City by the Bay

one of the many pleasures of San Francisco is the foggy weather, weather that encourages you to stay in with a bottle of robust California red wine and good company, or to skip work, brew a pot of dark roasted coffee and open your favorite book.  Here, high on a hill in Excelsior Heights, I took a few deep wet breaths of misty air, shot this one frame, and went inside to join Jerry for dinner.  It is such a part of my experience, this dampness that could chill you to the bone if you forget to dress in layers; it is the one thing I miss the most about my life in San Fran, particularly now that I live in a hot valley.

say hello to my little friend

I met Ernie a decade ago, when we both worked at the Daly City Trader Joes.  He was quiet, shy, very involved with work.  This past week, I spent a little time with him, getting my stuff out of the apartment he sublet from me, the one I am now giving up.  He told me to come over at 7am, a little early considering he worked till 11 the night before, so I showed up and rang the bell.  He came to the door, his hair was like that claymation HeatMiser dude from the Year Without a Santa Claus, and his tattoos were showing.  What??  He didn't have any when I met him, so I asked him to show me.  It's pretty extensive, covering both upper arms and his chest.  And he isn't done yet.  His artist lives in Hawaii, so on his next trip out he'll have the rest of his left tricep, his entire right arm, and possibly his right leg.  He's a madman!  But, he's also the coolest filipino dude I know.  Just like me, he doesn't fit the stereotype, and I am so sad that he is leaving the Bay Area.  But, I am really glad that he is moving back home, to take care of his mother and of his son.  I used to ask him all the time why he lived up here, he never had a good reason other than he just needed to find a little bit of himself.  He is much happier now, I think he's found what he was looking for, and now he's ready to go home.  Good luck to my good friend Big Ern, I can't wait to see the rest of his tattoo.

right arm (creation/self)

bull horns

left arm (mandala)

Low Flying Raptors

Hawk about to take flight, Land's End Coastal Trail

While I was walking along the trail toward Golden Gate Bridge, I caught a pair of hawks hunting.  I was the only person on the trail at the time, and these assholes were awfully bold.  This one buzzed me, came close enough to touch my ear with a tail feather.  I was a little bit pissed about that, but it only swooped me once before landing on this tree.  I caught him/her in flight, just floating on an updraft.  It didn't look real; I thought it was a kite at first because it simply floated above me without making any motion at all.  then it turned its head and looked at me!  I didn't know what it was going to do, so I wasn't prepared to see it flying right for my head.  Glad I dropped just enough at just the right time :)

Baglama Boxer -- Music by Stereognosis , Dancing by Edenia

my current obsession, belly dance fused with pop and lock. seems a natural fit, and Edenia (who teaches her style of dance in LA) is just a beautiful lady. Also, music by Stereognosis; I just downloaded them thru iTunes, favorited them in Last.fm. Enjoy the show :)

two dogs at rest

sleepy louie

illumileche

 

 

grasping memories

Marina District

in just 24 hours, i'm heading back to my favorite city- San Francisco.  I love it there, the weather is well suited to my melancholy nature, and my camera has the time of its life.  I have so many memories there.  Some memories are like water for my soul, others are like a seeping puncture wound.  I'll be spending three nights with my friends in a house on a hill, cleaning out my apartment a block from Ocean Beach, dog walking high above Cow Hollow in McLaren Park.  I'll be meeting with friends from Napa to Half Moon Bay, wandering in the Mission and the Castro, Inner and Outer Richmond and Sunset, strolling Golden Gate Park to Land's End and Sutro Heights.  In short, I am cramming in as much time as I can walking my old walks, trying desperately to capture all those memories on film or in pixels.  Some are so wispy in nature that they can't possibly translate into an image, but there is no harm in trying.

eye in the sky

shot of the interior dome, CA State Capitol Building

Yesterday was a cool day; I got to hang out with some old buddies from my photography classes and I got to go into the Capitol building, something I haven't done.  But, the subject matter was kinda boring.  I like taking photos of architecture from odd angles, and there was plenty of opportunity for that because of the massive size of this building, but I see it all the time and was having a hard time getting excited about shooting it.  I took this photo with my phone and with the D90, a habit I've picked up along the way because it's easy to share off of my phone, not so easy from my big camera. I shoot only RAW files with the big camera, and I have to convert them to jpg before I can post anywhere :( 

