Stories of the Strange One

Just when I begin to feel really shatty about life, the booths come on campus again!! :D

It's that time of the semester when people are struggling with classes and life and whatnot, then the local merchants come visit our campus for the week to share all of their new, enticing and oh so shiny gifts to the college children....at a price. XD So I got me some new earrings and a necklace to match,  and a lil' jade necklace for my grandma for Mother's Day. I will most likely get a hoodie with the Dia de los Muertos couple on it, the guy who does the art for Nopal has such a cool style. I'm glad he cut down the prices too!!! Their website is under construction as of now. D:

Right now I just finished reading about deadpan photography and never knew the history behind the style at all. It's something I've wanted to try, for instance, just taking pictures of people from the street and having them look stoic and emotionless as possible. I won't go further into explaining why those kinds of portraits interest me, because I haven't eaten mah SPAGEETEE YET!

Oh Felicia....YOU AND YOUR ANTICS!!

I should be finishing up an essay, but I feel like taking a lil' break from thinking scholarly-like thoughts and all that jazz.

So yeah, I've been stuck in the lab again for the past weekend since I had the day off and still working and fine tuning one last image for our third series in photography. I'm starting to like fiber more, like the texture of it, but it can be a real douche when it comes to developing images, washing them, and drying them; mainly because it's very sensitive paper and I've goofed up more than once when handling with said paper. I just quickly made a "final" print that I had exposure that I was very happy with, but guess what, I found a big ass stain on it while I was retouching it for around 15 minutes. FFFF!

My professor said she didn't notice it until I shown her the stain and said I could still turn it in. But being the nit picky person I tend to be, I had to go back into the darkroom and revise the image and all. I'm glad it didn't take me forever like it usually does and I actually made prints that had much better focus and it seems like I wouldn't have to do so much retouching either, so here's hoping that they're doing fine right now and that there won't be any nasty stains on them once I return to the lab tomorrow.

Uff....just two more pages to write then I'm DONE!

I really need to watch "Observe and Report" soon.

Well, I got a lot of work done at the lab today, and I even turned in my take home midterm for Raza Women before midnight! :D *pat on the back* I'm also happy to say that I've made a lot of progress in my second semester in photography. I recently got my photos back from my last project and I went from a B- to an A- :DD I never believed that I would've jumped a grade higher from my very first project.

Even though I have a pretty tough professor, I like how she's really challenging us to step into unknown territory while teaching us some techniques along the way. I just wish she could have taught us about split filtering near the beginning. D: I used up so much paper without using split filtering, and if I had known that split filtering beforehand I would've saved myself a LOT of time and money.

But other than that, I have two prints that I'm very happy with, I'm gonna be making the last one tomorrow after I go on a tour with Amy and Sabrina to USF (San Francisco), since Amy got accepted into the school and wanted to see if we'd like to go on the tour with her. I'm pretty stoped for that, I've never been to the school but....maybe, I've passed by it? I actually don't know and I don't think any of my relatives know either. XD But I will tomorrow!

After that, I'll make the last print of my friends and hopefully have all of my prints flattened with the steampress. Oh man, I've made so many copies of each photo I'm going to use. D: But usually I make extras just to be safe in case one gets a lot of stains from chemicals or nasty scratches from me rushing through the developing process. But I lucked out this time since I didn't have a lot of stupid white spots on most of my prints.

So yesh, after the lab I'll head onto the Creative Arts building and find an open practice room to go over songs for the recital. I just need to rest my throat since it's still a little sore and I probably shouldn't talk and I hope I don't choke!

Everyone keeps getting sick and passing on their colds to me! STOPPIT! JUST.....stoppit!

Bwahh....and this is just the perfect time for me to get a sore throat and a stuffy nose. I'm planning to do more work at the photo lab on Saturday since I have the day off and I have a concert to go to. DX I'm just really pissy right now....things aren't going my way this week and I literally ate through so much photo paper within these last few day.

Uuufffffff.....I wish I could stay home, but I don't want to.

After my first morning class I zoomed to the photo lab to develop three rolls of film from reshooting scenes last night. I hate reshooting, even though this is probably the first project I ever felt like reshooting for; but it was so worth it. I've managed to capture some better shots of my brother in our hallway and some really creepy ones of Sabrina in her trenchcoat and fedora. :D I was so happy as soon as I saw what may have looked like to be a good roll of negatives when I was unravelling the roll from the reel. I only had enough time to make contact sheets of two rolls of film that I'm very satisfied with. I can't wait to enlarge one of the negatives from the photo session with Sabrina and Amy! It's actually kinda hard to choose which one of I should use (considering I don't have a lot of time to spend in the lab, and I seriously wish I did), but that's kind of a good thing!

