Elephants – Rachael Yamagata

[Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Mexico]

You can flee with your wounds just in time or lie there as he feeds
Watching yourself ripped to shreds and laughing as you bleed

So for those of you falling in love keep it kind
Keep it good
Keep it right
Throw yourself in the midst of danger but keep one eye open at night

eBay: Big Brother?

2:27 PM me: this.. is slightly disturbing
  so i’m trying to get my ebay pw, cuz i forgot it
  long story short.. to verify my identity, they asked me to verify the city and the state in which my [ ] address is associated with
2:28 PM this is my current address in NY, so i easily answered the questions
  now, my concern is this: i never inputted my new york address into my ebay account. how did they know to ask for it?
  i asked the guy. he said they use publicly available county and city records.
  which.. is a bit concerning.
2:29 PM —: Impressive
2:30 PM me: very “big brother”-feeling.
2:31 PM i also asked how they knew it was me.. what if there was a [tehjoyof] that lived in, say, zimbabwe
  he said “We have ways to checked whether we’re talking to the account owner. However, security precautions prevent me from discussing our proprietary tools and investigation procedures that led us to this
action.”

eBay: Big Brother?

Photo Stores in NYC

[Em & El in a gallery, West Village, NYC]

When I used to live in California, I would love spending hours, browsing through the photography stores in South Bay.  I especially liked Keeble & Shuchat near Stanford, and Kamera Korner in San Jose. 

Now that I’ve moved, I’ve found that one of the best things about living in New York is the easy access to photography stores.  There are three big ones here in Manhattan: B&H, Adorama, and Calumet.  

Adorama

The machine-like efficiency by which this store works is amazing.  The store itself isn’t very large; it’s underneath the warehouse in which most of the inventory is kept.  You walk in, take a number, and wait to talk to a customer service representative.  Once your number is up, you tell the rep what you’d like to look at or purchase.  Within minutes, the product you’ve requested has arrived, care of a chute behind the customer service counter your rep works at.  Once you’ve decided, you’re handed another ticket and you go to check out.  Once you reach the front of the line, your purchases are there waiting for you. 

Although the system is extremely streamlined and efficient, much of the fun in browsing is eliminated.  Indecision feels like a burden on the customer rep, and although they wait patiently for your choices, you feel hard pressed to make gut calls so as not to slow down the machine.  The representatives are very knowledgeable, so much so that they occasionally come off as condescending.  Adorama’s great if you know exactly what you want, and want a quick in-and-out trip.

Calumet

The feel of this store is much more like Kamera Korner.  I believe the footprint of the store is larger than that of Adorama, but it still maintains a bit of the family atmosphere that I loved about Kamera Korner.  There are enough products on the floor that you can take your time browsing through.  There’s even an area where you can rent equipment.

Calumet has a fantastic return policy.  I purchased a Calumet-branded UV filter with the 5dmkii I received from them back in mid-December.  During my trip to Canada over Christmas, the UV filter broke.  I went in today, and they very kindly allowed me to return my UV filter for a full refund.  Their stated return policy is only 14 days, which is why this surprised me.  I’ll have to go back and explore this store a bit more.

B&H

I’ve yet to go to the flagship store located near Penn Station.   From what I hear, the store is huge and it seems to be similar to the multi-floor camera stores located in Tokyo.  I’ll have to go check it out, and update this entry when I do.

Ah New York.  How I love thee.

Six Words

Recently, I read about a book called “Six Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak“, on opinionistas.  The idea is immensely interesting.  It’s not so much about what others would write; it’s more about what you yourself would come up with.  It’s an intensely introspective exercise, which is probably why I like it.  With all of 6 words, you can no longer use b.s. and idealistic notions as your shield.  In opinionistas’s words, it “forc[es] you to shave off all the messy emotions and perceptions that calcify around your memory of What Actually Happened.” 

How would you describe your view on relationships, past and present, in a mere 6 words?

Busy Little Bee

[Parking garage, Mont Tremblant Village, Canada]

This, my friends, has been the longest week ever.  Here’s why:

Weekend: I worked all weekend, then cleaned my apartment because my parents were visiting for a short 30-odd hours.

Monday: I was sworn in as a New York lawyer, then took my parents on a whirlwind tour of NY.  We hit Le Cirque for lunch, then walked around before the ceremony.  Showed them where I worked, as well as Grand Central (where a very nice old man took a photo of the three of us, after asking a grumpy guy to move out of the way).  After the ceremony was Madison Square Garden, Union Square (and the Whole Foods there), walked across Brooklyn Bridge over to Grimaldi’s for dinner, back to SoHo, then Times Square and Rockefeller Center before we called it a night.

Tuesday: Second day my  parents were here.  We started off trying to go to the NY MOMA, but found out it was closed on Tuesday.  Instead, we walked around Central Park and 5th Avenue until it was time for lunch.  I took them to Sasabune’s for sushi (hand’s down, the BEST sushi I have ever, ever had.)  Afterwards, we went to the Met for a short 1.5 hour tour.  I saw the Modern Photography exhibit, which definitely made the trip worthwhile.   Went with my folks to Penn Station, where we said our goodbyes; they took LIRR to JFK (which is, by far, the most efficient and economic way of going to JFK Airport), and I took the Acela to go to Boston for training.  I arrived at 8pm, checked into my hotel, and proceeded to bill until midnight.

