(no subject)
Week 10
Day 61 (sun march 7)
I just have to say thank you all for the kind and inspiring words you have given me especially from my last post. I am blessed to have such a great support of friends and family.
My Sunday doesn’t compare to these messages. Dim sum plans keep getting moved. So today, I stayed in and got work done. My awesome friend Amy has kindly agreed to do a final edit for me after I get through it again. The goal for today was to eat at In-N-Out. The place is so close but never had the chance to go until today. I got combo 2; animal style with a pink lemonade. It was interesting. That burger was messy but I cant complain because I inhaled it. The fries were good too although I think I put too much salt. And what I learnt from Kat from her adventures in Cali earlier last year, I got myself an In-N-Out hat haha that is my souvenir. Clouds started to roll in once I got back from lunch. I do want to goto Griffith Park and shoot again but I doubt I will be able to. I will save it for the next trip?
Since I’ve been here, I had tried my best to avoid junk/fast food and I think I did pretty good. It was only this weekend that I ate burgers and apparently in-n-out is better for you ahha. So the in-n-out I went to is in Alhambra which seems to be where the bulk of the asian population in Pasadena are. I have no idea why but when I see them I find it more natural for them to sound like they are speaking with a Chinese accent instead of an American one. The American accent on a Chinese person baffles me. I guess this is the place to be though… the most mixed raced families in one little place haha.
Watching the Oscars now… I was in the area just yesterday. I have to say best speech was Sandra Bullocks. And I must say Lauren Bacall, she was a stunner back in the day… gorgeous Hollywood starlet… If I were in film, I would love to recreate the lighting they did back then. George Hurrel styled photograph of glamour.
Day 62
Went to bed late last night finishing off my thesis edit. Woke up a little late as in 7am instead of 630. Biked to work, scanned and then Christa came in and now I have more than just scanning to do with these tears… I have to find originals of some, edit some, find and send off to a retoucher etc while at the same time still scanning.
My damn package finally came in =D it’s a nice key but all the hoopla I had behind it is gone because it took almost a month to get here… that is pretty much my day.
Day 63
I totally lost track of the what day it is today… I thought it was Wednesday and no clue what number.
Went to the office, did the normal scanning… so close to finishing tears… I have basically one more box; the huge Roxy collection. I went with Eric to take photos of Lost & Found in Hollywood and then was second driver to bring the new car to the auto shop to get tinted windows… dude.. so not use to driving especially an automated car.. everything is automated and the audi has so much pull that im not use to…
After that, just headed back to the office and did some more work. I had dinner with Christa and family, which was nice. Wesley gave me hugs and kisses today which was cute. Christa and family are going through a lot of transition and preparation especially since she is having a baby boy soon… july I believe. I really hope I can get some shooting done this week.
Day 64
It was such a productive day. I’ve gone through all her tears and scanned everything except for her roxy tears. That is roughly 1700 tears… The roxy stuff is what got me interested and inspired of her work. Also, they are these thick catalogs from roxy that have a crazy glue binding so taking them apart is time consuming. Very mellow in the office. I scanned, looked for raw files for certain files she needed and what not. Her tech guy came in and fixed her computers and I learned a new trick about imacs… if you have a cd stuck in the drive and it wont mount, turn off the mac and hold the mouse button down and it will spit it out.
Day 65
I swear I am not in the greatest of shape but im usually good in the morning when im biking. Today was just dreadful… I biked quicker I guess than usual and got to the office and my ears were going crazy. Again, a quiet day but today christa was actually in the office. I like having quiet moments where I can just chill out with her and talk about stuff. She started a blog haha. I wanted to wait and surprise her with photos when it was closer to the date I will be leaving but she was impatient and my usb was already there…
Photoshop doesn’t seem to like me at this moment though… usually I can scan and save quickly but today it was just horrible… it took forever to do one so I was only able to make it through the catalog I was working on yesterday and then one more today. I also had to find all these random raw files for a current job she was working on and they are all separated into a billion folder which I had to go through and cross check with her print outs.
Also, I was on a mission to find a certain photo file for my cousin and it took me awhile but I did end up finding it. In the process, I found out her backup system is flawed in that whoever had backed up these jobs was a horrible organizer. I left a little earlier today to grab groceries and hit the farmers market. I haven’t had a loaf of bread in 2 weeks so I got this nice irish sourdough one.
