It's FALL!!!

*splishsplash

It was raining for like a week here, which I actually kind of liked. It's so weird to see the leaves change in the Yard. There are seasons here!!! I'm doing photography for The Voice, a life mag here at Harvard that has an awesometastic blog and a little gem called HarvardFML. YEAH. I'm also gonna learn to mix music (and hopefully DJ eventually) for CityStep, this awesome organization that teaches city kids to dance. And I'm trying to breakdance. So far I can hold up a turtle freeze for like 2.5 seconds, and I have bruises on both knees and a sore body. Hopefully these ventures will be successful.

I'm learning how to balance my time and still have me-time. Time goes so fast here, so fast it feels like I didn't even exist in September. But it's been such a fun ride otherwise, besides the work. I'm loving the people here, my roomies, everyone. I <3 college. Just not the work.

For everyone who saw The Social Network, Harvard is not full of snobs and socially inept people. No joke.

AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHY
And I thought I loved tape.
possibly my new favorite photographer (and currently my wallpaper supplier)
LOL
10,000 true things
kaPOW!
some lovely tunes.

I hope y'all are doing well. =D

and now I flinch when I hear the wheels of a bike churning by...

So I got hit with a bike the other day, out of no where when I was walking to class on a footpath. I think I fell quite swiftly, actually. The guy must've been going like 10 mph and he fell down too. Actually, that made me think I was way more durable than I thought I was. But yeah, I'm ok. Now I have a story to tell and a battle scar coming on my left palm.

Besides that, college has been AMAZING. People are incredible, but class, as always, is still a pain. I have a sore throat, but I'm going to see either Chiddy Bang tomorrow or Asher Roth on Sunday...hmm...choices choices...

My goals in college are coming closer:
a) mixing my own music
b) breakdancing

Some tunes
A little freaky, but pretty awesome, Arcade Fire.
A healthy dose of inspiration.
My roommate and I discovered the perfect workout song.

I'm excited!
I hope you're all doing well. =D

As usual, there are never enough hours in a day.

This is probably the last one I'll post from my old Olympus, because I have my new Canon t2i!!!

So I thought this summer I'd get regular with posting again, but yeah, that didn't work. Neither did studying, reading more books, and the SYTYCD tour. But instead I got 2 DC trips, met Obama, Ted Fu, John McCain, Harry Reid, watched the XGames live, ate funnel cake, went go kart racing and kayaking, saw/touched the Jabbawockeez up close, got my license, fell in love again with Cali, worked a pretty rewarding internship at BGCLV, and went on a scavenger hunt on the Strip which included doing the hokey pokey with strangers and singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" in the middle of the Fashion Show Mall.

So yeah, even though I didn't do the boring stuff I was hoping to force myself to do, I had a much better time just...living. I hope the adventure of life to come is just as or even more amazing as this summer was. I'll be going to Harvard soon, and I'm determined to have fun and make it the best experience it can be. If I mentioned it before, I want to learn/try bgirling and DJing. Even I can't imagine that, but I never know what can happen.

btw, I love my new HTC Aria.

If I don't post before I get to Boston...Thanks Vegas, for being my home for the past 18 years.
I still hate your dry heat. And thanks for opening the largest Forever 21 in America right before I leave.

I gotta do this sometime.
Time to get classy.
That Blackberry ad song is beautiful (Le Loup).
They had Abercrombie & Fitch back then?!
A remix that is decidedly better than the original.
Riding that rhythm like a cruiser on the beach.
An nerd with beats? Sounds like who I wanna be.
And if anyone wants to buy me one of these fonts, I'd love you forever.

Stay well, guys. Stay happy.
did I mention I love to color with Sharpies?

Self

This is a little self-portrait I did for an application. That day I took this picture, I sweated a ton running back and forth to my camera and back to my chair. I couldn't find my camera remote. -_-

So I'm off to DC again tomorrow for a week! Last time, when I came back I was stuck at the airport for 15 hours. Airports are so eerie when no one's around, I swear.