Wednesday: full day of training, culminating with a Department dinner.  Met one of the partners I did a project for at dinner.  Ducked out a bit early to go back to the hotel, where I proceeded to bill until midnight.

Thursday: full day of training, ending at 4:30pm.  Went with the rest of the coworkers to the train station, and took the Acela home.  Played Gin Rummy and B.S. on the ride back with CW, KN, and D.  I think we annoyed everyone around us, but it was quite fun.  The girls beat the boys at gin rummy, of course   I once again confirmed that when I’m tired and sleepy, I am very mellow and am much weirder than normal.  Being sick magnifies this effect.

Now, it is Thursday night at 10:23 pm, and I am finally having a quiet night.  I’m finishing up packing and going to head to bed relatively early; going snowboarding for the weekend, and I need all the sleep I can get.  Hopefully I won’t have to work this weekend; I have a 11:30am call, which will dictate how busy I will be this weekend.

I’m exhausted.  Good night, folks.

 - edit -

This used to have a picture of a postcard with the words “I wish we could have loved each other at the same time” written above a photo of the sun setting over the ocean.  My apologies on not saving the jpg somewhere to prevent this broken image link from occurring.

Ramblings

[Gray Line airport shuttle, Cancun, Mexico]

[excerpt from my diary] “There will be no sleeping on this trip,” the two college boys sitting behind me on the shuttle say. How very different a trip they’ll have compared to me. The airport smells like that of Taipei…it was welcoming. Chatted with the drivers of the shuttles. I brought out my rusty Spanish; it’s been two years since I last needed it. I’m surprised at how much I remember, enough to carry a conversation, almost. Many of the vocab words escape me, but the men are patient and offer me the correct words when I cannot remember. They asked for my age. One is 30; he asked if he looked old. Truth be told, he did, but I’m not going to tell him that. Some of what []’s  bugged me about has sunk in. Despite it being balmy and warm out, I do not take my long sleeve v-neck off, as it would leave me with only a tank top on, and I do not know the lay of the land nor how safe it would be to show that much skin. I am mildly concerned with leaving my duffel in the open trunk of the shuttle, as we wait for more passengers. I am sitting in front, perhaps thought of as the best seat, and offered to me by the nice men. I am a novelty to them, I’m sure, an Asian girl from NY speaking Spanish. I am reminded of how irritating American tourists are; a mother yells into her cell in the background, complaining that there’s no one around to take her to her hotel. Classic American haughtiness. I am ashamed to be associated with them. Other shuttles have come and gone, filled up faster than mine. What’s the use of not checking in a bag if I don’t get to reap the benefits of not waiting with the crowds? The guy checking me in was surprised at how little I had packed….They’ve shut the trunk. I seek to put on my seatbelt. The buckle is broken. This bodes well.  I feel naked without a seatbelt on. The lights on the road, their color and the way the road curves reminds me yet again of Taiwan. There’s a number of hotels, all next to each other, on the side of the road. It feels like the strip (Las Vegas) meets Bevery Hills. We must be near a sewer because it sure smells here. We arrive at Omni Cancun Hotel and Villa. I must confess, our arrival is coupled with no small measure of relief on my part. We had driven past a police car, who shined his flashlight at me. I worry my not having a seatbelt will get me in trouble. He’s stopped a white van that looks just like the one I’m in, minus the decals stating it is a “Gray Line” shuttle. Do the decals save us? [end excerpt]

Updates

[Vincent with his cheese puff, Killington, VT]

Apologies for the lack of updates!   Since I last posted, I received my beautiful new toy (5Dmkii!!) and have been keeping busy: Killington weekend of 12/19, 3 day work week, Mont-Tremblant weekend of 12/25, hot pot 12/28, and tomorrow, I leave for Cancun for a week.  Photos and updates are forthcoming!   Here’s a teaser photo in the meantime.  I think I will start captioning my photos; makes for a more informative blog post, no?

Now, it’s 3am and time for bed!  See you all in the new year 

Winter

[Morino Lodge, Hakuba, Japan]

I should know who I am by now
I walk the record stand somehow
Thinkin’ of winter
The name is the splinter inside me
While I wait

And I remember the sound
Of your November downtown
And I remember the truth
A warm December with you

But I don’t have to make this mistake
And I don’t have to stay this way
If only I would wake

Fall to Winter

 [Central Park, NYC, NY]

Sure, when it’s autumn
Wind always wants to
Creep up and haunt you
Whistlin’ it’s got you
With its heartache, with its sorrow
Winter wind sings and it cries.

Cause you know,
I don’t do sadness
Not even a little bit.
Just don’t need it in my life
Don’t want any part of it.
I don’t do sadness,
Hey I’ve done my time
Looking back on it all
Then it blows my mind.
I don’t do sadness
So been there,
Don’t do sadness
Just don’t care.