It’s dying down here and I can already think of how busy its going to be the next few weeks when I get back. I am excited to see and be with my family and friends though. 3 months is long to be in a foreign place (a different country) with unfamiliar people and places that are my age. I know that I am a quiet person at times but I wish I had people to hang out with out here… I love the people here now but as I mentioned before, they are in a different stage of life than me. 14 days.
Day 66
Started off the day going to the doctors with christa. We had a pretty good talk in the car about everything. She explained to me the industry and it totally cleared up a lot that I would be going through in the future. She asked me what would I like to shoot and at this point… im not sure. I thought I wanted to shoot lifestyle and all that jazz but looking at my portfolio it isn’t lifestyle oriented… its all over the place. I will be updating it later but the stuff on right now is not good enough.. way too broad. Anyways, She made me think… she told me that those who assist become really good assistants but rarely any of them become photographers. The position she said I am in is probably the best if I want to become a photographer as I will be dealing with every aspect in the business. It is a lot to take in I must say but hey… ive made the connection now and I know I have the drive to do whatever I want to… but for now, I have 2 weeks left and I return back to Toronto and gotta focus on thesis and portfolio stuff and then the next few months to do whatever I want… experiment.
I had a good long talk about the future with my parents via skype and I love them and am so grateful for their support. That is what I notice that is very different about my family and the people I’ve met here. Wendy, Christa, Deb and even Brian all come from families that have someone who has been divorced and/or don’t have the great support like I do. They find it odd that yes I still live at home and so do my brothers but that is because my parents love and support us unlike these the people over here who left home way to early or didn’t have the support and backing of their families.
So all in all, the opportunity is there, I need to make a decision but at least I get time to decide. I need to do more self discovery and that is the only way for me to find out what I truly want.
Day 67 (sat mar 13) only 12 days left.
I actually slept in today… until 8am and HOLY I felt so cranky and horrible when I got up… I cant sleep in… and especially since this whole time I have been trying to stick to a medium sleeping time that is inbetween Toronto and LA time.
Deb has left for NYC for a few days so I was left with Louie for the morning until one of her neighbours came to pick him up. I did my laundry and watched some tv which is rare for me to do. I love how there is a channel dedicated to Law & Order; that is my all time favourite show or I should say the longest running show that I started watching back in grade 7 and now occasionally when I do watch tv…
I decided to bike up to Colorado again because I wanted to find this shoe store but apparently it was more north and I forgot to look at the map before I left… anyways, I biked back down and went to fair oaks pharmacy which is this lovely corner store that has an authentic soda fountain so I got a grape ice cream soda and a turkey bacon avocado sandwich. Yum. It s a cute little store I must say and it doesn’t hurt to have some cute workers. My friend texted me to get her something from Chinatown so since my plans weren’t really set on anything I decided to hit up Chinatown. I got two of them cindy! A paper one and a non paper one..? you don’t really get to open them in the store but I opened when I got back and the bigger one is pretty.
So I pretty much walked around Chinatown again and got myself some cha seww and honeydew boba (bubble tea) I also went into the dynasty center I think where its just stores upon stores or merchandise and to be honest, I have no desire to really purchase anything. I know I should be buying a lot of stuff since im somewhere else and have money but nothing really interests me. Ive been here for almost 3 months and all ive bought in terms of clothes are one jacket, a pair of shorts, 5 shirts (colours! All under 6 bucks woot) a pair of jeans (outlet) yeah… and then my toys.
Once again, I will say this… I really wish I had someone here with me. I feel like I am lacking in the socializing aspect because the people that surround me are just in a different stage of their lives that is very different from mine. I mean, im surrounded by families so I get 30+ or 8- groupings. I know I am mature for my age but I need people who are going through the same things as I so I can relate to them. You hear this Toronto people… I miss my people! (Trish you should of came out here with me… im just saying!)
I feel that I do belong here and that I can get use to this life but I just feel a little lonely even with these people around me. I need my core people…
Toronto better watch out.. im coming back and coming full force.
view from sunset on a wonky rainy day
I ordered number 2 combo "animal style" I'm not sure what to think of it but i inhaled the burger
i love how you can see the mountains and that day the smog hadnt taken over
finally a photo of the street Deb lives on. They film alot on this street and its a nice view to look back one when i bike off to work
on the 110 fwy.. pretty clouds. such a windy day.
in the studio...
