| Qiao's and Chris's Wedding in DC! |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|12:21 am] |
Special! Larger photos than my normal and a bit of extra layout.
I woke up 8am to get ready, packed my clothes and camera gear, and headed out toward DC, hoping to get there by 12:30pm, giving me an hour to find everyone and get a seat. Instead, halfway through, a snow storm appeared and visibility disappeared while my car was slipping on ice. I also second guessed myself and thought I missed an exit, but didn't, so that wasted more time, while also missing the correct exit to get to the church, so I wound up on the other direction and didn't realize it. I finally get there at 2:30pm, where everyone was already outside and I missed the ceremony. I still changed out so I wouldn't be wearing jeans around everyone else. I found Hao, Mark, Will, and other Xanga people and talked to them a bit before heading into the church where Qiao and Chris were having photoshoots with different groups, standard wedding photography. The reception was at 5pm, so I followed Will to the reception and parked at a meter instead of inside the building since I didn't know where it was. However, this turned out to be a good thing since I only paid $2 for parking all night and it was 3 blocks away from the hotel, which was great.
The reception had a 9 course meal (according to Lanh, that's standard, but it's my first time seeing that) and Chris/Qiao had several dances on the floor. From the table assignments, looks like Qiao assigned all the Xanga photographers to the same table. Also, the wedding photographers and videographer were all around shooting. As I didn't want to step in their way, I mainly shot from my seat or if I did stand, I stood somewhere completely away from them since I know how annoying it is to have photographers competing against you and ruining shots (or just getting in the way). Conveniently, there were mirrors by the cake and in front of me, so I took a lot of shots bounced through mirrors, which came out extremely well. Qiao later told us that the wedding photographers said they've never shot a wedding with so many DSLR cameras everywhere. Considering the majority of us are photographers, including another wedding photographer and 2 professionals (though Will says 3 since he says I'm a professional) and another person also has the 5dMk2, I wasn't surprised, but it was funny. Camera flashes were going off everywhere.
Qiao offered me one of the hotel rooms to let me stay for the night considering it was still icy outside, and reception ended at 11pm, so it was too late to drive back. I stayed up pretty late just talking to Hao and later on other people when we met up with Qiao/Chris in another room. The next morning, we all checked out and I left my separate way. Again, I had a problem with the directions and ended up driving around DC for an hour before finding the correct highway (why in the world did a southbound suddenly change to northbound after a few miles? That confused me), so I finally got back at 5pm, which meant I had to cancel any plans I had today.
It's been a long weekend, and there's more to do for this week. I have a huge backlog of photos now. Congratulations to Qiao and Chris and thank you for inviting me and letting me have a place to stay! It was great seeing everyone again.
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| Home and Stability... |
[Nov. 30th, 2009|10:46 pm] |
Going back home to AR reminds me how unstable my life really is. There is no solid foundation for me to continue my life, and every day feels like walking on eggshells, carefully tip-toeing around dangerous areas in hopes not to tilt the balance of how everything is set, only to realize that sooner or later, everything will spill. I just hope that when that day comes, it'll be controlled enough that the damage is minimal and we can breathe a sigh of relief, or at least put everything behind us.
For the short trip back home, I saw my sister again and handed over my original Digital Rebel to her along with two new lenses for her to use. It's basically a whole kit of items to get her started on using SLRs and to help her photograph her events. It's hard to teach how to use a camera in 2 days, but hopefully, my sister got enough from my speedy explanation and her previous knowledge that she can use it well. At home, the house is changing again. It seems like it keeps changing every time I come back, in both good and bad ways. There's a lot of memories back there, especially in my room. There's so many books and CDs there that I would like to use again, though the one I could really use isn't there since I sold it after my freshmen year (Note to college students: Those classroom textbooks can still be useful later in life, so don't always resell it back to school for a mere 10% of its value).
We went to visit my aunt, taking a 2 hour drive north through rural areas and flat plains. As usual, there was a large feast there and we talked a lot. We also went around to the different flea markets, looking for cheap jumk to buy if any. Flea markets are quite a gamble for finding items. There always random items that you can't find anywhere else, but there's a chance that those items are broken or damaged. There were 8-tracks and vinyl, VHS and collector Barbies, old sofas and books. I snagged a nice router for only $20.
I feel like I can do a whole documentary on the flea market culture. Just staring down aisles of random yet organized junk is interesting. It's surprising to find random items people have thrown away that can be worth much more, or perhaps it's the perfect piece that you were trying to find for only $5. However, it's also scary to see how much junk we all have, the materialistic nature of all of this. To see hundreds of shoes stuffed together into a small shelf or looking at yellowing books lining a shelf while the TV plays old shows from the 70s is a reminder that we tend to place a lot of value into these objects, collecting the multitude of materials
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we left our separate ways back to work. Now I need to upload photos before this weekend when I attend a wedding. Speaking of which, anyone in DC willing to let me bum for a night on Dec 5-6?
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| Blur of Time... |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|10:17 pm] |
It's been a whirlwind of activities for the past week, ranging from helping friends with their art portfolio to meeting online friends to a friend's birthday. I haven't had much time for myself and for the most part, I've been running non-stop from place to place to get to appointments on time. I wonder if this is how social people are with their constant activities with friends. Although it's nice to see everyone and spend time with them, it really drains time away from myself, so it's refreshing to have a day away from everyone to do what I need to do. Currently, my mind is going toward February as I need to design some plans for that month. I have an idea for the next Mark Project, but I need to do more research to see if it's possible. However, before that, I need to run through my photos and upload them while packing for Thanksgiving.
