My Unoriginal Blog

Happy New Year!

2012-01-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's 2012. For New Year's eve, Tom and I put on our fancy clothes and went to a fancy-schmancy dinner party at our friends' L and D's house up the hill. The theme of the party was the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and so it was a 12-course dinner, where each course was based on one of the zodiac signs (click the photo to zoom in). And of course it wouldn't be a NYE party without drinks aplenty. I wore a pewter-blue, satin shirt-dress, which was so comfortable I felt like I was wearing jammies (hello, expandable waist!) – perfect for gluttonous eating and drinking. We wrote mad-lib style fortunes. Tom's were hilarious, something like running away from your spouse because divorces are expensive. Is he trying to tell me something?

It's gonna be a good year. I don't make resolutions, but I do have a constant (though not necessarily active) goal of improving myself. You know, be more patient (especially to Yoshi), be happy (not negative), not worry so much (this is really hard), declutter my house, figure out what I want to do with my life. Stuff like that. Oh, and blog more.

Happy New Year!

Bugs

2011-12-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

We've been battling an ant problem for the past few months. They just won't go away. And this evening I found a lovely mass of them in Yoshi's room. She left some candy in one of her backpacks despite her claim that she does not have any food in her room. Gross.

And then more lice in Yoshi's hair, so I spent an hour nit picking. Double gross.

There is a lot of cleaning and laundry going on. Yet the house is still a mess.

14 more days of winter break to go. I'm already over it.

A beautiful SF day

2011-12-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's December and over 70 degrees. And hip since I live in the Mission.

I'm not gonna complain. Tom had a zipcar rented, but ended up not needing it, so I took it, rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof and enjoyed the beautiful day. I drove myself to GG Park and checked out the renovated windmill, then on to the Sutro Baths.

A quick stop to China Beach to see the bridge, which I never tire of.

For lunch I grabbed a salad at the newish Whole Foods in the Haight, which was just weird with its "Wake and Bake" cafe counter and "Peace Out" sign by the cashiers. But, dude, it's still Whole Paycheck, not some hippie dippie corner market. I paid too much for the salad, but it satisfied me.

I'm going to spend the rest of today lounging about, maybe finish up my epic Murakami book that I put on the back burner. Or maybe knit that blanket that I want to finish in 7 days in time for the baby shower.

(And I'm quite addicted to Instagram now that I finally joined the ranks of fellow iPhoners. I love taking pics with that app. So fun!)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2011-11-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday and happy veteren's day to my dad!

He served in the US Army in the 1960's because he wanted to see the world. It took him to Oklahoma, which is like another world compared to the Bay Area. He hated it there, so he volunteered to a mission overseas to Korea where he stayed on some kind of cramped ship for months. He said that it was way better than Oklahoma (sorry to any OKers out there).

My Favorite Girl

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's Yoshi. As insane as she drives me, she's still my most favorite little person in the world.

Monday was Indigenous People's Day, which is a holiday started in Berkeley (surprise!) as an alternative to Columbus Day. Yoshi had the day off school, so I, too, took the day off so we could get some quality time in together. She seemed to be stressed out lately, both physically and mentally, so I thought it would be fun to chill in Japantown, one of our favorite places to hang out together. We met up with another friend there and enjoyed udon and sashimi for lunch, then explored some of the shops. We hit up the manju bakery there and picked up some treats. Then picked up some groceries at Nijiya for dinner. Then Yoshi and I went home and did some origami crafting.

"Mommy, sometimes I like being with just you, even without Daddy."

I take all the compliments I can get.

Return to Sender

2011-10-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

Tom has a non-specific email address, which is his first initial and last name. He tends to get a decent amount of email that is not intended for him, but maybe someone named Tabitha, Terry, or Tico. About things like reunions, Uncle Mark, hanging out. Most recently Tom received an email with the subject heading "Marker Proof." Huh? Yeah, so he reads the email and it's got an image attached:

Um, yeah. That's a headstone with my name on it. Yoshi, of course, thought the coincidence was cool. "Look! Her name is the same as yours! And you're both mothers! That could be you!" Thanks, Yoshi.

The woman was only in her 50's, which is relatively young so I googled her info to find an obituary because I'm morbidly curious like that. I expected to find out that she died of cancer or something. But it was much worse. Yikes!

So, on that note, and in gauche taste, I decided to blog about it. Because, like I said before, I'm morbid like that.

My Bike and Me

2011-10-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Tom and I took advantage of Yoshi being at a sleepover and spent a lovely morning at the farmer's market at the Ferry Building. I made Tom take a pic of me with my birthday present he and Yoshi gave me – my new Public bike! This bike gives me such joy to ride. Public Bikes was founded by the same Rob Forbes, who also founded Design Within Reach, so you know it's a beautiful design.

Because it's super upright, I have a great view of what's around me, as opposed to being hunched over like on my previous road bike (which got stolen a while back, boo!). It gives bike riding a casual approach and lets you appreciate your surroundings. It's great for city riding because the upright position allows for better visibility both for the rider as well as a drivers in cars. And it's step-through frame lets me wear skirts and dresses!

Oh, and did I mention my awesome helmet? Yakkay makes beautiful helmets, with interchangeable covers so you can mix and match your style to your mood. The price definitely challenged my budget, but I needed a new helmet anyway since my other one was 10 years old and cracking, so I took the plunge and got this one at My Dutch Bike shop on Market Street.

And because you all know I'm a validation whore, I love the compliments I get when I ride.

I feel like a kid again. Whee!

Little Indulgences

2011-10-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Note: this is a girly post. You've been warned!

In my attempts to keep creativity and inspiration alive, I went for a little walk Thursday morning along the Embarcadero. I brought the macro lens, thinking I'd take some closeup urban texture pics, but I ended up taking some landscape shots instead. I walked to the Ferry Building. I almost bought some flowers, but my laziness won out because I didn't want to have to trek around with fragile flowers and a camera and a bag. However, that didn't deter me from going shopping for smaller things...

...like lipstick!

It's been over 4 years since I bought lipstick and I actually didn't even have any in my makeup box anymore. I figured I could indulge again. This stuff keeps my lips moisturized ('cause I've got mega dry lips), and this shade of red is fantastic and incredibly flattering.

I also got me a bottle of nail polish.

I also picked up this sweet matte top coat to fancy up my purple nails even more. It gives it a satiny finish, rather than high gloss. Ooh, so couture!

Didja know...

2011-09-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

...that I also have a photo blog? Clicky!

Finally got a haircut!

2011-09-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

And a fun shirt from my favorite interwebz friend over at The Me Show!

Now the real test of a haircut is the following day, when I have to style my own hair. Having choppy layers helps. My stylist tells me it's pretty much wash-and-go, which is definitely a plus since I'm always running late in the morning. Lately, I was getting to the point where I would spend more time each morning on my hair, with results that looked worse. I wonder if I'll ever have long hair again.

Crashiversary

2011-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

A year ago today, Yoshi and I were in a terrible high speed car crash along with Eric, Wendy, and little Ellie along I-5. I am really grateful that no one was seriously hurt despite the craziness of it all.

I still think about the accident. So does Yoshi. She'll talk about it every so often, mostly about Ellie and how she was worried about her since she was just a baby at the time. And Yoshi loves her adult-sized hospital gown she snagged as her badge of honor. She likes to wear it around the house, hem sweeping across the floor and those grosgrain ties dangling down.

She occasionally mentions that her scar from her stitches on her forehead itches a little, but she doesn't really complain about it. Every time I see that scar, I wince. But I'll gently run my finger over it and feel grateful we're all alive, happy, and healthy. It's the only physical reminder of the accident (other than her hospital gown).

My parents took Yoshi down to OC this past week. They drove. And I think this may be the last time I let Yoshi drive down with them. Paranoid as it sounds, I don't really trust their driving skills on such a long trip. Hell, I get kinda freaked out being a passenger in their car just driving about town, let alone an 8 hour road trip. My mom always brakes at the last minute and never looks over her shoulder when changing lanes. My dad slowly walks with a cane (due to his stroke), has cataracts, and is moderately deaf so you have to yell instead of talk to him, yet he still drives. So being the 1-year anniversary of that car accident, it made me apprehensive knowing Yoshi was in the same place, doing the same trip, but with my parents. So I think from now on I'm going to send Yoshi in a plane if Eric or Wendy can do the pick-up and drop-off on their end. And who knows, maybe that will motivate my parents to also fly and save themselves a day of traveling.

Talking about what to do today, Yoshi said, "Well, let's not get in a car. Let's celebrate life!" I love that girl.

Knitting slump

2011-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

I cast on for a simple knitted tunic 3 months ago and have made very little progress. I'm sure I'll like it enough when it's done, but honestly, I'm very uninspired to knit it. Or maybe I won't like it at all when (and IF) it's finished. Who knows? But I now realize that I don't like knitting with lace mohair, at least by itself. I can't get into a rhythm with it. Maybe if I knit it doubled with something else it satisfy me more. It had been weeks—maybe a month—since I knit anything. This morning I picked the project back up, knit exactly one row, and then put it back in it's box stored under the coffee table. And then I cleaned the house.

I recently went to OC for a week to visit Eric, Wendy, and Ellie. I didn't even bring my knitting. And it's not like I forgot it; I consciously did not pack it. And I didn't miss it. Who am I?!

I had the urge to shoot something, so I did.

2011-06-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Slam goes the door. I yell at Yoshi. She yells back. Deep breath. I talk calmly to her. She continues to give me 'tude. sigh.

I'm on day 2.5 of the flu. I feel much better today and may even find enough energy to go outside. I see the sun is out. That makes me happy.

Yoshi, despite her annoying 7 year old attitude at times, is usually very sweet. She and Tom came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers last night to cheer me up. Today I was inspired to shoot some macro photos of the bouquet.

And then I stepped away from the flowers and took this pic of my dad's old Canon slr (which looks to be on permanent loan from him). I like the juxtaposition of the soft flowers of nature with the hard manmade machine.

Tispy lunch

2011-05-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

I split a pitcher of margaritas over lunch today with my buddy Daniel, as is our lunching ritual at Puerto Allegre. It's really painful for the rest of the day, especially when the week is not over yet and there's still work to be done. But it must be worth it because I continue to partake in such activities.

So in my ~~drunken~~ slightly tipsy state, today I reflect on my life. I'm going through my google reader, checking out the blogs, notably the White House press feed and some other political blogs. I'm humbled by their worldly achievements, striving for civil rights, peace and all that. I realize that I've done very little with my life. I live a pretty shallow life. I admit that sometimes the first thing I think of when I wake up (aside from, "Oh no, it's time to get up already!") is "what am I going to wear to work today?" Sad, huh. I wonder if I'll ever be so passionate about something that I'll make a difference in the world. I take pictures, but haven't figured out what I love to photograph. I don't know what my voice is.

I suppose I should take solace in the fact that at least I can raise a good kid (so far).

There's really no point to this post. I just drank too much.

