flashback: sept 30, 1999

nine years ago i got a pair of these emails from e-wedontseeanymorebecausehesinjerseywithtwokids.

Hey guys, just ran into this site... looks like a cool way to set up our next group gathering... the way it works is the event info gets posted on a personalized page..., and you can RSVP throught the page, see who's attending, etc... looks pretty cool... looks like it was tailor made for our little group...

you know what? I just realized I forgot to pass on the site.. it's www.evite.com whoops. =)

evite's come along way. now there are no more phone calls and evite has become the defacto way of getting people together. there are a few jokers who will accept or decline with 50 guests and sometime people forget to update locations. but all in all it works out remarkably ok.

a few months ago, j and l-inthesign got threatened with "we better not get evites as your wedding invitations." which might have happened without the warning.

this morning, i got the three baby birthday party in a small apartment evite which i promptly replied "too many kids potentially involved." chances are e-wedontseeanymorebecausehesinjerseywithtwokids will drop by with his two kids.

the hills are alive

so i'm walking home from the darkroom last night. every once and a while i stop by virgin megastore for a little break and a short musical education. and they had a 35% off sale on country, world, jazz reggae cds. i quickly asked them "is latin, world music?" they said yes and i went to town.

i'm probably the last person alive still buying cds. in fact virgins racks are pretty empty and it looks like after this sale they might do quite a bit of remodeling.

why do i still buy cds? i like something tangible. i also don't have a high speed internet connection so it makes it hard to download anything illegally or legally for that matter.

i traveled with a swedish singer though bolivia. she still buys cds as well. she's in the business and knows how much effort goes into making those little coasters. so maybe i'm not the only one.

what did i get?

two chambao albums; saoud massi's deb; a really old willie nelson (which i've been meaning to own), the live julieta venegas album; a mc solaar album; and a nusrat fateh ali khan.

as many of you go "huh", hopefully some of you will be, wow that's all old stuff

i like to think you killed a man, its the romantic in me.

so last night around 2am i was hypnotized by pbs when casablanca came one. casablanca is one of the movies that always sucks me in. it's a great movie, but by far not perfect the medium shots leave something to be desired, there's no amazing cuts, but the story is always captivating and the dialogue is catchy.

the odd part of this viewing is it was the second time i watched it last night, just before charlie rose and tavis smiley they aired it and i watched it then as well.

two weeks ago, i watched it yet another time so it's not as if i had not watched it recently either.

flashback: sept 23, 2006

tanah rata, cameron highlands, malaysia.

between golf course, strawberry fields, a town and jungle are the cameron highlands. the thing i remember most was that day was wet. i started off telling the hostel what routes i was going to take. it's the responsible thing to do when hiking alone. i had gotten very lucky in that i just made it to the buddhist temple five minutes before the skies opened up. and boy did they open up.

in the temple i befriend a family on pilgrimage. they invited me to join them in a ceremony the next morning. unfortunately it started well before sunrise and had now way of getting there. if this was the 2008 me i would have found a way. we were stuck there together for a good two hours as the rains came down flooding the tiled courtyard.

going home i stopped through the local towns picking off street food and strawberries -- of which the region is famous for.

excited

i usually don't get too excited about camera equipment. even though i have so much of it. i've always figured that most visions can be tunneled through any variety of lens and camera bodies.

the most recent crop of camera coming out of photokina, annual german camera show, has peeked my interest.

maybe by the end of the year i'll get myself a canon 5d mkii and a 28mm lens. i'll probably need to couple that with a new computer.

i've been thinking more an more of "going digital" recently there are so many shorter term projects i want to work on but just don't want to spend the effort in processing them with the rest of my film batches. mostly chinatown related stuff, subway musicians and what not.

but that being said i'm off to the labs to slam away at a few more tanks of chemistry.

in between time

its 2:50 in the morning. and i figure i have to get up in about 4 hours or so to get ready for l and j-inthesign wedding. but globe trekkers is on and i have a pile of contact sheets to go through from bolvia.

going through i probably shouldn't have made so many shots of the festival. so many of the same parade shot. couple winners i hope -- though lately i've been thinking what am i going to do with the ever growing pile of negatives.

after that i have to conjure up a quick costume of a mythical beast for a random party that i may crash after the wedding on eldridge, if i don't crash first.

i probably should get some sleep...

flashback: sept 16, 2000

dublin, ireland.

this was my first day in europe. i walked around the overcast town from site to site. i photographed stone churches and geese. for dinner i had italian with a hostelmate and proceeded to temple bar for music and drinks.

this was my first day a four month trip backpacking across europe. it seemed pretty standard for people to do it. go from town to town staring at old art and cathedrals. at night going out with hostelmates for doner kebabs and every few days hoping on a train to the next town.

i can't imagine doing that anymore.

but, i can't imagine having not done it.

a dying building

for the last 14 years the yanks have been competitive. this time every year, they are either fighting for a playoff berth or cruising getting the rotation ready and figuring out who fits in into middle relief. but not this year. the yanks have find new and interesting ways to lose. next week, i'll still drop by the stadium to photograph the outside. i'll get nostalgic about the spot i slept for world series tickets back in '96. if tickets permit i'll try to get a loose ticket to wander the hallowed grounds and really flash back through my childhood. [if anyone has a spare seat, let me know] not sure how often i will get a chance to drop by, i remember in italy i thought about covering the entire final home stand but i've already missed a series, have a wedding next week and am so behind on everything else. start of next season, i'll probably be in ethiopia or nigeria for my easter project. would have been nice to book end the close and opening of the stadia. standings wise though, it's time to some football.

not so high

la paz, bolivia.

just moments away from my flight back to the states.

in hindsight i thought i would get higher on this trip in so many aspects. but i didn't. thought i would make it up to 6088m above sea level, but a hike downhill took the place of that. i thought i might take the adrenaline high of biking down the world's most dangerous road but i didn't. i didn't even take a that line of free pure coke that was offered to me in the prison.

not so high, but still great. wonder when and where the next one will be.

taking a long walk

waiting for the transport to go on at three day hike from 5000m meters to 1100m above sea level. still not sure whether to stay in that little town or head back to la paz saturday night.

in the end i can't wait to get back to sea level and not get winded by every flight of stairs i take up.

time is on my side

potosi, bolivia.

three hours until my overnight bus to la paz i been here about 3 days now and finished off everything so all i have to do is find my headtorch have dinner and get to the bus... plenty of time but it's making me antsy.

chances are i'll be heading on another 4 hour bus as soon as i get off the night bus to copacabana get some titicaca action.