( Culture night, more Eve photos, James's birthday )
I'm off to AR for Thanksgiving.
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| Catch up! |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|11:19 pm] |
I'm sleep deprived due to the sickness, but I'm much better than before and basically almost fully recovered. I just need to get a full night of sleep without constantly waking up coughing every half hour or so. I have several things I need to do, one of them is the massive pile of photos I need to distribute and upload for people (specifically Big Straw and ARCC). I also need to do some soldering tomorrow.
( Iron chef competition and random Eve photo )
Jane Lui
I'm not up-to-date with youtube musicians and artists, so I don't know much about her, but she has a nice voice. She performed at CMU yesterday and did an Q&A afterward. She's really friendly and one of those who sings and creates music because she enjoys it, never thinking about anything else beyond just performing. I like supporting indie artists since you get to know them better plus I enjoy their efforts and what they do and they personalize it with their signature and writing. I also recorded some clips, including a full song, which I'll upload to youtube once it finishes processing on my computer.
Busy busy, just as I'm recovering.
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| Health... |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
My health has been failing me for the past week. I felt it coming Wednesday night, so I slept a bit early, and by Thursday morning, I was dizzy and had a bad headache. It was hard enough to stand, and walking just made my head pound even more. Lying down made the headache worse, so it was hard to sleep. If I did manage to sleep and everything felt fine, the moment I tried to get up, the dizziness and headache would be worse than ever. I slept through most of the day, and I recovered fairly well enough to go back to work Friday. The next day, my throat was in pain and felt swollen. Anything I drank or ate felt like thumbtacks going down my throat. I bought some painkillers and cough drops to try to lessen the pain, which helped enough for me to sleep. Sunday, the pain was still there, but not as bad as before, but now I was coughing a lot, to the point where my stomach was hurting. I was well enough to take photos at the Iron Chef competition, but after that, it just got worse.
Today, my cough was bad enough that I stayed at home again, though I really don't want to keep using up vacation days, so I worked at home (yay for programming). Cough drops weren't helping me any more, and the constant coughing made it hard to work. I still managed to do some work, though not as much as I would like. There's a backlog of photos and videos on my computer now along with with hours of missing code for work. It's been a long time since I've been sick, so I guess my time was up for that, and I'm hit with something far worse than I've had before. I'm usually not sick for more than 2 days, so being sick for 5 days is tiring and annoying. At least this didn't happen during holidays or important events (like this weekend's Culture Night).
Hopefully, I'm at least good enough to go to work tomorrow. If not, this is more serious than I think. Until then, more tea + honey for me.
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| Projects and Such... |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|11:29 pm] |
It's weird. Even though this isn't my project, I'm trying extremely hard to make it work. A friend of mine needed help to make electronics for her project since she had to design this scarf involving motors and wires. She doesn't know anything about putting together circuits and programming microchips, and it seems like there's no one else on campus (at least her engineering friends) willing to help her, so I decided to give it a go. Besides, I have a lot of the supplies and the chips with me. I actually like their design course. It's interesting since it's not just about drawing ideas on paper and making them pretty, but they have to actually build their idea, and many of them, once they build it with real materials, become something very usable, like wooden salad spoons, tables, and shelves.
I've been spending a majority of my time at home tinkering with electronics again and relearning the electrical engineering I've forgotten over the past 7 years. I encountered several problems with the chip due to custom Fourier Transform libraries and realizing I had missing parts in my circuit design, and although this doesn't effect me, I've been working late into the nights trying to make this work. I guess I always try the hardest when the project doesn't involve just me. If the project is for myself, I don't really care if I let myself down since I can pick it up again, but if I fail someone else's deadline, then I would hate myself for not being to do what I told them I could. I hate giving people broken projects, so here I am running Makefiles, importing libraries, and wiring this small board to handle FFT on any audio. FFTs are reminding me of all the things I can do with photos as well. I need to open up my book on Fourier Optics and read through those again.
ARCC Dumpling Night
There was the usual rush of people in the beginning to get dumplings, so the place was crowded, but they ran out of meat this year, so halfway through, most of the people disappeared while the board members were getting more meat for the dumplings. I haven't seen a lot of my friends for awhile, so it was nice to see them and also meet some of the new board members.
( Band Hero and More Eve photos )
I've been so busy with projects now, but I'm enjoying it. I have too many ideas to execute right now. One idea is to make an RF transmitter/receiver for my camera since Eve wants a wireless remote, but doesn't like the fact that you have to stand in front of the camera with an IR remote. Besides, I think it would be fun to make my own RF trigger.
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| The Night... |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|10:29 pm] |
Daylight saving time, which means it turns to night at 5pm here and it feels like I'm getting off of work at 10pm. It's the usual bus ride to work and back while listening to Japanese audio tapes. That reminds me. I need to print some of the lessons so I can practice reading the language since my listening is starting to fail since I don't know how the word looks like, and if I don't know what the word is, I can't repeat it or know what to listen for. Also, the audio is already beyond what I can translate through one listen, so I need to go back to the beginning and re-read everything. I've listened to over 150 hours of audio now and still going. I should ask Eve and Mark for help later so I can start talking to them in Japanese.
Mount Washington
 The city at night with a bit of hazy weather.