Bad Day, Good Day

2011-05-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bad day. As Tom will attest to, I am not one who handles stress well, and I am a constant worrier. I'd like to think I've made progress over the years, but maybe I just bury it all inside and then let it explode in random fits on some poor soul.

I was stressed because it was the day before the deadline for my photo reshoot, and I didn't get all the shots needed. I stayed up late editing what I did have, but ultimately dissatisfied with myself for not fulfilling the assignment. I didn't want to let the photo company down (again, hence the reshoot), and I was afraid that if I didn't do a good job, they wouldn't ask me back. There was a lot riding on this assignment and I let it get the best of me.

Yesterday Yoshi pushed all my buttons and I unleashed my fury on her--yelling, swearing, throwing. One of my lowest points of parenting. It was unfair to take my stress out on her. Her spirit completely broke.

But today is a new day. I apologized to her yesterday evening, and again this morning, telling her that I should not lose my cool since I'm the parent and she's a kid. But damn, the kid don't make it easy, that's fo' sho. (I kept that part to myself though.)

I went to work, brought along the photo-product and camera with the hopes I could find someone to photograph before I send off all the images. I met Tom and a couple of his work buddies down at Minna and 5th for Off The Grid, Jereme being one of them. I wrangled JMoe into being my model for the last photos I needed, which was pretty easy since he's always a good sport and up for anything.

I sent off the images in the nick of time, left the office to pick Yoshi up from school (albeit slightly late), picked up some bread at the Farmer's market, and then came home to an email from the Photo People saying that they love the new pics. Yay! All that previous stress turned into relief and euphoria. And I know Tom would say, "See... all that stress and worry for nothing."

I can breathe again. Happily.

Work from home, or Getting Home Stuff Done.

2011-05-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

And when I say Home Stuff, I mean go shopping. I had great intentions of enjoying my "day off" with this gorgeous whether, maybe spend some time at the beach or maybe the Embarcadero. Somehow I ended up grocery shopping, prepping dinner (cold Somen noodles, perfectly refreshing for this 80 degree day), then gathering up the three bags of stuff to take the thrift store. I made it to Community Thrift and donated the bags, specifying the proceeds go to Yoshi's school. Then I wandered into the shop and relived my youth of thrifting for clothes. I'm in need of some slacks and jeans, so I perused the aisles. I found this awesome pair of Benetton trousers (with tags still on!), but it was ever so slightly too small for comfort. I sadly had to put it back on the rack. The other pants were fails too. But I did end up with some clothes that will hopefully be good for work (keep your eyes peeled Sabrina), including this oversized gold silk blazer-jacket thing (also with tags still on... that retails for $300?!). I know when Tom sees it he's gonna ask if I got it from Chico's or Talbots. I don't know what it means when I'm drawn to clothing that is designed for a 50 year old.

So I spent about forty bucks at the thrift store, which always seems like a lot of money for a thrift store. But then I realized that I just bought a simple tank top at BCBG over the weekend for the same price that I got two blouses, two jackets, and a dress today. It's all about the balance.

The saga continues!

2011-04-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

When I last left off, we were in a storm. And while we did experience some gorgeous days full of sunshine and hipsters wearing their Dolores Park best, it's back to rain. But I see the sun trying to break through again with moments of brightness.

And on Monday, I heard back again from the photography store. They want me to shoot another product to be featured in their store. Sweet! So it looks like my ~~rejection~~ playing hard-to-get has paid off and they realized that they don't want to lose me! Because I'm awesome! (At least that's what I tell myself in between my ridiculous self-deprecations.) You should see the awesome and silly product I have to photograph. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's my latest paper craft project—an origami bakery. See those tiny red and green cake decorations? That's folded with 1cm x 1cm origami paper and tweezers. Further proof of my Crazy. Tom may make fun of me for it, but I know deep down he thinks it's charming.

The sun is shining through

2011-03-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Despite this crazy storm we're in, the sun has emerged, if only for a little bit. And that makes me happy, all that warm sunshiny goodness. And despite not getting hired as a product photographer, I'm still upbeat. Here's what they said:
Thanks again for letting us use your video in the store, very much appreciated.

Overall your photos were beautifully composed, well-lit and edited to perfection. However your lifestyle photos aren't quite the look we're going for. So we're going to continue on with our search for a new photographer.

That being said, we'd love to use your instax album studio shots on the site this coming Tuesday...

So that means none of the other applicants were hired, right? I sent the job posting link to one of my photographer friends and encouraged him to apply 'cause he's good at photographing/directing people. He may have better luck.

I'm really happy at all the nice things they said about my photographs. And I was thrilled they wanted to use more studio shots. But then this afternoon I get the bad news that they no longer plan to use my shots in their upcoming product launch. Bummer! I admit that I was a bit disheartened, even moreso than not being hired.

But overall, I'm really happy that I applied. I learned a bit more about product photography, assignments, deliverables, and all that good stuff. I learned that my makeshift tabletop studio works just fine to help produce a nice clean shot. And maybe I'll find some motivation to take more photos. And even more motivation to actually share them with you all!

Thoughts on a Saturday morning

2011-03-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday morning, Yoshi poured herself some cereal and is geeking out with a calculator at the kitchen table. Tom's getting ready for his run with his Half Full Running Club that he and Greg started. (If you're in the Bay Area, you should check it out!). And I'm plopped on the couch selectively choosing which awful images of the Japan earthquake devastation to view. I think because I don't regularly watch tv, news images of harrowing events are especially painful to see. It's all too much for my eyes and brain to take. But I'm grateful that we have social media for people to easily share real time updates on what's going on, to let their loved ones know that they're okay.

On more uplifting news, I finished my product test shots for the job interview. I spent 9 hours editing the photos Thursday night and finally made my way to bed around 2:30am. I know that I could have done a better, more creative job with the shots if I had more time and energy, but that's the way it goes with photo assignments and life in general. Ya gotta make do and be happy with what ya got (or do something else about it!). So I can't really complain. Catie was incredible with her impeccable styling and modeling. She came to the photo location at Duboce Park with a suitcase filled with handbags, accessories, and outfits. Here's a fun one.

And another one showcasing her Chloe handbag:

This shot was photographed in A's home. Her books are organized by color, which makes me so happy every time I look at it, and made a great background for this mini polaroid photo album in gray for that pop of color.

As for the studio shots, I'm pleased with how they came out, especially considering my "studio" consists of the kitchen table, white poster board and light from the window.

And I'll let you in on a little secret. The company is going to use at least one of my submissions on their website. Squeee!!!! This doesn't mean I got the job as product photographer necessarily, but I did get to pick something from their store as a barter, which I'm totally happy with. More details to come!

And on even more shallow news, I received my order from Sephora. I ran out of my ~~only~~ favorite perfume, so I got some more. And I also bought some makeup primer. I never used primer before, and I must say that it's my new BFF for my face. My mineral foundation goes on even smoother than before. How have I managed so long without it?!

Yoshi is asking me to play with her. I told her I'd play with her "in 10 minutes." That was about 30 minutes again. Poor girl. Good thing she's too lazy to figure out how much time has passed. I better make good on my promise.

My Happy Board

2011-03-05T13:40:00.001-08:00

This is a little visual reminder of how good I have it.

Weather you like it or not

2011-02-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

There have been rumors on the news circuits that SF may see snow in the next coming days. That just seems ridiculous to me since every single weather report I've seen of the days upcoming temperature have lows that hover around 38 degrees, maybe 37 at the lowest. Last I checked, it needs to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit to snow. I have my suspicions that the workers at the Chronicle found some snowy SF pics in their archives and produced a fluffy article about the weather just so they could post those pics. But who knows, I guess anything is possible.

While I don't actually like being cold, I do love cold weather because it means I can bust out all my heavy coats from the closet. I love a good coat. My favorite ones are all from the thrift store. I would love more, but I can't really justify the purchases because A) no room, B) I have enough (or at least that's what I tell myself), and C) I haven't been thrifting for clothes in a long time. Why I remember when my outfits were all thrifted. Now it seems that all my clothes are from Banana Republic or BCBG. When did that shift occur? Maybe it's when I transitioned from poor college student to a less poor working woman.

And speaking of work, I find myself in the office more and more these days. It's nice to be social and out of the house, even if it is for work instead of shut inside the house all day. Tom even commented on my chipperness.

I also applied for a part time photo gig at a photography online store. I applied to this company once or twice in the past to no avail, but this time I got a call-back. Persistence pays off! Perhaps it was my cover letter that grabbed their attention — a top ten list why they should hire me. Or perhaps it was because I actually got my act together and put together a basic portfolio. I'm excited about this job prospect because it seems like it would be fun and creative. Plus I'd get to geek out (and learn more) about photography. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I'm drinking tonight, like I do every night

2011-02-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Please excuse me, I'm halfway to being drunk. I might ramble. But I feel like I should blog because Yoshi is occupied with Tom. I think they're rehearsing some kind of dance they're going to put on for me tomorrow. There's a lot of jumping going on in the background.

It's a cold, rainy Saturday. Yoshi went to a birthday-swim party. You would never think of having a swim party in February, but that's why they invented indoor swimming pools. Yoshi had fun despite being cold with blue lips after being in the pool too long. On the way there, while walking to the bus stop in the rain, Yoshi said, "My toes are W's," referring to her curled up toes to keep her feet from slipping out of her Crocs knockoff shoes. Oh Yoshi, I hope you always keep your charming imagery skills. The other day, as she played with legos, she casually said, "You never know when you've lived half your life until you die." Wha? Where does she come up with this?

Tonight looks like it'll be a night indoors, drinking wine and living up the Parent life. Maybe we'll really get into the spirit and watch an episode or two of Mad Men. I don't think we're even having dinner because we had a late and heavy lunch. It'll be something random like a hard-boiled egg, green beans, and chocolate chip cookies. And more wine.

It's Presidents weekend, so we all get Monday off. Yay! Tomorrrow we're going to drive around. To where, I'm not sure. But that's okay. We reserved a BMW zipcar for the occasion. Yeah, we're fancy like that.

The other day I went to the 826 Valencia Spelling Bee for Cheaters. It was hilarious and so fun. I went with a group of other friends, mostly other moms from Yoshi's schools, and we had a blast. I hope next year Tom will be able to go. A few of my friends were on the teams there and it was great to see them on stage in a Spelling Bee full of ~~snark~~ wit and awesomeness. And to be honest, I was really happy to have organized my friends in a group activity. Tom usually is the one to instigate things, and it's a great quality he has, being social. I'm trying harder to be more social and start things.

I've been hanging out more with my novelist-friend and about a month ago, while we shared a pitcher of margaritas at lunch, he somehow managed to get me into reading fiction again. It's nice. I forgot how lovely it is to escape into a book. We went to one of the used bookstores in my neighborhood and he picked out a book under my request for it to be suitable for someone with a short attention span. It was actually his second choice book because his first choice book was not in the bookstore. I'm curious as to what the first choice was. And so I read The Confessions of Max Tivoli, by Andrew Sean Greer. And I enjoyed it so much I decided to read more. Now I'm reading some short stories by Murakami. But after I finish this, what will I read next?