But now I feel like reshooting just for myself because I just captured a cute/sad picture of my dog all alone in the hallway. XD I should really investigate on where I can go to use a darkroom on my own free time when I don't have to worry about school.

And wow, with all of the crazy photography stuff taking over my semester, I almost forgot about my other studio emphasis in drawing/painting. XP I should see my advisors about what classes I should sign up for this fall and see which history classes I need to take. I'm really starting to miss studying art history. I'MMA GEEK! That's another thing too I should do on my own time, just reading and investigating on artists, photographers, and other interesting people like GHANDI. But that might not happen since I just like to lull myself to sleep for the entire summer, incase there's nothing else to do. Because uufffff....I haven't been getting a lot of sleep since I think too much lately, AND counting sheep just makes it worse. Sometimes I stop and lose my place and force myself to recount the damn sheep!

Bwaaaah, I'm so freaking tired. This week has been just so hectic around the photo lab. I've been working around like crazy making prints that I realize that won't go so well in my project. And it's crazy because as I go along I keep coming up with different concepts, which drives me insane 100% of the time because I spend so much time shooting and staging scenes.

I'm glad my friends are awesome because I can use them as my models. And while we waited for sunset we watched "Emperor's New Groove", sweet memories.

I'm also very nervous about the graduate recital because of the solo. I just sound so awful because I'm so nervous because this is my conductor's big project and he's depending on us to put on a good concert. @___@ So much pressurreee! And you can tell how scared I am just by the way I sound...I feel like such a n00b!

So tired, I'm glad tomorrow's is my late morning class so that way I can get more rest by then.

Most of the day consisted of making prints and developing film. Man, I don't know what's up with me lately. I've only had one good roll of film out of 3, ffffff.....I gatta reshoot somethings or go to different locations to make my pictures more interesting.

So I was the only person in the lab/darkroom area until the afternoon. I've started getting used to being alone in the darkroom, I dunno, I actually do better when no one else is around. XD I like just having the place to myself since it's more quiet and I don't worry about how my pictures look compared to other people's stuff.

Later that day I was in the darkroom with one of our TA's and I was afraid of what she'd think of my pictures when we both put our prints in the developer. Considering that she's an award winning photographer and all. D8 But she was pretty chill and said she liked my contact sheet from a previous photo shoot I did with Astrid at the locker room. And we talked about how she got inspired to study photography and sculpture and said she'd like to introduce me to the photographer advisor from the art dept. I've met him before but I felt that we really didn't get down to discussing about the medium and what are some of the possibilities of having a studio emphasis in photography. I think the TA even said that he didn't even look at her work when she took one of his courses. That's kinda why I'm more intimidated by the advisor since he's a professor and is recognized in galleries in San Jose and elsewhere. But yeah, it was nice to have someone offering their help and encouraging me to start making connections in the community. 

That's why I really feel like I should pay more visits to galleries and lectures of different artists in San Francisco. I've been neglecting to do so because of me being lazy and consumed in my school work. @__@ I really need to go out and see people rather than always relying on books, which isn't all that bad, I just need to get out and find out who's who and wot wot. That's why I'm thinking of going to a gallery downtown featuring one of the photo professors from school, should be cool to see his artwork since teachers don't always expose their stuff right then and there during class.

and YEAH IT'S FRIDAY! But all the cookies are gone.......FJDKOJWAIEJF

Well, no not really. I keep waking up uber early everyday...and I dun like it.

But it's good because I'm going on campus early to shoot pictures with mah photo buddy and plus I'm considering of featuring myself in some of the photos for today. Later we'll be having a lecture from a big name photographer (who's name still slips my mind, irony), who also worked with George Crewdson. He does a lot of tableu photography and is ridiculously rich and famous. His photos are very reminiscent of stills from a movie and for someone being able to do that is pretty cool in my book. Yet, my other classmates sense some sense of arrogance from him and his work, but I guess you can like the art but not the artist. HUR! I guess he's not as humble or soft spoken like Egglestein, but he's a little old man.

Bwah, is time for a cookie...

It's sad as I get older I get less excited about my birthday.......makes me sad, probably because I'm GETTING OOOOLD! Yes....

