"inspiration is for amateurs."

did you know amateur means "lover of" in french? i didn't.. just found that out on wikipedia because i googled amateur to check if i spelled it correctly. i did, just fyi.

not sure how my title relates to this post. i suppose it does since i have been feeling a bit uninspired as of late.. not that i normally feel particular inspired or anything. or i've just been lazy. i guess inspiration is for amateurs, and this post just serves to accentuate my currently uninspiring/lazy lifestyle because there's nothing better than comparing your current life to the your much more exciting past life. just kidding! i just had an incredible meal at brooklyn fare, except i accidentally called cesar ramirez's scallop "too seafood-y" (and he heard me! and glared at me!) so many failures these weekend.. (upcoming post?) haha, so life's just different. it's so strange to see how much it has changed in a little more than two and a half years. not much i can/would/could/should change, i think, but i guess i wish i didn't abandon photography for all that time. oh well, i didn't have much to photograph except for empty notebooks and cheap beer.

yes, i know i'm wordy.

anyway, i wish i didn't fuck up the first picture back in the day in iphoto. i didn't know any better, and i thought it looked cool (i still think it does a little bit haha). whoops, too lazy to try to fix it now.. haha, sensing a theme? i promise to be more exciting in my next post. maybe.

 life in october 2008.

life in march 2011.

bouley (the faux polaroid version).

i want a polaroid camera. i just love the warm tones (even if it's only because it's expired film) and how they always elevate an otherwise mundane scene into something.. more. seriously, what other camera can make a cup of coffee look so artistic? empty, full, half drank/drunk/sipped(?), spilled all over the table, two cups of coffee.. yup, i have seen my share of coffee polaroids. it gets fancy.

and i have drawn 5 easy steps to take a good polaroid. all you need is*:
1. a random, unassuming scene - otherwise you'll seem like you're trying to hard. these old cameras can only handle so much in their frame.
2. natural light.
3. some semblance of composition, but this isn't necessary because polaroid=instant cool.
4. go to a recent, poor college grad's apartment that will most likely be filled with no furniture. jackpot! "minimalism" and anything old and worn-down (like the polaroid camera) work best for these pictures. it's character!
5. all else fails, find a hipster. flannel shirts and plastic frames picture well.
n.b.: just the fact that you own a polaroid probably means you're into photography and cannot in good conscience waste the ridiculously rare film on stupid shit. (that or you have a lot of money & time to spare. in that case, see #3-5.)
and voila! awesome polaroid.

*just kidding. i'm just a hater who wishes she had a polaroid sx-70. i'm sure there's a lot that goes into a nice polaroid photo. see here.

so here's my homage to the sx-70 i will never own, but i'm ok with that, haha. plus, i just wanna see a fancy dinner processed in that 'roid-y way..

[i wrote this intro before i actually processed the pictures.. and damn, it was a lot harder than i thought. i just assumed i could make everything really, really yellow/faded, which did notttt work out. i didn't want to overprocess them, but then it didn't look polaroid-y enough, then i tried that, but then it just looked too photoshopped/clearly not a polaroid........ergh. i mean, they kinda look polaroid-y.. or at the very least, you can sense that there was a semblance of an attempt to achieve that look.]

i am also missing like five dishes, but whatever. i give up. i gave up four pictures in actually haha. FRIDAY.

the rise and fall of mr. bee.

ever since i got my rocco, my friends have slowly been replaced with rocco's favorite toys. the toy du jour happens to be mr. bee since his favorite toys typically have a lifespan of one night. here is the story of the rise and fall of mr. bee re-interpreted as a really shitty children's story, aptly titled "the rise and fall of mr. bee". haaaa omg, i need to get out more.

1. once upon a time, rocco, the prince(ss) of the land, was bored was with all of his toys. his slave (me), never wanting to see him lonely or upset, ventured out to a neighboring kingdom, petropolis (real name of the store) to pick up some new toys to amuse him. tired of seeing him chew on dried tendons, i had to find something new.. something cuter.. and then, i saw mr. bee. dundundun! mr. bee is a stuffed animal that squeaks and has crinkly wings. i thought i had found the perfect new toy for my princess.

2. at first, rocco was wary of mr. bee. it squeaks! it crinkles! it's not easily chewed up! mr. bee, it seems, had already gotten the best of rocco.

3. i was not ready to give up this easily. i was still confident in my choice and determined to make sure that rocco enjoyed it. however, few things can replace rocco's favorite toy: the camera/my face. i was lying down on the ground to get some shots, which rendered me defenseless against this teething puppy. with mr. bee out of the picture, my face was his next target.. but not before he posed for a quick pic first! what a model, and his ears are finally up!

4. desperate to amuse him with something other than my mangled face, i gave rocco one of his ex-favorite toys, mr. pink tennis ball (ok, i am not too great with names). choices, choices.. what will he choose?!

5. wheeeeeeee, success!! funfunfun for everyone! the princess has been satisfied.

6. unfortunately, he was not amused for too long. hence this blurry shot.. didn't have any time to focus my shot (or for most of these for that matter).. had a crazy puppy coming at 579831mph ready to bite my face off.. lovingly, i'm sure.. butbecominglesssurebythesecond.

7. as with all of rocco's "favorite" toys, with the exception of my face and toes, mr. bee met his inevitable demise and was forsaken to some desolate corner in the apartment. some goodbye looks at mr. bee..

