Lens made in Japan

I tried to get into this photo class here at UCI since last quarter and it's been nothing but an uphill battle that has now ended in disappointment. First, it was only restricted to Studio Art majors so I couldn't take it, but I tried during the adjustment period where all restrictions are dropped, but it filled up really fast. Then suddenly there was an open spot on the wait list which had been previously full. So I thought I had somewhat of a better chance to get in. Unfortunately when I showed up for class today, all 15 people registered showed up. So I have to hope that at least 3 people drop the class and I don't want to have to hope people do that so it must not meant to be.

In other news, I am very impressed with the weather because it's...well it's actually So Cal weather finally.

Hope all your classes are going well. I can't believe there are only 10 weeks left to this first year of college.

wildwombat

Let it begin

I must be getting older because my day wasn't that long, yet I was beat after my classes. But alas, Spring Quarter has officially begun and I hope it goes well. My history class seems harder than it should be and my Anthro class is so far everything I expected. All I'm really waiting for is getting into the photo class I want since I'm wait-listed, I hope I get in.

I also got some email about unit assignments and apparently next month we have to decide which school we're going to most likely major in, which kind of took me by surprise. However, after all the revelations over spring break I will be becoming affiliated with the school of humanities. So eventually my mom will understand and until then I'll keep working hard to do well in it.

Oh yeah, take a look at this upcoming movie called Away We Go, looks like a cute Little Miss Sunshine/Juno-ish movie with John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) and Maya Rudolph who was on SNL



I'll probably go see it.


wildwombat

Spring Break

Well spring break is essentially over and even though it was a week, I look back and realize that I actually did a lot of what I was hoping to do.

REAL Mexican food (none of this Chipotle BS, yeah I said it.)
Sushi
Driving my car
Buying and beating Resident Evil 5 (nerd)
SURFING!!!!!! (not very well)
Hanging out with my mom
Hanging out with friends from high school
Visiting Boy's Tennis

Pretty solid spring break. I think the highlight was a smashing friday night which I'm sure I'll tell you about at some point.
It's funny how I always get extremely homesick right before leaving and don't want to leave, even though I really want to get back to Irvine, but I guess that's a sign that I had a good time.

Can't wait to see what Spring Quarter brings.

wildwombat

All I Wanted To Know

All I wanted to know today was that I could still drop in and still bottom turn while I was surfing...and I still can. I think the hardest part was getting out there. I have 0 upper body strength (too much soccer I wager) so getting outside past the break was extremely hard along with dodging incoming surfers. As a result I am adding working out to the agenda of Spring Quarter along with of course doing better in my classes. However I still would label today as a good surf day except it was a little too crowded in the water. C'mon people it's Wednesday, don't you have jobs?! But it still felt good to be out there.

I also took some pictures off Crystal Pier of surfers and further pushed salt into the wound that is my wanting of a new camera because my current camera has too much delay and i end up missing lots of stuff and the focus takes to long, but whatever, time to save money. But I still managed to get some good shots as seen above.

I'd also like to take time to thank you guys for your words of wisdom and support in my last blog. It means a lot and it made me feel a whole lot better. I can't really express what it means to me right now so Thank you.

wildwombat

oh.

oops, i just realized it's been a very long time since I last put something in here. Apologies, but it is spring break after all.
Anyhow, I got some email from UCI about submitting pictures to the yearbook or whatever so I just decided to try and see what happens if I submitted this picture on the left. I figured I'd have a better chance of something getting published in there than in Transworld Surf. I guess this must be some sign of change because I unless it was Valhalla's yearbook, I never had the confidence to submit my work for anyone to see. I don't know. As of lately, I've been trying to gather myself and find out what I'm trying to do. As must as everyone says I have a lot of time, it doesn't seem like it. I'm almost done with my first year of college and I'm still mostly in the dark as to what I want to do. Actually that's not true because I've found a major that somewhat puiqes my interest, but of course my only hang up is the fact that I'm not sure how much my mom will appreciate it.

