Rainy Weekend

It has been a incredibly gray and rainy weekend, which has been wonderful and beautiful.  I love this kind of weather and as a result I've been in an very good mood.

It's been obvious to me that winter has set in here in Flag.  We get most of our snow in January and February, so our season is a little later than other places.  But, on Thursday when I left class at 6:30 it was suddenly completely dark out, which it hadn't been the previous week.  Crazy if you ask me, but that's winter for you. 
I made a great rice bowl for dinner with egg, spinach, and bonito flakes and then went out with my friends to Hops.

Day 24/365, January 24th: "Rice Bowl"

Friday was the beginning of my weekend.  Thank goodness for no class!  I went to the first meeting of 日本語テーブル (Japanese Table) which is a sort of tutoring/practice time for Japanese students.  It's nice to go and get practice and go over the stuff that I struggle with (Adjective conjugations SUCK).  Angelo and I are friends with our tutor which is nice because we get extra practice when we see him on campus as well.
The great thing about Friday was that my housemate/roomie, Blaise and I were twins.  I got dressed and he asked me to help him pick an outfit and I accidentally grabbed a cardigan almost identical to mine.  He grabbed it and said he had a shirt almost the same color as the one I had on and we decided it would be funny to be twins.  It was great fun when we went to lunch with our other roomie, Lucy,  and Angelo.  Lots of stares, but all in good fun.  We decided to change before going for tacos and out to see the Hobbit (my 4th time in theaters, his first).

Day 25/365, January 25th: "Twins"

Saturday I spent the whole day on the couch with Blaise, Angelo, and two of their brothers watching Easy A and just relaxing while it poured rain outside.  It was nice to procrastinate and just relax for once.  I can definitely feel senioritis working its way into my system.

That night I was sitting in my car and the rain on my windshield looked really pretty.  When I shot the picture it looked like stars.

Day 26/365: "Rain Stars"

Today, Sunday, I picked up Angelo and we powered through the first season of Girls, which he has been wanting to watch ever since I told him about it and made him watch the first episode.  We cooked gyoza and it was delicious and lots of fun.  Yet again it rained and now it's so cold it's going to snow.  I am excited for it and at the same time dreading it.  Anyway, here's more raindrops I photographed today.

Day27/365, January 27th: Not Titled

Hope everyone had a nice, safe, and enjoyable weekend!

Namaste

Master Post

Wow, how the days fly by once school starts back up.  

I have been taking pictures each day but with all the readings/homework I've been bogged down with already I haven't had time to upload them here.  So, I've decided to do a bit of a master post of the last week.  All of these were taken with my IPhone, sadly no time for Lensbaby (which I really want to name...).  Here goes nothing.

Day 18/365, January 18th: "Haiku for Martin"

Last Friday I went with my friends Daniel and Paisley to have coffee with a professor we all had (and loved) last semester.  It was a lot of fun and we talked about a whole bunch of things, one of them being my obsession with all things Tolkien.  Our professor had never seen the Lord of the Rings, so when he left we wrote him a haiku, one we probably will never show him...

The rest of the evening was spent at home with my newest roomie, Blaise.  We ate froyo and watched Sherlock (which I shamelessly got him hooked on).  A perfect Friday night if you ask me.

Day 19/365, January 19th: "Don't Suck Today"

Last Saturday I "marathoned" season 2 of Game of Thrones with my bestie, Angelo.  He's an RA in a freshman dorm on campus and this was the advice some of his residents decided to tape up in the stairwell.  Thanks guys, I'll try my best.

Day 20/365, January 20th: "The Peaks at Sunset" and "Hops"

Sunday was a fun day for me.  I spent the whole day reading for my Sexuality and Power in Antiquity class and was actually reading for fun and for class at the same time.  The material so far really truly interests me, partially because it's something I know next to nothing about and also because the book is literally titled "The History of Sexuality Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure" by Foucault which is just a very intriguing subject matter.  Anyway, my roommate and her friend made me break in my reading to go for froyo (yes, again. no regrets) and then later on I went to a slam poetry night at a great bar called "Hops on Birch".