This photo turned out really well- reminds me of a giant eye.  the interior of this building is lit by lamps, so it's quite dark all the time.  Kudos to my phone for being able to shoot this well in low light conditions :)

a stalking

i went to shoot the capitol today, and i swear for a city that prides itself on the number of oak trees, there is an equal number of palms.  i don't mind, but they show up in the weirdest places.  for instance, on Broadway, there is a sign on the median that says "Welcome to Oak Park".  on the median behind that sign is a row of palm trees that runs for about a mile.  that's a lot of palm.

so anyway, i was looking through all my photos from today looking for the shot i want to submit to the contest.  damn it if there wasn't a crap load of palm trees wedging their way into my photos!  i don't really mind all that much, i think it's cool.  palm trees make me think of fireworks- slender trunk, green spray of leaves, like a firework caught in time. 

below are a couple of the photos of the palm tree that seemed to be stalking me today.  the one on the left is a shot of the State Capitol building, the east wing.  up near the top of the tree, you can see in the window the CA state flag.  i thought that was cool.

the second photo is of one of the walls in the Vietnam War Memorial.  Originally, I was taking a picture from the bottom of the wall looking up, but i noticed the palm and changed the focus to the tree.  the names are still legible, but the palm looks like a lonely firecracker exploding just for these men.

midyear self portrait

I think everyone should take self portraits.  At this time in my life, my face is changing fast, and it might be too late to start the good habits that might have preserved my face :P

I've gotten pretty good at taking self portraits, am able to take photos that hide obvious flaws.  Of course, I cheated with this one, covered up a third of my face with giant sized sunglasses, something I should wear all the time.  What you don't see in this photo are the two vertical wrinkles at the beginning of each eyebrow; I call them Manny and Adam after the men that caused them to be born.  Also, you can't see the blemish on my jawline, right side, called James, caused  by the beard burn I get every time we give each other a hug.  Under my left eye, there is a small scar, courtesy of my first feral kitten Eddy Puss.  Various beauty marks dot my face, two above my upper lip, one on my lower lip, two on my chin.  I haven't named them, but I suppose I could just name them after the year that I first found each one.  You can see my double chin, which goes by many names, like Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald, Rubio's and Mr Pizza Man.

MGMT - Electric Feel

stuck in my head!

in search of...

all along the west coast in different counties from NorCal to the Pacific North West, local lore describes  the great hairy man beast that lives in the forest.  last summer, my friend Courtney and I went looking for him up near Humboldt County.  We found him in effigy all over the place, but alas no live view.

for now, i have to be happy with this one photo of Sasquatch giving a thumbs up to motorists and tourists from a road side tourist trap.  at least the burgers were good :)

nerd for my cat

i can't believe i have not yet posted a photo of my favorite furry friend!  here is yeti, checking me out through rose colored glasses.

EdO self portrait

Let me introduce my good friend EdO.  He stands 6'4, weighs just a shade under 300 lbs, is my favorite coworker at the moment.  why?  because he is such a clown.  work sucks, and he makes that eight hour block of time bearable.

every night for the last three months, i've caught him doing his favorite thing- the robot dance.  it's his signature move.  if he's found some solution to a problem, he celebrates with a robot dance.  if he gets flustered, he does a robot dance.  if he's explaining the task at hand, he does the robot dance to help illustrate his point.  if he's happy, he does a salsa robot dance.
Last night, while we were on break, he commandeered my phone so he could play with MagicMarker, the application that created this masterpiece.  I was watching TV while he was playing, and I caught him doing the robot while playing with my phone.  when I got it back, this was his art. it is exactly how he looks when he does his little dance, complete with goofy smile and boing boing curls :)

ah jeez, i'll miss the robot when we change shifts in a week (BOOOOOOOOOOO!)

Chop Shop

got all my hairs cut today.  this is just one half of the carnage, i started out with just a six in trim, and decided to go the full foot.  my hair used to tickle my ass crack, now it just barely reaches my bra strap.  i feel about 5 pounds lighter, had to take a few moments to get used to it, but ultimately i am happy with my cut. 

i took a few other photos, but for some reason they were not written to my SD card.  kinda pisses me off that the camera on my phone is slow.

