I like the idea of Web 2.0. I think it's what the internet was destined to be - a huge social network where everyone can interact with everyone else. I know I'm jumping on the bandwagon way late, but I'm registered for a few of these sites now. Of course there is Flickr, where I've been putting up my photos from my photography class. I mostly hope that people will sift through my photos and comment, but I've gotten so much inspiration just from clicking around on the site. My favorite right now is Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, who, in just one photo, has inspired me to take pictures once again and change my major from graphic design to photo-illustration. She's also inspired me to one day take a nice vacation to Iceland :) Said photo, along with some others:

While I'm on the topic of Flickr, I also found this service called Moo (not the best company name, in my opinion, but whatever) where they take your uploaded Flickr photos and print them onto small cards! You can use them as business cards or just stick them in your wallet. If you're a Flickr pro user, they will print out 10 cards for free for a limited time. I got my 10 on the way, maybe you will be a lucky recipient of one of them, heh heh.

Another site is del.icio.us, and I am completely obsessed with this site. I've always wanted an easy way to find interesting links on the internet (and not just dumb YouTube or YTMND things, USEFUL websites thank you), and now I can! It's a social bookmarking website where you bookmark sites and they're saved on del.icio.us. Everyone can see what you're bookmarking, and if there are particularly popular links, they put it on the main page. Also, since you can tag bookmarks, you can just search for "photography" and everyone's links that are tagged with photography will come up. Easy research!

And lastly, Technorati. To be honest, I haven't used this one that much. It is for blog networking, and there are just too many blogs out there now that I don't have time to read them one by one. Really, there are just too many dumb blogs. But I've registered, and who knows, maybe it'll do something for my lonely website in the future.

I just want to state for the record, I hate MySpace. I never liked it, and I will never join it. Sure, it's a great networking tool and I can find old friends and whatever, but the reason I didn't join years ago and why I still won't tomorrow is because, hello, has anyone LOOKED at that website? It's HIDEOUS. The boxes, the ill-spaced columns, the ads... people try to personalize their pages and they're still ugly, especially with all the videos and music people stick on them. Facebook came along, and they (well, he) got it right. It is nice to look at, well organized, easier to use, just all around a better website. MySpace just looks... seedy. Serves all the minors right for hooking up with old men.

In other news, I am going to start a little project with my website. I just purchased a book called No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog, which is written by the author of Mighty Girl. (By the way, isn't it strange how my favorite websites are all written by 30-something moms with little kids? I need to stop being in mom-mode.) I plan on writing a post for every idea that's in there; hopefully it'll provide more interesting fodder for people to read. And I know I have to change the banner because it's not summer anymore, but I am still trying to get my hands on a copy of Photoshop. Heeeelp!

Alright, enough webtalk for one day. The clouds are fluffy, I'm going to take some photos.

Listening: Q-Tip - Amplified
Playing: Mario Golf Toadstool Tour (GC)
Reading: Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Posted by Joanna at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Pluto isn't a planet, they've changed the Food Pyramid, now I learn that Brontosaurus never existed?? What more of my childhood do they have to take away from me??? Next they will tell me that there are 50 letters in the alphabet and that gravity is just a figment of our imagination. I don't know how much more I can handle...

More later.

Posted by Joanna at 1:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The assignment: All photographs will be taken in black and white. Take 3 photographs, one of a black cloth, one of a grey cloth, one of a white cloth. Take 8 photographs, 4 with auto-focus and 4 with manual-focus. This yields a total of 11 photographs.

The result: 7 photos. 5 photos. 31 photos. 3 photos all of grey cloth. COLOR PHOTOS.

Perhaps the English that I was taught to understand is vastly different than the English in northeast Ohio, or that maybe some people in my class failed the 3rd grade. I thought, the class is at 7:45am in the morning, I'm just cranky. And I've taken intro photography courses before, maybe I've just had more experience. Wait no, I'm overlooking the fact that some people's photos are just hideous or completely black or crooked, and am focusing on the seemingly simple ideas of numbers and colors. Last time I checked, we were in COLLEGE. Why doesn't the professor say anything about this!

I should never be allowed to teach a class.