A few links to keep you going and I'll see you on the other side of the week. =D

Need some sleep? Help out my friend if you have a buck to spare.

Lovelovelove this cover. 2 degrees of separation (to Robyn xD)

Well, this makes things easier...
Spacey
Turn it up!
Dancing in my chair.

Starving for garbage, desperate for time

Oh, how I miss you dearly, photography.

I am so so so so so so glad to finally have some time to post something. I've been looking at the blog every day, seeing Ari and Mai's posts and always longing for the chance to actually get something done. I have too many bookmarks, too much new music, and too many amazing mind-blowing things to tell you all that have been building up in me for the past 4 months, basically just settling to the back of my mind and hardening into this insatiable desire to release myself into the blogosphere. Alas, the only feeling I have the chance to feel is regret and loss. Finally getting the chance to take the photography that has been accumulating over the past few months and actually doing something with it made me realize what I have been missing the past few months-photography. I have been so stressed over 12 college applications, scholarships, and essays, that I haven't the time to breathe. Nothing, over these months, that I have tried to relax with made me as soothed as getting some photography done. I was reminded of the healing power of the art, and am so grateful that it is in my life. Even here typing this, my headache that has been building over the day's stress is waning, and I feel so much better knowing someone will read this. I hope you, too, will find some peace with some sort of art, as I have.

I actually wrote this bit of my post about a month ago, but I never knew how to finish it. Last month, two anticipated albums came out, one after the other. First, Vampire Weekend's Contra, then OK Go's Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. For you guys who know me (or read this blog enough to sort of know me), you know that I am a huge fan of both bands. I admit, the first time I listened to Horchata, I wasn't quite sold on Vampire Weekend's new album, Contra. The day the album dropped, Vampire Weekend posted the whole album on their site, for everyone to hear. I was SOLD. I could not stop listening to the range of this album, the beautiful voice of Ezra, and the revival of my love for this band. Suffice it to say, I had a huge Vampire Weekend phase for a couple of weeks.
The day before, I listened through OTBCOTS, which did not blow me away so much. OK Go's new album has reached what they say is what they really have been all along, a band with a lot of Prince influence, and a smooth vibe. I have nothing against the high-pitched squeals of Damian's glorious pipes, or the heavy drums and basslines of the album, but nothing has really stuck with me so far (except for the fact that my photo was used in an interview with Damian ahhh the second one down). I still love the boys for what incredible people they are, and how far they are stretching where their creative energy can be. They are looking to launch a video for every single one of their songs, one of which was released a long time ago and a Rube Goldberg one coming out tomorrow! They've also been actively informing the public once again of the big mean machine that record companies can be (their video was not able to be embedded from YouTube, which caused a lot of people, including the band, to become not so happy). Boiled down to the end of these two, I regret to say that although I still love OK Go, my palette is not mature enough to appreciate the style they went for. My tastes are much more geared to love the swoony, melodic ballads of Vampire Weekend, those tunes dripping with hormones, young impulses, and Ivy league, not to mention the undercurrents of cellos. It doesn't hurt to say that VW's new album always makes me giddy for my college dreams in (hopefully) the east coast. OK Go's album is a lot more mature, full of real love, of introspection, and hope. And btw, the cover of OK Go's album is art down to a science. The whole CD booklet is an incredibly thoughtful way to put lyrics and feelings down to graphs and charts, something way too complicated for me to explain here but downright genius.
Still, The Winner? Vampire Weekend

My recommendations:
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky: White Knuckles, I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe, Andy's guitar solo toward the end of All is Not Lost, and the mid-section of digital rhythm in End Love

Contra: ALL OF IT! But I'm a real fan of Run, Taxi Cab, and Giving Up the Gun. You should also take a gander at this Minimix. You won't regret it.


Here are just a few things that I've been waiting forever to post.

The hilarious
The Incredibly Beautiful (I'm so serious. This thing is all CGI. You can't stop watching it if you start. It's so beautiful, I made myself screenshots to use as desktop wallpaper)
The Paper
The Sound (can't...stop...singing...along)


Sorry for rambling. Have a good first week of March!
New laptop YUSSS

There's so much to say!

