Throwing Stress Out to Sea

I have discovered that nothing quite purges me of the oppression that stress causes, and lets me relax, as much as a walk on the beach

[1/2000 sec, f 8.0, ISO 200, 35mm]

then laying back to watch the sunset with sand between my toes.

[1/160 sec, f 8.0, ISO 100, 40mm]

~*~

Easter Feaster

Freshman and sophomore year, my mom used to send me Easter baskets in the mail. This year I got a card a week early, mostly just because they had to send me a packet of mail that had been sent to the house, anyway. I put on a pale yellow shirt with flowers, but I spent the afternoon in my EE459 lab, so it wasn't the most festive day.

I decided that a tasty feast was in order to celebrate the holiday.

[1/125 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 35mm, w/flash]

Udon noodles, seared steak, green onions, sesame seeds + seasonings. Twas a delish dish, indeed!

~*~

Menacing Eyes

So this post is purely for the bloggin -- the picture is pretty terrible.

I stayed up all night studying for the midterm I have on Tuesday, while Adrian played xbox. Around 3am, there was a noise outside and the cats stretched their necks as they listened wide-eyed at the window. There were 3 raccoons in the tree immediately outside my door and window. When I went outside to take a picture, 2 of them got scared off, but 1 them remained, and I only had enough time to grab 1 malfocused picture of him before he clambered onto my roof (it was too dark for autofocus, and in the dark I could only do so well to focus on a pair of eyes in a tree:

I have much more pause letting my cats out at night knowing there is a pack of raccoons on the loose (more unsettling: Google the phrase "pack of raccoons" and the 2nd hit is "seriously why would a pack of raccoons want to kill kittens").

~*~

Stop & Smell the Flowers

Being severely bummed out -- and inconvenienced -- by being sick, I decided to cleanse my body with tea, and within a couple days felt almost 100% again (which to me is amazing, since my rare colds last 1 week or more usually). I'm not sure if it was all the liquids flushing my body, or the tea itself, but I'm a believer.

[0.8 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 28mm]

Spring is here! And the flowers are in bloom. I pass them every day when I leave my apartment, and now that I can smell again, I stopped to enjoy.

[1/125 sec, f4.5, ISO 200, 98mm]

And in between 3-hour shifts at work today, I took some time to relax.

[2.5 sec, f4, ISO 100, 60mm]

[1/125 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 28mm]
~*~

Endings

Yesterday winter ended. How is it that I survived all winter without getting sick, and then the first day of spring, my head swells like a balloon?

Spring break also ended. And I made my last drive down I-5 from San Jose to Los Angeles -- the last time for school, anyway. Less than 2 months left, and then college will be over. And I'm kind of freaking out.

The drive was gorgeous. The rain and the high winds cleared out the central valley, and the rolling hills were green and breathtaking. Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries, so the moment I tried to take a picture mid-drive (Adrian was a doll and took over halfway down because I felt like my eyes wanted to seal shut they stung so bad), I couldn't. I thought I would actually get a good shot!! Oh well, they were beautiful to look at on one of the few drives I was actually a passenger for.

Adrian brought a power inverter so he could DJ half the trip with his laptop, so I gave my camera battery a quick charge, and when we stopped to pee in Valencia, I got a quick shot from the parking lot as the day came to a close as well.

[1/1250 sec, f10, ISO 400, 105mm]

~*~

Fight or Flight

If I were a bird, I'd fly to paradise.

[1/500 sec, f4.0, ISO 400, 40mm]
~*~

Studs

I'm completely screwed for my computer graphics midterm on Monday because (1) I don't pay attention in class and (2) the lecture slides aren't very coherent.

Toby felt neglected, so he decided to help me study:


But he gave up rather quickly upon realizing he's not the brightest bulb; let's face it, he has trouble getting down from high places, let alone manipulating matrices.


Don't worry, bud, I don't understand it, either.

~*~

Cankle

This is what my ankle looked like at it's worst...


Attractive, I know.

~*~

Yellow Drops & Lemon Roses

I bought ingredients for lemon drops the other day, and decided they were a nice classy cocktail to have while I got gussied up for AKPsi's Yellow Rose. Plus I finally had something to serve in the martini glasses Andie and Alina gave me for my birthday (but which only got to me recently because the first shipment shattered because Target was dumb enough to put the glasses box inside of a bigger box with no bubble wrap).

[1/125 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 28mm, w/flash]

They were nice pre-party drinks for Allison, Adrian, and myself before heading to the AKPsi house, where trays of swanky fruit-filled jello shots were begging to be toasted with.

They bussed us to Avalon, and we had to wait in line for a while, but we got in for free and got wristbands for the VIP area AKPsi rented out for the night. The only thing that sucked was they only played techno music, but it was still enjoyable because I was too drunk to care what music they played as long as I could dance to it.

After lots of dancing, I retired to sit with Adrian, asleep on a couch in the VIP area. A trip to get water at the downstairs bar resulted in a trip of another kind -- and a twisted ankle. It's all swollen, and even drunk I was limping on it. I'm sure the heels didn't help either.

~*~

Two Lips

Last night I went to see He's Just Not That Into You with Justin, Alina, Andie, and Ross. It was actually really good -- not as chick-flick-y as one would have expected.

Adrian didn't want to come see it, but when I got home he had pink tulips waiting for me and said, "These are to show you that I am just that into you."

[1/10 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 28mm]

[0.8 sec, f4, ISO 400, 58mm, -1.o]

[0.8 sec, f4.5, ISO 400, 73mm, -0.5]

[1/125 sec, f4.5, ISO 400, 105mm, w/flash]

~*~

Going Dutch

For Valentine's weekend, Adrian planned a trip to Solvang, which is this Swedish/Dutch community off 101 and surrounded by vineyards.