I'm Asian and bad at math

2011-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Dudes. I have a cool video channel on Shortform called "I'm Asian and Bad at Math." Come watch all sorts of cool videos of Asians breaking the stereotype. This first video is Jen Kwok, who is nothing short of amazing. I practically pee my pants watching her. Hilarious!

Me + You = We

2011-02-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Tom and I finally took a shot of us together. Inspired by this awesome family portrait, we spent this afternoon taking various poses of us holding a frame, then with my photoshop kung-fu skillz, edited it into this.

Happy [early] Valentine's Day!

Knitted gifts for moms

2011-02-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

I have a knitting dilemma. My friend A is pregnant and I want to knit her something. Should I make her nursing shawl or should I knit a baby blanket? Or is there something that can double as both? Like a square shawl? I've brainstormed already with Elns my requirements:

lightweight (fingering?)
machine washable
all/mostly natural fibers
not too lacy, maybe confined to decorative edging? (baby toes caught in holes = not fun)
something that can be worn as a fashionable wrap when not covering a nursing boob
something that also can be used as a small baby blanket (maybe for the stroller or car)

I recently knit a nursing shawl for Drea in record time and it went over really well at the baby shower. It fit all my requirements mentioned above, although the triangle is not your traditional blanket shape so maybe it didn't quite get all the bullet points.

I may knit that pattern again, this time for A. I can't decide. I knit my niece Ellie a baby blanket right before she was born, which is my favorite finished piece to date, and I'm willing to knit that pattern again for A's baby. But maybe A doesn't need another blanket since she probably has some from when her daughter was a baby. The shawl is more useful because it can be used for both a clothing accessory and a blanket.

Ugh, I can't decide!

Decluttering, the saga continues

2011-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, on the way home from Tahoe, we stopped off at Ikea since we had the Zipcar for a few more hours and didn't want to waste an opportunity with a car in the East Bay. We bought some stuff to help our house, like a new shower curtain rod to replace our crusty, rusty old one that actually had so much friction due to the rust that it made opening the curtain a bit of an effort. And a new double towel bar to replace the old one falling off the wall. Yoshi picked out some stuff to help organize her bedroom--boxes for clothes, a recycling bin, a cute hanging basket. I want her to find organizing fun. We wanted to get some kind of narrow piece of furniture for our bedroom, but the particular item we wanted was sold out. Bummer.

We spent today putting everything in order. Tom dealt with the towel bar in the bathroom, which took a lot longer than anticipated (isn't that always the case with Ikea?) and a trip to the hardware store. And now we're going to have to paint the walls to cover up a bunch of puttied drilled holes once we find the motivation. But at least our shower curtains now move like silk. And Yoshi's room is slightly more organized. She tossed out about half her papers to break in her recycling bin.

I went through all my cards and stationery making supplies. I decided to get rid of just about everything. Paper. Probably 1000 envelopes. Screen printing machine. Gluing machine. Die cutting gizmo. I hope to sell some of it off to recoup some of the cost. The rest will be donated to Yoshi's school. I have tons of cards, a portion of it is selling at my Etsy store. Tom said he'd help me write some cards to send to friends and family. Truth be told, while I'm pretty good at making cards, I'm absolutely horrible at sending any. But freeing up space is good motivation.

It's taken me a long time to shed my hoarding ways. When I moved away to college, I took everything that I could, including an electric piano keyboard, a gajillion crafting supplies, and a 3 foot Snoopy head pillow. I still have a ton of stuff, but I'm slowly getting rid of it. And more importantly, I'm trying hard to limit what I bring into the house.

It's a constant struggle.

site update

2011-01-31T12:41:00.000-08:00

Ooh, look! I added an About page and a Contact page. Now I'm officially Unoriginal.

"We're not strange!" they said.

2011-01-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

Project 52
Week 2: Photograph a Stranger

So Lech, our friend Tim and I went out for this photo assignment to Rockridge, on a mission to photograph a stranger. In general I have a difficult time approaching people I don't know (I can be shy around strangers), but I lucked out as the woman on the left is Lech's friend that we randomly crossed paths with. Technically a stranger to me, I photographed these women as they happily posed for the camera. Yeah, it's kinda cheating, I know.

Project 52

2011-01-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

My buddy Lech pointed me to this particular Project 52 that he's participating in. I wanted to do a 52-Weeks-Of-Us project, taking pics of Tom and me together, but that fell by the wayside because we can't get our act together simultaneously, so I'm trying hand at this project instead. I can't promise I'll do all the weeks, but I'm happy I at least started.

Week 1: Create a mission statement.

This will be a constant work in progress and I figure out what the hell my style is, where I want to go with photography, essentially my Voice (or Eye). So far, it's this:

Celebrate the beauty of impermanence.

I was raised Buddhist. And although these days I only go to Buddhist services for a wedding or a funeral, there are some fundamental principals that I will always carry with me. One is the understanding that life is fleeting. And we as humans want to connect to things. And this can sometimes cause us turmoil to hold on to something that will not last forever. But if we acknowledge the transient nature of the world, we can celebrate life for what it is, even if it will eventually slip away.

And I guess it seems contradictory to want to capture/hold on to something with a photograph. But I think it's a way to say, "Yes, this is how it was at that brief moment, and now it's gone. But it sure was something, wasn't it?!"

So I'll be continuing with this thought. Let's see where it leads to.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right?

My Pummelvision

2010-12-11T17:38:00.001-08:00

There's this cool site called Pummelvision.com that takes the photos from your flickr account and strings them all together and sets it to music to make a snazzy video of your life (or at least what you post photos of). I noticed that it didn't use all my photos, just the ones from the past 3 years or so. Maybe there's a max limit on the number of photos that I reached?

Malibu Wedding - Part 1 : The Prep Work

2010-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to blog this for a while, but just got swamped with life. You know how it is.

Backstory. My friend Mike and I usually ~~geek out~~ chat about photography during our kids' swim class. Then one day Mike asks, "Hey, I got asked by this guy I used to party with back in the day if I would photograph his wedding in Malibu next month. I'm thinking I'm gonna need help. You want in?" He then fills me in on the details about what he knows about Berwin (the groom) and the wedding. It's going to be a crazy fun time!

I have Jewish friends. I even have a Jewish uncle. But I had never been to a Jewish wedding. And only vaguely familiar with Orthodox Jews. So! This being Jewish Orthodox wedding, I did a little bit of research. I read some info online as well as asked my Jewish friends of things to expect at a Jewish wedding. Some people told me it was going to be short, some people told me it was going to be long. Hmm... Luckily Mike had the reins on this assignment and kept in good contact with Berwin. Mike also took care of finding and booking the flight and hotel for our stay in Malibu. And he also did a lot of research about Jewish weddings than I did and shared his knowledge with me.

I took this gig as an opportunity to buy some more gear! I only had a small camera bag and wanted to upgrade, so a new bag was high on my wish list. My requirements:
- Large enough to carry all my photo gear, plus laptop
- Small enough to fit as carry-on
- Light enough for me to carry
- Durable
- Not too expensive ('cause I'm a tightwad)

I researched bags until I was blue in the face. There are so many wonderful choices out there! I finally decided on a Think Tank Streetwalker HardDrive. It holds everything (except my reflector). It's awesome and fit the bill perfectly.

Not sure how well you can see, but there are two camera bodies, 5 lenses (including the 70-200), diffuser, strobe, external hard drive, random other stuff like card reader, batteries, filters. And my laptop fits in a separate compartment in the back with a side zipper, easy for taking out when going through airport security.

Along with my bag, I bought a memory card reader and a portable/durable external hard drive, both firewire compatible for fast transfer times, a new battery charger and some rechargeable AAs for my flash, more memory cards, and extra camera batteries since I only had one for my MarkII.

Sabrina generously loaned me two lenses for the shoot. What would I do without her? I hope she didn't miss her lenses too much.

After I gathered all my gear and did my cultural research and got more of a feel of what the wedding was going to entail, I was excited!

Next up... Part Two: The Non-Rehearsal

Old school digital

2010-12-09T22:14:00.001-08:00

I recently brought our 8 year old digital camera out of hibernation so Yoshi can take pictures with immediate gratification (instead of film). It's a whopping two megapixel Canon PowerShot A40. I'm still impressed with this point and shoot. It's not ultra small and sleek like P&Ss made today, but some of my favorite photos were taken with it back when we lived in Portland.

Photo by Tom in Eastmoreland, Portland.

Autumn is gorgeous there. It's my favorite season in Portland. So many Japanese Maples in all their fiery goodness!

Tonight I took a quick shot of Tom here on the couch and with a little post-processing the pic looks nice, cheesy smile and all. I think this was my first time using the camera's manual mode. Not too shabby!

I had an even older digital camera, which didn't even have a screen on it, and I think it came free with a purchase of something I can't remember. That was a lot of fun too. I gotta hunt around more for those images, which were mostly from our crazy party days. Hmm... on second thought maybe it's better I don't find those pics.

p.s. I promise those wedding shots will be blogged... eventually.

November

2010-12-03T19:08:00.001-08:00

Rats, I missed blogging the entire month of November. I wanted to, but just didn't make the time. Stay tuned. Maybe I can catch up.

This was the view where I ate breakfast from my hotel for the Malibu wedding shoot I assisted in November. And it was just as warm as it was beautiful. Scandalous!

Seven

2010-10-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 7th Birthday, Yoshimi! You're my sweet, little, goofball of sunshine. I love you.

Making fashion

2010-10-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

I wanna make this.

Do great things

2010-09-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

The other morning a man who looked to be in his 70's was pedaling his bike up the steep block near Yoshi's school as I walked down in the opposite direction. He paused a moment, smiled, and said to me, "A day to do great things!"

Close-up

2010-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

As a thank-you gift for shooting their wedding, Lech and Drea generously gave me a Tamron 90mm macro lens. I love this baby. It takes some delicious photos. Inspired by photographer Angie Seckinger's stunning macro art, Sabrina and I took advantage of a beautiful afternoon in Golden Gate Park for a photo sojourn. Armed with our macro lenses we crouched down and discovered an amazing world often overlooked by the passers-by.

We started in the Dahlia Dell, next to the Conservatory of Flowers.

I found other cool plants to photograph.

We walked around the Conservatory a little bit, taking pics of grass, flowers, leaves.

Then we headed west to the Rose Garden. While I can't say it's as beautiful as the Portland Rose Gardens or the Oakland Municipal Rose Garden, it is quite nice, with a huge variety of roses.

And with macro photography, you really don't need much to find something interesting. It's all around.