New sig. Like it?

You guys have no idea how much I missed blogging. I would look at the blog everyday and feel that tinge of guilt that I wasn't posting anything, even though I have a million things to show you I've been collecting over the past month. College apps are taking over my lifeeee. Finally break is here and I am able to edit some of the pictures I took over a long while now. I've been trying some new material, but what I really need is more photos of people...

Here's some big news: I have a nephew!!! I get to see him in a couple of days! He looks like a really big baby and looks a lot like my brother. Very cute. =D

So I was at Forever 21 yesterday (on a much-needed shopping break) and heard Christmas Wrapping, by The Waitresses, which is currently on repeat. Apparently it's an old song, but I've never heard of it before. Love the horns.

Even more importantly, I am almost completely obsessed with the new Noah and the Whale. This video/song is pretty much the perfect song to end the year. The whole hopefulness and the beauty of it all is just amazing. That baseline and the piano is brilliant.
Apparently Noah and the Whale's new album is based off of the break-up between lead singer Charlie Fink and former member Laura Marling, who is in a lot of other indie songs, like a few Mystery Jets songs. The album is paired with a full film, which I haven't seen yet. But according to the above video, which is also the trailer, it's a very beautious sort of film. It takes its time to suck out all the emotion, all the scenery, all the indie it can. And it makes me want to ride a bike and shoot some 56 indie film. After their release of Five Years Time, I sort of lost my fancy for this band, but their new sound has brought me back. I think I'm actually on the brink of abandoning mainstream music...

btw, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all in Vegas. You could go out in a t-shirt and be fine. It's warm, even for Vegas. Global warming, man, I'm telling you.

Have a good week, and enjoy your holidays! I will talk to you soon.

A Little (Big?) News

I posted this a year ago, but I was so excited that the designer of the little orange papercraft guy in this picture favorited this shot on Flickr. It's not like I met the guy, but Marshall Alexander's pretty darn talented.

I had a photoshoot weekend, trying some new things, but those will come when I get the time to play with them (which I hope is soon)!

For now I'll leave you with Pt.2 of the big news: Free Helvetica. YESSS

btw, did you guys hear the new Vampire Weekend single Horchata? It's lovely.

Why does a chicken coup have 2 doors?

Because if it had 4, it'd be a sedan.

*knee slap*

Is anyone else upset about the Facebook revision with the two feeds? I am now set on live feed, as it seems everything appears on that one. But still, I don't really need to know what people my friends are friending. I'm getting used to it, after a few weeks, but I want my old Facebook back! I fruitlessly and desperately fell for those "we need a trillion people to join this group and Facebook will go back to normal" groups. I actually joined 3, hoping one was actually legit. don't tell anyone

I felt a little less angry at Facebook when I discovered that you can change your Facebook language to PIRATE(!!!!) Yes, indeed. Now, my alerts tell me that "20 shots o' rum ago" someone posted on my wall, and instead of clicking "like," I now click "Arr, this be pleasin' to me eye." I guess I still love Facebook after all, a lot more than Myspace for sure. I realized yesterday I haven't gotten a comment on Myspace since the middle of October. I've officially been taken over by Facebook.

The moral of the story is: TRY PIRATE!!!! and try English (upsidedown) too.

My next project that I REALLY WANT TO DO. This is for you photographers/lomographers/videographers out there.

10 points if you can guess what band is on my mind. Hint: look at the pictures above. A new video for their new single "WTF" comes out tomorrow, and it's supposed to be pretty amazing. I don't know what to think about the new direction of music they're heading for, but we'll see about that soon.

oh, what people put their dogs through...

One Year Old!

Bite of Las Vegas 2009. With Zamaika, Peiwei, and Richard. What a fun day.

