Awkward fashion photography
Phew! Was at the office until 11 last night and I’ll have to go in a bit to work and hopefully get in some studying. Here’s the last of my “lace” photos:
I’m really tempted to submit one of these awkward gems:
Awkward Fashion Photos! A million dollar idea! And I have so many of these…
Talking with adults
Some data wasn’t ready yesterday so tonight might be a long night. I went to bed a little late yesterday too, around 2. Some people in my small group like to stay up late talking. When I was younger my dad had people over for dinner and they would stay up long hours talking and I couldn’t imagine why they’d just sit there talking when they could be playing video games or something. I mean they’re just sitting there! How fun could that be? My ten year old brain couldn’t quite wrap itself around the idea that talking and hanging out with adults could be remotely fun.
Back then, taking photos of women’s clothing would probably fall in that same category…
Spotify
I’ve been working on a hedgehog painting at home (with Cookie occasionally keeping me company). I guess I’m always a few years behind the times because I just started using Spotify to listen to music while I work and listening to random cover songs (my favorite kind of music lately) like Boyce Avenue / Kira Grannis’ Fast Car and Vitamin String Quartet’s Breakeven. It saves me the trouble of having to scour youtube to find music but I get the impression it really wants you to post on Facebook what you’re listening to and send your friends links to songs, which I inadvertently did. I mean, who posts links to songs (like to Sam Tsui’s How to Love)?!?
This week’s street style subject is lace. Vashti is finding this inspiring and promises other outfits later this week.
I’m starting to get a lot faster at taking these Street Style photographs. Or maybe I’m just becoming more indifferent about my camera settings. I can’t really tell.
Mystery stewardess
I just woke up to an erie dream where I had just finished my five year stint as an undercover agent posing as a steward on an airplane (we just caught the bad guy) and as I was saying goodbye to a particular stewardess she wrapped her arms around my leg and I said “there, there, one day you’ll be saying goodbye too” after which severe nostalgia over all our non-existent times together dropped to my stomach and I woke with the lights on. I thought it was quite the bizarre feeling since I’ll probably never see this mystery stewardess in a dream again.
What’s weird is that afterwards I started thinking people I’ll probably never see again, and even people I do see on a regular basis, and I started to miss certain old memories of them. But I guess you don’t miss them right away. Like today, my friend Vincent and I watched the documentary Wordplay together in the living room before church (and even managed to figure out most of the crafty long answers to the Sunday puzzle; spolier) and I definitely don’t miss that time now but give it a few years and who knows.
Street Style: Collars and Bow Ties
Kinda tough getting the collar to be more conspicuous. I’m glad that Vashti is enthusiastic about doing this. I don’t think I could ever wear a bow tie (but if the theme of the week is ever Uninteresting Polo, I’ll be all over that).
Street Style: Spring Scarves
My photo made the New York Times!
I kinda liked my other submissions more, though:
I have exactly 0 spring scarves so I’m glad my coworker, Vashti, was into this. I think I took way more photos than necessary. My current method of photography is spray and pray.
Dog Wanders Aimlessly; Selfless Roommate Watches
I’ve been making some progress on these modules (currently on three out of eight) but I decided to take a bit of a break at work today and watch a movie off of my Amazon prime subscription: Page One, Inside the New York Times. It made me wish I was better writer so I thought maybe I should write a breaking story of how my roommate went to Vegas last weekend and left me in charge of taking care of Cookie, which didn’t amount to much besides feeding and walking her and petting her and feeding her doggie treats and letting her wander around outside while I braved the California weather for this photo op. I can smell that Pulitzer already.
Lasagna and Cookie
Last Saturday was my first attempt at making lasagna. I followed this recipe, recommended to me by both my coworker and punchfork (which I’ve become a fan of). Another weekend ago I made braised fruited lamb shank which was probably more photogenic but alas, no photo (I had a friend over and I didn’t want to make him wait setting up the camera and tripod and arranging the scene; I just can’t seem to take a quick snapshot with my fantsy-pants camera). Anyway, with the amount of cheese and meat I put in this bad boy, I would hate to see its nutritional info.
It was also the first time I used a dutch oven for the meat sauce. It was my roommates and I’m thinking his cost a pretty penny. I’ve never handled a piece of cooking wear so delicately. I must have soaped and washed that thing five times after it was clean before putting it back in its box.
