Lights

Wishing everyone a very happy belated Diwali.  Above, a shot of my simple efforts.

आप सब को दीवाली की शुभ कम्नाये और साल मुबारक!

sailing

So, I wanted to craft an excellent new post, full of wit and charm about my trip to the Virgin Islands. Instead, it has been a month since I've returned, and I've yet to write that post. I figure it's time to cut my losses. Instead, I'll just let you see the pictures and judge for yourself.





See the full set of non-people ones on Flickr. The rest are linked from Facebook.

I went to the British Virgin Islands with a program from school to build leadership skills. We learned how to sail in teams of 6. For four days straight, we lived on the 50 foot sailboats. Eat, sleep, sail. :) Each day they gave us challenges to complete, and it often involved racing the other boats. I can honestly say I now know how to sail a sailboat. Within BVI we went to the islands of Tortola, Anegada, and the Bitter End at Virgin Gorda.

Afterwards, a few friends and I decided to finish out Spring Break by vacationing a few days in the US Virgin Islands. We stayed in St. Thomas and got to enjoy the shops and beaches there and in St. Johns.

It is a very beautiful part of the world, and I've discovered that if it wasn't such an expensive hobby, I'd want to go sailing much more often!

Most confusing thing about the islands? Both USVI and BVI use the American Dollar. But they drive on the left hand side of the road. But the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. But the locals speak British English. Augh! Too much confusion. :)

photography

I got a new camera! :) But of course, I forgot to take a picture of it before returning my parents' camera to them. So you'll just have to drool over the amazon picture, and trust that I have one. It seems fabulous, but I haven't really had that many chances to take pictures yet. I'll have to give you a better update once I do.

As for earlier promised pictures, they're up! Took me a long time, but they're there. Click on any of the ones below to go the whole set on Flickr.



The link to pictures with people in it is posted on Facebook, email me if you want a link to that.

And last, but certainly not least, a few videos from a Ladyboys show that I attended are posted at youtube. Here's just one sample that blew me away. These are Thai men, dancing and singing to a very popular Hindi tune...

2007

Happy Belated New Year!

And thus begins my year o' travel.

As my last post indicated, I needed a new camera and I needed one fast. For those wanting a quick update: I couldn't find the 700IS in stores anywhere in time, so I tried out the Canon 630. Fell in love with the 3inch display but really wanted to hold out for IS, so I returned that and borrowed my parents' Sony for my trip. As lovely as it was, it just reminded me how much I enjoy Canons. Now that I'm back in the States, I found a good deal on a the Canon 800IS and am eagerly awaiting its arrival to my apartment. :)

Which begs the question, where did I just return from and why did I need a camera so fast? Well, I've just returned from three weeks spent in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Similar to my Argentina and Brazil trip from last year, I visited these countries with a trip from school, part vacation part education. The trip was fantastic, save for the painful leg injury I got on the 2nd day of the trip (Thailand gutter system - not the most sophisticated) (healing nicely now, thanks). Visiting the three countries at once was pretty eye opening, to see how different the three were in terms of technological advancements, cultures, and governments.

I've gotten a lot of questions about which was my favorite. It's a tough quesiton to answer, because each one stands out for a different reason:

Malaysia was probably the one I was least prepared for. This being my first time in an Islamic nation, I wasn't expecting the religion and culture to pervade the everyday life as much as it did. My American beliefs kept doing belly flops as I realized that the separation of church and state was not a popular concept here.

Singapore is an extremely westernized (everyone speaks perfect English), nearly utopian place. Utopian in every sense of the word. The streets are beautifully clean, every last detail is managed efficiently by technology, it seems an idyllic land. And then there's things like the fact that it's unlawful to sell or even chew gum. Yup.

Thailand was the country that I had the most fun in. I felt completely comfortable, and yet there were so many cultural aspects that reminded me that I was in a locale far far away from home.

I've come home with lots of good memories, photographs, trinkets, an unwanted tan, and hopefully no long term diseases. I'll be uploading some of my better non-people pictures on Flickr. The people shots will likely end up on Shutterfly, and the link to that will be posted on my Facebook profile. Email me if you don't do Facebook but still want to see pictures.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a picture I took out of the plane in mid-Dec on the way to San Francisco.



It's good to be back!

reclamation

I hereby state that I am back in the blog world. I was a fool to ever leave; I recognize the error of my ways. I feel it's time to start sharing my thoughts again. You've been warned. :)

Speaking of errors, I found out recently that I've been mispronouncing the word 'mischievous'. My whole life, I spent 4 syllables on it when I only needed 3. So much time... wasted.

Speaking of wasting time, have you been visiting my flickr site? I've uploaded so many more pictures since the last post.