Here's what I wish I could say to you, Mom:

I'm not going into the sciences or business or pre-med or anything. I can't be a pharmacy tech. I can't be an eye doctor. I can't be an audiologist. I just can't. I won't survive. I won't be happy sitting in those classes wondering if I'm doing this for myself or doing it because I want you to be happy. I don't have it in me to compete against those kids, they're too smart. As a result, I'm moving more towards the Humanties because truth be told, I am way better at creative things than concrete things. I'm way better at writing than I am at chemistry. I am way better at reading than I am at figuring the velocity of an apple traveling through space. I have realized that I told you I was leaning towards Earth and Environmental Science because I knew it satisfied you at least somewhat, but now I don't even think I want to do that. I don't understand why it's so hard for me to tell you what I want to do because it shouldn't be. You, of all people, know me better than anyone, yet I'm more afraid of what you think of me than anyone else. I'm afraid that I might become so consumed by what you're thinking of me that I'm stopping myself from doing what I love. I feel like I'm good at writing. No one has ever told me that I'm really good at biology or that they see me becoming a doctor, however people have told me I've got a knack for writing or taking pictures. I can still perfectly relive that moment when I was a sophomore and I told you I wanted to be a screenwriter and you simply replied "No." I was in the middle of writing a 40 page story and do you want to know what happened? I stopped. That story is still sitting, unfinished, on the computer. Even after my friends asked when they could read more, I stopped. I gave up on myself because I couldn't stand to think of disappointing my mom. And maybe my sister is a factor in why you feel that way. She's an Econ major. How solid of a career. She'll probably end up working with Fortune 500 companies and everything. She's ambitious enough and she'll work hard enough. I'll be working hard too, just in a different way. And maybe when I tell you that I'm moving towards the school of humanities, you question yourself. Maybe you question the way you raised me. Maybe you question if you should have pushed me harder in school to do better. Maybe you question if things would be different if Dad had been there. God knows I have and I still do almost every day. Would he have pushed me harder to do well in school? Would I have gotten into a "good school" like UCLA if he was around? But the fact remains that you have raised me well enough to know what I need to do. I'm going to pursue something in the school of humanities because I'd rather be doing something that makes me happy than struggling to do something in a place I hate. In all my 18 years, I have followed what you have said and done what you told me to do (most of the time) but now I'm going to be disobedient and tell you that I don't care what you think. I'm sorry if it's not what you wanted. I'm sorry if it won't make you happy or proud. But I'm going to be more sorry if I try to do something I don't like just because it will make my mom happy.

That's all.

To quote Dwayne from the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, "You know, you do what you love...and fuck the rest."

Funny how crying can make you feel more human than anything else.
wildwombat

Ricky Gervias and Elmo

Ricky Gervias is the British equivalent to Michael Scott from The Office, which is actually based off the British version. Anyway here he is talking to Elmo



my favorite part is probably "Do you know what necrophilia is?"
more to come later.

wildwombat

That's what I'm talking about!

Finished with finals and it is an absolutely beautiful day. 72 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect, this is the So Cal I know and love. Just in time for spring break. I can finally go surfing because every other time I've gone home it's been raining, but that is all over now! WOO HOO!!!!

Good luck on the rest of your finals. I didn't mean to rub it in. But at least take a break and enjoy this beautiful day.


wildwombat

Happiness runs in a circular motion.

"I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?"
-The Pursuit of Happyness

I think this is one of the most thought provoking quotes any movie has ever created. I suppose all the studying for finals has made me want to think in a more abstract way rather than about concrete things like the prevalence of AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa or forms of resistance of Malaysian female factory workers or whether or not a ping pong paddle should have a high coefficient of restitution. Whatever it is I've been giving it some thought.

It seems that in today's world it's hard to find complete and total satisfaction. I mean COMPLETE satisfaction because it seems like something it always missing or something could always be better. Take a look at wealthy people. If they were completely satisfied would they keep buying those fancy cars? Would they settle for the house with only 2 stories and four rooms or do they have to have the pool, 14 acre lot, and guest house? It sure doesn't seem like it.

I pose the question that many before me probably already have:

What does it take to make someone completely happy?

It probably depends on the person. To one person, it could be a just roof over their head. To another, it could be a roof over their head surrounded by friends and family. And to another, it could be a roof over their head, surrounded by friends and family, with 539 plasma tvs, surrounded by 32 Aston Martins of various colors.

That brings me to ask another question:
Are we completely happy and simply don't know it? Has society made it so that we are always looking for something better? something more?