On a totally random note, here’s a photo of my roommate’s girlfriend’s dog named Cookie (wearing a pooh suit for the winter months). If you ever want to be a chef who makes food that gets longing mouthwatering glares, this is the dog to get.
Hello Kitty Fridge
My cube neighbor has a tiny personal fridge by her computer. I think it’s pretty neat! It can hold some fruit and a couple soft drinks, tops.
Baby
Last Sunday I went out to eat with some people from my small group and I asked the kids what movies they’ve seen recently and they said Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Iron Giant. I asked if they cried at the end of the movie and they said no and I told them I did and they asked if I was a baby (at the time I’m assuming).
Yes, a baby. A 21 year old baby.
Small talk
Lately I’ve had a few conversations that go like this:
Me: How’s it going?
Him: Pretty good, how are you?
Me: I’m ok, how are you?
Him: <pause> … good.
I think “I’m ok, how are you?” just kinda rolls of the tongue. I guess a person’s status doesn’t really change after only two seconds.
Hedgehog Calendar
I decided to make another calendar. I’ve been using this online printing service which I really like and is cheaper than local print shops but it’s still a bit more than I think most people would spend on a calendar.
If I discover I got the dates wrong I think I’m going to cry.
Hedgehog Doodles
I really need to finish that first module exercise … I feel like that hedgehog who’s envisioning his rainy destiny through the window.
I’m a little curious how many of these I can do…
Dragon Calendar
I originally thought I’d try making a small dragon rubber stamp for my small group’s make-it-yourself gift exchange but I was doodling away on the cintiq when I decided it’d be easier just to do a painting and print it as a calendar. Why whittle away at a little rubber pad when I can use the wonders of modern print technology to make my image. I spent way too much time with paint thinners back in the day.
I’m glad I finished and liked how it turned out, despite being Typical Chinese Dragon. It took most of yesterday and some of today to iron out all the details (the scales took forever). For some reason the thought occurred to me to try to do not one but twelve dragons, one for each month of 2012 (which is the year of the dragon, btw). I could sell it online! It could be an internet sensation! I could make a million dollars! Let’s see by my current readership I’d have to charge, hmm, $333,333.33 for each one. I’m pretty sure these figures are credible. I am a professional number cruncher after all.
I’m also starting to see a positive correlation with being invested in painting and the messiness of my room.
Space Heater vs. Hairdryer
Today I learned a space heater warms a room much better than a running hair dryer. I’m kinda wondering if it also dries hair a lot better than a running hair dryer but don’t really want to test that out.
Pastor Paul
A old Philly friend mentioned that my old pastor from Phiadelphia just moved and is in town working at a church downtown so I thought I’d stop by the evening service to say hello. It was a blast from the past! We chatted for a bit and I found out he lives pretty close to me, around where I almost bought a house earlier this year. We could have been neighbors! Even more bizarre is that I got to catch up with two other people I haven’t talked to in a couple years, and one let out a big “OMG!” (or something to that effect) when she saw me. It felt somewhat neat that I can instill a feeling of shock and mild terror when I tap someone on the shoulder.
Visiting Dad
I went to visit my dad in North Carolina over the weekend. There were a few things I remembered from growing up scattered around the house like that kneeling chair on the right (supposedly good for your posture), a Royal Dalton water filter, and this big Norman Rockwell artbook, which I’d probably appreciate a lot more now than as a kid. I think I also remember that same yellow shirt that he’s wearing from when I was growing up. I see my dad so infrequently that I notice remarkable aging each time I see him, and he’s starting to remind me a lot more of how I remember my grandfather.
North Carolina is very picturesque, serene, and non-asian. For whatever reason, my dad has always chosen non-asian places to live. I think you can tell you’re in a non-asian place when you see a sign for “Asian restaurant” that says “Chinese Food, Sushi & Steak.” Another indicator are t-shirts that say “Your girlfriend looks rougher than a dirt race track in the rain.”
Stats
It is full of questions! I think this is why I like my online stats class. Although I’m starting to think that the number of words and complicated formulas on the slide is somehow negatively correlated with my enjoyment of the subject. If only I could model that…
Enj = B0 + B1 Words + B2Words2 + B2 Formulas + … ah forget it.