Exhibit A


Speaking of pictures, I've FINALLY entered the world of printing digital photography. My first order should arrive on Monday, I'm so excited! Although I've noticed... Shutterfly ALWAYS has a promotion going on. What's with that? Not that I'm complaining.

Speaking of complaining, I'm doing a lot less of it these days, because I'm singing again. And that is a wonderful thing.

Speaking of wonderful things, this post wasn't one of them, was it. Oh well.

inspiration

For those of you that still check, I'm not sure when this blog will inspire me next.  I mentioned a long time ago that these things seem to come in cycles.  Then, I talked about numbers and words.  Today, it is pictures.  

I have been spending more time at Flickr lately.  And thusly, more time with my camera, amateur as it is.  There is a lot of beauty out there waiting to be captured, and I have found myself staring at the works of so many strangers, completely captivated.

For now, keep watching there.  In time, the words will come back to me.

completed

More than a year after starting it, I finished knitting this sweater around six weeks ago. But too much has been going on lately, and I'm just now getting around to photographing it, let alone think about wearing it.


Nevermind that it's now 90 degrees out, and not exactly cashmere wearing weather. Nevermind that the ribbon makes me feel like I'm wearing giftwrap, which isn't quite the intended effect. Nevermind that despite appearances, it turned out a bit large so I might never even wear it.

Oh well.  My first sweater, so I'm still proud.

insanity

There's impulse purchases, and then there's IMPULSE purchases.

I just bought a beautiful cello.

I have no idea how to play a cello.

Yet.

interim

What I did on my summer vacation
by sangeet


As of the last post, I had just quit my job. For a few glorious days I just reveled in the freedom. No need to go to bed, no need to wake up in the morning, no need to do much of... anything. That freedom quickly turned into panic as I realized I needed to actually pack for my upcoming move, yet somehow I managed to spend time hanging out with friends rathen than packing. Jadam and I needed to watch more episdoes of 24 together, there was karaoke to be sung at the local gay bar, my roomate and I needed to have one more just girls night and on and on. The packing fairies would just come and take care of things, right?

Despite my state of nonpackedness (it's a word NOW), my best friend and I set off for Seattle on Friday morning. Leaving behind the stickiness that was DC, we arrived in sunny, breezy, Seattle midday to 0% humidity. My skin didn't even know what to make of this. We stayed with our gracious host Iriwn (Thanks again!!) and met up with George as well as other friends who don't have blogs and therefore shall remain nameless. Suffice to say, it was truly a great vacation, much thanks to our local friends who were wonderful tour guides. If you haven't been to Seattle, GO. Apparently, this is the time of year to go -- there was no rain, just gorgeous clear skies, delightful breezes, and a beautiful city to explore. Need more convincing? Did I mention we made it out to a place called Agua Verde for some kayaking (my first time), and then ate at the restaurant above, which overlooks the water? Live music, harp, violin, some sort of conga like drums, did I mention the yummy margaritas? Thanks Rachel Ray. :)

I came back fully recharged and met my folks for a quick trip to Atlantic City. We didn't come back any richer, nevertheless, it was some quality time as a family, and hey, they paid for my gambling ;)

Whoops, whaddya know, we're at my last weekend in DC. The girls and their men threw me a nice little going away party that Friday night. Unfortunately the festivities were cut short due to an ill-timed fire alarm, but it was probably for the best as I still had packing to finish up. The next day was inajamaica's wedding (such a wonderful, unique event, truly fitting), my last chance to hang out with some work friends. The following day was set to be moving day, but due to a snafu with UHAUL (raise your hand if you're surprised) things didn't start moving till many hours later than scheduled. Regardless, truly appreciated friends including pandabear came over to help load the truck. 11pm that night, I finally drove away from my apartment. Yeah, like I said... it was a LATE start.

Undaunted, we stopped driving at around 3AM, got a few hours of shuteye, and were ready to go the next morning. Got to my new complex JUST as the leasing office was closing, but in time to get my new keys. Woohoo!

I truly believe unpacking is more fun than packing. It's like opening a present with every box! Plus there's all sorts of new surroundings to be excited about. But the real excitement was on Tuesday. My brand new washer and dryer were delivered. I've never before had the luxury of having my own laundry facilities. The ability to leave my wet underthings in the washer an extra hour without fear of them being stolen, or worse taken out and put on top for all to see? Priceless.

Wednesday brought more unpacking, and then Thursday was a trip to my parents house. Friday, on my drive back, as that familiar and comforting skyline came into view, a funny feeling settled in my stomach. I had a new home. I felt a sharp pang of longing for DC.