Sorry I've neglected you all for so long. College apps/school/everything has kept me away. Hopefully you had enough company without me on Chromaphilick. But I'm back for our one year! A year ago, and 256 posts ago, we started the blog with these. For me, the blog has been a way to get out my thoughts and photography, no matter where they went. We were really happy to see that we were gathering an international "fanbase", if you want to call it that, and I'd like to. This has been a great year. I don't think there was one day that passed by when I didn't look at the blog, and yes, I did even in the last two weeks I wasn't posting. I was admiring Zamaika's owl and her food. I have adored and been by humbled the other two photographers on here. Thanks for being there, even if you didn't comment or tell us you are here. We know you exist.

Who knows where we will be in a year. So much has happened since we started, and we cannot even begin to tell you. But if you have been following us, thanks for being there to witness it. I'm hoping this is just the beginning of Chromaphilick.

Thank you for your support on Brickfish!

And as usual, I have a ton of links for you, and extras because it's a) our one year and b) because I owe you.

Hilarious dog costumes.
Amazing human costumes.
All the single ladies.
So cute.
So beautiful.
King Charles makes music.
Sense and Sensibility.
Autumn Breeze.

and as in the very first post, Happy Halloween.

A bit of a request

It's a busy time about now. My last SAT this Saturday and an early college app in a couple weeks. So I apologize for coming out of nowhere and asking for a favor. There's this thing for college called an arts supplement, and I'm looking to do one for my photography. All I'm asking you to do is go to my Flickr and pick out a few or precisely 10 photos you consider your favorite. Tell me in a comment and I'll love you more than I already do. Thank you!

Here's my gift to you:

a new song
a weird bike
beautiful books
can't stop watching good skateboarding

now back to toomuchstufftodo. I hope you guys are doing well. =D

All Those Nights

Chase Coy-All Those Nights I can't stop listening to this song, and I'm usually not the sort of person who can stand the repeat button.

I want to take advantage of every second I have this year. Gotta savor everything about it. =D But I'm lacking in photography at the moment. Nothing I've taken recently is more than random recordings of life (i.e. the minimalism of post-its in my book, except not that artistic). For now, I wish you all luck, happiness, and laughs.

Loving my friend's blog. This is a recording of high school life 6 words at a time. Saying less really says more.
gorgeous tea bags
a new bamboo pen tablet sans pen

Musical discovery of the week: Owl City (FIREFLIES!)

Sony Ericsson

messing with lomo again

I saw my little nephew's ultrasound today. He's going to be a really active little kid!

I'm getting back into papercraft. Unfortunately, though, I haven't made any lately. =/ If you haven't tried it, go try it!

I replaced my 580i for the 3rd time today. I like the phone a lot, but it always dies on me. meh. 90 day warranty ftw!

I am now officially sick. I have a sore throat on one side and my nasal passage feels like sandpaper, but everything else is normal. It's really weird...Any random panaceas you could offer?


If you haven't heard the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack yet, go listen to it. And thanks to Lizzie, I am now addicted to another instrumental song. Beautiful stuff. It makes me want to go sit on a bench in a park that has fall colors.

Have you patted yourself on the back today?

Can't wait til fall!

My brother pointing at the birds flying down the shore. For some reason, there were different flocks of them flying together in the exact same path. It's amazing how birds have such good internal compasses. I read about a study once that proved that people naturally walk around in circles if they get lost in the forest. Now, how did that happen?

Summer is wonderful and all because it means more freedom than usual and no homework. But really, the best season ever is fall. Everything looks so much better when the weather is perfect and the leaves turn color. I went to Canada when I was 11 during autumn and I saw some of the most beautiful examples of nature. I also like going to William-Sonoma. It makes me feel like it's fall. That made no sense at all.

Have you guys had Sobe Life Water? It's like the best drink ever created. And I'm not even kidding. Go play 3 tennis matches and drink some ice cold Life Water. Best. Thing. Ever. Well, I guess, anything ice cold after tennis is the best thing ever...

How does one acquire such a high sense of detail? (pt. 1 of 3)

In regards to Zamaika's last post, tomorrow is the MTV VMAs, and OK Go up for an award for that same video alluded to. It's been awhile since anything huge has happened for them, so I hope they win! There's this story behind the video about sticking it to the man.