A random call from Eve at night meant we would be going to Mount Washington before she left for a trip home for the weekend. I've always been curious where I should go to take photos there, and I found out that they conveniently have a touristy overlook with no fence blocking the view for photos. It was located in front of this high class hotel place as people in business suit and a lot of money to throw around were walking back and forth. I think I'll have to go back here when it snows for some more photos. I also took a full scale panoramic of the area that I'll print up at some point.
( A few Halloween photos )
There's way too many parties on this day, none that I'm really interested in going since almost all involve loud music and alcohol, and I don't know most people in those events. Instead, I went over to Robin/Mike/Dave's place and hung out. They were carving their pumpkin and after making our space invader, we went back in and basically played Beatles Rockband and Rockband 2 for the night with a dinner break in the middle. I haven't seen them for awhile, so it's nice to see familiar faces.
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| Time Schedules... |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|01:43 am] |
Work schedule and school schedule don't mix. I haven't seen most of my friends on campus since I'm not really there any more, though there's some events coming up so I'll be on campus for those at least. I've been around Eve quite a bit recently since we both work, so our schedules are roughly the same, plus we both can help each other out with art (I'm her photographer and she's the designer). It's fun just walking around and going to places that we both don't know about, and it's a good way to get out of the apartment.
Schenley Park and Around
( Photos of Eve and the autumn leaves )
Eve really wanted to take pictures of the changing leaves, so we set a time Sunday to walk around the park. It was a perfect day, clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight, which is rare for Pittsburgh in the fall. We didn't get a chance to see the red leaves in front of campus, but walking around the area, we saw so many different colored leaves, especially a small patch of brilliant yellow trees in the park, which we stayed around for a long time. The day was mostly taking pictures of anything interesting, but also taking pictures of each other and to help her learn how to use her camera better. On the other end, she's been teaching me how to pose and direct people better since she knows fashion poses best, so we're teaching each other what we know. We were planning on only walking around for a few hours, but basically spent the whole day just walking around. Hopefully, we'll see another bright day like this before the snow/ice hits.
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| Warmth in Words... |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|12:33 am] |
I've noticed recently while getting my hair cut that what I say never comes out with what I mean. My words have a harsh tone to it, even when it's not what I intended. The woman who was cutting my hair became defensive, not in the sense of me insulting her, but rather from accidentally insulting me, even though she didn't and I wasn't offended by her questions, which really wasn't anything serious anyhow. She was kind and had a gentle way of saying things, but it contrasted sharply with how I spoke. I guess I'm starting to realize the way I grew up is very different than most of my friends. The one thing I've never could understand was how people could get along so well, and perhaps due to that, I unconsciously keep everyone at a certain distance.
I was raised to hate people. My mom taught me how to use people for my own needs. My dad said I had to be "tough" and independent, then left. Both emphasized that I should never depend on anyone and do things myself. Friends were hard to come by due to discrimination issues. Of the rare friends I did make, they would disappear just as fast as I made them, and it wasn't until 8th grade where friends were at least semi-permanent, but even then, I still went through so much hate and people disappearing that I got used to it. There's a lot of people who I wonder how they're doing, even though I haven't seen some for over 10 years, and I doubt they even know who I am any more. I guess through all of that, my tone has a sharp edge to it when I speak, even if that's not intended. Shove me against a wall, make verbal attacks, and I know perfectly well how to handle it. Give me a gift, or compliment me, and I draw a blank. I must have looked silly when a girl hugged me in college and I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I'm getting better at it at least, but it's sad to think that I'm "getting used to" it when it's something that seems to come naturally to most people.
( Downtown with Eve )
I've been lazy this month. I finally beat Persona 4 yesterday. That's one RPG that people should play if you enjoy JRPGs. It's very Japanese (school system, the town, mythology, etc.) and there's a lot of subtle detail in both the plot and gameplay. It's more like a mystery game, and the way everything links together once you solve it (and you do have to figure it out since some choices end the game, unless you're reading a walkthrough) is awesome. I should really do more important chores like cleaning my mail, registering my car, and reserving airline tickets.
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| Friends From Afar... |
[Oct. 13th, 2009|01:26 am] |
I always find it amazing that with the Internet now, you can communicate with almost anyone instantly. With that, there's always good and bad side effects from it, like people becoming addicted to being "connected" with everyone and the fact that anything you put online becomes public to everyone, even if hidden (depending). However, the cool thing with being able to connect to people anywhere in the world is you can become friends with people you would have never known by traditional means of meeting face to face. You can meet people with the same interests, trade ideas, and even learn from each other. If you're close enough, you can even meet them.
That's what I've always found the most interesting when I met photographers from Xanga. I've met people I never would have seen before, and from one person, I met many more people that they knew as well, and the connections grew. I've now received a wedding invitation to one of them, to see people I've only met once or twice in my life, but know for awhile online, and I think that's awesome. (Also, they bent the wedding invitation in the mail. I was quite sad) Who would have ever thought I could meet people this way long before?
( Dragon boating, Relay for Life, and Mattress Factory Redux with Eve )
More stuff to do!
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| Albuquerque! |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
I woke up and saw the sun rise, fall, the moon rise, and fall for two days. It’s quite an experience to wake up before 5am both days, and I’m grateful for Aileen and Dave for letting me stay over at their place.