So square

2010-09-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year my dad lent me his two film cameras. One is an SLR, an old Canon built like a tank. The other is a Yashica TLR, an old Japanese version of its famous German counterpart, the Rolleiflex. Every once in a while I'll bust out one of these cameras and try my hand at shooting in film. It's a bit tricky because unlike digital, you can't take a gazillion photos. Exposure, aperture, ISO, composition--all that comes into play and is more crucial to get it right in camera because you can only do so much in post-production. I've got a lot to learn, but practice makes perfect, right? Plus it's really fun.

The above photo is my favorite from the first roll I shot with the Yashica, taken at Crissy field on an evening of one of Yoshi's swimming lessons. Gotta love square photos!

2010-09-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

There's a fine line between pleasure and pain. The physical feeling may actually be the same, but the association defines whether that experience brings forth emotions of happiness or unhappiness. Ever since the accident I feel like I've been precariously walking along that line. I've been experiencing a slew feelings, from paranoia and fear to gratefulness and euphoria. And because I'm a person who needs order, I've been trying to keep it contained and make sense of it all.

I am easily paralyzed by my inability and fear to try something new (because OMG what if I fail?!). But lately I feel the urge to pursue something new, perhaps to do something creative with this internal energy I've got going on inside. I'm currently unsatisfied with my work. I haven't been pushing my paper goodies and seeing all my stationery piled up in my room just makes me feel guilty, and I've been feeling less than satisfied with my graphic designs because they don't really represent me. I feel like just scrapping everything and starting all over.

I'm leaning more towards photography, and I'd love to do something with that, but I don't know what. I need to find my strength, my photography niche. I have no idea what that is. I enjoy photographing details, small things, things that may otherwise go unnoticed. But is there a career in that?

And really, I need to stop looking at people's stuff online. Yes, they're beautiful and cool and interesting and so damn creative. But all those blogs I peruse for "inspiration" seem to make me less likely to actually do anything. I see all these great things that I mentally file away for a future personal project to embark on, and none of them ever come to fruition.

Despite not knowing what I want to do with my life, I feel happy. I just hope that I can find some direction and fortitude.

Crash

2010-09-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

I was in a terrible car accident about a month ago. And what better way to announce it than on Facebook?! I posted pics the next day, and as crude and gruesome the photos were, I'm glad I put it on FB because it quickly allowed my friends and family to know what happened so I didn't have to tell each person one by one. It also was a great conversation starter when seeing everyone in person, which really allowed me to talk freely about the accident and helped me cope with the experience a bit better.

But! For those who don't know what happened, here it is. (grab a drink and get comfy, this is a long read.)

First, a bit of background. Yoshi and I flew down to Orange County to stay with my brother Eric, his wife Wendy, and their 16 month old daughter Ellie for a week. Unfortunately, Tom was unable to take time off for work so he stayed back in SF. We had such a great, relaxing time in southern California. We took advantage of the warm weather and neighborhood swimming pools. Yoshi loved playing with her baby cousin. She also enjoyed walking Sami, "the cutest dog in the world!" according to Yoshi. I even managed to get in a few runs, including one up in the nearby hills and one with my brother.

After spending a week there, the five of us packed up Wendy's car to drive up to the Bay Area together since Eric, Wendy, and Ellie planned to have a mini-vacation here as well as go to my cousin Justin's wedding in SF.

We made good time as we drove past L.A. Yoshi and Ellie were having a good time munching on Cheerio's, blueberries, and TJ's baked snap peas. They watched episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba, which is Ellie's favorite show. It looked like it was smooth sailing as we cruised 75mph on Interstate 5 approaching the Grapevine descent. We we just before the 138 junction (towards Lancaster). Eric drove. Wendy rested in the front passenger's seat. I was in the back (behind Eric) with Ellie (in the middle) and Yoshi (behind Wendy). Everyone was happy and we discussed where we should eat lunch once we made it down the Grapevine.

Then suddenly I hear my brother exclaim "Argh!!" and say something along the lines of "It's gonna hit us!" or something terribly panic-stricken and as I look out my window I see a red car coming at us. Fast. The next thing I knew we veered to our right, across multiple lanes, then struck the the barrier, and flipped all the way over and landed right side up again. Everything felt like slow motion -- seeing the car hit us... us gradually spinning (my quick-thinking brother steered the car into the spin), the jolt as we hit the barrier, then lots of dirt and crunchy, crashing noises as we flipped over.

The first person I saw was Wendy. Her expression was absolute horror as she looked in the back at the children. I think she made a comment that we were in an accident, which made me think, "Oh! That's what happened!" And then she screamed, "Yoshi!! You're bleeding!" I didn't even want to look over.

Yoshi was a bloody mess as it dripped down her face, screaming like you never want to hear your child scream. In my memory I visualize her wearing her red sweater, but in reality she wore an all-white shirt that was covered in blood. Then my niece started crying as she realizes that something is terribly wrong. I had to make a quick decision on what to do. Do I tend to my crying baby niece or to my bleeding daughter? I realized that my Ellie's car seat was super secure and didn't move at all. I made the [correct, whew!] assumption that she was physically okay, so I left her there. I saw Yoshi bleeding all over the place and had to ask myself whether I should pick her up even though she could have a neck/spinal cord injury and risk paralysis. I risked a lifetime of guilt as I picked her up anyway, 'cause she's my baby. I had to get her out of the car and hold her and make sure she was okay. It was only a matter of seconds from the time the crash ended to when I scooped her out of the car, but it felt like eternity. The adrenaline was so intense, it felt like an out-of-body experience concurrently with being so acutely aware of what was going on, with heightened senses and crazy fast thinking. The feeling was like a combination of crystal meth and cocaine.

My brother and SIL immediately called for help on their phone and were able to tend to their baby. My SIL suffered some glass shards in her arm, and a bump on her head from the impact (her window shattered).

I checked Yoshi out and soon realized that the blood was from a gash in her head, but it looked relatively minor, gross and scary, but not too serious. I was so relieved because I know that head cuts usually look a lot worse than they are. I quickly put pressure on it, then remembered that there was a bottle of water in the car, so I got it and rinsed out the laceration to get out any possible dirt or glass that may have entered. The bleeding stopped within minutes. Yoshi was alert and as I pressed around on her body she said that nothing else hurt.

I desperately tried to flag down help. The driver of the other car pulled over. She did not seem injured, but she was an emotional wreck obviously. Someone stopped and told me the police had been notified and an ambulance was only a couple miles away and coming to us. Within 5 minutes there were 2 firetrucks, 2 patrol cars, and an ambulance.

Yoshi threw up a few minutes later, although she didn't seem phased by it. She laughed and said it tasted like cheerios and blueberries. Comic relief is a good thing.

Another random driver stopped and gave me his shirt because the one I was wearing was covered with Yoshi's blood and vomit.

Yoshi had to be strapped down on those papoose boards and put in a neck brace because she later complained of neck pain. It ended up being because of the seatbelt going across her shoulder/neck region, which gave her a little cut.

I called Tom at some point and said, "We've been in a car accident... the car flipped over... Yoshi's bleeding and.." then I lost phone reception. Ugh! Needless to say, he freaked out. It was at least 15 minutes before I could get a hold of him again.

All 5 of us rode in the ambulance [video here] and I tried really hard to keep Yoshi's spirits up (hence why I sound ridiculously upbeat in the video). The nearest hospital was 40 minutes away. I had Yoshi smile in a phone pic and I sent that to Mr. Snoopy so he could see that everything was gonna be okay.

Yoshi got 7 stitches (not a fun experience), a CT scan and xrays. She was okay. We were all okay actually. Amazingly. Sheer luck because I know so many accidents have a far worse ending. My 16 month old niece was fine physically (thank you awesome carseat!), but was in a fragile emotional state for days after. I'm still a little stiff in my neck, but it's not too aggravating and my chiropractor gave me some good treatment and advice for it. My brother still has some back problems that he's being treated for. Wendy has recovered from her cuts and bruises from what I know.

And dude. I was KNITTING in the car during the accident. Holy crap. How no one got impaled with metal needles is a miracle in itself.

After that adventure, we still had to make it home, which was going to be at least a 6 hour drive, which no one was ready to take on. So Yoshi and I went to the nearest airport and paid an insane amount for a 45 minute flight home. As we drank soda on the plane, I lightheartedly said to Yoshi, "Cheers to drinking ginger ale on a plane!" Yoshi responded with a smile, "And cheers to not dying in that car crash today!" I almost lost it right there. And when I saw Mr. Snoopy at the airport, and then my parents and aunt and uncle afterwards (we went to their house), I had never felt more fortunate to be alive.

My doctor said it's natural to slip into a depression following an accident (I think due to the adrenaline or some chemicals released in the brain). I'm currently taking glutathione supplements for this, which seems to help. I had been living off all that adrenaline that day, and I wouldn't let myself break down because I had to be strong for Yoshi. It took a day or two to really allow everything to sink in. It was really hard.

Talking about the accident has been really therapeutic. The days following the accident I surrounded myself with tons of friends and family. I must have told the story 50 times by now. It helps. I feel like a little piece of the horror leaves every time I retell it. But I would randomly break down and cry that first week. And Yoshi, the pragmatic little sweetheart that she is would console me and say, "Aww Mommy, it's okay. Be happy! We're okay. You don't have to be sad because we're okay," as she gave me hugs and pat me on the back.

And so far Yoshi seems to have healed physically and emotionally really well. She talks about it freely and doesn't seem to be too hung up on it, although every once in a while she'll get teary-eyed when she gets to the part about how she really wanted to see Daddy but couldn't. But I'm so incredibly proud of my brave girl. She's such a trooper. She doesn't like to look at her scar herself, and occasionally it gives her some grief with itching or tenderness, but she definitely enjoys showing it off to people who ask about it. Her badge of courage.

I've been in a few cars since the accident, and I personally only driven a couple times (we don't own a car anymore and use a car-sharing service), but I haven't driven on the freeway at all (no real need yet). The first couple days were tough, sudden noises or jolts on public transportation made me jump. And then three days afterward, I was in the car with my mom who almost ran into another car while changing lanes. ugh. Going over potholes on the freeway still make me inwardly cringe a bit.

It can be paralyzing to think about all the possible worst-case scenarios out there, and I know there's nothing I can do to prevent awful things like that from happening, but it's incredibly humbling to realize that our moment here is very short and can end any time without notice.

I'm very grateful for what I have.

And what do I have? A whole slew of medical bills and insurance forms.

But all kidding aside, I'm happy to be here. I have a really great life.

Breaking Bad

2010-09-02T15:24:00.002-07:00

There are only a couple television shows I've fallen in love with within the first couple minutes of watching. Six Feet Under was one of them. Breaking Bad is the other. I know I'm slow to the game (no tv means I have no idea what shows are on these days), but Tom and I just ripped through season 1 and 2 on dvd these past couple weeks.