Wes had just finished eating a chocolate fudge sundae and then decided to braid my hair...
grape ice cream soda and a turkey, bacon avocado sandwich
Day 61 (sun march 7)
I just have to say thank you all for the kind and inspiring words you have given me especially from my last post. I am blessed to have such a great support of friends and family.
My Sunday doesn’t compare to these messages. Dim sum plans keep getting moved. So today, I stayed in and got work done. My awesome friend Amy has kindly agreed to do a final edit for me after I get through it again. The goal for today was to eat at In-N-Out. The place is so close but never had the chance to go until today. I got combo 2; animal style with a pink lemonade. It was interesting. That burger was messy but I cant complain because I inhaled it. The fries were good too although I think I put too much salt. And what I learnt from Kat from her adventures in Cali earlier last year, I got myself an In-N-Out hat haha that is my souvenir. Clouds started to roll in once I got back from lunch. I do want to goto Griffith Park and shoot again but I doubt I will be able to. I will save it for the next trip?
Since I’ve been here, I had tried my best to avoid junk/fast food and I think I did pretty good. It was only this weekend that I ate burgers and apparently in-n-out is better for you ahha. So the in-n-out I went to is in Alhambra which seems to be where the bulk of the asian population in Pasadena are. I have no idea why but when I see them I find it more natural for them to sound like they are speaking with a Chinese accent instead of an American one. The American accent on a Chinese person baffles me. I guess this is the place to be though… the most mixed raced families in one little place haha.
Watching the Oscars now… I was in the area just yesterday. I have to say best speech was Sandra Bullocks. And I must say Lauren Bacall, she was a stunner back in the day… gorgeous Hollywood starlet… If I were in film, I would love to recreate the lighting they did back then. George Hurrel styled photograph of glamour.
Day 62
Went to bed late last night finishing off my thesis edit. Woke up a little late as in 7am instead of 630. Biked to work, scanned and then Christa came in and now I have more than just scanning to do with these tears… I have to find originals of some, edit some, find and send off to a retoucher etc while at the same time still scanning.
My damn package finally came in =D it’s a nice key but all the hoopla I had behind it is gone because it took almost a month to get here… that is pretty much my day.
Day 63
I totally lost track of the what day it is today… I thought it was Wednesday and no clue what number.
Went to the office, did the normal scanning… so close to finishing tears… I have basically one more box; the huge Roxy collection. I went with Eric to take photos of Lost & Found in Hollywood and then was second driver to bring the new car to the auto shop to get tinted windows… dude.. so not use to driving especially an automated car.. everything is automated and the audi has so much pull that im not use to…
After that, just headed back to the office and did some more work. I had dinner with Christa and family, which was nice. Wesley gave me hugs and kisses today which was cute. Christa and family are going through a lot of transition and preparation especially since she is having a baby boy soon… july I believe. I really hope I can get some shooting done this week.
Day 64
It was such a productive day. I’ve gone through all her tears and scanned everything except for her roxy tears. That is roughly 1700 tears… The roxy stuff is what got me interested and inspired of her work. Also, they are these thick catalogs from roxy that have a crazy glue binding so taking them apart is time consuming. Very mellow in the office. I scanned, looked for raw files for certain files she needed and what not. Her tech guy came in and fixed her computers and I learned a new trick about imacs… if you have a cd stuck in the drive and it wont mount, turn off the mac and hold the mouse button down and it will spit it out.
Day 65
I swear I am not in the greatest of shape but im usually good in the morning when im biking. Today was just dreadful… I biked quicker I guess than usual and got to the office and my ears were going crazy. Again, a quiet day but today christa was actually in the office. I like having quiet moments where I can just chill out with her and talk about stuff. She started a blog haha. I wanted to wait and surprise her with photos when it was closer to the date I will be leaving but she was impatient and my usb was already there…
Photoshop doesn’t seem to like me at this moment though… usually I can scan and save quickly but today it was just horrible… it took forever to do one so I was only able to make it through the catalog I was working on yesterday and then one more today. I also had to find all these random raw files for a current job she was working on and they are all separated into a billion folder which I had to go through and cross check with her print outs.
Also, I was on a mission to find a certain photo file for my cousin and it took me awhile but I did end up finding it. In the process, I found out her backup system is flawed in that whoever had backed up these jobs was a horrible organizer. I left a little earlier today to grab groceries and hit the farmers market. I haven’t had a loaf of bread in 2 weeks so I got this nice irish sourdough one.