I don't know if I could say that I am happy. I think I am. I'm pretty sure I am. If we break it down to the basics of basics I should be. My heart is beating normally. I'm breathing normally. I'm functionally normally. I'm fit and healthy (for the most part) No life threatening diseases or anything. To take it a step further: I have a home and a family I love and food...that's pretty important. To go even further: I go to a great college, I've made great friends who are lots of fun, I'm getting good grades, nothing has really significantly brought me down.

And yet...I guess I could be able to run a bit faster and have better upper body strength. I guess I could've gotten into a "better" college. I guess I could be getting better grades, I mean some of my friends are getting better grades than me. I kind of wish I didn't have classes on fridays. I'd really like a new camera. And I really really want to go surfing. I guess I would be happier if I had those things...but it's not like it's affecting the way I live, I don't dwell on it.

It must all be state of mind. I guess you could never really be satisfied if you're constantly looking at what people have that you don't. But if you think about it, you really shouldn't think about it too much. There will always be someone out there getting into better colleges. Someone always doing better in school. Someone always making more money. Someone always driving the nicer car and living in the nicer house. I think having this mindset will make it impossible to be truly happy if you're always wanting what others have, but if there's anything in this world that is hard to change, it is the way people think.

I wish I could confidently say that I am completely satisfied with my life, but the truth is, I'm not and I don't really mind. I don't really want a perfect life with everything I want because then I wouldn't have anything to work towards. I'd never feel a sense of accomplishment or those small moments of happiness when something goes right. But I will say that I am extremely happy with my life right now. I love where I am. I love where I'm going. I love what I'm doing. I love who I'm around and even though I might not have a Canon XSi or an Al Merrick surfboard or that special someone, I'm okay with it. I'm lucky I can say that because I'm sure there are far too many people out there who can't.

"So what have you done to make yourself a little bit happier?"
Saosin

That's basically what I'm asking you. Good luck on finals.

wildwombat

BASE Jumping

First of all the BASE part stands for

Buildings
Antennae (antenna towers)
Span (bridges)
Earth (canyons, cliffs etc)

Pretty much these guys go sky diving except without the airplane. They find extremely tall buildings or cliffs, put on their parachutes and wing suits and jump. I think if you're a BASE jumper, you're probably the ultimate badass because you're the closest thing to Superman anyone can every get and it's freakin ILLEGAL in most places! Except for the illegal part, I think BASE jumping would be quite the experience. Just jumping and flying through valleys and over rivers would be the best way to view anything. Plus how cool would it be to point at some extremely tall building or cliff and be like "Hey...you see that? Yeah I jumped off that."

Amazing. I wonder what my Mom would say if I told her I was dropping out of college to become a BASE jumper? It would probably end just like all the other things I told her I wanted to do like being a screen writer, a storm chaser or a ghost hunter.

Anyway I found some pretty sick videos of BASE jumping to give you a taste of what it's like. I think if anyone were to make an IMAX movie of base jumping I would be first in line to see that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPnIJz8EvFU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttz5oPpF1Js
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pGp1LX8yZY

Awesome. Let me know if you want to do that with me. I think it'd be pretty sick. Good luck on finals. I'm taking a study break right now.
wildwombat

Inamo

Found this cool link on a website called: neatorama.com

This place has touch screen tables where you order food from, call the waiter, even change the "table cloth" from projectors above the table. It also has a cool feature where you can watch your food being prepared, but...would you really want to see that? I guess if the cooks knew there were cameras on them, then they would behave better. Hmm sounds like a concept in Anthropology called the "Two Way Mirror" which I just studied last night. So I guess I am learning something. Anyway here's the link, check it out because it's pretty cool.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10193120-1.html

Keep studying hard. I hope it clears up today, I was hoping to take a study break and take some pictures.


wildwombat

Boycott Israel

I picked up UCI's school newspaper today, The New University. I've always been a little skeptical about it especially when they wrote an article ripping on my RA about something he really had no control over, but that's beside the point. The more interesting part was a full page ad I found on the 25th page. It begins with the headline : Committed to Boycotting Israel?

First, when did we decide to boycott Israel? I'm not very informed, but I thought we're at war with Iraq. But the best part is yet to come as they list ways we can boycott Israel.