In case you don't know, the show is about a middle aged, high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer. In order to make sure his family has money after he dies, he decides to become a crystal meth dealer as a sort of "side job." The show deals with this good guy who makes terrible choices, the awful consequences of his actions, and the evolution of his character as he turns into a druglord. I'm blown away by the acting of Bryan Cranston. I mean, this is the guy who played the dad in Malcolm in the Middle. But whoa, can this man act in drama! I guess that's why he's a three-peat emmy winner now.

Created by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad is a show that really gets into your head. If Tarantino and the Coen Brothers had a tv-show love child together, it would be this. The cinematography is stunning, with creative camera shots from a lower perspective to sweeping wide angle, time lapse shots of the New Mexico desert. The sets are awesome too. They really know how to make a filthy meth house.

And the characters are all so... real. The storylines of the various characters are well done.

And the writing is brilliant. It's heavy, dark, yet there are those moments that are absolutely comic, giving you a chance to breath and take it all in.

I seriously love this show.

Watch the Pilot episode free here.

Ariane & Ashwin

2010-08-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm finally posting the details of Ariane and Ashwin's beautiful wedding up in Sonoma County at Ocean Song Farm and Wilderness Center.

Ariane's daughter Z is one of Yoshi's best friends at school. Their other best friend is J, and together they are what Yoshi refers to as her "Team." Because J's mom couldn't make the wedding, we volunteered to take J with us up for the two nights we spent up in Occidental, which thrilled Yoshi to have a "sister" for a few days. The three of them had fun jumping on hotel beds, swimming in the pool, and of course running around at the wedding.

My "official" role was to be responsible for photographing the formal family and wedding party portraits. One of my weaknesses that I need to work on more is how to direct people. There was a bit of a language barrier (Ariane's family travelled from Germany, Ashwin's family from India), but we managed and had a good time in the process (except for Z, who was "so bored!").

The weather was crazy, often going from complete fog to super bright sunshine. I got the weather conditions in my favor on this one, giving that perfectly diffused light. And it helps that Ariane and Ashwin are beautiful people totally crazy in love.

There was a little downtime between the formal shots and the actual start of the wedding, so I took that time to snap some detail pics.

Ariane's best friend (the maid of honor) baked this gorgeous and delicious cake. She spent 3 full days in her home kitchen on this chocolate cake with raspberries and white chocolate filling. Mmmm... so yummy!

There was more wine, champagne, and beer than anyone could possibly drink.

There were tons of kids, which was so fun not only for Yoshi (she had about 10 friends from her school there), but for us parents as well. There were onsite babysitters and an entire play area for the kids to run around, so the parents didn't have to worry about parenting and could just have a good time. The kids even had their own table, complete with crayons!

The ceremony was beautiful. I love how they included Z for part of the ceremony, as it is not only a union between two people, but it marked the beginning of them beginning life as a family together.

Married!

The Jugtown Pirates started playing and there was merriment all around.

And then? I stupidly spilled my drink on my camera, which caused it to temporarily break. Quick thinking Tom immediately took the battery out and put the camera in the car to dry. I did take a couple of pics with the Yashica, but my photo-taking was pretty much over for the rest of the wedding. But that let me have a good time of more drinking, laughing, and dancing!

Sneak Peak

2010-07-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peak of Ariane and Ashwin's wedding that happened this past Saturday. I'll be back with more details soon.

A favor, please

2010-06-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

My friend, Ariane, is getting married next month. Her daughter is one of Yoshi's best friends at school. I've been enlisted to make and assemble the 100 adult and 35 kids wedding favors, which has been really fun. I get to do a lot of crafting! I'm almost done. I just need to make the labels for the bags, and then put everything together. Here are some progress shots:

Kids get handmade pinwheels (among other goodies):

Indian sweets made of pistachios and cardamom:

Label prototype:

I'm also the wedding photographer too! It will be my second wedding, but unfortunately I won't have Sabrina to help me this time around. I'm sure everything will work out (that's what I keep telling myself). I really need to work on directing people, which I'll need to do for the family shots.

This wedding will be outdoors, but at least not in a snow storm. It's possible it could be 100 degrees though. But it's gonna be so much fun!

Booked my flight

2010-06-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

In August, Yoshi and I are flying down to Orange County in August to spend a week with Eric, Wendy, and Ellie! I just booked our flight. Unfortunately Virgin America stopped its service to OC, which is such a bummer because their planes are so slick and fun and offered easy check-ins. But we're taking JetBlue, which seems pretty cool too with all that leg room and a tv. Plus it's also in the Int'l terminal. Yay!

Here's a video from last year of Yoshi on the plane:

The big picture

2010-06-12T20:48:00.001-07:00

I finally edited my blog so I can post larger pictures. For some reason I had the notion that it was going to take forever and that I would break the blog in the process, but in the end I was able to do it without too much hassle. Now I can post pics that are a little bigger. Yay!

Red Velvet Cuppycakes

2010-06-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is a lot of Red #40. Yoshi wanted to make it for me for Mother's Day, but we had only a laughable amount of food coloring.

If you can get past eating a lot of fat, sugar, and artificial coloring, it's quite divine.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

May in review

2010-05-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

And yet again I've lapsed in my blogging. All the time I spend reading other people's blogs could be better spent hours on mine--'cause I know you're dying to read this.

May was nice. For Mother's Day Yoshi made me this awesome card:

It reads: "Happy Mothers' Day!! I love you because you take care of me. I like when you do fun things with me. I like when you showed me Come Home Snoopy even though I cried. You are the funniest mom I ever heard of!! From your Yoshi!!"

She also picked some flowers from the backyard to make a tiny bouquet. She always makes the most surprising and interesting flower arrangements, like choosing mint as greens for a fragrant filler. She's got a knack for it.

We went to the Legion of Honor to check out the Cartier exhibit. I can't even begin to wrap my head around the worth of that collection. So many glittering diamonds, velvety sapphires, shiny platinum. There was even a little jeweled Snoopy! When we got home, I busted out my costume jewelry inherited from my aunt and grandmother and played dress up with Yoshi.

What else...

As a very generous thank-you for shooting their wedding, Lech and Drea gave me a macro lens. It's way cool as it allows you to see a vastly different world that is often overlooked ('cause, really, who can see that tiny?). Here are my first shots with the lens. Tiny white flowers (like the tiny ones in Yoshi's bouquet above) and firewood.

And how I can forget the annual Relay Race? This year Team Sweet:Cheeks dressed as the Village People. Plus Tom the Nerd, who always dressed up as something completely different just to keep ya on your toes. I was really sick though, so I had to bail after running my leg in the middle of the night. 200 miles from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. We placed 27th overall in 27h25m10s.
Plus a couple impromptu roadside dances of YMCA and other VP classics. Sweet:Cheeks!

I photographed The Great Cookie Bake-Off, which was a fundraiser for Stepping Stones International, a non-profit that helps children in Botswana get an education. Tom entered the competition, but unfortunately did not win, although I love his chocolate chip and kirsch-soaked cherry cookie is a winner in my book (and Yoshi's as well). You can see some of my photos on the blog and all of them on their flickr.

And coming up in a future post (hopefully), I'll share with you my adventures in decluttering and organizing my home. Wishful thinking has it that if my house is organized and simplified, then the rest of my life will be too. Am I crazy?

Lech and Drea

2010-04-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

...a.k.a Drech!

A few months back, Lech and Drea asked me to be their wedding photographer. Huh? "You do realize that I have no idea what I'm doing, right?" I asked. After some discussion, it was agreed that I would be their "official photographer" at their April wedding near Tahoe—Soda Springs to be exact. I enlisted Sabrina as my photog partner so I wouldn't be in this alone and to pick her brain for ideas and knowledge on how to photograph a wedding.

Looking at gorgeous wedding photos online, I quickly realized that I needed to learn a lot, post haste. A wedding, outdoors, possibly in snow, possibly in rain. So many factors. Oh boy....

Whenever I started freaking out, Tom would calm me down and tell me how silly I was for stressing so hard. And he was right (don't tell him I said that).

All I had to do was remember how awesome Lech and Drea are—they never speak ill of anyone, they see the best in everyone. And they're so much fun!

I would remind myself that they even said it themselves: Don't stress at our wedding. Don't worry about not getting that One Perfect Shot. The most important thing is that you have fun.

I took well over 1,000 photos. In the end, I handed over about 400 images to them. Here are some that I hope captured some essence of their special day.

Bottom photo credit: Sabrina

Drea wore her mother's wedding dress incorporated with her grandmother's beads. Her mother created all the flower arrangements, including her daughter's beautiful bouquet.

Drea and Lech wore cowboy boots! I can attest that you really do have to pull on the boot straps to get those suckers on.

Lech's a plant conservationist, so he and the groomsmen sported these custom ties and he had a boutonnière of native plants.

Devon is a great kid. He took a moment to teach Lech how to tie his tie:

What a fun big brother!

Lech and Drea skied down the aisle, guests walked, the officiant snowshoed.

Bundle up!

Ring!

Smooch!

Lots of dancing fun at the reception!

Each placecard had the guest names and pic on their own custom beer (or rootbeer) bottle. Yoshi was thrilled!

Cakes for everyone! Gluten free chocolate cake and a birthday cake for Tim!

I hope Lech and Drea enjoy their photos. I'm not sure that I'm cut out for wedding photography, but it sure was an incredible honor to be included in their special day.

Yay for love!

2010-04-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

This week Tom and I celebrate another awesome year of marriage. Usually anything special we do during the month of April counts as celebrating our anniversary. Yesterday we lunched at Starbelly, which is a local bistro in the Castro. The bar is made from an old bowling lane, complete with those skinny triangle markers. The food was delicious. I had a creamy asparagus soup. Tom had a salad. And we split the burger, which they should name Yum burger because it was so tasty. I sipped on wine and Tom had beer. And we even had room in our tummies for dessert--chocolate mousse!

And because you can never have too much chocolate, I made chocolate cake at home with the help of my sous-chef Yoshi.

Yay!

Project 365

2010-01-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Better late than never, right?

I had this unoriginal idea of posting photos from last year, recapping events from each month. I noticed people doing this on their blogs and loved reading them and looking at their photos. Really neat stuff. I wanted to do it. But then, like Tom will attest to, put way too much thought into it trying to make it perfect and then abandoned the whole idea completely because I got overwhelmed.

Instead, I committed to Project 365 where I would photograph and post one picture a day. Some people do a self-portrait for the year. I knew I would run out of creativity by day 20. So I am happy with just taking a photo of anything. The intention is for me to carry the camera around everywhere I go in case inspiration hits, but I get lazy and end up leaving it at home because I don't want to carry the thing for the 4 miles I walk, half of it with Yoshi and her stuff, and lately in the rain. It's hard to take photos holding an umbrella in one hand and a 6 year old in the other. Usually you will see me scrambling around 10pm every night in my house, trying to get a decent shot. I've got a way to go before I'm anywhere near mastering my Speedlight, but at least my night photography gives me ample opportunities.

