This next one has a very “Eye of Sauron” kind of vibe going for it:

The one below reminds me of dandelion fluff:

And here’s what the camera caught as a firetruck raced by during the fireworks:

I don’t find it boring, actually. I’m just tired because I’ve been up since 5 a.m. That was almost 2.5 hours earlier than I normally get up. Hear me when I say, “I AM TIRED.”

Still, I got home, ate some soup, took some photos, refilled the windshield washer fluid receptacle under my car’s hood and debated installing new wipers (but then read the instructions. Not tonight. These yotches are silicone ones from PIAA and they require some prep work. This is a project for another night.)

And now, le foto.

And below, a close-up from the first photo and a reason I love my camera. This is without a macro lens and it’s not the sharpest ever (a lens would help), but you can see the fine “hairs” around the edges of a CLOVER.

Hungry insects make quick work of leaves.

More on this last photo tomorrow…

No comments

It’s raining. I’m tired. So here are some photos from today. I suppose at least one of them could be considered mild food porn.

Image 1: The choke portions and detritus from artichokes I decided to grill. I think these discards are aesthetically pleasing in terms of color and texture. Yay for a camera that can handle macro shots.

Image 2: Kielbasa and portabella mushrooms (with balsamic vinegar) on the grill.

Image 3: A delicious Gala apple I had for dessert. It looks like something that would charm Snow White, doesn’t it?

This shot of the Golden Gate Bridge is being shown right side up. I was just bending backwards about as much as my back would allow when I took this photo. Do you feel the vertigo I started to feel?

Oh - and hello, pretty blue sky as seen from the top of Coit Tower. I love the way the shadow curves.

I don’t know how many people consider this drain worth photographing, but my friend and I did. There’s a waterfall/fountain in Levi Strauss square in San Francisco and this is where the water disappears… just like that. I appreciate how the camera caught the little splashes of water inside. I have several versions of this shot because that’s how I roll.

A meandering post, in list format… some things I want to do.

- Learn to tune a guitar (my friend has a guitar she’s offered to give me since she’s not touched it in something like 4 years… and it’s made for people with smaller hands and shorter fingers, so it would help solve the one problem I was having when I started learning this past fall… my fingers are short so I was having trouble playing certain chords because my fingers couldn’t reach the strings across frets).
- Learn to play a song on the tuned guitar.
- Learn to sew with a sewing machine and pattern, not just needle and thread.
- Sew a skirt for the summer.
- Study up on photography and become proficient using the manual features on my camera to take interesting and fetching photos.
- Participate in my company’s corporate walk in Central Park in June.
- Start learning another language (I know someone who can hook me up with Rosetta Stone software for basically any language - French and Japanese are the main contenders right now. Maybe I’ll go for both.)
- Do some market research/conduct an internal focus group at work (honestly, it would be a lot of fun to do with the product line I intend to center it around).
- Take some day trips to fun places either by myself or with friends.
- Go to more galleries and museums.
- Convert a friend (or family member) to a climbing buddy and maybe even get them to go for belay certification. Call me an evangelist.

I bought some cute rain boots today. My Saucony Jazz sneakers, while incredibly comfortable, are not meant for puddle jumping, walking through wet grass, or other such rain-related activities. So I got to work with wet feet and that sort of set the tone for the day; I was a little mopey and “meh.”

On my way back to pet-sitting land, I stopped at a shoe store called Jubilee (B’way btw. 76th and 77th Sts) and bought the same rain boots I was ogling on Saturday. They were on clearance, they are cute, and they only had one pair left in my size. And they aren’t black, which is quite a change.

And the sun shines quite brightly in Southern California. Eva’s got herself some pink shoulders. And a tube of suncreen.