Back in 2006, the band made their famous video and posted it to YouTube, all on their own accord and without Capitol Records' permission. They made a homegrown video and just launched it. Capitol Records attempted to gain something from their video success and uploaded their own HIGA video to YouTube. Thankfully, the original is up to 47 million and the "official" up to 300 something thousand. OK Go isn't just a bunch of quirky guys who make videos. They're an actual band, they're really amazing people, and they make really awesome music. And we can all learn a thing or two from them about staying grounded.

btw, Zamaika, my favorite is the last one on your last post. =D

Speaking of awesome music...

Best wishes!

Writer's Block is a fiend.

Senior year is proving to be busy, and far busier because of the impending future that is college. I still might have to winnow down my college list, and my mind won't let me write! I need some inspiration, so if you could help me out, I would love you forever and ever. Ten points for the person who can tell me what college this picture is. Fifty if you vote. =D
And wish me luck for tennis season. We did well for pre-season, but this Wednesday is our first actual match.
Shoutout to our new follower, Debbie!! Could you comment or something because I don't know how to use the follow widget to get to your profile. haha yes I'm so pro at being n00b.
My sister's visiting. And another one is coming home tomorrow. =D Someone new to bother. muahahaaha.

So I'm really getting a Community Channel addiction. And I'm actually behind on the vlogbrothers stuff. Could it be that my interest is waning?? I miss old school vlogbrothers when we were all cheering John on to chug blenderized Happy Meals, when Strawberry Hill meant something, when in your pants was invented, and when just looking at a Peep made one want to roll over and hurl.

Billboards can be so amazing. It took me a long time to figure out the McDonald's one. Too clever for me I suppose.

Colors, colors, colors for inspiration. I wish I could translate color into a coherent, witty essay.

Yearbook pictures. Classy. I hope mine don't haunt me someday. Ryan Seacrest. haha.

Have a great week guys. And make good use of those Firefox Add-ons! If you, too, are on the adventure to college, good luck to you.

Firefox Add-ons are kind of addictive

So my internet is fixed. But my AC is now broken. -_____- gehhh. Well at least I can blog. haha. K, so my list of Firefox has come as promised. Here's my list of the best Firefox add-ons I have used.

Stumbleupon-Currently something I use everyday. The little stumble button fits neatly on a taskbar, and collects my favorite pages in a convenient page. It's a nice and neat way to bookmark pages instead of actually bookmarking them (since I already have too many of those). Check off as many interests as you can. You never know what you'll get. You know I'm the one on the blog that loves her links, and many of them I have Stumbleuponed.

TinEye Reverse Image Search-Many a month ago, I had this brilliant idea for an image search that used images to search for the same image all over the net, no matter the size. And then last week, I found this gem. It's the most amazing search engine you'll ever find. I just wish I'd found it earlier...

Download Statusbar- I love (times 3) this app. That annoying and cumbersome download window is gone forever with this convenient little app that fits at the bottom of your browser. With a click, you can see the status of your downloads and with a double click, you can open up the download. My best friend on Firefox.

Personas-Layouts for Firefox. I recommend: this, this, that, this, and this.

Cooliris-It'll probably slow your computer down while it opens up, but this one is a must-have if you're trying to find a picture. Those annoying page numbers on Google images gets tiring. And this 3D photo viewer shows bigger thumbnails. It's a life-saver if you need to find the right photo.

I hope these are useful to you guys. I'm still in the running on Brickfish, and I would appreciate your votes so much! Every 8 hours you can vote, if it so moves you. I entered in two new entries to a b/w campaign as well. Thanks and have a good week. If you're in school, good luck!

If you have any add-on suggestions, please do tell! I love these things.

mm

Things look like this to you when you get only 2 hours of sleep before the first day of school and can't stop worrying that your internet is broken. Moral of the story is just sit still if you can't fall asleep! And stop worrying!