Friday
I left 2 hours before my flight to make sure I didn’t miss my flight, and since the airport is only 30 minutes away, that was more than enough time (maybe a bit early). However, for some reason, there was a traffic jam going through the city, and with a car accident further down the highway, it took more than an hour to get to the airport. There was also a flight change that went unannounced, which caused some confusion among a few people who arrived at about the same time as I did, In the end, I made it to the plane 15 minutes before it left. I seem to have bad luck getting to the airport recently.
On the plane, they now have wifi connection, and since there’s a free promotion code, I decided to give it a go. It’s surreal when you think about it. You’re 35,000 ft in the air on a giant metal object soaring through the air and you can now connect to the Internet from your seat with any computer or device. I have a laptop that can last 10 hours on batteries and the old guy beside me with a hearing aid is using an iPhone while reading Popular Science. That is pretty cool, and so many people take that for granted now. On the trip, I got a lot of progress done programming my video game.
I arrived to a phone call from Aileen, who called to see where I was, so the timing was perfect. Their house was close by to the airport so it didn’t take long to get there. They have a nice house, a simple but elegant look to it. Since it was late, we just talked for a little bit before going to sleep and getting ready for tomorrow.
Saturday
 Bye bye balloons. Couldn't get on the field on the first day.  Dave!  Aileen!
I woke up at an early 5:30am to head to the balloon festival, but we encountered more traffic than usual. The balloons lift off at 7am, but traffic was so bad that we couldn’t even get to the exit until around 7:45am. We could see the balloons lifting off in the distance, but it wasn’t the best view from the highway. I took some shots, but we decided to try tomorrow. Instead, we headed toward Santa Fe and went on a hike on the Tent Rocks trail. The place was gorgeous and amazing. The rocks had layers of sedimentary and igneous rocks weathered down to look like giant tents. There was also a thin canyon section where the rocks twisted and turned and since it blocked all light, it was very cool compared to the heat outside.
( More photos of balloons and rocks! )
It haven't seen them since I last saw them in DC, and that was 3 years ago, and yet when I saw them over the weekend, it felt really natural, as if I was just visiting by taking a brisk walk in college. It was great to see them again, especially after so many years. I feel like I should make an effort to meet old friends once a month, even if it means I have to fly to them.
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| The Perfect Strike... |
[Sep. 27th, 2009|02:02 am] |
Through my random internet browsing, I found a video documentary about two guys attempting to get 8th-dan level in kendo. The first, who won competitions and is a champion, failed the test 4 times. Another guy who's almost 80, failed the test 24 times. According to the documentary, the hardest test for professions in Japan is becoming a lawyer, and that has a 3% passing rate. For the 8th-dan test in kendo, the passing rate is less than 1%. In the documentary, 721 people took the test, 10% passed the first test, and only 6 passed the 2nd and 3rd test. The minimum age is 46 to attempt the test, and even then, you still need 8 years of practice from a 7th-dan level before you can take the test. That's insane.
The part that interested me was the guy who passed on his 5th try. His philosophy was to perfect the one strike, and he would practice it every day against a dummy. The only problem was to do a perfect strike, you can't be consciously aware of it. You have to put your heart, mind, and spirit into a strike when you practice, but to actually perform the strike, you can't think about it. It's a very Zen way of performing an action, and in the documentary, he managed to pull off two of these strikes. When you watch it, you just know. The way it's executed is completely different from any other move or strike that he does. It's really interesting. I wonder if one day, I can reach that level with the skills I have.
G20
I was at work the whole time for G20 as we relocated to another person's basement to continue working since our building was inside the restricted area, but I saw videos of what happened during it. The whole city was in lockdown, not just the downtown area, but also around UPitt and CMU campus. There were more police officers than protesters for the most part, and nothing around the convention center was even touched. The problem became the officers wanted something to do, and with power, they wanted to use it. There's a video clip of a woman being shoved from behind as she was walking her bike away, along with others who were also being shoved with a baton against their back. Who knows what happened before, but as she was obeying what the officers were saying, they really didn't need to constantly shove her, and when they almost made her fall, she threw her bike at them, and three officers smashed her to the ground. Elsewhere, there were actual riots with anarchists breaking windows and throwing dumpsters down the street toward the officers, so force was used to disperse them, which was reasonable.
The issue then is what happened on Forbes near UPitt. From what I could gather from multiple videos from digital cameras and cell phones (ah, the wonders of technology and Youtube), anarchists were in the area smashing windows and causing damage, so the police lined up and forced the street clear. The problem is this march went into campus, where there were a lot of students on stairs, roofs, and in their dorms who were watching what was happening below. There were also students in the streets, and with a large crowd mixed in with the rioters, it was hard to tell who's who. Unison chanting against the police was not a good idea, and the police retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. This is where they overstepped their boundaries and collateral damage happened. Tear gas was shot into a dorm balcony where students were studying. They surrounded and boxed in some students and wouldn't let them out while they were coughing from the gas. I saw one bleeding in the neck area from something (rubber bullet maybe?) and students were being arrested in front of their dorms or harrased. From another report, police actually went into the dorm and threatened them. A combination of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and a sonic blaster were fired into the crowd, and one of my friends was hit by the gas and pepper. From what I could tell, it became chaos.
A lot of the reports from students and other protesters are pretty one sided painting them as completely innocent and the police attacking them unprovoked, which wasn't the case. Throwing dumpsters, breaking windows, and throwing rocks at officers is not being peaceful, and large groups of people dressed in black, waving a black flag, screaming anarchy, and running amok isn't being peaceful either. Both are at fault, with the protesters provoking the police to the police using too much force and the many bystanders who were caught in the crossfire. However, looking through photos and videos, the amount of police in the city was quite frightening.