Direct Quote:

Be Zion-Free - do not use:
Cellphones (you can keep the case)
Voice mail and cellphone camera chip
AIM, ICQ, instant messaging
Google (runs on Israeli search algorithms)
Microsoft Windows XP or Vista, Microsoft Office
Intel microchip, Pentium chip and microprocessor
Firewalls and virus protection software


I'll give you a moment to place your face in your palm.
Wow...to borrow from the segment on SNL's Weekend Update called "Really?!" I say, Really? Are you serious? No listen to me, are you serious? Do people who feel that strongly about boycotting Israel actually do all of this? Because I would like to meet the person who is living right this second who has decided to give up using their cellphone, firewalls, Windows, and Google. GOOGLE! Really?! Do you really expect people to stop using Google? And do you really expect people to not use Windows? Yay for Mac supremacy but Windows? And I suppose you should just get rid of firewalls and virus protection so people can steal your identity right?
This ad has just made me speechless and it's rediculousness. It is quite LOL-tacular. I'd like to meet whoever posted this ad and ask them if they have really stopped using Google and their cellphones and then proceed look around and make sure I'm not standing in a cave because that's probably where one would be living if they didn't use those things.

Anyway, that's all for today. Study hard for final.

wildwombat

Practicality or Bliss?

As of lately, I have been looking at lots and lots of surfing photos...usually during class which probably wasn't the smartest of choices. Anyway, I keep getting blown away by the pictures these people are able to produce and some of them aren't even pictures of people surfing, but of empty waves. It makes me wonder what it must be like to be them. Imagine traveling to places like Bali, Fiji, Hawaii, Australia or South Africa to take pictures of people surfing. Imagine the people you would meet, the things you would see. There are photos of the bluest water I have ever seen. Photos of surfers dropping into massive waves. Photos of waves with perfect barrels. I can't get over it.

During the summer, some friends and I went out to La Jolla to go kayaking and met a surfing photographer. He had everything, Canon Rebel XTi, the underwater housing and everything. He told us he's had pictures in Surfer Magazine and had gone to professional competitions all over the world and was going to Bali the next week. What a life! If I had my way, that is exactly what I would want. To this day, I regret not asking for that guy's name, but whereever he is right now, whether he's shooting photos of Kelly Slater in Australia, random waves in Bali or groms down at La Jolla, I think you are living the life.

I sit here wondering if what I would do if I ever had the chance to do that.

At the personal level, I would jump at the chance without a second thought. I would love to photograph surfers all over the world and everything in between.

But at the practical level (AKA the buzzkill level), it just doesn't seem plausible. With no solid salary, I don't think I would be able to keep up with camera maintenance, traveling, lodging and things like that, unless I was hired by some magazine or company or was simply an extremely well known freelance photographer.

So do I take the practical road or follow my bliss? That question seems to come up a lot lately. Do I do what will make me successful or happy? As of right now, I don't even know what I want to major in. I'd like to major in English, but I have a feeling my Mom will think it won't take me anywhere and I should be a bio major or a pharmacist or something. Then I consider what one of my teachers told me: Do what you want, not what your parents what. They have lived their lives already. So do I try to become an English major despite what I think my Mom will think or do I keep trying to find some way of getting a practical major that will make me successful like Biology, Chemistry or Econ? I mean, I'm almost done with my first year of college and I'm still in the dark as to what I want to do.

Practicality or Bliss?

Oh yeah, that picture up there is a picture I submitted to Transworld Surf just on impulse, we'll see if anything comes out of it.
Plus here are some awesome surf photographers I found and think you might want to check out:
http://www.sparkesphoto.com/meniscus/meniscus.htm
http://www.clarklittlephotography.com/main/pages/home (favorite, highly recommend)
http://www.scottaichner.com/


wildwombat

What?

Blogging seems to be extremely popular this day and age. I've seen a couple of my friends create their own and I really like it. Plus Facebook notes are stupid anyway, one particular experience was me writing an extremely long note and then clicking a dumb advertisement resulting in me losing the entire thing. However there is this little thing that appears to autosave my entires so that's cool. Anyway I guess this is the new home for my thoughts about life and where I go which is currently somewhere between UC Irvine and San Diego. I'll probably also use this to post pictures in as well because once again Facebook limits the albums to 60 pictures.

Yup.



wildwombat