Day 21/365, January 21st: "Wisdom from Hot Sauce"

Monday was MLK Day, which means no class for me!  Angelo and I finished our marathon and then he, Blaise, two of their frat brothers, and myself all watched Pocahontas and drank wine.  It was a lovely time and I saw this leftover sauce packet from Taco Bell on my dining room table.  It reminded me of studying abroad and how when you are abroad you should always just say yes to everything (within reason of course) because that way you don't miss out and have a full experience.

Day 22/365, January 22nd: not titled

Ok, yesterday was pretty boring as I had lots of homework, but I came home and found that my new IPhone case had arrived which made me super happy.  The design is of The Hobbit and each zigzag is a different part of the book.  I really love it.

Day 23/365, January 23rd: "Ring"

So today I was super busy. I came home and did a ton of reading and I also called Taylor so we could discuss more ESL teaching recruiter agencies.  We decided not to go with the one we've been accepted to because they informed us that there are currently no programs that they send teachers to Korea through that accept joint applicants.  That was something they had said would be fine and then all of a sudden they said no, so we're going to apply elsewhere.  The search goes on!  Anyway, that's one of my rings there.  It was a Christmas present and I love it.  It was there, so I took a picture.

Hope you've all had a wonderful week!

Namaste.

I'm On My Way!

After today I feel like my plans are going to go my way!  Not only was it a beautiful day, I got an email back from Teach Away,and it's good news!

I created an account last night and uploaded a resume with it, but I had to finish editing my cover letter, so I haven't uploaded it yet.  I wasn't expecting to hear back from Teach Away until I had that up there, but I was wrong!
I checked my email after dinner and there was an email saying I am a great candidate for teaching in South Korea and that they'd like to move me on to the next stage of the application process!

I am so beyond thrilled right now!  When I was making plans for Spain it never felt real until my program accepted me.  Now that I'm being seriously put through an application process I feel like I'm seriously on my way to South Korea, that it is finally within my grasp, it's tangible.  So, I'm sure you won't be surprised that my photo for today is a screen shot of my acceptance to Teach Away!

Day17/365, January 17th: Accepted to Teach Away
Obviously taken with my IPhone

 I am so happy! It's going to happen!
Just for fun here's a shot of me today taken with my iphone while walking to class.

I hope you've all had wonderful days too!

Namaste

Day Two

The second day of classes went just as well as the first.  I went to my Modern Japan class which I'm very excited for, especially since I'm auditing it.

The beginning of the semester is always great because there's not much homework to do.  So, yesterday Angelo came over and we watched some Game of Thrones and tried our best to curl one of his wigs.  It didn't turn out at all but it was a lot of fun trying and teaching Angelo to use hot curlers and a curling iron.

Day 15/365, January 15th: "Angelo's Curls"
Taken on my IPhone

Today I started working on registering with Teach Away, a recruitment agency that helps people find teaching positions abroad.  After a few hours of work I have a very decent draft of a cover letter and an updated resume, as well as my account set up on their website.  I hate cover letters.  I find it very difficult to sell myself and make myself look awesome.  It's just not how I operate.  But, with the help of Taylor, my person and the one I'm planning to live with while we teach in Korea, it will be a great letter and I'll get an awesome position in Seoul!

So the highlight of today besides getting all that work done on my teaching plans was definitely the weather.  We've gone up 10 degrees every day since Monday and it's only going to get warmer.

Day 16/365, January 16th: "Beautiful Day"
Taken on my IPhone

Have a wonderful day!

Namaste

Last First Day

Today was my last first day of school....well of undergrad that is.....

It's hard to believe that I'm already on my last semester.  Freshman year feels like just yesterday.  I've seen and done so much so far and I know I have much more to come.  Let's hope I can get through this without succumbing too badly to Senioritis!

I've very excited for my classes:

Sexuality and Power in Antiquity (SAPIA)
Modern Japan
Europe in the Inter-War Years (my capstone)
Anthropology
Japanese 102

The first three are all history classes, the Anthro satisfies a science requirement I need, and I;m continuing Japanese just for fun.  

