Last weekend, Tahoe got pounded with a ton of new snow. As the inches piled up, my excitement became overshadowed by agony -- there was really nothing I could do to take advantage of all the pow, as I was chained to SF by an important research deadline.
This past week, I obsessively checked the weather reports and lift statuses for Northstar/Heavenly/Kirkwood multiple times every day, my eyes bulging with anxiety and anticipation each time I refreshed a page. Things didn't look promising, but I hightailed it to Kirkwood at the first opportunity anyway.
And boy, was it worth it! Despite the fact that there were only 3 lifts open, I found a super fun and challenging mogul line to hit over and over again (my legs are currently jello). While exploring the woods and gullies, I came across a fair amount of deliciously untracked pow as well. :) I didn't have my Parlor skis with me (they're still without bindings), but my new Fischer skis really delivered -- I got my ski legs back way sooner than anticipated. First day of the 2013-14 ski season = huge success!
Now, behold: my artistic interpretation of the mogul line that's rendered me pretty much immobile:
 |
| "Kirkwood" |
Holy cow, my life is moving at warp speed! During the years I spent in Durham, I would sometimes think of the time that was depressingly passing me by, taking with it unmet people, unexplored places, and unfamiliar feelings. I kept feeling older and older, smaller and smaller.
Now that I'm in SF and experiencing all those "un"-things, time remains a very scary entity. The more I do, the more I want to do, and the less time I have to do all of it!!! I'm kind of learning to go with the flow though, because it seems that things have quite a lovely way of falling into place.
 |
| "Geometric" |
Step 1 is over, I'm a year older, I've moved into a new place, and I've finally started my fancy research position (which has quite quickly reminded me that I actually hate working)... whoa, it's an explosion of big events! To celebrate all this, I'm taking a step away from the pastel kick I've apparently been on:
 |
| "Xplode" |
P.S. After this, I'll also be done with my gratuitous and inexplicable use of the letter "x."
An afternoon amongst masterpieces yields my MAGNUM OPUS! Lol, really I just craved some Mondrian cake, which I will NEVER get to eat because the SFMOMA is closed for the next 3 years.
 |
| "Nredom" |
Cartoon hearts are really lame, but playing around with their contours was actually a pretty interesting exercise.
Cuuuuuurvy...
 |
| "Contours" |
I have a friend who's getting ready to move into her first house. This will immediately be followed by a giant paint-every-room-a-different-color project, for which she is recruiting the slave services of her pals. (Un)fortunately, I won't be in the area long enough to help out with this hellish/fun-seeming undertaking, but I'll be in spirit! Here's what would probably happen if I got to re-do a tiled room (a bathroom, maybe?):
 |
| "Regrets" |
I suppose it's for the best that my talents won't be utilized. :)
I'm trying to juggle so many things right now. Everything's a colorful blur -- it's like looking through a kaleidoscope!
 |
| "Kaleidoscope" |
I really enjoyed coming up with my first wrapping paper design, so here's another!
It kinda puts me in a party-planning mood. Not that I've successfully planned any parties. All of the glamorous parties that I've hosted (e.g. my 12th birthday party) were put together by someone else (i.e. my mom).
 |
| "Funfetti" |
So much to do! Sometimes I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels.
 |
| "Wheels" |
Monday. Rain, rain, go away!
My last weather-related post for a while, I promise. Can you tell that surgery has driven me insane?
 |
| "Rainy day" |
I keep forgetting that I don't get a real summer break... The sun is out all the time now, and it's really warmed up a lot! Such pretty blue skies, too. I hope the weather stays this nice come mid-August, when I'm finally free. Yeah, right, as if -- it's going to be disgustingly humid and suffocatingly hot, but oh I remember... none of that matters, because I'll be OUTTA here! So ready to go experience some real city life. :)
 |
| "City slicker" |
Just poppin' in to share this fruity mix -- citrus fruits are the best! Blood oranges, though, are by far my favorite. :)
 |
| "Citrus" |
Anyone who knows me even peripherally knows that I'm utterly obsessed with the color purple. I've got purple shirts, dresses, outerwear (including ski jacket), pants (including ski pants and trendy shiny pants), pajamas, handbags, jewelry, scarves, shoes (athletic and formal), socks, stethoscope, eyeglasses, water bottle, binders blah blah blah. I'll buy ANYTHING (even something as mundane as a piece of felt) if I'm attracted to the shade of purple it features.