8. the defeated mr. bee, you served me well, for all of an hour, and that is all i can ask of you. thanks.

fin.

you may say i'm dreamer.. but i'm not the only one.

if you don't know what song i'm referring to, then you need to re-evaluate your life. or at the very least, the music you listen to.

here are some pictures from the john lennon wall in prague. the graffiti/images are constantly changing, but here's a peek of what was there on a sunny day in the fall of 2008..

my favorite are the top two! wish i didn't shittily process them in iphoto back then. oh well still love all these pics! short post since rocco needs attention.

no one man should have all that power..

yup, another post dedicated to everyone's favorite subject: rocco! you can probably assume by the amount of posts dedicated to him that i am completely obssessed with him.. [basically whatever rocco wants, rocco gets (he learns from the best!)] he also looves getting his picture taken, and usually, he is the most adorable, photogenic puppy of all time, but sometimes.. he is what i like to refer to as crazy puppehhhh (still a cutie though, but i am obviously biased).

ps. hahaha, also cannot believe that people actually read my "highlights of my weekend" post. nice to know that my rambles are not completely incoherent, but nonetheless, here's a semi-legit post.

highlights of my weekend.

gosh, where do i start.. i should probably start off with the fact that i went back home to suburbia, nj. thus, everything and anything that required me to overcome my almost-catatonic inert state basically qualified as a highlight. here are some of the top highlights in no particular order:

1. walking less than half a mile all weekend. i was trying to make it less, but my living room/kitchen and bedroom are not on the same floor, boo.
2. mcdonald's drive-thru. suburbia's version of delivery because most suburbanites are too cheap to tip for delivery (or maybe because my parents were too asian for that).
3. getting complimented on my nail polish by multiple high school girls. anyone +/-5 years within my age is fair game here. i'm sure if i came across another 22 year old, they would've complimented my sparkly, silvery nail polish too. yep.
4. non-stop top 40 radio while driving. because i'm still too ashamed to put it on my ipod.. except for justin bieber. he's a wunderkind, okay? i still regret deleting spice girls from my itunes..
5. being able to sit further than 10 feet away from the tv, so i can watch the criminal minds' marathon without my eyeballs bugging out.
6. wearing the same outfit all weekend (grey xl hoodie, ragged oversized t-shirt, pink sweats) - i took off the hoodie when i went to bed to keep it classy.
7. driving with the top-down for the 10 minutes it was nice out to get ice cream.
8. the bent spoon's lavender marscapone & cream cheese ice cream. no snippy comment required.
9. h-mart's free samples which put costco's samples to shame - i swear i could've had dinner there, but there was a needy puppy in the car.. and they ran out of samples.
9a. going to h-mart again, snacking on their samples again, and taking illicit pictures at h-mart despite the the explicit signs that no photographs are allowed. yep, badass-ery is pretty easy to come by here.
10. going to target.
11. shopping at target.
12. target's low, low, looow prices. i had the reverse of sticker shock, and i was finally picked up some biore pore strips & pretzel m&ms!!
13. using a biore pore strip while munching on pretzel m&ms.
14. while listening to r. kelly's love letter. (yes, i am painfully aware that i am behind on new music.)
15. while lying in bed having no sense of stress or responsibility.
16. helping myself to a glass of rioja after completing #10-15.
17. doing #1-16 with no make-up and not giving a shit.. because i have no desire to impress my grandma.
18. actually being able to respond to bbms/texts/phone calls within an hour.
19. watching the USA swimming grand prix.. mm swimmers' bodies.. hahahh. just sayin.
20. monday tomorrow. why's this a highlight? monday's are for winning, thanks charlie sheen. winwinwin.

comforts of suburbia.

asian-girl-foodie-stereotype.

i'm sure we're alll aware of the asian-girl-foodie-stereotype. the one that says that asian girls looOoooOoove food, love to take pictures of it, love to talk about it - "have you had the fried mac&cheese at cheesecake factory???? it's sooo goood!!" (real example.) yeah, you know what i'm talking about, and they always happen to be the tiniest girls you know. i don't know why or how this stereotype was relegated to asian girls specifically, seeing as food plays important role in a lot of cultures, but i've learned to deal with it. although i think i fall more into the fatass category, the difference being - i see food, i eat it, end of story. regardless, i take pictures of my food from time to time too.. i mean, why do chefs bother to work so hard on presentation if you're just going to eat it right away? and really, who doesn't love food?? and you take pictures of things you love, right??? rhetorical questions, but if you're a dummy, the correct answers would be: to remember it via photos, NO ONE, and yes unless you have no heart, respectively. pictures are especially important to me since my head is where memories go to die. no matter how beautiful the presentation or how sublime the flavor profile, i will inevitably forget it the next day. [one notable exception being Marea's fusilli and Corton's tasting menu - i didn't bring a camera or take pictures with my phone, and i still remember some of the plates.. amazing!]

anyway, this really long ramble was really just supposed to serve as an introduction, albeit a shitty one, to my pictures of food!! but i'd thought i'd switch it up a bit by not necessarily showing pictures of the most composed dishes because those pictures practically take themselves.. i don't want to play too much into my stereotype! most of them are fuzzy anyway because i was too excited to eat..

ps. i've gotten a lot of feedback saying that i write just like i talk (e.g. "i can hear you talking in my head."). so for those of you that don't know me, now you do, hahaha. i ramble. a lot. and i love conjunctions and commas.. that's just how i think!

pps. the chocolate biscotti from il cantuccio is also divine. there is always a lovely white-bespectacled lady who is more than willing to dole out free samples! and they don't use any butter or oil in any of their baked goods.. crazyy!