But I decided to open Frost's gift before I headed off to school, and I exploded in giggles when I found out that I got two stuffed animals from the movie BOLT. XD I got a stuffed Rhino and a stuffed Bolt (that's incredibly soft...). And I met up with Astrid at the photo lab before we did our in class demo; and she got me a cute b-day card, I just thought that was really thoughtful since I just met her and all at the beginning of the semester.

Then she took some shots of me and my nasty hair She wanted me to look mad and crazy for our project....yeah. I don't do so well if someone wants me to look pissed off, I just make faces that make everyone laugh and I'm not so much of a serious person. XD Afterwards we chilled at the student center and went to Women's Chorus to finally find out who got the solos and who were the under studies. And FJKOWIH;AOSETHO!....I got the solo that I wanted! :DD HOLEH CRAP! I'm gonna be.....like shaking when I get onstage by myself with the other soloist, but this is AMAZING. I'd never imagine doing this for my first semester in a chours. D8

After rehearsal Astrid and I got together to meet Frost at the student center and I poked him with my tripod....cause he was a-sleepin' on the very comfortable couches at the cafe. XD That was amusing.....And later I went downtown to have dinner with my mom, stepdad and stepsister at the Cheesecake Factory and headed straight back home for ICE CREAM CAKE and gifts. Gifts were pretty nifty since I got a new wallet to replace my dead one, a army cap, a wolf shirt XD, and earrings and a scarf that have peace signs. I don't know why, but people keep giving me stuff with peace signs even though...nothing in my wardrobe includes peace signs (until now). XD Well, this was a sweet bday, I wish I could've gone to Berkeley D: but I needed to stay around to also try and finish extra credit and a bewk for school.

I hope I did an ok yob on my midterm, but it wasn't as crazy as the last one. Anywho, I went to Zumiez to see if the medium hoodie fitted better, and it did XP I should've brought the hoodie with the receipt.

Afterwards my stepdad picked me up from the mall and drove me back home. But we see some people like 50 ft away from us in really loud/neon clothing and we were all, "Oh they must be clowns going to a birthday party or somethin". But we drove by closer to them and we see these full blown Ganguro/Yamanba girls! XDDD If you don't know what those things are look at dis.



Oh man, they looked so scary. XD But the whole trend is hilarious and somewhat feminist in its own way. Another thing to add to my list of things I want to do before I die: go to Japan and document the bizarre fashion trends over there. X3

And why does it? Because I didn't have Biological Anthropology class this whole week, YUSH! But OH NOoooo....I have a midterm coming up on Monday and that's another class I'm struggling with. Stupid brain can't comprehend all the scientifical majiggers...fff...... At least I have that and another for Raza Women. And that class has dissappointed me a little since all we've been doing is reading or watching a movie and going into a big circle and telling the whole class about our response to said movie or reading. Plus, she comes to class 20 minutes late and sometimes has a hard time getting the class to be all hyped up about the subject. Oh wells, at least the poetry and the movies don't put me to sleep.

I'm already getting worried about wrinkles, man! D8 My last few days of being a teen are over. ;___; I'm gonna be two decades old by Tuesday and I feel so old already! II guess it's because of my mom complaining about how she doesn't want anyone to mention her birthday is coming since she's turning 49. I hope I'll be one of those people who don't bother with the age, because no one should feel all mopey when it's the birthday. And plus, my mam should be happy that she's aging well too. Yay, for awesome genes!

I'm miffed that the last three cookies are gone. >8[ I was looking foward to some nice chocolate chip cewkies.....but no.....not...today....

Welch, school's back in session and I'm gonna be flooded with uber work and junk, especially from Photo II. Buuuuuhhhh, what sucks is that we only have two weeks to work on our new project and UFFF, I just hope I can do even better on this. I'm also trying to make an attempt to visit galleries based in SF since...apparently you shouldn't even call yourself a photographer unless you've gone to a gallery on Thursday night; which is when they open really late and admission is for cheap....I think, DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT! XD But yeap, that's that.

I also stayed after chorus to audition for solo parts in a Messe (mass, I have no idea what to even call it, lol!). And oh man, I hate it when I audition because I always end up sound crazy when I perform all by myself. But I think I did pretty well since I did rehearse the parts a few times. But FFFFF, this girl who sits next to me can't read music at all, but she blew everyone away with her super duper opera voice! D: I was jealous, yes, but in some ways I'm glad that I don't have such a powerful voice like that. :P

So I won't know if I get a solo until Tuesday, FFFFF! Until then, I should come up with an idea on how to stage a scene where it seems like I'm capturing someone doing a suspicious act. FUN! It's hard cause I'm at a point where I really don't wanna....do anything. But 2 more months and then it's summer! w00000!