It’s dying down here and I can already think of how busy its going to be the next few weeks when I get back. I am excited to see and be with my family and friends though. 3 months is long to be in a foreign place (a different country) with unfamiliar people and places that are my age. I know that I am a quiet person at times but I wish I had people to hang out with out here… I love the people here now but as I mentioned before, they are in a different stage of life than me. 14 days.
Day 66
Started off the day going to the doctors with christa. We had a pretty good talk in the car about everything. She explained to me the industry and it totally cleared up a lot that I would be going through in the future. She asked me what would I like to shoot and at this point… im not sure. I thought I wanted to shoot lifestyle and all that jazz but looking at my portfolio it isn’t lifestyle oriented… its all over the place. I will be updating it later but the stuff on right now is not good enough.. way too broad. Anyways, She made me think… she told me that those who assist become really good assistants but rarely any of them become photographers. The position she said I am in is probably the best if I want to become a photographer as I will be dealing with every aspect in the business. It is a lot to take in I must say but hey… ive made the connection now and I know I have the drive to do whatever I want to… but for now, I have 2 weeks left and I return back to Toronto and gotta focus on thesis and portfolio stuff and then the next few months to do whatever I want… experiment.
I had a good long talk about the future with my parents via skype and I love them and am so grateful for their support. That is what I notice that is very different about my family and the people I’ve met here. Wendy, Christa, Deb and even Brian all come from families that have someone who has been divorced and/or don’t have the great support like I do. They find it odd that yes I still live at home and so do my brothers but that is because my parents love and support us unlike these the people over here who left home way to early or didn’t have the support and backing of their families.
So all in all, the opportunity is there, I need to make a decision but at least I get time to decide. I need to do more self discovery and that is the only way for me to find out what I truly want.
Day 67 (sat mar 13) only 12 days left.
I actually slept in today… until 8am and HOLY I felt so cranky and horrible when I got up… I cant sleep in… and especially since this whole time I have been trying to stick to a medium sleeping time that is inbetween Toronto and LA time.
Deb has left for NYC for a few days so I was left with Louie for the morning until one of her neighbours came to pick him up. I did my laundry and watched some tv which is rare for me to do. I love how there is a channel dedicated to Law & Order; that is my all time favourite show or I should say the longest running show that I started watching back in grade 7 and now occasionally when I do watch tv…
I decided to bike up to Colorado again because I wanted to find this shoe store but apparently it was more north and I forgot to look at the map before I left… anyways, I biked back down and went to fair oaks pharmacy which is this lovely corner store that has an authentic soda fountain so I got a grape ice cream soda and a turkey bacon avocado sandwich. Yum. It s a cute little store I must say and it doesn’t hurt to have some cute workers. My friend texted me to get her something from Chinatown so since my plans weren’t really set on anything I decided to hit up Chinatown. I got two of them cindy! A paper one and a non paper one..? you don’t really get to open them in the store but I opened when I got back and the bigger one is pretty.
So I pretty much walked around Chinatown again and got myself some cha seww and honeydew boba (bubble tea) I also went into the dynasty center I think where its just stores upon stores or merchandise and to be honest, I have no desire to really purchase anything. I know I should be buying a lot of stuff since im somewhere else and have money but nothing really interests me. Ive been here for almost 3 months and all ive bought in terms of clothes are one jacket, a pair of shorts, 5 shirts (colours! All under 6 bucks woot) a pair of jeans (outlet) yeah… and then my toys.
Once again, I will say this… I really wish I had someone here with me. I feel like I am lacking in the socializing aspect because the people that surround me are just in a different stage of their lives that is very different from mine. I mean, im surrounded by families so I get 30+ or 8- groupings. I know I am mature for my age but I need people who are going through the same things as I so I can relate to them. You hear this Toronto people… I miss my people! (Trish you should of came out here with me… im just saying!)
I feel that I do belong here and that I can get use to this life but I just feel a little lonely even with these people around me. I need my core people…
Toronto better watch out.. im coming back and coming full force.
view from sunset on a wonky rainy day
I ordered number 2 combo "animal style" I'm not sure what to think of it but i inhaled the burger
i love how you can see the mountains and that day the smog hadnt taken over
finally a photo of the street Deb lives on. They film alot on this street and its a nice view to look back one when i bike off to work
on the 110 fwy.. pretty clouds. such a windy day.
in the studio...
Wes had just finished eating a chocolate fudge sundae and then decided to braid my hair...
grape ice cream soda and a turkey, bacon avocado sandwich