So, I went to Japanese and  SAPIA today and then went and picked up my books at the bookstore.  When they grabbed my order they were amazed that I had so many books.  The girl counted them all and totaled 16 (but I counted when I got home and there's only 14).  She was amazed and I told her simply that I'm a history major and that we read a lot.  And she asked if I would have to read all of those books this semester, to which I replied with a "yup".  She and the workers helping her apparently had no idea that someone could be required to read so much and they continued to freak out until I left.

All of these books look fascinating, so maybe that will motivate me to do more than skim this semester!

Day 14/365, January 14th: "Scholar's Tools"
Taken on my IPhone

Namaste

Playing Catch Up

I had a very busy last couple days so today I'm playing catch up with my photos.

Playing with Macro

I'm playing around with my Lensbaby macro fixtures today while listening to the new Super Junior M album and trying out the Sherlock Holmes blend tea I got from Adagio Teas, which by the way has an amazing selection of teas and blends (including fandom blends like my Sherlock one.) I highly recommend it and I can email $5 coupons to anyone interested.

Anyway, so playing with macro has been interesting and I definitely want to keep messing around with it and get better.

Day 10/365, January 10th: "Cameo"
Taken with Lensbaby Composer with 37mm +10 Macro fixture

It can be hard with the Composer lens because it moves around and you can make cool effects with your pictures that way.  It can be hard to get it centered correctly when I want it to be.  For example I took this other macro image of my brother's eye right after I got this lens:

I had the lens shifted to the upper left and that's why his nose and the right corner of his eye are completely blurry along with part of his lower lid.  It's an interesting tool to use and takes some getting used to but I really like it and will continue to experiment.

Hope you're healthy and happy.

Namaste

Things

A simple day of relaxation spent with my brother and then on my own.  Since I didn't feel like doing anything I just took a picture of some of my favorite and necessary possessions.

Day 9/365, January 9th: "Things"
Taken on my standard 18-55mm lens.

These are all things I can't live without including tea, Tolkein, my Sonic, and music.

Hope you have a lovely day.

Namaste

Ending Break

Every time I go shopping I'm reminded how much I hate shopping.  It's exhausting and takes up so much time.  But, I go back to school on Sunday and I needed some things for the cold which deemed a shopping trip necessary.  
And then there's contemplating the pending trip back up to school.  I am so done with school.  I feel very burned out already and I just want to be done.  I'm usually happy for school and, as much as I would rather be at home I'm usually ready for my usual school routine.  Not this time.  I'm just over it and so done.  It's harder to accept though while thinking about how exactly a year ago today I was leaving for Spain.  All I can think about now is how another adventure is awaiting me in South Korea after graduation and I can;t believe I still have a whole semester in my way before that.
There's no stopping it though, so all I can do is enjoy this last week at home and hope I have more opportunities to visit on weekends during the semester.
Also, my brother is home from his holiday in Minnesota and it's weird having him back.  For the first time in 18 years I was an only child again and now the bathroom is back to being riddled with his dirty knickers and socks.  But I'm glad to have him back all the same.

Anyway, here's today's photo, just more experimenting with the new Lensbaby.  

Day 8/365, January 8: "Sort of Self Portrait"
Taken with Lensbaby Composer and Single Glass Optic

A more proper self portrait will come in a bit.  And here's another shot from when I went to meet my friends on 4th Ave the other day.

"Slug Bug"
Taken on IPhone

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!

Namaste

Hobbits and Blooming Tea

Another great day today.  I finally got around to starting to show my mom my scrapbook of my time in Spain.  For whatever reason we've been so busy and there hasn't been a chance until now.  Then we met up with Libby and went to see The Hobbit again.  This was my third time seeing it and it was just as exciting and amazing as the first time if not more so.

We came home and decided to try out the red bloom tea I got for Christmas from Taylor.  This is what the tea looks like before you put it in your cup and add boiling water:

My photo for today is of the tea once the bloom opens.  I think I'll put it in a larger cup next time to there's more room for it to open more fully.

Day 7/365, January 7th: "Bloom Tea"
Taken with my standard 18-55mm lens.