Yoshi received a few lego sets for Christmas, and I think I've played with them more than she has. Don't get me wrong, the kid loves them. But I think I love them more. I have already subjected friends and family to playing with Legos when they visit at my house. But I think they enjoy the legos too.

I have a feeling that a bunch of filler photos for my Project 365 will end up being random Lego creations. The Lego has a really fun plastic-y quality to them when photographed. 'Cause, duh, they're plastic.

Happy December!

2009-12-03T18:43:00.001-08:00

Flu shots

2009-11-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today Yoshi got her flu vaccines. This was the first time we took her to get a flu shot, and it wasn't that easy due to failed attempts, run-around by her doctor's office, and the craziness of The Swine Flu (dun dun dunnn!). I thought that only the seasonal flu shot was going to be offered, but was pleasantly surprised when the nurse said Yoshi could also get H1N1 vaccine as well. And I was even more pleasantly surprised when the FluMist was offered because that meant only one needle (the H1N1) for Yoshi. Whew!

Yoshi has a lot of anxiety about needles. Tom and I tried to calm her fears by telling her how little the flu shot hurt when we got it. Seriously, I hardly felt it. Yoshi gave me a pinch afterwards and I told her that the shot hurt less than her pinch (which was true). This reassured her somewhat, but she was still scared when we sat in the examining room.

And the poor girl. Tom and I saw the needle that Yoshi got, and boy, it was 3 times the girth of the needle that was used on us. And longer too. The needle went pretty deep into her little arm. Yoshi held it together until we got back to the car and then just bawled.

Tonight, she cried as she went to sleep, complaining of how much it hurt. "It's the baddest boo boo I've ever had! It really hurts!" I felt so bad for her. I let her sleep with my beloved Bandit Snoopy that always sleeps in my bed to make her feel a little better. She fell asleep a few minutes later. The magic of Snoopy! And of acetaminophen.

I don't yet have the heart to tell her that she'll need to go back in a month for a booster shot.

Paper Plates for Pelosi

2009-11-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

Every Friday morning I volunteer in Yoshi's classroom. Today, I helped with a project called Paper Plates for Pelosi. The first task was for the kids to write a simple letter to Nancy Pelosi to request healthy food for their public school. The letter was glued to a paper plate. Then kids used colored paper to create healthy foods like sushi, fruits, veggies, chicken.

The teacher offered me a plate too and encouraged me to create my own Plate for Pelosi. Usually when I volunteer it's one-on-one testing with vocabulary, math, or reading comprehension. But to be given paper, scissors and glue and told to participate in arts and crafts while also writing to my congresswoman?! Awesome! I wrote a short and sweet letter saying how the food in SF public schools are terrible and we need her help to make a change to healthy and tasty foods. Then I went about cutting out paper grapes with a curly vine, a carrot with a bushy stem, a puffy strawberry, and some other fun foods.

One kid said, "Wow! You're like a paper artist!" Always looking for validation, this pretty much made my morning. I said, "Cutting paper and gluing them together is my job."

I need to hang out with first graders more often.

Boo!

2009-11-02T17:38:00.001-08:00

I love dressing up as Dead for Halloween, mostly because of the fun makeup involved and perhaps slightly because Yoshi hates when I wear the spooky makeup. Last year I was a ghost, the previous year I was Little Dead Riding Hood. The year before that I was a dead lion tamer. This year I went as The Dead of Winter. Pretty much every conversation I had with a kid went something along the lines of this:

kid: Ooh, are you a vampire?
me: nope.
kid: A ghost?
me: nope.
kid: Zombie?
me: nope.
kid: Then what are you?
me: I'm The Dead of Winter!
kid: [blank stare]... uh, what's that?
me: You could say that I'm a literary abstract concept.
kid: [more blank stares] No, you're a vampire.
me: I'm going to eat you! [I lunge for them]
[kid runs away]

Birthday Girl

2009-10-27T16:04:00.001-07:00

My daughter turned 6 years old yesterday. But back for her 2nd birthday I created an invitation based on a simple stick figure drawing. I printed all the party details on the inside and sent them off to friends and family. Today I'm featuring the blank notecard version of this design.

Each stick figure is hand screenprinted by yours truly. I cut out each hat out of various scraps of beautiful Japanese paper. Each hat is topped with a colorful sequin, so bright and shiny! The coordinating envelopes come in colors such as orange, yellow, blue, or red, depending on what looks best with the Japanese paper hats.

While I do have a lot of these cards, once I run out, that's it! I won't be printing anymore of these designs.

Get them on my Etsy!

I also have cards for the Birthday Boy!

5:04 pm

2009-10-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

20 years ago was the Loma Prieta earthquake. It's an event I'll always remember. I was 11 years old. The general rule at that age was that I wasn't allowed to have any friends over in my house until I finished all my homework, so my best friend Kari would sit on the porch outside my front door while I sat on the otherside of the door and we did our homework together. When we finished we could play.

At 5:04 that evening, my brother had just gotten out of the bath and ready to watch the Giants and the A's play in the World Series on the TV. Kari and I were separated by the screen door at the front while we did homework. Then I heard that low, basal earthquake rumbling sound and saw that the road moving in large waves like a ribbon. Kari's Dad's 4x4 across the street was bouncing on two wheels, from one side to the other. I heard our lamp fall, then our glass shelf crash. I realized it was a big one. Kari was struggling to get the tricky screen door open from the outside (if you've ever been to my house you know the opening to the screen door doesn't always work so well). In a blur, I opened the door and then dove under the dining room table and waited.

15 seconds later, the earthquake is over. I remember Kari's dad bounding across to street to make sure his daughter was okay. The three of us went over to her house, and there we saw that her aquarium was knocked over on the family room floor. But we were in awe of seeing the swimming pool in the backyard swashing about, water all over the place. I think it took almost an hour for the water to fully settle down.

There were tons of aftershocks. I think those startled me more because there were so many of them and I never knew how big they would be or how long they would last. We walked around the neighborhood, saw hospital procedures being performed out in their parking lot, other neighbors walking around. It was a somber, sobering feeling, and yet as a kid it was exciting because it was so different.

I was so lucky that we only lost a few things, but nothing of incredible monetary or sentimental value. We didn't get hurt, our house was fine. I enjoyed eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under the table. I was jealous that Kari's family got to use all their camping equipment like their stove. Fun! My family never went camping so we didn't have that stuff.

On our radio we listened to the devastation that hit SF and Oakland, namely the Marina fires, the Bay Bridge collapse, and the Cypress Structure collapse. And once we got power and saw all the images and videos it was really overwhelming. I could go on and on about those events, but they were covered extensively and you can read about that online.

I'm very grateful that no one close to me was hurt seriously (although Tom's sister was burned by a vat of hot oil while working her shift at Kentucky Fried Chicken). And as much as it pains me to read about those who died or almost died, I am reminded by the incredible act of humanity where true heroes emerge, strangers saving strangers.

Read SFGate's article.

Mushroom pin cushion

2009-08-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest hand sewing project. And really, it's more of a gluing project because there was very little sewing involved (and just a little project in general). But still, it used up some fabric from my stash, which is always good.

This pin cushion for Yoshi. She started to take after her crafty mama and learned how to sew a little. She's really excited about it. But mostly I think she likes it because she gets her own Yoshi-sized sewing box with all the goodies inside.

I used the tutorial found here. Very quick and easy! I made a couple more since it was so fun!

I can't stop watching!

2009-08-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

It's crafty, it's funny, it's sexy, it's Isabella Rossellini in the Green Porno. Brilliant!

And very educational.

I realize...

2009-08-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

... that you just want to play with me, Yoshi, but really, you're driving me crazy.

Palin makes sense

2009-07-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

...when interpreted by William Shatner.

Library

2009-07-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

I finally took the time to get my San Francisco public library card today. I went to the main library for the first time. Fancy! The children's library is expansive and I know Yoshi will love it when she sees it (she's had her own library card for well over a year now). I spent a lot of time walking up and down the aisles of books and periodicals, perusing. I forgot how fun the library is! I just hope I remember to return my books.

Summer fun in the city

2009-07-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, one of the runners in Tom's marathon training group hosted a barbecue at her place. Little did I know it would be at One Rincon Hill, which everyone in SF knows as the crazy tall condo high rise adjacent to the Bay Bridge. The building itself reminds me of a huge air purifier.

But it's swanky. Valet parking for the tenants, a really beautiful swimming pool, spa, and chic reflecting pool with a patio and fireplace that look like they're floating on top. Tom and Yoshi were well prepared and took a dip in the pool and lounged in the hot tub, all with cool views of the bay bridge and the city.

Peas please!

2009-07-11T15:13:00.001-07:00

In spring Tom organized a planter box build with our building neighbors for our backyard, each unit getting a box to create their own veggie garden. We've all enjoyed the progress made so far, watching the plants grow.

The tomatoes are flourishing to the point of being out of control but it'll be awesome when they ripen. They are doing so much better than our attempts in Portland.

Yoshi enjoys pulling out the carrots, taking them upstairs into the house, rinsing them off in the sink, and taking that first bite. "So sweet!" she says.

I'm really loving the peas our garden produces. There's nothing like eating fresh peas straight from the pod. Do they even sell fresh peas like that in stores (other than snow peas or snap peas) or are they always frozen?

Tom + Me

2009-07-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

Another photo from the weekend Yoshi was gone. Taken on the roof by my neighbors' friend Kurt.

Yoshi's away, my turn to play!

2009-06-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

We're incredibly lucky to have a nice family support network. My parents would keep Yoshi if they could. This past Friday my parents began their little vacation with Yoshi. They took Yoshi and drove down to Orange County to visit Eric, Wendy, and Ellie. Oh and Sami, their doggie, can't forget her. My parents even braved the crowds and accompanied Yoshi to her very first trip to Disneyland, which Yoshi has been wanting to go to for almost 2 years now. Rumor has it that she even helped change Ellie's diaper and took the dog out to pee. I hope she continues this angelic behavior when she returns home.

While Yoshi was gone having a grand ol' time, Tom and I struggled coming up with things to do. We actually played with the toddler next door for about an hour just so we could get in some kid playing time. Man, we're pathetic. Even other parents called us out on our pathetic-ness.

We decided to spend our free time cleaning out our bedroom. We got rid of our large filing cabinet that sat in the corner of the room, recycled a slew of papers, reorganized and rearranged our bedroom furniture, and bagged up unwanted items for the thrift store (hopefully I can donate those tomorrow). Our room is more spacious now instead of the cluttered dumping ground it had been. Now the hard part will be keeping it clean

Actually, we did some stuff. We saw a fun show at the Marsh theater just a couple blocks away from our house. We went to a couple bars. We went to a Pride party that our neighbors threw. We hung out with some other neighbors. We had a little photo shoot on the roof where the above photo was taken. And last night we went out for a late dinner at a little sushi restaurant in the Castro (and walked by 3 other sushi bars along the way). It's nice to be able to enjoy a late dinner and not have to stress out about making a child eat the food only to come home and have said child say, "I'm hungry!" It's also nice to have some time to focus on us as a married couple instead of us as parents. And the good news is that we are still fond of each other.