Anyway, enough with that. Here's some random photos from the week.
 While working at the coworker's house, we were fed nice desserts and snacks.  Her house was big too. If I had a house, it would be about this size or somewhat smaller.  They also had two dogs running around while we were programming. This was a hyper puppy (I think 6 months old?)  One of the artists playing with a small children's guitar, though it sounded pretty good.  Drinking at the PHI bar, though I didn't want to drink since I drove. It was nice just hanging out. |
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| A Simpleness... |
[Sep. 21st, 2009|01:53 am] |
Sometimes, it's just the small random things in life that makes it interesting. I watched a Chinese movie with CSA called If You Are The One. It's a funny romantic comedy and worth watching, though I thought it could have ended a little better. Although there was a resolution, it felt like there could be more, but for what it was, it was still good. Also, I've noticed a recent trend with Chinese movies mixing Japanese into it, like last week's movie Ip Man (which wasn't bad if you like martial arts action with some basis in history). It's nice that I can understand both, but my knowledge of Chinese is only elementary, Japanese is worse. I just need to keep working on relearning Chinese and getting my Japanese to an acceptable level. Learning this by myself is difficult though.
On Saturday, I got a random phone call from a friend at night, wondering if they could come visit since they were in the area. They stopped by and we talked for a bit since I haven't seen any of them since school started. I really wish I had some sort of entertainment for them though as my apartment is pretty bare, even though I've lived here for 4 years now. I've always kept everything light since the beginning since I was never sure if I was going to be here for any longer. I don't even have a dresser and living from my luggage still (though there's an old dresser I'm in the process of repairing). The front area is never used by my roommates since there's nothing there, but there's so much space that it could be a great entrainment area. A projector, surround sound, and better furniture would make it so much better, but I need more time and money. I just need to do it before all my friends leave the area, then it would be pointless. I was never used to having guests anyway.
The next morning, I was woken by a call to join some friends for dim sum. Afterwards, we did some grocery shopping since we all needed to get something before going back.
I guess I'm a simple person. It's small things like eating out with friends and seeing them from time to time that I enjoy. Perhaps it's because I never had a chance to hang out with friends in elementary through middle school. I spent most of the time in my house, and even now, I still the majority of the time in my apartment outside of work and errands. For me, meeting friends outside of events or work is a rare event, so it makes me happy just to see them and talk for a bit. Just the simple things in life.
This week is the G20 event in Pittsburgh, which means the city is shutting down Wednesday to Friday. According to guidelines, the say to follow disaster protocols, which I find funny, but maybe an accurate way of describing things to come. Security is already building up and transportation to the city will be shutdown, or at least heavily checked. I still have to work though, even if we can't work in the building, since our product launch is coming soon, so we can't stop working.
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| Create and Learn... |
[Sep. 15th, 2009|01:57 am] |
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Anyone can destroy everything around him.
Some use and maintain what they have.
But to create something new, only a few choose to endure it.
This is a thought that's lingered in my mind as I watch what people choose to do. Most people after some years after college start becoming stagnant. They stop learning and fall into a pattern where they feel comfortable, never breaking out of their bubble. They maintain their current life cycle, fall into a comfortable zone where they're content with what they have and maybe strive to buy a few more personal wishlists, but they never go beyond what is needed. For some, they try to destroy people around them, not physically, but through humiliation, name-calling, insults, and for what gain? It's because it's easier to insult, to scream, when compared to holding yourself back or perhaps to resolve the conflicts. Why do people become stagnant? Because compared to the work involved in something new, it's easier just to sit and watch the world go past.
So when people always ask me "where do you have the time to do all those hobbies?", I just do it after work and on weekends. If you think about it, even a normal 5-day, 8 hour work week gives you plenty of time to learn something new. Assuming you get off late like me and get home at 7pm, that still gives you 4-5 hours of time to read, create, learn something new. On weekends, if you keep a good schedule, you have two full days to do something, even if half the day is spent on chores or errands. Of course, if you're married with kids, this probably isn't valid, but you still have weekends to do something new. It isn't easy though. After work, most people say they're too tired to think or do anything, so they sit on the couch, watch TV, or browse randomly through their set webpages and news. It's the thought that "I've done my 8 hours of work. I need a rest." But once you fall into this mindset, it's hard to break out of it.
That's why I think only a few people who choose to create something new. Not only is it hard to have the idea, but it's hard to finish the idea. That's why so many people just sit and watch. Most people don't like putting the effort when it's not required and are always looking for easy ways to get what they want, but there's no easy way to create. If you want something, you have to work at it, but if you enjoy it, it's really not work at all. Sometimes, it's moments of inspiration that gives you a great idea, but you still need to flesh out the idea until it becomes a reality.
There are some "easy" things to do. One is audio tapes. They're no substitute for the real thing (books, languages, etc.), but you can still learn something from them. If you have a long commute to work, pop in the audio and listen to it while driving. I've been listening to Japanese audio tapes since I started work in March on the convenient 30 min bus commute, and I've listened to over 200 lessons already, roughly 4 a day. My Japanese has improved by listening to them constantly, but I still need to write and read to learn more. Relearning Chinese in on the next to-do with audio tapes and textbooks. Another thing to do is just do a small part of the whole. You can't finish a large idea in one sitting. It may take months or years, but if you have the patience and spend some free time doing a little part of the whole, before you know it, you'll complete it. You just have to keep work on it, and that's probably the hardest part.