Listening: Lady Sovereign - Vertically Challenged
Playing: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GC)
Watching: Farewell My Concubine

Posted by Joanna at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have so many new toys! Namely... my MacBook Pro came today! And let me tell ya, Macs are awesome. Maybe a few years ago I wouldn't have said that, but... it's so slick! So light! And bright! And quiet! Okay, I guess the noisy (and now defunct) piece of junk laptop that I had isn't great for comparison, I'm happy to have just a working computer. But the design alone is enough to make me a lifetime Mac user. Now I just have to get used to the whole Tiger operating system and this whole no-right-click nonsense...

Now this is where I would insert a picture of my cool new laptop, but seeing as I don't have any photo editing programs on here yet (iPhoto does not count), I can't upload anything yet. Moving on.

I am also doing the very unsmart thing of eating right next to my new laptop. Oooh well.

I spent last weekend in Lexington (when am I not there these days?) to celebrate Ben's 21st! Here is where I would insert pictures of the cool dinosaur cupcakes I made for him, but alas, we wait. We went out to Panda Garden, a Chinese restaurant that serves delicious authentic Chinese cuisine, mmm I didn't realize how much I've missed Chinese food. Eating burritoes every day makes you quickly forget the taste of any other kind of food. But what else was great is that Ben finally gave me my birthday present! He bought a wide-angle lens for my Nikon Coolpix. I was frustrated with my camera when I would take pictures with my dad. He has a wide-angle lens, and when we would take pictures of the same scene, he would always have SO much more in the photo than I did. So now I can get more information in my photos; there is some distortion but I like it! Yaay gadgets!

What else is new? I've chopped off ALL MY HAIR. Yes, after Sarah the Hairdresser had her way with me, there was what looked like a small furry animal on the floor. Even possibly a medium-sized animal. Either way, my hair is short and sassy, and I feel fast. Aaah, the life of low-maintenance, it's the way to go. I don't understand you all with your haircurlers and your gel and your brushes. I dry my hair, I'm done. This would also explain the nail polish that's been on my toes since May. I've tried the maintenance - I have makeup brushes, eyelash curlers, about 10 unused tubes of lipstick. But anyway, back to the hair. I do have a picture of this that I took before my laptop died:

I lied, I can't find it. Hopefully I'll find a copy of Photoshop floating around so these posts won't be so lame. I love my haircut.

Weeell I guess that's all for now, I need to tinker with my laptop a little longer and set up email and stuff. It's weird how I don't have Word or Office anymore, the standards! Yeesh. I should also keep working on this mini-ravioli that I heated up. Does anyone remember Chomps-a-lot? That was my favorite back in the swim team days; all mini-ravioli will always be Chomps-a-lot to me.

Listening: Chingy feat. Tyrese - Pulling Me Back
Playing: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GC)
Watching: Shower

Posted by Joanna at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My laptop died this weekend. Well it didn't completely give out, only the screen did. Basically I have a working laptop with no screen to project it onto. I need to get a monitor cable or something and hook it up to the TV or something and back up my files before I pitch it. So I bought one of these babies over the weekend:

Should be at my doorstep on Monday or Tuesday :) That's right, I've made the conversion from PC to MAC. In my defense, I am REQUIRED to buy one of these for my major by either the 2nd year in the program, or they're saying now by the second semester of the first year, which will be this coming January for me. I love Apple computers, but I won't be completely satisfied until I can find a way to install programs and run emulators without actually having to purchase anything, like I could do with a PC. Because I am definitely not going to put down $500+ for InDesign when I can get it online for free. Yeeea. If someone could direct me to a nice, cheap PC desktop, I think I might have to purchase it along with my Apple laptop.

So I think I've discovered a fear I have that is greater than my fear of spiders. And that is... driving in bad weather. I love driving. Love love love driving. But after being in two accidents where I've lost control of the car, I don't think I trust cars anymore. (Or my ability to drive in bad weather.) Last week I had to drive up to Kent from Louisville, and that was about 6 hours of heavy rain and near zero visibility that I had to endure. My heart starts racing and my hands get clammy, I lose feeling in my legs and I constantly relive the moments of when I spun out of control. I think I've been permanently affected by my accidents and can no longer operate a car unless there is sunshine everywhere and the roads are bone dry. And even then I can't feel completely safe. Plus, this is just rain; I have no idea how I'm going to react when there is snow and black ice all over the highways. I feel that instead of maturing and feeling more in control, I've instead regressed into this pathetic dependent status where I'd like to be chauffeured and taken care of. I want to feel safe. Hopefully when I have to drive up to Kent tomorrow (I am once again in Louisville), the weather won't be as bad as they say it's going to be. I will gladly give up my driving privileges and have my mom drive me back rather than say my prayers for 6 hours and mentally divide up my posessions among my friends.

