Hilarious Cat Video

Funny cat video shared by a friend on FB.

Self Portrait

A very uninspiring day, even X100 can't save me.

Flower Encounter

Always bring your camera with you.

Neighborhood Cat

A beautiful ginger tabby.

 I made a new resolution to always carry a camera whenever I took a walk. The X100 sure came in handy when I ran into this friendly neighborhood cat. Not only she let me pad her, she kept marking my pants and shoes.  It's extremely hard to take cat photos with X100's slow focus, but I managed to take a few shots while playing with her. Now I have something to look forward to on my daily walk.

This super friendly cat kept marking my shoes. I don't think Miti will be happy when she found it out. 

A (Very Long) Walk Around Home

Cross HWY 85 to the Stevens Creek Trail.

Trail marker. I walked almost 10 miles today.

The Stevens Creek Trail is a rich ecological system.

It's almost Cherry Blossom time.

This tree is really an early bird. It's not the blossom time yet. Or is it global warming?

Reflection of trees in the Stevens Creek. 

A lovely couple I ran into on the trail.

I had an urge to take off my shoes, climb down and play in the water. In the end, I just sat here and ate my lunch. 

Self portrait.

No, it's not a meteor hitting the Bay Area, but an airplane.

The long way home.

Love the pattern.

Still 2+ miles from my home, I was totally exhausted. Taking photos became the best break.

I wish I had my X100 with me, but the best camera was the one you carried with you, in this case, it was my cell phone. 

Encounter in Antarctica

Such a nice encounter, and happened on my birthday!

Ran

A close match of my current mood.

I have a hunch this can make a good Pollock-like painting. Hmmm, just wait till I learn how to paint.

Hometown Glory

Whenever I see an afterglow like this at home, I wish I were somewhere else taking photos.

The End of a Legendary Film

I had always wondered how Steve McCurry managed to catch those rich, saturating colors in his photos. Now I know part of the reason is he was using the Kodachrome. (Unlike Velvia, which renders deep purple and plue so is nature photographers' favorite, Kodachrome showed off red, yellow, and turquoise, a signature combination in many McCurry's photos.) For now, Fuji is still manufacturing Velvia. Will the day come when somebody is shooting the last Velvia too? 

Use Game to Improve Your Life

I first heard about superbetter.com at She's Geeky. Some fellow member used it to battle depression (and successfully lost 100 pounds in just one year). (She also referred us to this TED talk.) I felt intrigued and decided to check it out. At first, I didn't think much of it. It looked too simple (and not as excited as I had expected). Still, I signed up, created my "secret identity", and decided to give it a try for a few days, just to see how it went. 

The first few days went pretty uneventful. I sometimes even forgot to "play" the game. However, as I added more and more "power ups", "future boosts"* from my life, I started to feel I really enjoyed the positive reenforcement. Doing them also made me appreciate those tiny moments of happiness more. (And of course the unexpected benefit of actively doing things to achieve positivity is you have less time left for negative things.) So far I have no idea when I will be able to accomplish my epic, but the journey is getting more and more interesting, and it indeed feels superbetter.

*Going hiking at Pinnacle was one of my "future boosts" and I felt great to do it. Though my body is still aching with sore muscles, the sense of self reliance really restored my spirit.

Pinnacle Panoramas

First lookout, a good time to take a break and enjoy the view. The real climb was about to start.

See the tiny trail in the photo? Hard to believe I was there a while back.

The green chaparral will soon become fire hazard in the summer. 

The pine trees on the trail are so lovely. 

On a clear day like this, the view is unbelievable. The toughest part of my trip was about to begin, though.

The highest point of my hike, also the toughest part, I had to use both my hands and my feet to climb the steep stairs. (I heard a "you have got mail" ring from my cell phone at this place. Verizon's reception is really amazing.)

Going home from now on was all down hill, it felt like a breeze.

It was almost dusk and too dark for any hand held panorama. I promised myself I would be back with a tripod next time.

Pinnacle (Black and White Studies)

How could I have missed the black and white potential of Pinnacle? Unbelievable!

On the Road To Pinnacle

Don't be fooled by the green hills, they will be gone in a couple of weeks. (Will someone write a story called "Hills like Green Elephants"?)

I felt very comfortable standing in the middle of the road to take a picture. This pretty much tells you how the traffic was.

On the road to Pinnacle with Blanky (my car), Michelle (GPS), and X100.

Drove by a local church.

Though I was thousands miles away from New Mexico, this local church reminded me Chimayo.

The view from the church yard is quite nice.

Best Things in Life (Thanks to a Sweat Friend)

My best friend introduced me to Gould's Bach and Du Pre's Elgar when we were in college. I confess: I could have lived my life without Gould, but my life would definitely suffer a great loss had I not heard Du Pre. (I know I am offending Gould fans.)

After hearing Du Pre's Elgar, non of the other Elgar felt right, no matter how great the cellist playing it was. There was always something missing. (Is it passion? A sense of pending doom and incoming tragedy?) After all, Du Pre's life was like the Elgar cello concerto, tragic, dramatic. She didn't just play Elgar's cello concerto, she lived it.

I was quite surprised when I came across those Youtube videos of Du Pre's playings. (How did I stumbled upon them? What was I searching for?) I watched a few of them. It still broke my heart when I heard her Elgar.