Ok, so I thought I was going to a protest march (that Astrid lead me to believe but kinda got her info all mixed up, lolz) about creating an amendment that protects children in SF school's who fall victim of racial profiling and are immediately sent to ICE (people who deal with illegal immigrants). But it was a public hearing that was held inside city hall and where the public wanted to express their experience with youth and immigrants who only arrest and send kids to ICE on the bases police allegations.

Before hand, Astrid and I came to city hall really early so that we wouldn't get lost finding our way around the place. We found city hall and decided to just browse around the immediate area and take photos of each other and other cool things that look interesting. It was fun shooting each other for the first time, she had some pretty sweet ideas that I liked when she had me posing for her. Then when it was almost time for the hearing about the amendment and the both of us had to pee so we walked into city hall we were all, "HOLY CRAP IT'S HUGE IN HERE!!!" The Greco-Roman architecture is GORGEOUS! I'd expect the inside to look boring and all, but nooooo, it was so pretty and I just wish I could travel back in time to see how different it was when the building was first established. Then we went into the conference hall and it was freaking huge too. I was just so bemused by the decor and everything XD. The hearing was good and it was great to hear what others had to say about the issue, so I made sure I took notes. Hurr~

Afterwards Astrid and I went over to the Mission to eat at a random place we never been to and had yummy carne asada. FFFF! I wish they didn't give me so much steak, I couldn't finish it! But the cheese, beans, and rice....mmmmmmm....DELICIOUS! We also walked around just to do some window shopping before Astrid had to go to her internship. It was pretty fun, it's something I never really get to do as often as I did when I was a kid and there were so many things to take pictures of. But I felt lazy and didn't want to keep taking my camera out of my backpack.

So yeah, now I'm just chillin' and happy that it's SPRING BREAK. FFFFFFFF!!

For some strange reason my week has been pretty awesome, despite it being midterms week. Before I went into my antropology class I decided to pay a visit to the fine arts building to see which of our photos my professor decided to post up in the hallway. I was thinking while I was on my, "Don't get your hopes up, she probably tried to sound nice about your pics during the critique." And lo and behind two of my prints were on display in the hallway! :D I'm so happeh! But my professor accidentally said that one of my prints was done my friend Astrid. XD

And what else made today awesome was that my 3 hour class got canceled today. w000! But oh man, the TA for that class hella scared me because when he walked in he wrote on the black board "POP QUIZ". And everyone who came early to class was all, "WHAT?!? WE'RE NOT PREPARED! D8" And the TA look around the class and said, "HAH! GOTCHA GUYS!" He was so evil, but I was sooo relieved to hear that. XD

So I tagged along with this girl from said class and she took me to an annual 'mixer' that we have every now and then. It's a place where you basically meet and greet and get to know some people from different university organizations and fraternities and sororities. Astrid wanted to go to this thing with me, but she totally forgot about it and was already on her way to place at the East Bay. So I was kinda a wallflower, but I chatted a little with the people from the Raza Student Organizations since I was kinda interested in what they do and stuff. I might drop by to one of their meetings and see what's goin' oooon and what they do within the community. I left early from the mixer and met up with Lou to be awesome and chill at my house and watched Clone High. Aaaahhh, I can never get enough of that show. XD Anywho, I'm so happy spring break is coming sooon! Despite the fact that it's not gonna be around my birthday this year.... T____T Oh welch, hopefully next year our school won't have spring break during March again.

 

I think I have no lick of Irish in meh. But like how I keep saying, my name's Irish! 8D

AnYwho, my week has been going pretty well considering this is the week where we all go brain dead from projects and working on midterms. Monday morning I got to the tool room and I finally got some equipment that's in really good condition and I was able to get black borders on all of my prints. Not so perfect, but it's better than no borders. After that I rushed to the choir room to change into fancy-ish old dancers shoes before the Women's Chorus went on to perform at Knuth Hall for the Music Deptarment's first chorus concert. And we were the first one's to go onstage and sing. D8 I freaked out because this was the first time I performed with a chorus at a university level. We had our minor 'oopses' here and there, but I think we did pretty awesome for our first concert. It was very fun and we're soon going to start auditions for solo parts, and I'm nervous but anxious for the try outs. I definately would like to get a solo in a latin piece we're singing, which happens to be my favorite movement out of the bunch.