Yes - here at Coachella. Day 2 is just beginning. Quick update:

Yesterday, I saw the following: DJ Mehdi, Porter, Midnight Juggernauts, Rogue Wave (meh), Luckyiam, Les Savy Fav, Battles (yay), Dan Deacon (awesome audience interaction during his set), Jens Lekman (yay!), Cut Copy (yay), Sandra Collins (i kinda danced a little), Vampire Weekend (lackluster live), The Breeders, Goldfrapp, Aphex Twin (woo-hoo!), a bit of the Raconteurs (good live, meh on album - oh, Jack White), Serj Tankian and Professor Murder (yay!!). I heard Fatboy Slim from afar since he was in the large tent they’re using for electronic artists just a tent away from Professor Murder (who were pure energy live).

Tonight’s big draws are Prince and Portishead. The sound check for Portishead was my “getting dressed” music this morning across the tent-covered field. The view of the mountains here is unbelievable - just striking and amazing to wake up to. I’ll have my camera today so I’ll be able to take pictures and post them when I return.

Yay for adventure!

That sums it up. It’s what I’m doing. Trying to fit a tent, sleeping bag, climbing gear, sneakers, blow dryer, toiletries, hat, camera, umbrella, books, and clothes for 10 days of wildly varying weather — all into a suitcase and a carry-on. I am allowed 2 suitcases, but that just seems excessive for a 10 day trip.

Rather than being up until 3 in the morning and waking up at 6:30 (that was last night) when it’s my ninth straight day of work (that was today), I’m going to try my hand at going to bed now and getting up a little bit earlier tomorrow to review what I’ve packed with a clear mind before I have ten days of NOT work.

Thankfully, I’m good at spacial orientation (and Tetris) so packing is something I sort of enjoy. But I’ll enjoy it more when I don’t have a headache or brief spells of vertigo because I just really really need to sleep.

I don’t know how much I’ll be writing. Maybe a bit, maybe nothing. Maybe it will be all about Twitter.

For now, let’s just confirm that starting Wednesday, April 23, this chick is on vacation.

Well, today was the first of my two days at New York ComicCon. The annual east coast comic convention at the Javits Convention Center. I was at the booth alone from 3:00 on, so I didn’t get to wander the floor and see what was going on, but I did get some photos. Kind of boring photos since they were taken from the confines of my company’s booth:

In the two images below, I’ve circled a light-saber battle for you. They were pretty far away and I don’t have a true telephoto lens for the camera, and there was a lot of motion and I didn’t have a chance to change the shutter speed since I just saw this craziness happening and NEEDED TO CAPTURE IT.

There was a girl and a guy, both in weird Captain America-esque outfits. Just -boom!- in the middle of the aisle as people sort of scooted around them, totally nonplussed by the sword battle going on in their midst. It’s amazing how one’s acceptance of the non-traditional really reaches new levels here (half-naked women wearing red contact lenses and 8″ high platform boots? Ain’t no thing!)

Yeah. There was that. And lots of other interesting things and people. Thankfully, unlike the last convention I attended, the time passed by rather quickly and before I knew it, it was time to leave. I took the ferry back over to New Jersey and took this photo in the ferry parking lot - that’s the New Yorker building, among others… :

Yup. Rinse and repeat - doing it all again tomorrow, though not for nearly as long. That will be nice; I looked up an old friend from my bookstore days who is a comic book artist and learned that the studio he co-founded has a booth at ComicCon. I went over to say hi to him before I was due at our booth and we chatted for a bit, but I’d like to pop over again and perhaps buy a sketch from him or some such Fun.

Phew. I am planning on spending the rest of the evening watching highly entertaining silliness with my sister and her boyfriend - “Wet Hot American Summer.” From the folks responsible for “The State.” Yes. It’s quite funny.

I love this photograph of my friend Michelle’s daughter, Juliette.

I snapped it today while she was crawling up onto my lap - and I just gave it that soft glow in Photoshop.

My only issue is that my knee is in sharper focus than her face, but I will learn how to take better pictures using this new camera with time and practice and by reading through the various books I have.

That’s another nice thing about working for a publisher: access to books I can USE in real life (not that I don’t love fiction, too). I’ve got the field guide for my camera (Nikon D40), and a whole slew of Photo Workshop books.

Still, for an amateur shutterbug attempt, I do like this photo quite a bit.

I’ve been playing with the camera. And reading about it. And taking pictures of various things in my bedroom. Like my books.