fruit monsters

Wanting a little break today from AutoCAD I opened up a package of freeze-dried fruit my boyfriend gave to me in a sweet care package of 'goodies for work.' In a bag of dried bananas and strawberries, I looked inside and saw faces! I made some monster friends, then ATE them. CHOMP! My boss looked over and laughed at me; I'm lucky that he knows me well, otherwise he would have thought I was being a slacker of all sorts of crazy. oh wait...

dumpling time!

On Saturday my mom and I made dumplings! The insides are: ground beef, tofu, green onions (from our garden!), an egg or two, red flaked pepper and I... actually don't remember if there's more because after chopping up the green onions and setting up the skins I chased after one of my dogs, who snatched a dish towel right out of my hands. You'd think after years of making these I would remember the ingredients, but I got most of them. We boil then fry these guys, I don't know if that's redundant, but if you've got some boiled ones and then want them crispy, throw them in the pan, man it's easy. They're the best when hot off the stove, dunked in soy sauce with a splash of something spicy. I'm hungry!

creepy

I hate going to the bathroom when I'm at work, because it is soooo creepy. It's about 6' wide and maybe 10' deep. Claustrophobia-inducing. Scary because it is long and narrow, with old fixtures intact, a sickly yellow and black color scheme, a high ceiling, and no windows. The entire building is creepy except for the office I work in, which is clean, open and exceptionally well-lit. Apparently the building was built in 1929 which explains the dated feel of it - don't get me wrong I love old buildings, but being in certain parts of this one makes brings to mind vivid & eerie scenes from The Shining and Barton Fink. What is it about turn-of-the century buildings that make them so creepy? The history, the shoddy lighting, and the smell of the years. I secretly like being slightly creeped out by my surroundings though, it makes my day more interesting.

what I like right now

1. My anorak. I wore it all weekend. It provides cover, has lots of pockets, metal buttons (not shown), it's long and I can layer a lot underneath.
2. New (old) sunglasses that only set me back $4; my sister & I were dying of heat and brightness last Sunday so we both got some shades for relief. It worked! These ones are funny because they're off-white with raised gold stripes, with deep pinkish-red gradient tinted lenses. But they fit perfectly and I love them.
3. Sorting through my jewelry (and having the motivation to clean in general). Everything is silver or stainless steel but I'm open to bronze and gold-tone metals too. As long as it's awesome/unusual/clinks for real.

Domicile Conjugal (Bed and Board) 1970

The fourth film by Francois Truffaut featuring the character Antoine Doinel. I don't want to say anything other than Truffaut = perfection. Wow.

District 9 (2009)

Continuing with the theme of playing catch-up with all the movies I missed or neglected to see in 2009, I finally watched District 9 last night.

The events of the film, shown in mock-documentary style, then switching into 'real-time' as the film progresses, take place in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1980's - where an enormous alien spacecraft has arrived, idled and remains floating in the air over the city. After three months, a team is sent to break into the ship and over a million arthropod-like extraterrestrials are found, sick, languishing and leaderless. The aliens, the later referred to as "prawns" are brought down and set up in military-enforced quarters which then becomes the slums known as District 9. As tensions between the aliens and humans escalate over the next 20 years, measures to relocate the aliens outside of Johannesburg in 'District 10' are made, under the management of Multinational United (MNU) a defense technology company hired by the South African government.

MNU sends Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley, who apparently never acted until this role), a bumbling, mild-mannered cubicle rat-turned field operative, to handle the serving of eviction notices to the aliens in District 9, as well as confiscated any illegal weapons/materials in the process. The entire time, Wikus shows he is knowledgeable about the alien race, but cares little in regards to their rights or well-being. During an altercation with one alien refusing to cooperate with MNU, Wikus searches his shack and, finding a metal canister, accidentally sprays himself with a black liquid found within. After the alien throws Wikus, breaking his arm, it is dispatched, but Wikus' health rapidly begins to deteriorate, as he begins vomiting and secreting a black fluid from his nostrils. After collapsing and awakening in the emergency room, it is discovered that his broken arm has mutated into the appendages of an alien. MNU seizes Wikus and tests his operability of the alien weapons, which can only be handled by those with alien DNA. As the lab prepares Wikus for vivisection, he panics and escapes to the safest place he can think of - back to the slums in District 9.

That's only the first half of the film, which takes a long time to set up, and since this is getting rather long-winded, I'll just jot down the rest of my thoughts. The premise of the story is great - the arrival of an alien race on Earth, the ensuing xenophobia and misunderstanding, etc. sets up the tone of the film, but I found the story to be a little lacking of character development. Wikus goes from only caring about finding a way up to the mother ship to return to his whole human self, to sacrificing his chance to go up for one of the aliens he has allied with/befriended when it was in trouble, in about the span of a minute. The desperation of his plight influences most of his actions then all of a sudden a burst of humanity shines through a little too late into the film to make me appreciate it. The MNU operatives are very two-dimensional, as they're only shown as trained soldiers-turned killers who 'can't believe they get paid to do their job.' More nuance in all of the characters would have been nice, so in general I felt more for the main alien characters whose first intention throughout the story was to go back to the mother ship, back to their planet, to get help and save their people. Still, the film stuck with me enough so that in the case District 10 is released, I'll definitely be going to see that to find out what happens next/happened before.

