halloween!

halloween!, originally uploaded by gimchi.

halloween!!

halloween!!, originally uploaded by gimchi.

halloween!!

halloween!!, originally uploaded by gimchi.

halloween!!

halloween!!, originally uploaded by gimchi.

it's even better than the picture

it's even better than the picture, originally uploaded by gimchi.

food, glorious food {recipe}

i just became part of a recipe exchange via email and got super excited about sharing some of my favorites! i'm thinking i'll post these every friday, but we'll see how long i can keep this up.

the first one is a recipe from bittman's 'how to cook everything vegetarian' and is also found online here. brussel sprouts get such a bad rap, but seriously, they're so fucking delicious. so cute and tiny! especially with a little balsamic vinegar! this is one of the best and easiest recipes i've found - sprouts, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, vinegar. they get all dark and slightly crispy on the outsides and melt in your mouth delicious on the insides. i'm slavering just thinking about it.

the hard part is making sure your pan can go into the oven. i checked my pan manufacturer's website to be sure.


roasted brussel sprouts with garlic

ingredients

• 1 pint brussels sprouts (about a pound)
• 4 to 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to coat bottom of pan
• 5 cloves garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

method

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Trim bottom of brussels sprouts, and slice each in half top to bottom. Heat oil in cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers; put sprouts cut side down in one layer in pan. Put in garlic, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Cook, undisturbed, until sprouts begin to brown on bottom, and transfer to oven. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until sprouts are quite brown and tender, about 1/2 hour [edit: i've found that 10 minutes does the trick].
• Taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in balsamic vinegar, and serve hot or warm.

mini vacation!

really awesome (and free) printable chore chart from ModEco Kids! i'm actually going to use this for me & anthony. i created this super intensive chart in excel, but seriously, it never gets looked at in its current home on the fridge. nor used. hopefully this one, being larger and colorful and simplistic will garner more attention.

in any case, i leave early tomorrow morning for california to meet up with my brother and shack up with s.g. and her husband (happy anniversary!). this trip is definitely making the end of the year bearable for me. it's back to that point again at work where little things are driving me completely batty and i shake my fists futilely in the air when certain people send me emails. i just can't take it. so i have the weekend in santa barbara and the rest of the week in monterey.

and so much is going on! restaurant week in monterey, zombie walk, the return of the monarch butterflies... i am so excited. my first trip to california! (and not just the inside of an airport.)

past tense?

i'd imagine more skin and ripped bodice...

1600 grainy goodness

more culling of photos and playing and adjusting. these are from brian & denise's wedding when i was in college. and i love these! it was a foray into ISO 1600 and i developed the film myself. might have overdone it, as the whites are a little stark.



i'm feeling the need to do more b&w. like whoa.

We floated downstream like swans in the sun
Surrounded by friends and lovers
We watched on with smiles beaming so bright
The river behind them, the fading daylight

I knew her back from when she was young
Those days poured out faster than rounds from a gun
Scattered like shells and lost to the sea
Like the river the days move rapidly

I have all these memories, I don't know what for
I have them and I can't help it
Some overflow and spill like waves
some I will harbour
For all of my days

I burned liked oil, you grew like a flower
Rising toward your magical hour
I was not yours and you were not mine
Our true love finds us when it is time

We drove back downtown
Wasted and spent
Down highways that I remember
Happy for her and happy for me
The old times and the new to uncover

I laid down my head, in love with the night
With my new love beside me, her radiant light
I faded away, along with my thoughts
Like a dream and I trail off mystically

- Sun Kil Moon, Like the River

ouch

these are 2 of the only good photos to come from a wedding i had done way back in 2004. truly, it's almost painful to look at the photos from the entire night. i'm attempting to go through and cull good ones for a portfolio and i cringe and end up depressed. and then i am so thankful for digital. how much fucking money did i spend on film and developing only to find out that i did a terrible job?! learning experiences, all.



the wedding was in miami and i drove down from tampa with anthony. i remember that the ceremony didn't start until 3 hours from the original start time, that the food was pretty good and that everyone was having an amazing time.