5 Days of Work
Well I finished my video collage of work. Having lent my camera to Vashti (sorry you turned out blurry) over the weekend, I ended up just deciding to put together whatever footage I had. I think I learned several things:
- Holding a camera steady is hard.
- Shaky footage looks bad.
- I feel guilty making people uncomfortable when I point a camera at them.
- My computer wasn’t as powerful as I thought and was on it’s knees trying to process all the video effects.
Brute Force Method
In the past month and a half or so since I passed the exam I’ve been experimenting in cooking, riding my bike more (somewhat), and trying to learn how to play a third song on the guitar, Atmosphere, by Marie Hsiao (aka Mree), who’s a high school student from New Jersey. Not being musically gifted, I’m finding I resort to the brute force method of guitar learning:
That is: 1) listen to song in slow mo (over and over again), 2) write down notes (over and over again), 3) play (over and over again). I’m still on #3. I found the brute force method helped a lot on the exams in trying to solve quadratics and such without going through the tedium of algebra. Plug and chug (à la TI-30XS’ table function) FTW!
If anyone stumbles on this page looking for the tabs/tablature/sheet music for this song, you can get my version of it here. Caveat: I’m pretty sure it’s not 100% accurate.
A Clean Desk
I had been living in a rented room in a condo for the past four plus years or so and decided it was time to move. I have been shopping for a house but was motivated by a friend and my brother who both suggested I try to find a place to rent that’s better. One of the perks of moving is being able to go through all your stuff and discarding things that you don’t need or want anymore. Interestingly enough, the old tenant hasn’t moved out yet so I haven’t quite fully moved in yet so my stuff is still in boxes, almost begging a second look as to whether I still need them or not. Anyway, I did manage to set up my desk and it is rather nice to have a somewhat clean, minimalistic workspace. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this that way.
To be honest, though, the space underneath the desk is a mess of usb, power, audio, and antenna cords and it’s quite unsightly. But the previous tenant left his Rolling Stones covers calendar, so I have Taylor Lautner in a wet t-shirt to accent the space.
Having a clean desk is nice. Usually I balk at the thought of doing some studying at home (it was never that conducive to work at my old place I thought) but I’ve actually managed to get through some parts of the modules I have to complete, taking guitar breaks along the way. Anyway, it’s slightly a strange setup not being able to move in for an indeterminate amount of time (the previous tenant has been on honeymoon for the past few weeks or so) but I imagine it being some sermon illustration on being sojourners in this world, or developing patience, or something of that nature. Anyway, I finished learning another song on the guitar, and got started on another. My fingertips are pretty dented in from the strings.
Office Hallway
Lesson learned: if you’re dying to get strange looks from people, just set up your camera in the middle of a hallway and stand by it.
4 Study Days Left
As strange as it sounds, one thing that spurred me to get a camera was the light coming through the office windows at the end of the day. I really love this light. It makes everything look nostalgic.
So when everyone was gone yesterday, I set up my tripod, camera, and intervalometer and started taking photos until . . . I came back and discovered I ran out of batteries. Doh! Ah well. Below was all I got.
Not very exciting but hopefully I can make something more interesting and involved. I kinda want to set up my camera in the main hallway when everyone is coming into the building but I’m torn between artistry and not looking like a dork. Anyway, I managed to encode this in H.264 for all you brilliant people with flash deficient iPhones.
5 Study Days Left
Well I finished the last practice exam of my study manual (I have plenty more outside the manual) yesterday and my scores are as follows:
| Exam | Score |
| 1 | 29/35 |
| 2 | 27/35 |
| 3 | 18/35 |
| 4 | 28/35 |
| 5 | 26/35 |
| 6 | 27/35 |
| 7 | 30/35 |
| 8 | 23/35 |
| 9 | 25/35 |
| 10 | 18/35 |
I think the pass mark may be in the area of 21-23 out of 35 so on the whole fairly decent scores considering some of the exams are known to be on the harder side and considering I didn’t guess which may or may not have bumped up some of these scores by one or two points. But even knowing that I felt a bit defeated yesterday after an 18 and was hoping to finish strong.