PussyCat Lounge

James is the kind of guy that feels somehow responsible for the welfare of feral animals.  He feeds this motley crue of cats, so of course they come back every evening to gobble down free dinner.  On this particular day, James was late putting out food, and there was a huge riot at my back door.  they look all relaxed here, like they are at some vacation resort, but the moment James came to the back door, all hell broke loose.  all but the shyest of them rushed the door, and there was much meowing and gnashing of teeth.  

hot Sunday

days like today, i am grateful for the luxury of air conditioning. it's too hot to cook, too hot to even move. 
today for lunch, diet coke, a glass of ice and cold edamame followed by a plain old salad with honey ginger dressing and for dessert, frozen berries!  it is my summer diet, one that requires little to no time in front of the stove top, only a few minutes in the microwave.

Landmarks

Way back in 2007, I started commuting pretty regularly between San Francisco and Sacramento.  I hated the house I was living in, lived with the biggest bitch in the world.  So I would escape to Sacramento, where I had my own space in a huge house with a room mate I like.  I would leave SF right after work, hitting the road at 2:15 and just narrowly beating the afternoon traffic out of the Bay Area.  72 hours later, I'd make the trip back, heading straight down 580 to San Mateo, usually in time to eat another late lunch and report for work.

Being on the road for so long, you sorta fall into a trance.  You have basic motor function to respond to traffic, but your head sorta goes off line.  Along the way, my brain would register certain land marks; bridges, hills, names of cities.

This tree was one of those landmarks.  It sits right next to the rail road tracks just east of Davis, a lone tree getting whipped by passing trains and high winds.  There are no other trees within a reasonable distance, giving it a lonely sort of feel.  It's posture reminds me a little of the curve in the human spine; its position in relation to the clouds gives me the feeling that is stands in defiance of wind and rain.

Over the years its lost quite a bit of leaves and seems less substantial than the first time I saw it.  I think that it may be losing its battle against the elements, and pretty soon, there will only be the bare bones left.  Not long after that, it will fall to dust, become mulch to feed some new tree that will spring up in its place to fight its own battle against the wind.

dry county

 now this is what i call nature's theater.  comfy chairs set up outside a nature preserve on a back road.  the only wild life i saw was jack rabbits and bugs.

summer in Sacramento County has a lazy grade school vacation sort of feel to it.  it reminds me of summers back in San Diego, just without beaches.  Luckily, i do have a water source, a freshwater source.  There are two rivers that flow in and around Sac, and now instead of body surfing in a 70 degree ocean, I ride to a river access and dip my feet in cool 60 degree river water.   I've gone inner tubing once, with friends from work.  me and six other kids, tied together and floating down the river with six packs of various beverages in tow.  four hours of lazy drifting, yo momma jokes and worst day ever stories...a great way to spend the day :)

bloomer pudding

today was one of those rare days where the sun was shining, wasn't too oppressively hot, and i was awake to enjoy it :)
so outside i sat, getting my free Vitamin D and reading my favorite book of all time.  Yeti and Underfoot were with me, one on either side of me playing with the ties on my shorts.  i had the cooler out there too, with Diet Coke (of course).  I lasted about an hour, when suddenly i heard the sound of bumblebees. i am deathly afraid of these flying machines, so i hurried inside with all my stuff.  one quick look back, and i saw three fuzzy bumblebees hovering around our dying lavender. 

now, about the title of this entry- my friend Kayla used to work for a dry cleaner here in town.  we got into a conversation about gross things we've handled in our various work backgrounds; mine was about the time i unknowingly stuck my hand into a swirling wriggling mass of maggots exploding forth from a damaged "tuna for cats" can.
her story was about a lady who brought in a pair of jeans with a stain on the leg and "bloomer pudding" inside. my story was pretty disturbing, her story was just plain GROSS.  bloomer pudding.  eeeeewwwwwwwww.

get up and go

i woke up this afternoon to discover that our coffee machine is dead!  no coffee, one blazing caffeine headache, i have ZERO get up and go.  somehow, i need to find the energy to put these shoes on, force myself out the door into 90degree heat, deposit some cash and buy a new coffee maker.  please let me pass a Starbucks...i don't necessarily like their coffee, but i need a fix.
one two three...GO!

busy Bee

The Sacramento Bee was the local newspaper here in town.  Right when I moved here, they were downsizing and within a year, all these newspaper vending machines were removed from the streets and the Bee became an online news agency.  The Bee is still in limited production for people like me who love the feel of pulpy paper, but it isn't easy to find one of these vending machines.  The papers are now mostly sold in coffee shops and supermarkets.

