westies through my sister's eyes

My sister doesn't regard herself as much of a photographer, but upon seeing these I have to disagree! Look at how perfectly she captures our Westies, the compositions of the photos, how the light falls on them and how intelligent and cute they look. I am obviously biased in my opinion of the poopies, but I seriously think these are amazing.

my dream car

If I knew how to surf, this VW camper van being mine would totally make sense! I saw it about a month ago at the Long Beach Flea Market and fell deeply in love. That New Belgium sticker! The mint green paint job! The vanity plates! Someday one of these will be mine.

I realize

That (architecture) design-wise, I am definitely more substance than style, but strong concepts don't equal much unless they're expressed articulately. So this brings up an uncomfortable truth that I have been avoiding and it makes me squirm, but with the discomfort comes a measured determination to pull myself out of the self-constructed shell that has been constricting me for far too long. Why am I coming to light with all this in my last year of school? I really am a last-last minute person.

the end of summer

I'm almost done for the day, all I have left to go to is my drawing class! I can hear the ice cream truck making its rounds in the neighborhood and I just had a cold glass of water that I desperately needed all afternoon. With cautious optimism I have a good feeling about this semester, and I'm going to have to stay focused and un-distracted to achieve what I want to!

back from Spokane

I have to get ready for class tomorrow! Then perhaps a few more updates later, while I have a few hours left in the day, because this is pretty much the last day of summer for me.

two weeks ago

This is what I was up to: readying myself to move back to school, recycling, and moving & settling in at the new place. Although I've been cheating by staying back at my mom's house every now and again for convenience, with work and all. I kept waking up prematurely for my 5AM shift today and never shook the crappy feeling so I was an irritable grouch all day, but I am so thankful that my mom, sister and boyfriend could look past that and be so understanding. Tomorrow's going to be busy because I'm helping my sister move in to her place and we're going to try to squeeze in some shopping too. I'm so tired that I can't be bothered to find my pj pants, which is too much information, so I'm going to do the right thing now and go to sleep.

22

Twenty-two sounds incredibly old! I'm awake after putting up my polaroid wall and tidying up my room, which I did after going out with a friend to a bar in Silverlake for the evening. This friend Steph, one of my oldest friends from high school, is visiting from New York and we had so much to catch up on, as well as more catching up to do in the very near future! The door guy at the bar noticed it was my birthday in a few hours so wished me a happy early birthday, to which I responded with a chipper thank you! Then Steph and I proceeded to talk for several hours, enjoying the laid-back ambience and then, 5 minutes to the hour, the door guy walks to our table and says to me "So it's 5 minutes til your birthday - would you like a free drink?" To which I reply "Yes, please!" and he goes to the bar then comes back with a Thirsty Crow (the drink I was having and incidentally, the name of the bar we were at) and Steph goes "That's it, this is officially my new favorite place!" I downed the drink, gave the door man a big hug and ended up back here, and now I'm taking a break from tidying my room and, I think I'll sleep.

last day

Goodbye Mammoth, I had a great time this summer with you. See you next year!

fishing, day 2

This little trout head turned out to be a solid choice (note the pinched-down barbs); After I caught this rainbow, my pop unhooked it for me since he had waders, and I got a chance to snap some quick shots. I don't like to prolong the amount of time a fish is out of water for the sake of a picture because staying that much longer out of the water could ultimately kill it, but if the opportunity is there and it's a short window of time (i.e. a few seconds, as it is being released) I have no qualms.

I caught a bunch of fish today (!), but owing to the fact that I caught them using the spinning rod instead of the fly rod makes me feel a little like I cheated. Only because the spinners are so much easier than the fly rods. Oh well, practice makes perfect, and today I wasn't going for perfection - just a good old afternoon of reading the river and getting that adrenaline rush from first bite to catch & release. My pop made the last cast of the day and caught a big native rainbow trout and as he released it he said, smiling, "That one last cast!"

fishing, day 1

I hung out in a patch of bright yellow flowers and watched pop tie on a lure/cast while admiring the surrounding foliage. I wish I had brought my Wildlife of North America book with me to figure out what was what! Anyway, I chilled with a fuzzy blue butterfly that was smaller than the lure I used today, then settled into a patch of young willows (probably not willows, but I was hoping they were) and observed the fisherman again. After looking closely into some blue eyed grass to admire the tiny flowers I looked out toward the marshier grass and, spotting something red and black, found a lost lure - a hand tied 'woolly worm' which pop is stoked to try out sometime.

My pop and I set out to fish around 2 this afternoon, and as he geared up I spent about 15 minutes working on my casting technique with the fly rod. It is an amazingly elegant and precise set of movements, deceptively simple, and for every nine or so 'meh' casts I feel like I only got one awesome cast. Ouch! I felt like I was ten years old again, just getting a feel for the spinner rods and casting my roostertails straight into the plants on the other side of the bank. Quite a humbling experience, and after only about an hour going up and down the bank, I tired and switched the fly rod for the camera and watched my pop, who is a master of reading the water and hooking fish. But he never toots his own horn and almost dismissively says "Well, for having fished here for 30 years you'd think I'd know something by now!"

(not quite) into the wild

I'm currently in Mammoth Lakes at a condo where my family and I have been staying at every summer for about ten years now. We go on this trip to fish for trout on the Owens River and this year I'm finally going to learn how to fly fish!

The Red Cliffs Preserve sign is significant because I took a photo of it on the way up our first year, and now I take its picture every time for tradition/posterity. What's great and crazy about it is this one shown is a brand new replacement, as the old one had gotten weathered, dingy and riddled with bullet holes by mischievous troublemakers over the years. Sorry that's probably not very interesting but I obsess over signage/infrastructure, the older the better. I'm trying to convince my pop to take us to explore Red Rock Canyon (the mini Grand Canyon of the West!) on the trip home, and/or go see the museum that's hidden on the vicinity, so we'll see if that happens.

Why am I sitting on my computer when I could be enjoying the cool mountain breeze outside, or exploring the neighborhood/what have you? Well, because I've gotten pretty familiar with the place, had my fill of being technology-free during vacation, and I know when I'm out on the Owens that will be plenty enough of a getaway. And why all the rationalizing? It's something I always think about when I'm out traveling or having a good time; am I ruining the experience, the atmosphere by checking my email and/or writing here? No, absolutely not. It's just how I fill my downtime and I'm constantly reflecting on situations; it's just what I do! And now, I am going to go work on my quilt which I did bring up, and get ready for (my first) Discovery Channel's Shark Week!

happy august!

July ended on a happy, positive & hopeful note, which so far has made the transition to August smooth and beautiful as well (so far). I am learning to see my faults & strengths, and working as always to strengthen my willpower, curb bad habits and improve my behavior overall. It's tough! I have so much growing to do. This month I will focus really hard on these things, so as I begin my last year of school, I'll hopefully have the best possible attitude, energy and motivation to make it successful. But as I begin August, I will relax for a few days.