Tomorrow Yoshi comes home. I'm looking forward to it. I feel re-energized, which is great because the day after tomorrow we're all going to New Jersey for a wedding (Yoshi's the flower girl) and we come back Sunday night.

Alcatraz

2009-06-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Tom's family was in town recently and we took a jaunt to Alcatraz. I've been there a couple times before, but it was still pretty fascinating. Here are some photos from the visit.

Shoes:

Morgue:

I'm not sure what this structure is:

The few cell blocks facing these windows were the most desired as there was the sunshine in an otherwise isolated place. Sometimes the voices and laughter of the outside world would be carried through these windows and the prisoners would remember the life that existed without them.

Visit my flickr set to see more.

Growing up

2009-06-09T13:25:00.001-07:00

As I watched Yoshi play with her best friends in her kindergarten class, I wondered how long she'll stay innocent where she only has to worry about whether dessert will be served that night. Where her biggest source of anxiety will be starting a new grade at a school that is already very familiar among kids that she loves playing with.

But then I realize that she lives in SF. She asks about homelessness, AIDS, what it means to be gay, and why people kill others in war or for no good reason at all. She already knows we all will die one day. In some ways, despite her shy and sometimes delicate outward appearance, she's a tough little cookie. But she always remains compassionate (for the most part).

Today is the last day of Kindergarten for Yoshi. In a couple minutes I'll walk over to her school to pick her up--a special treat since she usually goes to after school care and doesn't get picked up until close to 6pm. I'm feeling a little sentimental. She looked so little when she started kindergarten. But now she seems taller... and more mature. She acts like she's 5 going on 15.

But she's still my baby. Even when I'm 100 and she's 75.

National Running Day

2009-06-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

As I looked through my running log, I noticed that for the month of May last year I ran 145 miles. This May? 15.5 miles. Ouch.

Happy National Running Day! It's a rest day for me though.

Snoopy on the catwalk

2009-05-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

This show is from a couple years ago, but I just came across the video today.

Although I must say shame on you, CariDee for calling Linus the wrong name. Lionel?

I love the fun snoopy wedding veil. I should have worn that when I got married.

Super funny, awesome, craftastic video

2009-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

For Mom

2009-05-08T13:38:00.001-07:00

I made a Mother's Day video for my mom. I hope I don't forget to email it to her (she doesn't read this blog).

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's Earth Day! I used it as a theme of my DIY macro pics today, although I admit that most of my macro shots are of nature anyway. Do you know what they are?

My most favoritist jam jar is now mine

2009-04-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, there was this mysterious ceramic snoopy thing that sat on the very top shelf of the cupboard, way out of reach for little me. I couldn't see it very well because it was small and the view was of the underside, so I just saw his cute smile. And he was sitting.

Maybe once every five years, my mom would clean have to go through the top shelf of that cupboard for some reason or another. And down Snoopy would come, just for a little bit. Long enough for me to realize it was a jam jar. Why didn't we ever use it? And then he'd go back up to his sitting place where he'd stay out of reach long enough for me to almost forget what his purpose was.

A few weeks ago my mom passed this jar down to me. It's now in my fridge where I use it all the time. Tom knows that my sudden interest in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is all because of scooping the jam out of that Snoopy jar with the little spoon. He knows that I secretly talk to the Snoopy when I make my sandwich. If the jar were bigger I would probably have my ashes stored in it when I die and get cremated.

Yoshi loves the jar too, but she's not fond of the apricot preserves so she says, "I don't really like the Snoopy Jam. Let's get strawberry next time."

I was so excited to inherit the jar that I IM'ed my brother, "I got the Snoopy Jam Jar!!!!" in a way where I hoped to sound like, "I won, sucker!" To which he responded, "Yeah, I have one too. Got it off Ebay." Damn. So I asked, "Do you use it?" And he said, "No, it sits in the cupboard."

Ellie

2009-04-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

I snagged a couple pics from my my SIL's brother's picasaweb. Here's Ellie with a bubbly mouth:

Check out all that hair! She looks a bit like Wendy in this photo.

(slightly) new look

2009-04-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Tax Day, I thought I'd change up my blog a bit. Now, I have no idea what my blog has to do with taxes, and really, I just came up with this Tax-Blog connection as I was trying to figure out what to say here.

I was in a photoshop kind of mood today so I made a new header for this blog and for the Akemi Designs blog. I didn't really do much else except change some of the text colors as well as use a new typeface. Subtle, like a ninja; you didn't even see it coming.

Welcome Baby Ellie!

2009-04-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Quynh Haruko Iwamoto
Born April 13, 2009
9:06PM
6 pounds, 14 ounces
20 inches

Congratulations to Eric and Wendy!

My dad, who did not want to know the sex of the baby, suggested both girl and boy names. Haruko, meaning Spring Child, was one of the names. Quynh (pronounced like Quinn) is Vietnamese for cactus flower, which brings to mind the fun and lovely Kimya Dawson song, Tree Hugger. Here's a little youtube video someone made using the song if you want to hear/see it.

I can't wait til photos are posted of Ellie, hopefully in a day or two. My parents are driving down today to meet their second grandchild. I'll have to wait until June for my chance to meet her.

Yoshi is thrilled to have a new little cousin. While she does have a couple younger cousins, we unfortunately never see them, so even though baby Ellie is over 400 miles away, I know we'll definitely get to see her at least a couple times a year.

Yay!!!

Gingerbread cookies

2009-04-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Tom: Hey, salami on raisin bran tastes sorta like gingerbread cookies.

Me (disgusted): Oh yeah?

Tom: Yeah, it's a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy.

Me: Mmm hmmm.

still disgusted.

Reading about running

2009-04-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

I've been running 2-3 times a week now for the past two months now. My knee problem limits the distance, only about 1.5 miles at a time, but it's better than nothing. Yesterday I was finally able to run without thinking about how out of shape I am (though I'm still out of shape). It was really nice that I could zone out, granted it was only for about 5 minutes, but I'll take what I can get.

I just finished reading a memoir by Haruki Murakami, a Japanese author whose novels delve into the surreal like his popular book, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. This memoir, titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, was straight forward, a bit funny, and something that a runner or triathlete could appreciate. It was nice to nod along in agreement about the feelings of distance running. And it made me want to run more, though of course I can't due to my physical limitations. Still, at least I can read about running even though I'm not actually running.

Read a review of the book here.
And a 2004 Runner's World interview here.

Alameda Flea Market

2009-04-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Oooh boy! Yesterday my friend N and I went to the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire, a.k.a. the Alameda Flea Market. I have heard about this amazing flea market for years, but yesterday was the first day I experienced it. Man, it's really awesome. The only other large flea market I had been to was the one in San Jose, which sucks donkey balls compared to Alameda. There is so much quality stuff, so many gems. From furniture to clothing to tools, this place has it all. The above photo is what N and I picked up. I had to restrain myself from getting too much because I'm in a decluttering mode at the house to make room for the piano.

Here's a sampling of what they have to offer.
Random toys (love the miniature furniture!):

Crafty stuff:

Other cool stuff:

N with the letter N:

And of course it wouldn't be complete without Snoopy:

Life

2009-03-20T20:13:00.001-07:00

This afternoon Tom and I went to the memorial service of Cindy. She was the wife of Tom's old boss Trond-Henning when we worked at iSpheres back in the day. We had the good fortune of hanging out with Cindy a few times, which were always hilarious and filled with laughter. She was a woman who could light up a room and made everyone feel good about themselves.

Several years back she started suffering from what was thought to be some kind of allergic reaction. Her skin broke out in a terrible rash and everything seemed to cause her pain and misery (although she would rarely let on about her suffering). Doctors were baffled as to what was causing this skin disorder. She took steroids as part of her medication and it caused her body to swell up. In the end, it turned out to be a rare form of lymphoma and the rash itself was the cancer.

The memorial service was very beautiful and fitting to honor Cindy's life. In an outdoor setting on a beautiful, warm, sunny day (first day of spring), with music, laughter, and tears. So many people shared their stories about how Cindy touched their lives in one way or another. Trond shared a beautiful eulogy. It was difficult to watch such a usually happy man so sad over the loss of his wife. But I think the hardest and most moving moment was when Cindy's dad spoke.

I think the worst thing a parent can experience is the loss of a child, no matter what age. It just doesn't seem right for a child to die before the parent. It's not how it's supposed to be. And yet it happens. And hearing Cindy's father speak words about his daughter--a woman fully grown up--I couldn't help but imagine how I would feel if I were in this father's shoes. I could tell the bond that this father had with his daughter was so incredibly strong. And I don't think there was a dry tear in the house when he spoke of tales of Cindy as a little girl as well as the intimate conversation they shared towards the end of her life. His words broke my heart.

Cindy was a great lady and she will be missed by many.

Ready, set, run!

2009-02-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

I just came back from my first run in over 7 months. And when I say "run," I mean that more like a painful jog interspersed with a good amount of walking. My chiropractor finally gave me the green light to start up running again, beginning with a run-walk. Man, I'm out of shape, feeling winded after only going one block. Still, it felt great to be out there again. And with no knee pain!

Family photos, continued

2009-01-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

The process of scanning in photos continues. Here is a snap taken of my Mom's parents and her older brothers during their time at "Camp" as the Japanese Americans refer to it. Nothing says fun like interment camp in the winter. Grandpa looks like a he stepped out of a J. Crew ad. And my grandma looks like she's thinking, "Okay...I'm smiling...but damn, it's cold... hurry up and take the picture!" Still, despite their hardships, they look happy.

From Father to Daugthers

2009-01-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a beautiful open letter Barack Obama wrote to his daughters about why he took on the journey to presidency. Lovely, personal, and inspiring to all. I can't wait to be in DC to share in the country's excitement for this great new president.

My family

2009-01-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I started the task of scanning in my old family photos given to me by my parents and grandparents. I made it about three photos in and then stopped out of laziness. Last night I decided to revisit the project. Here is what I have so far:

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T19:34:00.001-08:00

Happy December!

2008-12-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

It's officially the Holiday Season. I kicked it off and bought things for myself. I'm greedy and I enjoy a good sale. I plan to make the majority of my gifts.

Last night Yoshimi's kindergarten class had a dance performance. It was an interpretive dance about the cycles of water. Together the class moved along to their version of ice, melting, puddles, evaporation, cloud, rain, and river. It was super cute. I wish I had taken a video or at least pictures of it. Perhaps a fellow parent will share their pictures.

After the performance, we walked home. On the way though, we stopped at the local x-mas tree lot that benefits a local non-profit, the Delancy Street Foundation. We picked out a nice tree. Not too big, not too small. Still, my arms are sore today from carrying it home. It's always fun to trek through the city on foot with a Christmas tree.