ring, ring

A few of the rings that I wear the most - all from flea markets except for the rose ring in the second photo which I picked up at a night market in Cambodia over the summer. The dinosaur one was a little loose on all my fingers, but that's okay because I got it to give to a dino-obsessed friend of mine and it fit her perfectly! I put these photos on my wordpress blog but I wanted to share them here, too. I try not to get too attached to them because I tend to lose these little suckers, even after taking such good care not to - then right when I'm feeling all confident and complacent about not having lost any, one will disappear! Such is life though, no? But in the end it's just 'stuff' and it's not as big a deal as losing a connection with, say, a person. And so on.

blood orange tea

I just had a cuppa this blood orange tea at this cute café/art gallery and apparently hookah bar(?) called Zephyr that I hadn't known of until now, and it was just under my nose in Pasadena. I went with my old friend from high school Lyle whom I'd kind of lost touch with for the past year or two and so we caught up over a cup of tea in a sweet little room out of sight and earshot by other patrons. I think this might be one of my new favorite fruity teas - it has enough of that tang to be citrusy but it has a subtle sweetness that isn't gag-inducing. mmm!

to be a master render-er

A quick thought - I spent a good half of yesterday reading through a V-Ray for Rhino tutorial, and just by familiarizing myself with the settings and all that, I could make renderings look like the photo above. CRAZY! Except, I'd want to do that for renderings of interiors and buildings and such. So my current goal is to be a better Rhino modeler, renderer, and designer. Whew!

|

I'm in my fourth year of college, with one more year to go, and I haven't found a niche or a comfortable group of friends to hang out with or depend on. But since that's the way it was for me in high school, I've come to realize I'm okay with it. I'm fortunate to have at least found a few solid individuals to build lasting relationships with so there's nothing more I could ask for. From the get-go I didn't fit in with the super-studious, uber-arch nerd types, nor the hip, last-minute, partying-hard then pulling some quick bullshit kids. I fall somewhere in the middle, the 'other' and/or somewhere off to the side. Four of the people I considered my greatest friends within the architecture school all dropped out after some time - I wonder if that should be a big flashing sign - but then again, one came back!

Most of the people I have become friends with thus far in college have little in common with one another, but something I can say about all of them is that they're real. They're not caught up with crafting their images - I mean they're still searching for who they are, sure, but without excessive drama, cynicism or self-centeredness. They're all passionate about something, hard-working and headstrong. I learn so much from every one of them, and best of all I do so while enjoying their company.

So in short, I like the structure of my friendship circles, and there is nothing I would do to forcibly change that. I like being a lone wolf who in reality isn't alone at all.

more bright stars

This is my current desktop background of the star Rigel alongside the Witch Head Nebula in the constellation Orion. Squeezing it into a little box here barely does it any justice, and letting it fill up my entire screen is still but a meager substitute for seeing or being amongst those actual stars in space. That's okay, I like being able to dream.

image from APOD.

Bright Star (2009)

Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art -

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors-

No-yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,

Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,

To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever-or else swoon to death.

- John Keats, 1819

Otto; or Up With Dead People (2008)

The story of Otto, a young zombie experiencing an identity crisis. In trying to figure out who he was before he died/became undead, he meets Medea, a woman obsessed with death who casts him in her film "Up With Dead People" - her political and social commentary on the 'new' breed of queer zombies struggling in the contemporary world. I didn't care so much for the 'erotic' scenes, as they were gratuitous and didn't add much to the story line, but this was an existential and fresh take on the zombie genre, and pretty entertaining.

wise words

I tend to be bad at saving money...I wouldn't say I'm a frivolous spender, just sometimes careless - I use my credit card too often. So the other day I was talking about collecting unusual glass bottles/what have you and my mom said 'You know what you should collect instead? Money!' Truer words could not have been spoken as humorously in that situation so I've finally taken it to heart and now I am very serious that I tone down my spending habits, spend smarter, and begin saving. It is a habit that will benefit anyone greatly once they become financially independent. It's time to grow up in that aspect and realize there won't always be someone to bail me out when I am in need. Thanks Mom...!

someday I'll live in a land of green skyscrapers

One last random thought before sleep: The way sunlight looks when it's streaming in through bright green leaves is like a shining beacon, a reminder that life exists because of the sun. When I was younger I wanted to be a bug or a fairy that would live in a city of giant verdant umbrellas, feathery whorls of enormous skyscrapers, I'd play all day in the "jungles" of the garden and at night fall sound asleep in silky-soft silvery leaves... I love plants, the sun and I've secretly always wanted to be a wild child running around barefoot in the forest with my very own spectacular treehouse hidden in the canopy to sneak away to when I'm feeling tired.

Fido (2006)

Nothing like a good zombie movie (with Billy Connolly as the eponymous star!), set in the 1950s to end the day after a long day at work!

watcher watcher watcher

A funny little sculpture my sister's friend Kenny made; it kept me company while I was brainstorming Holocaust memorial ideas yesterday. The first one in my mind says "HEY! You better be working right now/Get back to work!" The second one says "You've been working hard!/You can take a break now" And the third one would say something like "You've procrastinated to the point of no return." I hope to encounter the last face very, very rarely, hehe.

djer kiss

Off to spend a morning at the Rose Bowl Flea Market with my mom and my sister, but first - a sweet little makeup compact my sister and I spotted at the PCC Flea last week. Such beautiful details, no? One of many things I find myself wanting, but wouldn't know what to do with once I get it. Be back later!

all you need.

I tried to think of a poem, a quote, something, to sum up "love" but information overload and indecision made me think back to a universal truth uttered by the Beatles - "All you need is love; love is all you need." So love, love, love.