If you recognize the picture above, it's our banner at the top...So yes, true story. I had like no sleep the night before school and my internet decided to stop working on Saturday night. -_- So sorry I didn't answer your question, Will. And I didn't do my Firefox add-on reviews like I promised. But I'll do a post over the weekend. I'll have more time to spend with the add-ons, as I've had little time to do so. To keep you busy in the meantime, please graciously accept the following links:

How the heck do you do this???
Video games on YouTube...huh...
LOL this is why I'm a nerd.

Have a good week guys. Get good rest!

I wish there were (500) Days of Summer

Yesterday I finally saw 500 Days of Summer! First off let me say I love the wardrobe choices. I didn't know office wear could look so good...skinny ties. =D I went through the soundtrack before I saw the movie, and seeing how everything fit made the songs just that much better. The movie was uniquely told, a creative breath of fresh air, or as I once said, a fresh of breath air. It may be a close second to HBP as far as my summer movies go. The beginning made for a surprising ending and, well, I'm satisfied with things end of to be. It's a realistic, but cute tale of, what I perceived as fate. Go see it! And listen to my favorite track off the soundtrack. And by the way, Zooey is a wonderful singer. Actually, Joseph wasn't that bad either. Even if he was acting drunk. There is something very pleasant about Joseph Gordon-Levitt when he speaks.

I discovered a bunch of Firefox add-ons, so reviews are coming in my next post. I will tell you that I now have Stumbleupon and making good use of it. So far I have found:

Some uh...interesting street art
Some examples of a project I've always wanted to do. Unfortunately, the back of my monitor is basically just a poster and wall. And shadow.
A reflex test at which I fail.
A cool way to travel through photography.
Architecture+skate+HD+mellow music=one of the most beautiful things to come out of skateboarding

Enjoy your week!

Links

My bookmarks are so piled up I have to scroll through them. I just can't help it! Here's a bunch of stuff in the past week I've collected.

An interesting font
Some vintage design
Creative photography
A lovely hoodie

Woodstock facts I know you don't know. the bird, not the music festival.
And a little Discovery (for fans of Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot, and checkered color)

Sorry this post isn't so exciting. Tennis=waking up earrrrlllyyyy

I'm watching 500 Days of Summer on Sunday. The blogosphere convinced me.

Is the ability to recite almost every line of the movie Pride and Prejudice a talent?

zzz

I can never title these things...

A month or so ago the girl cutting my hair recommended this amazing product for my hair. It's made of tea tree oil and mint, so it's refreshing just using it. If I've had a bad day or if I'm suuuuper tired, this stuff can wake me up or perk me up so easily. The only downside is if you get this in your eye, it's like putting tiger balm in your eyes...and I have before actually. O_o A cooling sensation isn't good for all occasions...

Thanks to you guys for voting for my Brickfish pictures back in this post and Zamaika's in the post before this one. A friend told me you can vote every 8 hours, so if you really have some time, there you go! And do tell us if you vote. We really appreciate your support.

I applaud you if you can achieve this.

For some reason I have a thing for watches and ties, even though I wear neither of those things.

Sometime this year I hope to make a beautiful like this with one of my friends. Good times. =D

I played a Maple Story private server last night for two hours. I haven't played for a couple years now, and man is it addictive...

Have a fantastic week.

I have that urge to go shopping...

What kind of clothes do I seem I would wear? Because honestly I'm perfectly fine in PE shorts and a t-shirt anyday. And that's actually my attire for the day sometimes. Comfort first for me! I was watching this commercial for some clothing company for some kids and I realized that kids going into middle school or even high school grow up thinking they have to fit into some defined persona (rock star, skater, prep, uhhhh). But really, c'mon guys. We've also been told to break the mold, right? A friend of mine pointed out to me that the my class ('010 ftw!) is so lax with the clothing style. At least at my school...except there are exceptions *cough**cough*.
The nerd style is the most fun to do.

These were a couple of cute little gems I found at Urban Outfitters. I love the ship notebook, although I had no real need for it. I could really spend a few hours in there just looking around.

Currently back into 90's music-loving mode. Right now I'm listening to this one song...I think I've forgotten a bunch of the old 90's songs. Any recommendations?

OKGOisupforaVMAzomg