[1/400 sec, f9, ISO 200, 72mm]

It was a quaint little Christmas town by night.

[4 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm, cropped]

The night of Friday, February 13th we lost our wine tasting virginity.

[1/400 sec, f5, ISO 400, 38mm]

It was a relatively empty wine bar, so we bonded with the bartenders. One girl (Andrea, I believe her name was) actually graduated college, completed med school and her residence, and was lined up for a job. She took a vacation to California to go wine tasting and take a winery internship, during which time her hospital was destroyed in a hurricane, so she stayed! She taught us about the wine and various factors like weather and geography and grape types, etc. They wrote us a 10% coupon on a napkin to a French bistro up the street.

The next morning we walked around town,

[1/125 sec, f9, ISO 400, 28mm]

and got aebelskiver with raspberry jam & ice cream for breakfast, along with Swedish sausage and mustard.

[1/125 sec, f7.1, ISO 400, 28mm, w/flash]

At lunchtime we drove to El Capitan Ranch to go horseback riding; it was beautiful (though very difficult to photograph on horseback).

[1/1000 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 28mm]

[1/250 sec, f11, ISO 200, 28mm]

My horse was a stubborn sweetheart named Mouse. She constantly tested whether or not I'd let her snack on the trail, and she was a chronic tailgater!

[1/400 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 28mm]

Then we drove back to LA, away from beautiful rural California, back to the land of palm trees...

[1/320 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm]

~*~

all wet

Rain, Rain go away...

[0.3 sec, F4.5, ISO 200, 78mm]

You get my seat wet, please don't stay...

[2.5 sec, F13, ISO 200, 78mm]

But if you do, show spring the way~

[8 sec, F8.0, ISO 200, 105mm]

~*~

silence

I don't have much to say.

[1/8 sec, F4.5, ISO 200, 63mm]

So I won't say anything at all.

~*~

Another Day

[1 sec, F8, ISO 200, 105mm; cropped]

Good book for a rainy day.

[1/80 sec F4.5, ISO 400, 105mm; altered temperature & tint]

~*~

Conflicted Mess

Yesterday on his lunch break, Adrian bought me a dress:

[1/160 sec, F3.5, ISO 200, 28mm, with flash]

It's actually one that Alice wore in the movie Twilight (and the movie was pretty terribly made, but I still adore the books, so it rocks by association).
I know it doesn't look like much here, but it's actually really cute once you put it on.
And it fits!
What an amazing gift.

And I feel like a terrible person.
The rain after all the sunny weather is so appropriate.

It's time that I clean up this mess I've made.

~*~

Dayte

It has been gorgeous in LA. I am talking 80-degree+ weather. Clear, too!

Adrian and I went hiking in Griffith Park to take advantage of the unseasonable sun.

[1/160 sec, F16, ISO 400, 28mm]

We settled at a nice peak for a while to gaze and sunbathe. Butterflies danced around us. One of them landed and posed just long enough for me to take a picture.

[1/4000 sec, F4.5, ISO 400, 105mm]

Of course, I took the opportunity to take in our beautiful surroundings.

[1/6000 sec, F4.5, ISO 400, 93mm]

[1/125 sec, F29, ISO 400, 105mm]

[1/125 sec, F13, ISO 400, 43mm]

I should have felt like I was on the top of the world. But we had fought earlier that day before we left, and Adrian was mad.

[1/200 sec, F22, ISO 400, 28mm]

Luckily he (slowly) cheered up. We stopped by Ralph's on the way home, and he bought me groceries. When we got home, we made a delicious dinner. Adrian seared and then broiled steaks (broiling under my/WikiAnswers guidance), and I steamed the beans and boiled and mashed the potatoes.

[1/125 sec, F5, ISO 400, 28mm, with flash]

We watched Bender's Game, the newest Futurama movie, and fell asleep on the couch.

It was a nice day.
Rain is scheduled later this week.

~*~

Mulholland Drive

Today, Justin and I took the scenic route.

There was one popular outlook along Mulholland just above the Hollywood Bowl that had good views of Los Angeles.

[1/500 sec, F9.0, ISO 400, 28mm]

[1/500 sec, F9.0, ISO 400, 90mm]

Downtown Los Angeles & CA-101

[1/400 sec, F13, ISO 400, 83mm]
Downtown Los Angeles & Private Plane

[1/640 sec, F11, ISO 400, 105mm]
The Observatory

[1/125 sec, F14, ISO 400, 105mm]
The Hollywood Sign

On the way back to the car, I was inspired by the local flora:

[1/2000 sec, F4.0, ISO 400, 50mm]

[1/30 sec, F22, ISO 400, 28mm]

The original plan was to then drive to the beach to take pictures at sunset, but we were inspired by a scenic overlook (one of the many which we were frequently cautioned about by periodic road signs almost more common than the "DO NOT SMOKE" signs).

[1/8 sec, F20, ISO 400, 28mm]

Oh what I would give to live in this house...

[1/10 sec, F20, ISO 400, 65mm]

I get far too distracted by silhouette sunset pictures...

[1/160 sec, F16, ISO 400, 50mm]

[1/160 sec, F16, ISO 400, 83mm]

[1/320 sec, F16, ISO 400, 83mm]

[1/125 sec, F22, ISO 400, 43mm]

And I was all too enraptured by the sky...

[1/15 sec, F20, ISO 200, 55mm]

[1/10 sec, F20, ISO 200, 40mm]

[1 sec, F20, ISO 200, 50mm]

But I took far too many pictures, and at some point, it was time to go home...

[1/50 sec, F3.5, ISO 400, 28mm]

~*~