I’ve been noticing that there are some days I actually choose to forgo studying and leave work a bit early. I think in my overly introspective ways I tend to project my life outward from where it is now to try to predict where it might end up (similar to Bayesian credibility, Chapter 42 , I guess) and the thought of long ending streams (cf Parametric Distributions, Chapter 2.3) of nights alone in an office studying makes me feel (cf Biased Estimators, Chapter 19.1.1) a bit, well, scared. I guess this is only a temporary phase in my life (cf Kernel Smoothing of Empirical Data, Chapter 25), but to be honest, I don’t want my life to be about … studying for tests (cf Hypothesis Tests, Chapter 33). I think I would have never have given this a second thought when I was younger (cf Kaplan-Meier estimators of single decrements, Chapter 22) but maybe age just makes time feel a bit weightier (cf Hypothesis Tests: Chi-Square, Chapter 36. This hypothesis tests places more weight on intervals of low fitted probability).
In other news I got a camera. (Um, letsee, Chapter 13 – Exposure Modiciations? That might be a stretch)
[Edit: hmm, upon further examination of my answers, I've discovered I worked out an answer to be 10/11ths, which was correct, and somehow I circled 11/10ths. Note to self: must remember what numbers look like]
20 Study Days Left
I just finished a practice exam. It was out of this world CUHRAYZEE hard. So crazy! So hard! What really irks me is that I remember doing some of these problems six months ago, and thought I knew how to do it, but after spending a while working through all the calculations, I look down at the answer choices and don’t see my answer! On the plus side, I’m definitely doing a lot better than six months ago, and people who have gotten comparable scores on these exams seem to be passing. It’s been a pretty long road.
So I spent most of memorial day at home at my desk and went out to get some sushi near this place near Cal State Northridge. On the drive back home I had this thought about looking back on life when you’re old and all of a sudden everything seemed a lot less cuhrayzee.
23 Study Days Left
I took my first practice exam and scored a 29 out of 35! (I think around 21 is passing) Granted it was one of the easier ones and I think I made good educated guesses on problems that I didn’t know how to do but it was somewhat relieving knowing that I’ve come a ways since six months ago. I started thinking of everything that has happened since I started studying for this exam almost a year ago and I was impressed at how much can happen in a year. And then depressed at how quickly time flies. And then repressed at how much I wanted to write about but never did. And then … forest? Mae West? Undressed? Hmm, must think of more rhymes…
On a random note, I decided to sleep the opposite way on my bed. I wouldn’t necessarily classify this change up as “fun” but it does make me look forward to sleeping somewhat. When I was younger I would always like to sleep at my friend’s place or in these sofa cushion forts and seeing as how I don’t have a sofa, I’m finding it a tad satisfying to my inner child to sleep differently.
29 Study Days Left
So my netbook (a poor man’s iPad) died and I was trying to figure out whether to get an iPad (I guess it’s a rich man’s netbook) when I got tired and started lying in bed. It dawned on me how out of control my feelings can get at times and I’m trying to figure out the heart of the matter because I think on the surface most people tend to think I’m this quiet polite guy. I think for a lot of things I’m pretty low key (like if I suddenly won a trip to Hawaii I might yawn a little) but there are some things I go complete bonkers about. I think it has a lot to do with expectations vs. reality and the disparity between the two can be quite jarring. I think at times we can all have wild imaginations on what might take place, what our life might be liked if everything panned out as planned, and start living toward those unrealistic expectations. I never thought imagination was a bad thing, but I suppose what’s the real killer is not understanding that it’s just imagination.
I ended up getting another netbook, which I think has slightly better video playback than my old one which I’m going to have to sadly retire. I’m going to miss the little guy as I’ve been using it practically everyday. I have 29 study days left until my exam, so it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone.
First Progress Bar Complete!
I finished my study manual for exam C! I was thinking of putting up even more progress bars of the different sample problems/practice exams I have yet to do before my exam on June 20th (I have quite a lot to keep me busy until then) but I can’t seem to think of anything more boring to watch. Letsee I can see how long it takes to eat 300 waffles. Or go through 2000 yards of dental floss. Or ingest 50,000,000 milligrams of sodium. That last one might be hard to keep track.
Progress bars have been my answer to everything lately. Need to lose weight? Progress bars! Put more money in savings? Progress bars! Change a tire? Progress bars! Find a spouse? Progress bars! Letsee, I’m currently at 0 for 1 in the spouse department. Only, uh… one more to go! Almost there!