So after that I power walked back into the darkroom to finalize my prints and to also make some copies of a portrait I did of my mom for my Raza Women's project where I had to make a Loteria card based on what we've been studying. I actually had fun with my photography this time since I didn't feel any pressure to following a certain guidline as to how I want my subject to be represented.

And today we did our photo critique on our current photo project. OOOoohh man....it was sooo long and painful. I was getting nervous about what people were gonna say about my series of pictures of my neighborhood. But it was cool to hear what they had to say and it made me proud, and I felt that I improved a bit compared to my first assignment. I just wish I could've talked more about what I was wanting to convey to the viewers, but I'm really bad when it comes to talking about myself and my art. XD Hopefully I'll do better when I talk about my mother's portrait for Raza Women this week.

I got a green bandana and a giant bow afterwards! OI!

Ufff, I hate the tools I work with in photography. Pretty ghetto fabulous and the uber tall guy at the tool room in the fine arts building is such a brat. I asked him if I could get another negative carrier because it wasn't filed and it gave me a hard time to make a full framed print. And he just goes "UUUhhhh....!" and practically throws down different tool boxes at me. GAWDS! Sorry for making you do your job. Not like the dude was doing anything important in the meantime.

Yeah, I still have one more print to make. It would've been easier if my professor didn't ask for us to do full framed pictures, seeing how it's hard for the tool room to accomidate everyone with negative carriers that are actually good to work with.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

I bought the Watchmen comic and had spaghetti. Good comics always make me feel better after going through a hard day.

Past two weeks have been such a bear. Mostly due to photography class and the current project we're completing. Again, I feel self conscious about what I produce out of the darkroom once I compare my photos to other people's work; like they're all too simple or there's too much of a 'variety' among my submissions and there's no sense of consistency.

But yeah, it's sad because I've been working throughout most of this week only on two prints and developing at least......5 rolls of film. My hands are so dry and nasty from dunking them into the water and other tastey chemicals. Well, I'm going to make at least one more print, and hopefully I could make two more so I could develop a better narrative for this project.

Kinda pissed cause my stepdad scarfed down my favorite chocolate chip cookies from Lucky's. I come home and find only ONE COOKIE LEFT?!? D8<

You Are Modest and Nurturing

When You Are Comfortable: You are a shy, quiet person. Underneath your shell, you are compassionate and giving. People find you to be friendly and welcoming. Your home is a place of comfort to them. When You Are At Your Best: You are a strong person. You're driven and assertive. Success is yours, as much as you want it. People find you to be clever and spirited. You're a bit saucy too... delightfully so! When You Are in a Social Setting: You are philosophical and opinionated. You have quite a few pet causes, and you're always adopting a new one. People see you as clever and smart. You now a lot, and you love to talk about a variety of subjects.

So Amy, Sabrina and I went uber early to the movie theatre to make sure we're the first in line to wait to get seated for the midnight showing of The Watchmen!!1 At first I was kinda iffy about seeing this movie just because I thought it just be about all of these special effects and 'splosions, but it has super heros and I'm somewhat of a sucker for that type of genre.

So we waited outside since 9:30-ish next to the entrance of the theatre and the ticket guy decides to let us into the theatre (where we had to wait in another line). So we squeeeed when we saw him letting in these other people who were going to same showing as us, and when it was our turn to show him our tickets this freaking nerdy douche cuts in front of us and goes all, "Well, you know, I've been here since 8 so I should be going next." D8< HOW FACKING RUDE!!! I just felt like punching his nerdy little face. That was just the one of the things that bothered me about that night.

And the awesomeness of the movie compensated for that. :D I was kinda happy when they played one of my favorite songs in the movie, but some of the scores they decided to feature in it just didn't really correleate with the goings on in a certain scene. So all in all, I laughed, I gasped, I applaued, and I felt like a total guy when watching the graphic/gory parts. XD So now....I'm convinced enough to go out and get teh comic. I've been meaning to find a good comic, besides of Love and Rockets by Jaime Hernandez (which....I still need to start collecting instead of just reading the stuff in a bookstore).

And my brain isn't completely dead!!!

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?


And on a different note, my Acculturation Problems-Raza Studies class is full of awesome. :D