 I still have to do a self portrait....Hopefully in the next couple days.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Namaste

Catching Up With Old Friends

Finally, I got out of the house to socialize today.  Some friends of mine that go to school across the country are in town so we met up at Epic Cafe for cake and chai teas.  One of them I haven't seen since graduation almost 4 years ago.  It was a lot of fun to just sit and chat and discuss the old days, obnoxious and weird people in our class, and that one super attractive guy we all had a crush on.
We walked up and down 4th Ave, which is a place anyone visiting Tucson, AZ should check out.  The thrift shops are as funky as ever and the people as free spirited as you would hope them to be.  I picked up some Patchouli incense and a new bumper sticker from the Hippie Gypsy and we walked all the way up and down the avenue.
Afterwards we walked down University Ave and sat for a chat outside Joel's Bistro, a great french restaurant.
It was nice to see them and hopefully I'll see them again before we all go back to school.

So, here's the photo I selected for today. 

Day 6/365, January 6th: "Epic Cafe"
Taken with my IPhone

For anyone interested, this place is very cool inside.  Here's a look:

I wish you all well.

Namaste

Hobbit-y Day

Another day cleaning the house and spending quality time with the mum.  I got her completely hooked on Downton Abbey (Score!) which has been very fun.
For Christmas, our close family friends gave me this fantastic book called the "The Unofficial Hobbit Handbook".  Perfect gift for me! After all, I am a true Hobbit at heart.

So today's day has consisted of cleaning and now sitting and reading my handbook while wearing my Hobbit slippers until dinner with my grandma later.

Day 5/365, January 5th: "A Hobbit's Day"
Taken with standard 18-55mm lens.

  
This is just making me want to see The Hobbit again....good thing I'm going on Monday!

Wishing you peace and good health as ever.

Namaste

Starting the Year With Good Fortune

Today we finally got around to taking down all our holiday decorations.  It's always sad because I never feel like it's really Christmas until Christmas Eve so I'm never in a holiday mood until it's too late.  So I took down the tree sadly since now I'm feeling all Christmas-y.

I also went to see Les Miserables today! It's a musical I knew very little about until about three weeks ago to be honest, unlike all of my friends who all took French in high school.  I had all of these expectations of it until I saw a film adaptation with Liam Neeson and actually learned what the story was.  To be honest (and please don't hate me) I'm not a huge fan.  As a history major with a focus on modern European history I'm more interested in the revolution sub-plot of the story than anything else.  So naturally I had thought the revolution and the suffering of the french people would be the focus of the story.  I was definitely disappointed when I was met with a story filled with several characters I wasn't too fond of. I will never understand why Valjean didn't just accept his 5 year sentence.  Dude, if you hadn't kept trying to escape prison you would have avoided the extra 15 years! And Eponine, if you love Marius so much you should tell him instead of crying to yourself about it.  Been there done that, Honey. No excuses. And Marius and Cosette, you haven't even spoken one word to each other.  Slow down crazies, slow down.

The new movie was amazing though.  It's beautifully filmed and very well acted, especially by Anne Hathaway! She was incredible.  And I definitely loved the revolution sub-plot which was touched on more than in the version I saw before.  Enjolras is AWESOME and the actor who played him sings so well.  I'm so surprised that everyone I've heard from has been raving about Eddie Redmayne.  He sounded like a dying cat compared to Aaron Tveit.  Sorry Eddie, love your acting, not your singing. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend going to see it.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet day.  I was, however, excited by this fortune I got in my cookie at dinner.  My first fortune of 2013.  And that brings me to today's photo:

Day 4/365, January 4th: "Good Fortune"
Taken with Lensbaby Composer, Plastic Optic, and 37mm +4 Macro attachment.

I'm hoping this is hinting that I will make it to Korea after graduation.  That would be fantastic.
  
Also, I'm thinking about doing a self-portrait for tomorrow.  Seems like a good idea.

I wish you peace and good health.

Namaste

Tea For One

   Wow, I was actually very surprised at how much this blog was viewed over night with just two posts!  Several from the US of course but also quite a few from Europe and Asia!  Thank you for checking this out.  Hopefully those of you who saw it will stick with me and share this with your friends.
   So, some days I take more than just one picture and I figure, this is my blog and my project so why should I have to post just one a day?  So I'm making up my own rules which basically means there are no rules.  I've decided I can post one photo or, if I'm more active, two.  So here's another photo I took yesterday that didn't get chosen as the photo of the day.