And yet, it's good to be here. I got to have lunch with m@ber on Saturday, when was the last time I could do that?! That evening I attended a non official business school party, and I must say, I will have to work on my tolerance level. And that brings me to Sunday, the start of school. Don't ask me why, they decided to kick things off with a reception Sunday afternoon. This morning was my first full day of orientation, and I've gotta say, I'm excited. The overall enthusiasm that everyone has is simply infectious. I'm sure it's something that will fade with time, but it's a great way to kick off a return to homework, lectures, group projects and finals.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to have dinner with Scott and another friend, after another full day of orientation. The rest of the week holds further promise, who knows what's around the corner. :)

I once told Taylor I hated long posts, and here I've just broken my own rule. So if you've made it thus far, you're caught up on my summer "break", it's time for Fall!

flora

I haven't felt the urge to write lately. I say this knowing full well you've all been waiting with bated breath for the next entry. ;) Instead, I thought I'd share some pictures I took recently at the Botanical Gardens. The vivid colors were too breathtaking to pass up and I snapped over 100 shots. Don't worry, I only uploaded a select few. Enjoy!

handiwork

And now I thought I'd do a 180 from the last post. Let's see how feminine I can be! I knit this for a friend's birthday, and since I finally gave it to her, I can post it to show it off. Let the sterotypes begin :)

airy scarf

closeup

plunge

"Sellout."
"I knew you'd cave."
"It's about time."
"You've gone over to the dark side."
"Just now? You??"

These were warm words I heard after I shared my news. Such encouraging friends I have.

But it was true, I'd been holding out for what seemed like months, employing my delayed gratification attitude to this just like anything else. My reasoning was simple, if I really wanted it, I would still want it later. If not, impulse averted. It's like the second set of ear piercings that I wanted when I was 16. My mother, wise woman that she is, said I wasn't allowed until I was 18, at which point, she'd no longer hold me back if I was still inclined. A mere matter of months later, they had lost their 'coolness' factor. Today, I'm happy with just the regular one set.

But this was no choice in self-mutilation. This was consumerism pure and simple. To buy or not to buy. Last night, it all came to a head. I finally gave in to the urges and threw caution to the wind...







I am now the happy owner of a 6GB silver ipod mini, the second generation with the famed 18hour battery life and all.


le mini


Ain't she purty? I'm pretty sure that's 90% of why I wanted an iPod so badly. Again, I'm a sucker for good marketing. Check out Apple's final words on the display. I thought they were a charming touch though I know they might start Round 3 of a debate at work :)

countdown

countdown

The Count would be proud, don't you think?

Don't worry, I don't intend to turn this into a photoblog, I know what few of you there are that read this will turn away. But I can't resist sharing my favorite shot of tonight's play time with my camera's settings.

Thanks to Adam for introducing me to the macro button, better known to my mind as 'the weird tulip button.'

retake

glasses part II

I've been getting a little trigger happy these days with the camera. These glasses from last night comprise part deux of my stemware series. ;)

Again, the flash causes a small reflection, but it's less noticeable this time. As before, my favorite part is the mirrored image on the smooth table.

suspicious

gloves

I saw these outside my neighbor's door tonight. Clearly they...

...were part of a leprechaun costume.

...belong to the incredible hulk; he was shedding.

...creeped the hell out of me. Why would you leave latex gloves (green, no less) in front of your door in the common hallway? It should probably disturb me that my first question wasn't "what were they being used for?"

yeah, I definitely double checked the locks tonight.

amateur

looks like a sunrise

So, I'm no Ansel Adams, but I took this last night and thought it turned out nice. I tried fiddling with the filters, b/w, sepia, etc, but I decided full color is the most eye-catching.

Alright enough procrastination for tonight...

hallowe'en

my skills with a knife

Last night I carved my first pumpkin. Pumpkin guts aside, it was quite the experience. Check out my handiwork in the picture. I'd make you guess, but since there's really no way to know, its the one on the bottom row, sandwiched between the witch and the cat. Not too bad, eh?

Speaking of halloween, I finally went and picked up a costume today. If you, like me, thought that one week in advance would be early enough to avoid the crowds, boy, would you be sorely mistaken.

I could already see that I was in for a long afternoon when I got the parking lot and had to do my favorite stalk-the-customer-as-she-leaves-and-pounce-on-her-spot-before-anyone-else-has-the-chance maneuver. Once inside, 20 minutes later, I wasn't much better off. Throngs of people were peering up at the walls where pictures of costumes were displayed while employees used their walkie talkies to bark numbers at each other in an effort to procure your desired costume for you in record time. Including the time spent in the parking lot, in the line for the fitting room, and finally in the line to give the store my money, I spent about 3 hours of my life on this year's halloween garb decision. Not including, of course, the two other trips I had already made earlier this month, only to return empty handed because I was "certain that I could come up with something better."

This is what I finally came home with. Admittedly, I won't look half as cute as the model in it, but I was tired and it met my requirements: cute, comfortable, and relatively non-slutty. For those of you that see me in it, please pretend you don't see my stomach sticking out. :)

scrumptious

mmm...

took this with my new camera this weekend. hee!