Currently, I've been reworking my game and programming, so nothing visual to display yet. I did do a time lapse photography of the clouds as a test, but the time lapse only lasts 30 seconds. I think I'll start my programming blog back up from last year, this time with tutorials to help other people since I've seen some horrible code out on the web for video game tutorials. I do need to finish sewing that cake though...
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| The Price of Free Stuff... |
[Sep. 6th, 2009|01:12 am] |
Yesterday, I walked off the bus and toward work like usual, grabbed my ID and was ready to show, except what I saw in the front lobby was nothing I've seen before. There were tens of people flooding the lobby area, completely blocking the three doors when normally no one is there. I pushed through the crowd, but noticed that for some reason, all these people are lined up against the door instead of away from it, leaving the lobby completely empty. Why would you block the doorways like that? It was made clear much later that these people don't care at all. A lady was talking extremely loud and an old man who was passing by told her to quiet down a bit since this is an office building. She got offended and said "I'm not even talking that loud, and I'm not your child. I can do what I want." Later on, my coworkers trickled in and I got more detail on what was happening. It turns out they were giving away free clothing on the 9th floor, which is probably the worst spot to do so considering it's in the middle of the building, so everyone was making a mad dash to grab clothes, only this is an office building and the security really didn't know how to handle all the random people trying to get in.
This made me think about other events where free stuff is given away, or even when items are at a clearance. The lower the price goes, the less people care about other people around them and more about themselves. It's this sense of entitlement that those things belong to them, more so with materials that are deemed important or popular. People rush up against doors, trying to be the first to get their free stuff, fighting for the most trivial of things at what cost? How many people have died during Christmas rushes just for a simple toy that was $5 cheaper? How many have physically fought and beaten each other to get that half off electronic on Black Friday? Is it really worth the lives of others? It's a high price to pay.
( Activities Fair and CSA )
This week has been a bit stressful. Working 10 hour days to push out the final beta, though I'm still not happy with how it came out. More bugs always seem to pop up whenever I fix one, so it was annoying. On Friday, they said everyone could leave at 4pm, so that makes up for the two days of full work.
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| For the Greater Good... |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|12:28 am] |
Taking one for the team. Investing for the future. All these terms describe sacrificing part of your life in order to get something better later on, not only for yourself, but everyone else as well. It's a common saying, though it's becoming less common in how people act. Most people have become so short sighted that they only see everything in terms of benefits for themselves. What's the quickest and easiest way to my destination? How can I get what I want? Whether it's money, objects, or moving to a place, most people only see what's in front of them and never beyond.
A few mornings go, I watched one of the garbage trucks moving down the street and stopping at different spots, picking up the trash. A CRV and a car was behind and had to stop, but for some reason, the car started immediately honking, which pissed off the lady in front because she couldn't do anything. There's a garbage truck in the way and you can't pass because of on-coming traffic, but the guy in the car only saw the car in front and assumed she stopped for no reason. After they had a chance to pass, the car kept tailgating her out of misplaced anger. People cut each other off trying to get to their destination faster, weaving in and out of traffic just to get one car further. They don't stop at the line for the intersections downtown, which blocks buses because of their wide turns, which in turn blocks all traffic with the bus stuck in the middle only because they want to keep inching toward the edge without realizing the problem it causes. All they see is where they need to go and how to get there the fastest, but never thinking that going slower is actually faster.
In a game of chess, thinking in such short sighted goals is the fastest way to lose. You throw the queen away against other players, betting that they only see the bait and losing after they take it. You look 5 steps ahead and see the possibilities and opportunities. You give up a piece for a better position knowing that it'll help later on. However, a game ends in about 30-50 moves. In life, you may not see the benefit until 30-50 years later, and that becomes a problem since most people are unwilling to wait. They want things now, so you end up with situations where people lose sight of their goal. Of course, you should seize the moment if it's those once in a lifetime opportunities, but for other things, have patience.
My Birthday
I'm 26 now and I had a nice quiet birthday last week. At work, the front lady said "happy birthday" to me and after lunch, the CEO bought Dozen's cupcake for me in probably the most impromptu birthday setting in the office. It was a casual thing, no candles or any of that, but I enjoyed it. Afterward, one of the artists and programmer took a cupcake and started having a photo competition on who can take a better looking picture. I was helping the artist with bounce lighting and they brought in someone else to judge the photos. All of it was for fun.
  There were chocolate, peanut butter and banana, coconut and vanilla, and M&M cupcakes.
After work, I went to the first floor to see James, Angela, and Phil waiting for me at the lobby. I knew they were going to be downtown since they called me, but I didn't expect them to be waiting there already. We walked around, trying to find a good place to eat. We settled for Tonic, which is actually a really nice place. The food was very good. We spent the evening talking, a very low key event.
 Mmm, crabcakes with zucchinis.
So, I didn't get a cake, not that I really care for it, but I am making one.
 Plush! There's white cream frosting, strawberry, Mandarin orange slice, kiwi, and I'm not sure what fruit the yellow one is supposed to be. There's also a blueberry that I haven't sewn yet.
A plush one that is. The instructions come from a Japanese felt book, so I've translated the directions and materials to make this. Originally, this was supposed to be for Angela (and still is), but because the sponge took a month to arrive and after sewing a slice, it's going to take me awhile to even finish. However, this plush is really cute and I can't wait until I get the whole thing finished. There's so many little parts to sew and that takes the longest since I have to cut the floss and retie it for every one. I'm guessing it'll take me a week to do this.
