert. Well, he's playing at Coachella this year, but I don't know if its worth paying 90 dollars to see just him that day. Sure there are others playing that day, but I think he'd be the only one worth seeing. Now, on the other hand, if Death Cab for Cutie, Portishead, and Jack Johnson were all playing the same day, I might think differently. We'll see. I'm already going to Bamboozle Left. That should be awesome enough.

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Continuing on with music, I'm still waiting (rather impatiently) for the new Jack's Mannequin cd to come out. Ack, I wish they were playing at Bamboozle Left. They did 2 years ago, and it was awesome. And to be followed up by a reunion of Something Corporate! That was probably one of the greatest moments of my life right there. I also plan on watching Andrew's documentary when it comes out, "Dear Jack". It's basically a video journal of Andrew during the discovery of his cancer, his struggles, and undergoing treatment, all captured on camera. Here's a trailer of the video:


Well, its off to bed now. Till later.

The only significant reason people like February (that, and maybe Black History Month)

So today is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Now, considering the circumstances surrounding this day, I ought to be depressed, due to a lack of a significant other. And yet, here I am, completely excited for this day. I have no plans on lowering my mood as the day drags on either. Why? Because I already know what so many others long to find out: that they are loved.

In my opinion, single people hate this day because they hate seeing so many other people being happy, and trying to figure out why they can't be as happy. Thing is, they just want to be loved. As for me, I kind of see this day as advantageous to the single person. Most people see this day as recognizing the person you love most. I see it... as a day to recognize ALL the people I love. In other words, instead of squandering all of my love on one person, why not spread it to everyone I know? No one ever said I had to be in a romantic relationship to be in the spirit of Valentine's Day :).

On a side note, I'm a little peeved. I ordered a whole bunch of photography equipment to start work on portraits and stuff, and the website I ordered from hasn't even responded yet. I'm becoming a little wary of them. If it wasn't for the fact that they carry a lot of stuff that other websites don't, I probably wouldn't be dealing with them in the first place. I won't mention the sites name, for their sake, but I will tell you that I'd rather shop at more reputable photography equipment companies, like Adorama, or B&H Photo, from now on, if I can. This lack of equipment has even spilled over into this journal. Notice how I haven't posted any pictures lately? It's because I've got nothing to shoot, not until I get all the stuff I ordered.

Ugh.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely Youtube video of the awesome Kina Grannis (who I mentioned I'm seeing on Sunday). If you like what you hear, be sure to support her! She needs it!

A Week Steeped In Mediocrity.

Well, although the first month of the new year was an exciting ride, it had to end eventually. And it just so happened to be last week, the first week of February. There were just so many things going on last week and the negatives ended up outweighing the positives. Not to say that it wasn't a good week, but it was just not as adventurous and new as the the previous weeks.

Actually, you know what? Armed with these facts, I'm now going to take the time to try and turn that all around this week, starting with this week. So I'll start off with the bad stuff first, to get it out of the way, and focus on the good afterwards :). So this week, I got sick. I haven't been sick in like 2 years. I really had a streak going. Then this happened. I just don't like the feeling of not being able to get out of bed or feeling weak or having your body held to the wills and wishes of a disease. I just don't like not being in control of myself I guess. It really put a damper on my weekend too, since I couldn't go out and do anything. I just ended up being a homebody. And that's always no fun, especially when you know the rest of the world is out there getting things done.

I've also been encountering a lot of negative energy at work. For those that know me, I'm usually very happy go lucky and bouncy at work, which in my work environment, is great, because we work hard and go long hours, and deal with a differing range of people. But I guess I've been letting other people's negative attitudes affect me, and work for a while was something I dreaded. I'm going to work at 11 today, but I'm going to make sure I'm mentally prepared and ready to have fun, regardless of outside circumstances.

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Now on to the good stuff :).

