POW

Holy cow, it's December now! Brrrrrrr. I guess this means it's that time of year to... 

Go on powder watch! 
Check trail reports daily! 
Do the snow dance, all the time!

Please be kind to us this year, snow gods of Tahoe! :D
 

"pOw"

Why you lucky little...!

All this SF sun has got me feeling jolly good! Apparently such awesome weather is a rarity, according to every longtime SF-er I've come across (I'd like to say that I don't understand this compulsion to burst a wide-eyed newcomer's bubble, but alas I am evil and have done the same to many a poor soul, aka premed student :D). 

These mean-spirited (or perhaps well-meaning?) people have also been telling me that the snow at Tahoe has been incredibly shitty the past few seasons, but given my good luck on the West Coast so far, I'm reasonably optimistic about my chances for 2013-14. Plus, I finally got new mittens. And my Sparrows will be arriving soon! 

"Jolly"

Zen

Step 1 is finally here, and I'm doing everything in my power to remain calm. I'm so scared to wake up tomorrow, but I'm also SO EXCITED to get it over with! Now, excuse me as I fake a zen state by bingeing 'Breaking Bad' until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Ha! 

"Zen"

To friends

I've been here for almost 2 weeks! Hard to believe. There's really a ton to do in the city, and I'm so happy to have such great people to explore it with. Here's to friends, old and new!

"Amité"

Ugly pretty... or just ugly?

Time to spice things up a bit! I've decided to go for the ugly aesthetic today, and what I ended up with was this somewhat-artsy, bad-90s-videogame-graphics thing that I have very ambivalent feelings toward. When I look at it, I get this weird taste in my mouth that usually only appears when I'm surrounded by lots of gray-colored objects (e.g. those ugly tiles with lego texture, gray walls, etc.). Ahhhh make it stop!

"Ski free"

 

Dots, stripes, what have you

A study in shape and texture.

"Along the dots"

Happy 4th!

Hi all, happy July 4th! Hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy some fireworks/sparklers/cake tonight. 

Check back tomorrow for my big announcement! 

"The 4th"

Birds

I have an exciting announcement to make soon! I've been dying to share, but wanted to wait until everything was in place.

Here's a hint... it has something to with birds... 

Stay tuned!

"Bird brain"

Random

Checkerboard, remixed.

"Remix"

Cold

I'm feeling a little winter-y this cold, dark morning. Well, I imagine that it's cold (because I'm depressed to be up so early) -- I'm waiting until the last possible minute to step outside.

"Black flakes"

 

Citrus

Just poppin' in to share this fruity mix -- citrus fruits are the best! Blood oranges, though, are by far my favorite. :)

"Citrus"

Into the woods

To me, the woods are endlessly revitalizing -- in the spring, they offer up some of my favorite hiking trails; in the summer, they turn into a refreshing, cool refuge; in the fall, they become giant blankets of the most beautiful autumnal hues; and finally, in the winter, they accumulate the snow that's most fun and rewarding to ski through. As much as I love skiing, it's really hard to pick which version of the woods I like best...

"Into the woods"

Galactic

I've never been one to wish for a trip into outer space -- I find the endless darkness and lack of gravity (and probably freezing temperatures) to be stifling prospects. The idea of space makes me feel so very small, but at the same time, I'm very much inspired by images of stars and galaxies. Their twinkling, indistinct outlines carry so much possibility.

"Galactic"

 

Goat sounds

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"

Aha!

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!"

 

For the love of books

When I was an undergrad, the only time I ventured into the library was to take photos of books. I was obsessed with capturing the look and feel of old book covers, especially those with faded gold letters. Finding the perfect book was an adventure! I amassed a sizable collection of macro-style photos of books from all angles, and I would obsess over and edit them for hours. I definitely spent more time capturing pictures of books than actually reading them! Ha, all those tuition dollars put to good use. 

Anyway, these skis feature a sample of some of my photos, altered to look less real (the idea of realistic images on skis seems very cheesy and uncool to me).

"Brett"

By the way, I feel compelled to say that I find reading books just as enjoyable as photographing them. :P

Also, on kind of related note, I'm only one shelf exam away from SPRING BREAK!!! Thus, my updates this next week will probably be more sporadic. Maybe I'll finally finish reading a novel.

Have a great weekend!

Movie mania

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"

To all the lovers out there

Aren't weirdly-colored skies kind of romantic?

Happy weekend, 
Q

"Lovers"

Poipo

I love purple! I also love pronouncing purple as "poipo" -- a dumb but incredibly gratifying act. Plus, doesn't it look so funny on paper/screen?

Q

"Skylark"

 

Warped

Purple...stripes...swirls...some of my favorite elements mushed into an end-of-the-world-ish graphic!

Q

"Apocalyptic"