*sigh* sometimes you just wish for a do-over. and anthony completely crashed while i drove back at 4 in the morning. oh yea, and i broke my camera that night; good thing i had a backup. these photos aren't bad, but so many are utterly grainy and terrible. was i using the on-camera flash?! i could have sworn i bought a "good" flash, but i guess i just had no clue how to use it. maybe i'll turn them all black and white... ugh, and so grey and lacking in midtones. i suppose i could do tons of layer work in photoshop... but is it worth it? we'll see. maybe i'll do it for practice.

i suppose the good is that i can actually see that i've gotten better. just keep moving.

great marketing! {sarcasm}

it is 2009.

how the hell do people think that images like this actually entice more customers into a store?!?! whenever i pass these illustrations at a hair/nail salon, it's like a visceral punch to the gut and my brow instantly furrows in confusion and distress. and wait, what's going on under the child's head on the left? what IS that... round thing?! i don't understand what's happening there.

you just know that the parents are going to eat their children in a pot pie that night. they're got total cannibal serial killer faces and fingernails. and fangs.

rrc assembly line

sunday night while watching dollhouse, anthony and i put together cds for his show this weekend. lots of hot glue action. aside from the cd manufacture, the entire thing was very diy. david (a former member) was able to screenprint the case with black and silver inks on the flat cases. there's something soothing about assembly line work like this. accomplishing a lot with repetitive tasks. it really makes me miss printmaking in a studio. ... man, i can't wait to have a house to set more stuff like this up!

gracious me!

i have literally killed 4 flying gnats around my desk. i think i overwatered my plant and now the bugs in the soil have hatched.

SO ANNOYING!!

no wonder i feel like pigpen.

giving in

i gave in and bought the lens. and? I LOVE IT.

35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX AF Nikkor Lens

check that - it's like greek. "G" means it doesn't have an aperture ring, AF-S means autofocus silent. DX means that it's geared specifically for digital frame cameras, which i still don't fully understand.

though, i finally feel like i'm getting a handle on differences between how a digital frame camera handles a lens vs a full frame camera. for instance, this is a 35mm lens, but on my digital frame camera, it looks like a 50mm lens. fascinating. (but why call it DX?! argh!) i'd love to have bought a full frame digital slr camera, but alas, they are still out of my reach.

there's a photo shop in tampa where i attempted to buy the lens, but they never responded to my email query about their inventory! come on, people! i had to buy this thing from best buy. granted, i did get an awesome deal and spent $50 less than i originally thought i'd be spending, but i still feel dirty. it's like you expect to get more personal attention from a small independent store, so what gives, north tampa photo? you just lost a transaction with your negligence.

the auto focus is fast and so damn sleek. my eyes are so bad and in low light they are even worse. i'm so stoked to use the AF! plus, it came with a cute lens hood. *le sigh*

*sigh*

*sigh*, originally uploaded by gimchi.

hanging

today.

today i am hanging by a microscopic spider thread. every little thing at work is driving me to the brink of batshit crazy.

i'm not sleeping well and the delicious blue moon i had last night did not help! though it was, as noted, delicious. maybe i needed 3 more. i just lay and lay and lay and... no sleep. or, at least, it feels like no sleep. all week!

oh, and the humidity!! (said as if the hindenburg was going down. just like my patience. in flames.)

it's killer outside in the mornings.

ending this now, because really, if i continue thusly, it will only be more of the same.

** just remembered i have some hot chocolate in my purse. maybe i'll turn on the fan in my cube and have some. yes, yes, capital.

wha?

EMERGENCY - October 05, 2009
TAMPA CAMPUS

UPDATE - 3:29 P.M.

White male subject seen in Cooper Hall area in black tank top, cowboy hat, carrying black puppy and large hunting knife. Officers in route.

Entire Tampa campus remains on alert. Stay inside. Lock doors. Report any suspicious activity.

Check back for updates.

--usf.edu

here's to the weekend

here's to the weekend, originally uploaded by gimchi.

up and coming

so clean you could lick it! these are the insides of the water fountain on the ground floor of the library. i daresay it hasn't been cleaned since it was installed.

raise your hands, who can believe it's already october? only one post from october 2008. where is time flying? seriously.

lots of things have been going on, i've just been a little radio silent.

• i've been sick and exhausted and pensive, but am feeling better all around.
  
• my job has signed me up for internet librarian 2009 in monterey, california! i get to travel and see another aquarium and hang out with sg! i'm also trying to get my brother to come with me so we can drink lots of wine. did i say lots? lots and lots. (although, truthfully, i'm a complete lightweight, let's not kid ourselves.)
• did i mention that we're trying to buy a house? our first offer was rejected, but we're trying once more. cross your fingers!
• house hunting in the summer really, really sucks. homes are vacant, temperatures are in the high 90s, a/c is off, humidity is through. the. roof.
• it is highly likely that red room cinema is going to sxsw next year! *fizzy excitement*

i'm missing something... i can feel it. but perhaps that's enough for now.