Okay, so this week I went back to Cue! Oh man, I miss how exciting that place is, haha. I went with Mercedes, which ended up being a double yay, because I haven't been to Cue! in so long, and I haven't hung out with Mercedes in so long! So, it was back to good times. On top of that, her mom made some more arroz con leche! Mmmmm! I'm so obsessed with mexican food. I really should switch my heritage. Okay, just kidding.

Also, my tax return came last week! Exciting! Okay, granted, I'm using the money to purchase even more camera equipment and to fund my Hawaii trip this May, but I'm glad it came nonetheless. I'm really excited for my camera stuff coming soon though, because I'm just one step closer to having all the equipment I need to create a mobile studio for portraiture or special events :). I really really really want to do photography as a career, I really do. It's just kind of hard when others place other kinds of expectations upon you, and you get caught up in their "disappointments" of the things you were supposed to end up doing. Don't worry though, if I want it bad enough, I'll find a way.

There's one other thing, I just HAVE to mention, because I'm focusing on this thing a lot to help carry me to the end of the week. Saturday night, I purchased tickets to go see Kina Grannis at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood this Sunday night. I'm really hoping that the name looks familiar to you. Well, if you're one of the 90 million people who watched the Super Bowl last week, then it should. Kina was the breakout artist who ended up winning the Doritos' "Crash The Super Bowl" contest, and got her music video and song played on a commercial during the Super Bowl. Anyways, the moment I heard the music, I was just.... floored. I had to check out more. Ended up finding her Myspace, which led me to her Youtube site, which features a whole lot of her original songs (and great covers of other songs too, by the way), and her blog. I listened to a lot of her songs, and she's just amazing. Although I don't have the privilege of saying that I was one of the first people to find her, I will say this: I think she's worth supporting all the way. She's got a great voice, she has a wonderful talent for playing and songwriting, and she's from California :). I can only be more than excited to watch her continue to play and gain more popularity. It also turns out, she's got a Blogger too! So she's way cool in my book.

Wow, this post got long. Anyways, I'll see you later, and hopefully I'll update more often to keep things smaller :)

An Unbelievable win, an unbelievable visit

Wow. It's all I can say. Last night's Super Bowl was just.... unbelievable. It's probably the greatest Bowl game I've ever watched, and I mean that. The Giants did what no one thought possible, take down the "Perfect Patriots", and they took them down in the biggest comeback, the biggest upset, on the biggest stage. My hats off to Eli Manning and co. for accomplishing what no one gave them credit for. Since Week 10, I knew the Patriots were going to make it to the Super Bowl, but I also didn't think they should win it. Since the postseason, I've been preaching on the evils of New England, but everyone thought me crazy. Well, look who's crazy now :).

Okay, okay, enough with the gloating over who was right and whatnot (don't worry Philly, we'll be back next year anyways :)). Yesterday I was checking out my Feedburner, and I came across something very very intriguing. For those of you who don't know what Feedburner is, it's a service that allows you to track how many subscribers and visitors come to your blog everyday, and it's also a service that allows you to promote and advertise your blog as well. It's practically integrated into Blogger, and it's free, so if you use Blogger, why not give it a try?

Anyways, I was looking across my visitors for the day (I don't get many visitors, which is okay, I just started up a new blog and I'm not really making an effort to promote myself), and I came across a certain visitor hailing from Germantown (click on pictures for full sizes):

Now, this city seemed very familiar, yet at the same time very strange to me. I've heard of it, but where is it? Is it here in California? One of those obscure northern California suburbias? I decided to find out how they came across my site, and it showed me this:

Hmm. Frank Warren. Post Secret....... omg. Germantown, MD?!?!?!? It was all clicking together! Germantown is not only the city of the address intended for mailing Postsecrets to, but it's also Frank Warren's residence!!!!

Could this mean... Frank Warren came across my site?!?!? If it was him, then I'm absolutely stunned! He should have left a small comment or something. That would've been awesome. Of course, it could have been someone completely random who also happens to hail from Germantown, MD too, but if it was, that'd be okay too. I'm just surprised that my blog came up from a search about Postsecret. Kinda cool.