Naturally, I would really like a pair of purple skis. Pretty please.
 |
| "Violaceous" |
That vacation went by fast... :(
The end of a lovely break has coincided with endless amounts of rain. Perfectly mirrors my anxiety and dread surrounding the next few weeks. At least this colorful take on the desert theme cheers me up a little.
Q
 |
| "Desert angles" |
My break is coming to an end, but I've still got the weekend! Hope it goes by real sloooow.
I have to say, the South is a lot nicer than I originally thought, and Charleston has become one of my favorite cities by far. The beautiful old mansions with their generous porches and elaborate staircases, the strong presence of water, the shrimp corndogs at Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar... yes, I was very sad to leave indeed.
During my visit, I came across a miniature replica of what Charleston looked like when it was still Charles Towne back in the colonial days. I thought the shoreline seemed particularly interesting, so I recreated a retro version of it here. Today, the half-moon battery, depicted in black, is many feet underground.
Charleston is still very colorful, though, and I can't wait to go back!
Have a good one!
Q
 |
| "Charles Towne" |
I saw some goats today! That vacant stare coming from their plastic-looking eyeballs is so amusing. :)
It seems that lately, goats have experienced a surge in popularity: the "Goats Yelling like Humans" video; Taylor Swift's "Trouble: Goat Edition" (this version, in my opinion, far exceeds the original in both quality and catchy-ness); that goat-meat burrito I ate the other day. Weird.
Anyway, here's my belated homage to these noisy, funny-looking, kinda smelly, and sometimes cute animals.
Q
 |
| "The Bleat" |
Being on vacation feels so nice! Sleeping in, eating out, strolling around... such a lovely, languid pace. This also means I have some more time to accumulate new ski ideas. Hoping for some "aha!" moments in the coming days.
Q
 |
| "Aha!" |
Thought I'd brighten it up a bit with these gift wrap skis! One of my favorite things about presents (those received as well as those given) is their packaging -- funky wrapping paper/ ribbons/ stickers/ doodles etc. can make even the dullest gift exciting. :)
Q
 |
| "Just because" |
I started watching movies in movie theaters at a very late age, and the excitement of watching anything on the big screen made me incapable of separating good movies from bad ones. I do remember, however, that in the prime of my movie ignorance, a "two thumbs up" from the mysterious "Siskel and Ebert" meant that I ought to be extra enthusiastic about a film, and so I was careful to be extra impressed by it.
As I grew up, Siskel died, Roeper came and went, Ebert's lone voice remained, and I became more discerning in my choice of movies. But it still mattered a bit to me what Ebert had to say about certain movies, and I would occasionally seek out his review of a film before deciding to watch it. Granted, I started doubting his opinions when he started giving rave reviews to movies like "The Last Song" starring Miley Cyrus and her now fiance Liam Hemsworth, but it was hard to completely abandon someone who was such a force in movie culture as well as my personal experience with the movies.
Now that Ebert is gone (I miss him already -- who's going to do a serious review of Adam Sandler's next movie??), I'm not sure who I'll turn to next. At least I can tell on my own now that a movie like "Mulan II" is waaaay worse than its predecessor. The ninth-grade (who am I kidding -- probably more like eleventh-grade) version of myself would be very impressed.
Q
 |
| "Ebert" |
This one's pretty straightforward -- I'm becoming steadily obsessed with the splatter effect! Also, I've been wearing lots of stripe-y clothes recently.
Q
 |
| "Walk the Line" |