"Lemon Tree"
Taken with my Lensbaby Composer and Single Glass Optic.

   I apologize that I'm off to a bit of a boring start. These last few days have not been very exciting.  Winter break tends to do that to me though.  I spend more time at home catching up with Netflix and a hot cup of tea.  In fact, I've been completely immersing myself in British television shows.  I started by continuing to watch Doctor Who and introducing my mom to it.  So I've been simultaneously watching Season 6 and Seasons 1 and 2.  We also watched all 6 episodes of Sherlock and I watched all of the Office UK.  We also have plans to catch up on Downton Abbey as well.  All of that along with going to see the Hobbit multiple times, watching Lord of The Rings, and also Love Actually a couple times over the holidays and I'm on an exclusively British shows/movies kick.  You may also notice that Martin Freeman is in a decent chunk of the material I've been watching.  I'll let you decide whether that's on accident or not but I'm sure you can guess correctly.
   I'm not as worried about watching too much TV as I am about the fact that it's all British or contains exclusively British actors.  In fact, I think I've watched too much because I've accidentally picked up on the vocab.  I'm not surprised.  I've started saying "chips" and "biscuits" instead of "fries" and "cookies".  I'm not sure if I should try to stop myself or not because I love British English more than American but I'm pretty sure I'll only confuse other people...

   So here I am today, taking a break from Doctor Who and the aggravating Amelia Pond to rewatch some Sherlock while I finish a quick crochet project and move back to my knitting.  I went out and spent my Christmas gift card at World Market and picked up these lovely bird teacups and saucers that I've had my eye on for weeks.  So of course having tea the moment I got home was necessary!  And here is where I present my photo for today. I apologize that it is another one about tea, but I couldn't resist. I'm sure it won't be the last either.

Day 3/365, January 3rd: "Tea For One"
Taken with Lensbaby Composer and Plastic Optic.

   I'm still experimenting with my Lensbaby and the Optics, but so far they're amazing and I highly recommend you look into them if you're a little more experienced and want to experiment with you photographs.  Also, I have put a list of the lenses and other equipment I use on the blog if you're at all curious.

Hope you have a lovely day! Be healthy.

Namaste

Happy New Year!

Day 1 of 365, January 1st.

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve! I spent it with two of my greatest friends and we drank massive amounts of tea (no joke, just tea no alcohol) and watched the BBC Doctor Who marathon.  We took a trip to the grocery store to get snacks and we grabbed a bottle of sparkling cider because we were too lazy to walk to the other end of the store to get Champagne.  Then we got teased by the bag boy who thought we had to buy the cider because we were underage.  Apparently we don't look 22, 22, and 21. Hooray for mistaking sever laziness for being underage.  He looked maybe 18 so I don't blame him.  It was a fun evening!

New Year's Day was pretty much the same; massive amounts of tea and knitting with my mom and grandma.
So here's Day 1's photo for New Year's.  Taken on my phone and edited in Instagram.

Day 2 of 365, January 2nd.

Today I went out to practice with my new Lensbaby.  
Here is Day 2.  Taken with my Lensbaby lens using a Double Glass optic.

Time to Try This Again

Happy New Year!

It's 2013 and with the new year just starting I decided to take the opportunity to give a 365 project another go.  
I didn't get very far the first time around when I started one around two years ago.  School and life made me fall behind and I was too busy to catch up. I've never been happy with stopping before I was done, so a few days ago, and thinking about New Year's coming up, I made the decision to try once more.  

This time around I'm making a more serious commitment to it! I think this will be a great opportunity for me to dedicate more time to my photography and to have a little fun.  This year I have my last semester of college and then, hopefully, I'll be going to teach in South Korea, so many interesting and adventurous days await me and my lens.

So whether it's me taking a snapshot on my Iphone or messing around with my Lensbaby, there will be a photo for every day of 2013! Hope you enjoy this year with me and thanks for reading.

Namaste