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| The Timeline of Photography... |
[Aug. 23rd, 2009|09:31 pm] |
I thought it would be neat to lay out my progression through photography over the past 10 years. It's still cool to see the cameras I've used before (and still use) and there's always a nostalgic factor whenever I play with them again. Except for one camera, I don't like selling things when I don't have to, especially with photography. You never know when you need a backup camera when the primary camera goes down. Also, I was planning on taking a picture of each camera and set, but it seems like too much effort, so I'll leave things to your imagination.
Pentax K-1000
My first actual camera at the end of high school. My mom though the camera was broken, but she didn't know it was manual focus (or fully manual for that matter). Later on, my mom got another one for free and it replaced my frozen camera when I went to the mountains in Colorado. I miss the split focus screen this camera had, and I wish newer DSLR had the same type. My vision isn't good enough to focus based on blurriness.
Minolta X-700
Before graduating high school, my mom got yet another free camera from a coworker who didn't want it any more. It came with 3 lenses. She was planning on using it for herself, but she just wanted to use it like a point and shoot (it did have full auto settings) and it would have been a waste considering my mom doesn't know how to switch lenses or wind film. Instead, I took it to college and started taking pictures around campus. I did B&W photography and took slide film for a semester long documentary. I still use this camera if I ever need to shoot in film, though I've considered buying a Canon film body so I could use my lenses.
Pentax Optio 550
Digital cameras were starting to bloom and everyone was beginning to switch over. It took a good 3 months during sophomore year to finally buy one. Since I was still used to seeing film photos, the odd quality of digital was weird to me and I was hesitant about using them. It did make things easier to give photos to people and I didn't have to worry about rolls of film. Also, looking at these images now, there really was something off with the sensor, so it does look weird, even now. At the end of college, I sold this to a friend since she needed a digital camera and I wasn't using it as much any more.
Canon Digital Rebel 300D
And now I start heading into the Canon line. I chose Canon since I was most familiar with them after using them so much for the campus yearbook, the Chanticleer. In the beginning of junior year, I bit the bullet and spent my earnings in the first DSLR under $1,000. I bought 2 lenses for it (other than the kit), specifically for shooting events on campus. Now instead of shooting through 6 rolls of slide film in every major event, I just had a memory card. I also continued my documentary on the dance group on campus (DefMo), which was much easier than with slide film. For two years, I shot heavily in events, most notably Lunar New Year and DefMo Showcase. Right after graduation, I bought two studio lights as well to take advantage of my disappearing student discount. It's broken down and repaired twice, and after 4 years of heavy use, it's still working now.
Canon 30D
Once I got my first job, I upgraded my camera and started expanding my lens collection. Over the next two years, I slowly bought my wish list of lenses (which was only a few, but some of the best) until I had everything I needed. My lens collection is basically complete now at this point. This has been my main camera for a good 3 years with thousands of photos taken of events and fashion photos.
Canon SD700
I needed a smaller camera to carry around and the cruise trip gave me a reason to get one. The other reason for getting a small camera was for the underwater casing. I wanted to be able to take photos even when we went out to the beaches and underwater, but I didn't want to spend thousands on a SLR casing. This camera is now on me at almost all times so I'm never without a camera and whenever I'm in an area with a lot of water (rafting, snorkeling, pools), I can still take it with me.
Nikon F3
This wasn't my camera, but my dad's. This is the same camera that took pictures of me when I was born, and now it's in my room still in excellent condition. I don't want to use it and I'll be keeping it in good condition. My dad was a photographer like me before, but he stopped after we were gone. He had two lenses for it, a normal 50mm and a 24-200 zoom. The feel of physically moving the lens to zoom and turning the focus is quite nostalgic.
Cereal Box Pinhole
Instead of moving forward with technology, I moved back and made a pinhole camera from a cereal box. It takes regular 35mm film so it doesn't require anything special. I made it more to experiment with and when I didn't want to be serious taking photos. It's more of a "have fun" camera where I don't care if things don't turn out the way I wanted, and it only costs $4 to process the film online. This is probably one of the few times I actually have photos to hold in my hands.
Canon 5D Mark II
And perhaps the last upgrade I'll have. I was planning on upgrading to the 5D last year, but due to the loss of job, I put it off. After getting a job again and earning enough to be safe (putting money back into savings from what I used up), I made plans to upgrade. I mainly wanted it for the full frame, but with the new Mark II, the HD video recording was an added plus. I can't use my 10-22 on this camera, but now the fisheye I have works wonderfully on it. I'll be using this with all future events and fashion shoots.
It's cool looking back through all these cameras and seeing how each one is different, yet the same in how they take pictures. The switch to digital was probably the hardest getting used to more buttons and options. I still like the feel of the old manual cameras, like the Minolta or the Nikon. Image sensors have come a long way since my Optio.
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| DC Trip! |
[Aug. 18th, 2009|11:08 pm] |
Sunday 5:30am: Got up, put everything together, grabbed a banana and some Chex cereal, and drove out at 6 into the dark skies.
6:45am: Watched the sun rise through the foggy hills, and as much as I told myself I really shouldn't be taking pictures, I grabbed the camera and snapped away while driving. I missed a great view in the beginning though when the sun was still red and not bright.
9:45am: Arrived at DC, called a few people, and waited. Perhaps due to poor planning on my part, this part took awhile, so I slept under a tree for a bit before sitting on a bench.