I have a few photos to upload but I left my cable in Kent, so I will add to this post later. But they're from my weekend in Lexington, because Ben turned 21! Wasn't the big shebang that it could have been, but I suppose I have to save my energy for when Ashley's 21st comes up this weekend. Until later...

Listening: BT - This Binary Universe
Playing: Sprung (DS)
Watching: Where My Dogs At?

Posted by Joanna at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The weather here in Kent has taken a nosedive into the 50s and 60s; when I have to pull out the comforter because my blanket doesn't keep me warm throughout the night, it's definitely fall. Normally I wouldn't be upset about this. I love the pants and jackets and the not sweating everywhere I go. But alas, this is fall in northeast Ohio, and it just rains and rains and life becomes grey and sunless, foreshadowing wintery mix...

School's started. I'm taking The Arts of China and Intro to Photography. This will be my third intro photography course since high school. But surprisingly, it's an all digital camera class. Apparently one of my friends took the very last wet photography class this summer (where you develop your photos in the darkroom), and they've converted the entire VCD and JMC programs to digital. I'm not even sure they offer wet photography to any students at Kent anymore. I understand the reason behind it; digital is the way to go, especially in the fields of graphic design and journalism, and that is why I am staying in this class in hopes of learning something new. But I don't think they should take away the option of film; there are so many things you learn when you're in the darkroom, like dodging and burning. And when you're taking photos with film, what you see through the viewfinder is what you're going to get. With digital cameras, you can crop and edit anything; there won't be a need to have a trained eye when you're out on the field. It's just so much less... personal. You didn't actually create the photo; a printer spit it out. I don't know; I am torn between the past and the future. Which, hey, is the story of my life - I revel in my childhood and obsess about my life after college.

The Arts of China class - all I have to say is that my first homework assignment is to trace a picture from the book, and that one of our projects is to go to a Chinese restaurant, attempt to use chopsticks, and write a few paragraphs about our experience. Needless to say, I am the only Asian person that class; perhaps the only minority. Siiiigh...

So my life's just been work and school. I've gotten some sort of a wrist injury from scooping salsa and rice at a ridiculously fast pace, and now I can barely rotate my hand. Oh well. What's been great lately though, is that I have a car! I technically only get it for two weeks, and I have to give it back when I go down to Lexington and Louisville this weekend. I couldn't keep it because with residency, I would have to change the titles and plates and would have to pay for car insurance. But ho ho ho, I've decided to quit trying for residency! After going through way too much trouble just to save money on tuition, I've come to realize that now is not a good time for me to be financially independent, and that I should appreciate my parent's generosity and just try to graduate. Which is what my parents really want anyway. I still feel awful that I will be in school for forever paying out-of-state tuition, but maybe when my life is more stable, I'll attempt residency. So back to the beginning, maybe I can keep the car?? Eeeeh mom and dad? ^_^

Before I wrap this up, I'd like to highlight a movie that I just got from Netflix. Eat Drink Man Woman is an Ang Lee film about three daughters and their chef father who live in Taipei. It talks about family, relationships, old age, and the culture of food. I appreciate this movie a lot because my father is a chef, and I am just recently understanding that my parents won't be around for forever (which, honestly, depresses the hell out of me). And of course, food is my life, and I love how it is such a large part of my Chinese heritage. I've been checking out Eating China for some traditional recipies (though annoyingly it hasn't been updated since May); I've been making xi fan a lot lately :) Aaaanyway, if you can find this movie at Blockbuster or wherever, you should give it a watch; if you liked The Joy Luck Club (book or movie), you will love this movie.

Alright, time to make it a Lazy Sunday, maybe make some more xi fan. Enjoy the long weekend - bbq and wear as much white as you can before it's illegal :)

Listening: DJ Shadow - The Outsider
Playing: New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
Watching: Beerfest

Posted by Joanna at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)