I asked the guy in the photo what would happen to the machines- they were to be sold for scrap to a metal recycling facility.  I asked him if I could have one, he said "how are you gonna get it home on your bike?"

three bears

last night, we threw away a bunch of baby furniture, including mobiles and cribs.  while we were out at the container, i played with a teddy bear mobile, totally not like me but not unheard of.  before i threw it into the container, i took these little fellows off and had a little teddy bear fight with giant Ed.  not a fair fight, since he's GIANT, but they're teddy bears- it was like a pillow fight :)

this morning, as i was leaving, i found these guys attached to my car.  I wondered why Ed's cargo pockets seemed extra puffy :P

and there's only three...i see another pillow fight in my future!

Peek a boo

Willy is the cat that has been with me the longest- a long 7 years.  i brought him up here to Sac about two years ago, was very worried he would run away.  this is new behavior for him.  before moving here, he was happy to sleep out in the open.  now that he is here, it is not unusual to find him in the laundry, or under the covers.  i thought it might be just a some time thing, that he would grow out of it, but he never did.  i think it's adorable, and it's fun to find him wrapped up in my blankets or clothes like some furry Christmas morning  present.  Sometimes he burrows in James' dirty clothes.  No need to explain why, but I make him clean himself before I let him sit in my lap :P

projectile sweating

damn, it gets hot out here!

coming to the end of my overnights, which means new opportunities right around the corner.  i am trying to get a transfer to a store within biking distance, a brand spanking new store, my own little crew handpicked by me...

a couple of years ago, my sisters and i met in San Francisco for a birthday weekend.  it marked the first time all four sisters were together in one spot, just us girls, in decades.  this photobooth masterpiece was taken before Flo arrived.  looks like me and Caroline are smooching in that second frame :)










this was the real first Triangle Trip; it's a huge step in repairing our relationships with each other.  time and distance make it easy to forget people who are important to you, even with obligatory phone calls and emails.  I love my family, as distant as I may seem, and I am glad that we set aside time to come together. 

stuff for today

Reggie Watts

i saw this guy doing stand up, so naturally went in search of his material.  instead, i found musical performance, both looped material like this and a duet with amanda from dresden dolls where he sings in German in a startling baritone.  i was intrigued, so i did a wikipedia search- and now i have an unholy crush.  i could say it is because he made me laugh, then he surprised me, then he turns out to be just your average dude.  all crush worthy things for sure, but i think the real fascination is the hair :)

anyway, the photo of the day!

My friend Stanzie got married a couple of weeks ago in an ashram.  At this point in the ceremony, she was still veiled, still sitting at Rich's right hand.  She cried through the entire ceremony, overwhelmed by the life altering event she was sitting through with the love of her life; this was probably the only moment her hand was still, not dabbing away the tears.

I wasn't sure that cameras were okay inside the chamber; one of the officials gave me a dirty look when brought out my camera so I tried to be stealthy about it.  A little bit later, two other people took out their cameras, and suddenly it was a free for all.  I am only sorry that I didn't get good photos of her entering the chamber; this was the first image I managed to take.

Happy Independence Day

James was laid off from work on Friday, so tonight we went and celebrated his independence from prosperity with another casualty.  i won't go into the full details until everyone is clear from legal proceedings, and really, who wants to know about it when there is meat on the grill and a show in the sky?

(i'm a little ashamed to say that i didn't come prepared to shoot.  no tripod, no pre setting settings, but at least i brought remote release cable. next time, next time....)

so what now?

here we go with yet another blog.  i treat these like blank books, a finite number of posts coming to an end after some personal epilogue about everything contained in the preceding posts.  this one will be a little different; i'll be posting photos (observations) and telling part of the story (reports).  i know, that's obvious, but i needed to write something about this blog :P

so without further ado, welcome to a new book/blog.  this story begins two years after my move to Sacramento, CA.  i'll catch you up with two years worth of flashback photos, but this one is the most obvious beginning.

Tower Bridge- connecting downtown Sacramento to West Sacramento taken from West Sac.