11am: Qiao and Chris came and picked me up. We went to the zoo, but Chris wasn't feeling well, so I was dropped off and they headed out.
( And the adventure continues! )
 Group shot with the camera on the floor.
It was an exhausting day for me, but it was cool to see everyone again and meet some new people as well. Glad I could see Will, Qiao, and Chris since I haven't seen them since last year. We'll have to do another DC trip at some point, though I think the next time will be in December. I'm still sleep deprived, so I need to sleep earlier the next days to catch up and not fall asleep at work.
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| Closure... |
[Aug. 13th, 2009|11:03 pm] |
The events of last year still weigh on my mind, not to the extent that it's what I obsess about, but rather those fleeting thoughts about how the company is doing and what everyone else is up to. I lost my previous job last year around this time when I failed the final project, but even while working on it, it felt like it was impossible to complete. There were several other roadblocks to it and the fact that I disagreed with the boss's requests didn't help. In the end, they fired me, but I wasn't sad or angry. Instead, I was happy. Something about the workplace changed after the first year. It became something I disagreed with and couldn't do, and working 40 hours in 3 days while my boss didn't care really put me off. My leaving was also abrupt as no one expected it, so my previous coworkers were confused, as was I because I couldn't figure out what happened to the company. Today, I received a call from one of my previous coworkers. Seems like he was looking around for job and was wondering if my company had any openings. He left the old company some time ago and basically did what I did, worked on personal projects. He also talked about what happened to the company after I left. I was one of the first ones to leave the company, and later on, more people left as management became a mess. The company fell apart, and he mentioned that around 9 people left in 2 months, which is about half the people there. Maybe it was a good thing that I lost my job, even if it did cost me a lot.
Hard Drive Issue
So I had a scare yesterday. I powered on my backup hard drive to start backing up some photos and it wouldn't turn on. Well, technically, it had power, but the hard drive wasn't spinning up. I could hear it spin up, stop up, then grow quiet, then it tried again. Nothing was working, and it wasn't a good feeling. That was about 300GB of photos that would be destroyed if that was the case. Since it was too late at night to try fixes, I left it until today when I got off work. I tore open the external hard drive, took out the actual drive (these things really are just enclosures), and plugged it directly into my computer. It was a SATA so that made things easier. Powered on my computer and off it goes, the hard drive was ok. Whew! Seems like the enclosure did have a power issue, which was why the hard drive couldn't spin up. Now I can pull some photos from it, but I'm beginning to think I should start getting a new hard drive and enclosure as another backup. I can't lose these photos.
DC trip this weekend! I decided to go and I'll be meeting up with people to go photo shooting. I'll have to make sure I can get there ok.
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| Gifts... |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|01:21 am] |
Gifts are probably one of the hardest things for me, whether for me to give them, if I'm receiving it, or if I'm getting something for myself. Usually, the best gifts are the spontaneous ones, and those I like. I sometimes randomly make a gift and mail it to people, or maybe I have a great idea and I'll make it on the fly. Those are the times I work the best. When there's set times, like birthdays and Christmas, I don't know what to do. Unless I know specifically what you could use, I have no clue what to buy since I usually make gifts. This probably goes back to me not receiving gifts. The biggest problem with people getting gifts for me is I don't want anything. Well, that's not exactly true, but rather I don't have many wants, and the very few I have is very expensive and I tend to work for those. The problem is if I do want something, I tend to spend months doing research proportional to how expensive an item is before I even consider getting it. For art supplies, I sometimes buy them on a whim if I might need it, like colored felt or colored paper since they only cost $1 each. If it's for computer parts, I look into it for a month or two before grabbing something unless it's an emergency repair. If it's for camera gear (which I haven't bought anything in years), I tend to spend 6-12 months before I get it. I guess if someone was to ask me for a reasonable gift for me, maybe they can get me some cushion sponges that I need right now?
I tend to go months before I spend something on myself that's not a necessity (food, water, rent, supplies, etc.). I just feel guilty about buying something for myself, especially if it doesn't have a purpose. I guess it goes back to before when we never had much money. Even buying a simple toy was a hassle because we weren't sure if we could afford it, so many times, my free time was spent with a paper and pencil. What I have now is infinitely more that what I've ever imagine having for myself, but I'm still extremely cautious with money. Before, anything above $20 was considered expensive by me (and still does to an extent), though now it's more along the lines of $100. Compute parts and camera equipment is an exception as I know all prices, but I still do a ton of research before buying it. As long as I can still take pictures and I can make something, I'll be content.
Bowling at Forward Lanes
My first time in this bowling alley, even though I live three blocks away from it. I found it surprising that this is on the second floor of a building, not the first or basement like I assumed. It's a simple place, nothing fancy, and the computer scoring system isn't exactly the best (it kept having errors and not counting the scores correctly). Still, it was fun, even if I do suck at it.
Green Apple Redux
I've been meaning to redo these shots with my 30D since the original was taking with the old Digital Rebel, and I wanted a higher resolution. In addition to the first shot, I also created some new shots (the second and third). It's more of an experiment and something quick.
Also, look where I went yesterday:
It's Sweet Berry! I found it funny considering it's almost an exact copy of Pinkberry, down to the font, store design, and frozen yogurt toppings and flavor. It's not a bad place, slightly different yogurt taste (as they all have something lightly different). Maybe I'll go there again next time I'm in the area.
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