Tonight we decorated the tree. "It's so beautiful!" exclaimed Yoshi after she topped off the tree with the glittery star and plugged in the xmas lights and saw it in all it's glory.

Happy Holidays!

Grr

2008-11-18T20:34:00.001-08:00

To the asshole who broke into my garage and stole my bike and my neighbor's bike (and you better not be the one who stole Tom's bike earlier this year from our backyard):

You suck. I hope you fall on your face and knock out all your teeth on the pavement.

Sincerely,
denise

p.s. Actually, I really hope you just return our bicycles unharmed.

Rats!

2008-11-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Warning: gross story ahead.

Yesterday I was motivated enough to tackle the backyard. The grass had not been mowed since September and as those of you who use a manual push reel mower, long grass is a pain to cut. So as I start along the first pass, looking out for doggie doo (our neighbor's don't always clean up after their dog), I come across something. Actually, my nose first discovers it since the odor was so strong. At first I think it was dog poop. Then I realize that it's a dead rat! In the corner of the yard is a smelly, decomposing rat with flies hovering and maggots writhing about. Eeeewwww!!!! It's really gross. Me, an urban girl, is not used to dealing with nature, especially rotting nature. Sure, I can handle a plant (usually), but this was different. This is not road kill that I see as a 70 mph blur. This is in my backyard. And it looks like I was the one to clean it up. Barf.

I run inside and tell Tom, "There's a dead rat in the grass! It's really, really gross! And it smells really, really bad!" He gives me a look that says, "So? What do you want me to do about it? Can't you see I'm busy slaving away in the kitchen?" And he goes back to his task of cooking our second early Thanksgiving dinner entirely by himself (which turned out absolutely delicious!). So I go back outside and stare at the gross rat again. Honestly, I can't figure out what to do with it. Like I should bury it, right? But where? I don't want to dig up any existing plants, and the only bare spot is way in the corner, but I can't get to it because there's a festering dead rat in the place where I must stand to dig the hole.

Tom suggests putting it in one of those compost bags and drop it in the compost bin (SF has a citywide mandatory compost program). So I grab the bin and open the lid. Of course fruit flies come out, which normally gross me out as well, but this day it is nothing compared to the task that lays before me. I grab a shovel and a compost bag. I try to think of how I'm going to hold open the bag and shovel the rat into it at the same time. I really can't stomach getting too close to this thing.

I thought about taking a picture of it because seeing things behind a camera sometimes helps me detach from my subject and maybe this would help me if I look at it more objectively. But nah, I can't. Sometimes a camera also has the opposite effect and I get more attached to the scene. Too risky. I think I would throw up if I got any closer so I nix the idea.

The compost bag won't stay open by itself. I try to pick up the rat and it kind of collapses on itself and the maggots shift over to where the rat is now lying. Bleah! I go and do some yard work on the other side of the yard, mulling over how to get it in. I prune back a bunch of rosemary and decide that I'll cover the rat in the compost bin (once I figure out how to get it in) with the rosemary and hopefully that will mask the smell.

After going back to the rat and walking away about half a dozen times, and maybe 45 minutes later, I finally drop the compost bag on top of the rat. It's partially covered. I then quickly just shovel up the broken rat with its compost bag blanket and drop it into the bin. As quickly as I can I put the rosemary and all sorts of other yard trimmings over and completely fill up the bin. I finish mowing the grass save for the little area where the rat was (still some remaining traces there) and rake up some of the clippings and toss that in the bin too. I put the bin back into the garage.

Today, the garage stinks of dead rat.

Luckily, the compost gets picked up tomorrow morning.

Yes we can...

2008-11-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

The #1 thing you must do today

2008-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

if you haven't already.

(it's pretty obvious who I'm rooting for, but vote for who/what you believe in.)

Boo!

2008-11-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

I was a ghost for Halloween. I used 20 yards of tulle fabric. Half of it was used as a skirt. The other half was a hooded cape. Yoshi was a ghost bride at school during the day, and a ballerina fairy at night for trick-or-treating.

I really wanted a white ghostly face, so I bought some cheap white cream costume makeup from the drug store. I should have splurged more than 99 cents though because within minutes of application, the makeup began to burn my face. I quickly washed it off and did a makeshift ghost face from what I had with my regular makeup. Hours later, my face still tingled from that cheap white makeup.

Halloween was fun. We went to this thing in our neighborhood called Paxton Gate’s Menacingly Morbid Macabre Museum of Unnatural Wonders. Yoshi was terrified. It was awesome with it's weirdness. I think it would have been super fun on mushrooms or acid. Or even just good ol' pot. But I had none (although I did have two shots of vodka before I left the house.

Afterwards, we spent the evening with some of Yoshi's friends several blocks away on a street that's blocked off to cars. The houses are all decorated and kids roam the streets having a great time. It's much more calm than the days of the Castro Halloween craziness. Yoshi did say that she's interested in going to the Sisters Halloween kid's parade, so maybe next year we'll do that instead.

Strangely enough, Yoshi hasn't even looked in her bag of goodies since she came back from Trick or Treating. For her it's all about the thrill of the night. I don't know what's wrong with that child. Maybe she won't notice if I eat her candy.

Happy Obama-ween!

2008-10-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

5 years ago today

2008-10-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

This is what I looked like five years ago today, the eve before Yoshi was born. :)

Update: October

2008-10-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

I voted early at SF City Hall. Most notably, I voted for Obama, NO ON PROP 8 (Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act), and Yes on R (to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant).

I also joined facebook finally. I really fought hard to succumbing to yet another social networking site, but I lost and gave in. I'm a bit addicted, not unlike that little coke problem back in the day. But I can stop anytime. Really.

I've been watching the debates. Tonight didn't seem terribly exciting (yet again), but man, this Joe Plumber and Joe six-pack sure gets a lot of attention. I might change my name to Joe Six-pack Plumber because he seems to be the shit.

I went to the newly re-opened Academy of Sciences. I should have photos posted on my Flickr within the next few days.

I went to the Art for AIDS auction, but didn't bid on anything because I'm a loser.

I went to an Obama fundraiser party hosted by my former roommate. It was a success!! And I got foodies and drinkies too. Yoshimi loves her rainbow gay rights Obama pin she got.

Yoshi's been doing well with swimming. She is learning how to swim on her back. Her newest trick is to do two somersaults in a row underwater. She's quite proud of this.

I'm a little drunk.

Day and Night

2008-09-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

I went to a funeral last Monday for a relative. And in a week I'll be going to another one, this time for the husband of one of my mom's closest friends. This will be my third funeral this year. *sigh*

In Japan, there are two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism. They are often intertwined and has often been said that the Japanese are Shinto during the day and Buddhist at night, meaning Shinto celebrates life and Buddhism celebrates death, like flip sides of the same coin.

Because of my Buddhist upbringing, death was always a part of my life. My parents often took my brother and I to funerals (and there were many) of various members of my extended family so we were not strangers to the concept of death and the various Buddhist rituals. I never really grasped the finality of death though until my grandfather died when I was 14, and about a decade later with the passing of my grandmother.

Perhaps because of some strange, unknown, perverse reason, I like going to funerals. As painful as it is to see loved ones grieving or be among the bereaved, it's events like a funeral that puts you face to face with your own mortality, and for a moment, realize that life is short, fleeting, transient.

Lazy Friday

2008-09-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't productive in terms of getting work done today. I pretty much just sat on my bum and watched hulu.com. Bleah.

So I watched Lost In Translation again, starring the awesome Bill Murray and kick-ass Ms. Scarlet Johansson. There's a quote that I've always loved that Bill's character says at one point, which is describing his view of having kids.

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.
Charlotte: It's scary.
Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.
Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.
Bob: Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.
Charlotte: That's nice.

It's really true, the part about your child being the most delightful person. At the end of the day, Tom and I often take a few moments to reflect on any Yoshi-isms and Yoshi-moments that happened. It's one of the highlights of our days and we always laugh over them. One of the most recent ones was at the dinner table Wednesday where Yoshi and I were eating (Tom was out for an evening group run). She had a glass of water with two melting ice cubes floating. She looks down into her glass and says, "That one looks like chicken!" And I look at the ice and sure enough, one is shaped like a drumstick. I probe this chicken ice further and ask Yoshi how it looks like a chicken, to which she replies, "You know, it's fat on one side and then skinny on the other, and you eat it like this" And she shows me how one would munch on a drumstick.

I then ask her what the other ice cube is shaped like. I tell her, "To me it looks like a shark tooth." She tells me I'm wrong. "No, it's chicken's friend." And then she takes a drink and Chicken's Friend goes in her mouth. She crunches on the ice. "Where's Chicken's Friend?" I ask. "On vacation! Chicken's Friend is on vacation." chomp chomp.

Three Oh!

2008-09-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm thirty years old now. It's gonna be my year. I can feel it.

My birthday was on the 12th. My super awesome hubster threw me a super awesome surprise party. While I can't say I didn't have my suspicions, what with him cleaning the house like a maniac, doing yard work, multiple loads of laundry, and even cleaning the toilet, I can say that the party theme was a complete surprise. It was a craft party, with all the guests asked to make a crafty version of yours truly, Tom and some friends provided the crafty supplies. I received a papier-mâchéed pink robot of me, macaroni runner of me, a popsicle stick cheerleader version of me, a cardboard poem version of me... it goes on and on. I received some great gifts, including this super awesome potholder/trivet set made with kettle-dyed cotton and linen yarn in a Tunisian crochet stitch. It was so great to see my friends and the crafts they made. So creative!

And I got not one, but two Fudgie The Whale ice cream cakes complete with chocolate crunchy goodness. Fun!

The weird thing was that Yoshi told me about a surprise birthday party for me a few days before my birthday. "There's going to be a surprise party for you! With two cakes (later she tells me it will be Fudgie the Whale) and cupcakes... and your friends will be there... and there will be a few of my friends too so I will have someone to play with..." Tom swears that he never told Yoshi because she can't keep a secret. But she ended up making up the truth!

I got a picture of a photograph

2008-09-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Previously, I mentioned that a local magazine picked up one of my marathon photos. The other day, Tom met up with a former classmate for lunch. His friend told him to tell me 'Congratulations' for the great photo in San Francisco Magazine. "What?!!!" I ask Tom when he relays this back to me, "He has the magazine and I don't?! I need to get my hands on it!" And today, I get two more emails about the photo, one from a relative in San Ramon, another from a fellow runner who works for the SF Marathon. Why am I the last person to see my photo? SFMag was supposed to mail it to me.

And lo and behold, later this afternoon in the mail:

And the table of contents (look closely, the first photo credit):

Tada!

Photo credit:

I got two copies, so I'll be sending one to my brother who requested it. My parents have also requested a copy so it looks like I'll be hitting the bookstore and news stands in search of this elusive magazine.

I'm super thrilled to have a two-page spread photo in a glossy, oversized magazine. I only wish that Tom was in that photo. I took four good shots of the starting line, and he was in all of them except the one that was published. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Oh, and here's the original: