DAY 120

Epic day for photographs (not sure how epic the actual photos turned out, but the day was epic)! First, I took a bunch of shots with the Fisheye from a morning hike somewhere in Malibu with Hanna and Christian. It was gorgeous out. We discovered an old empty water tower with grafitti all over the inside walls. Later that day, I took a shot of the Q&A panel for Macgruber: Jorma Taccone, John Soloman, Will Forte, Ryan Philipe, and Powers Boothe. I sat in the front row. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!

Sometime after hiking, I took a photo from inside the CEC office that I forgot about.

I wish I had brought my nice camera to MacGruber! This shot is so dark and grainy. But Jorma, Powers, and Will are there. It's real. This happened:

DAY 119

Today's photos of the day were taken with the $3 camera. Number one is my newly painted turquoise fingernails (thanks to Rachel Alonso!) against my similarly turquoise towel.

Number two is faces and meat at Korean BBQ (thanks to CEC for feeding me!).

DAY 118

While attempting to study in YRL, I discovered this chain of comments written on the wall to my left. This is what it says, each comment in a different handwriting in response to the one in front of it, spelling unedited: Suck my dick. If you were a black guy I would :). Whore. Jealous. Judgemental. YRL vandal.

After taking this picture, I added a final comment: Library employee!

DAY 117

Culinary success at midnight: I wanted to make blue cheese scallion biscuits, but realizing I had neither blue cheese nor scallions, I substituted feta and green onions. Good decision - the biscuits ended up delicious. Laraine suggested we eat them with honey, which was the best idea I'd heard of all day.

DAY 116

These cranes look like they are in love with each other:

DAY 115

Today, Katie Laich and I ran a 10K mudrun with military-style obstacles. I didn't get a picture of us covered in mud, but I did take a picture (taken with the fisheye) of the sunrise in Westwood at 6am. I can't remember the last time I woke up before the sun rose! It was so worth it - that mudrun made me feel invincible. I somehow also got a ton of mud in my ears:

DAY 114

Festival of Books today, aghhhh! I made a complete fool out of myself by getting so starstruck in front of Dave Eggers, but I did manage to get a picture with him! It took a bit of effort to maneuver the camera (the $3, because I like the suspense of waiting for film to develop) over the table so that he and I were both in the shot. I also got a picture of Mimi standing under the giant espresso machine, and a small patch of scribbles from the massive "What are you reading?" poster.

Also, random story. While waiting in line (for over an hour) for Dave Eggers to sign our books, Jackie and I started talking to the woman behind us. It turns out she was a sculptor and an assistant to an assistant to a celebrity and had lived in San Francisco, but was actually from Canada, though here she was in Los Angeles, running around doing errands for people because she could blend in anywhere, from Koreatown to downtown Los Angeles. Anyway, it turns out she does this thing where she collects sketches from people. She handed me a pink piece of paper and a red sharpie and I started to sketch Jackie's profile. The picture I was drawing reminded me of a sketch a camp counselor had given to me in elementary school. It was a drawing in red ink of the top of a squirt bottle, but made so that it also looked like the head of a rooster. I kept the picture and remembered the name of the counselor, Albert Reyes.

Years later, when I first discovered YouTube, I randomly stumbled upon this video of a guy drawing with water that he spit out from his mouth. I remembered that Albert had said something about how he did spit art.

Then, this past Winter break, I went to the Giant Robot in San Francisco and while strolling through the gallery, I recognized some of his work! I started freaking out.

So, while sketching, I told the woman this story. "Spit art?" she interrupted me. "Yeah, Albert Reyes! I know him, I'm friends with him!" How random is that? It was insane. She told me to write this information on the picture I was sketching so she could tell him about it later. I can't wait till he finds out. It's like I've been following him without him or I even knowing about it. I hope we meet someday and I can tell him all of this. After that, I won't know what else to say, but it'll mean that everything has finally come full circle. I wonder if it all means anything.

DAY 113

Ok, I admit it: I've been a little lazy this week with my photos of the day. I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me, and I haven't been as focused on getting good shots. There are 51 other weeks in a year, though, so I'm not too worried!

Anyway, I just got back from Diana's party, where I took today's photo. Before I even walked in, I took my photo. It was an Asian party and the entryway before the front door was littered withat least 100 pairs of shoes. It was fantastic. I loved it. Then I walked in and the apartment was filled with so many people that you could barely walk anywhere. People were dancing and shouting and spilling drinks. I felt very tall, since most of the girls were shorter than me. It was very hot and sweaty. I saw some old floormates who gave me about 15 hugs in the space of a minute. A girl I didn't know stuck her hand out and introduced herself to me as I walked out the door while her boyfriend attempted to pull her away, giving me an apologetic smile. Then I walked home by myself, accidentally getting caught behind two girls in very short skirts and very high heels talking loudly to each other about some complicated situation apparently involving some boy that one of the girls liked. "Just tell him that some crazy shit went down," the other girl consoled her, "and that you're not ready to talk about it right now." A boy passing in the opposite direction and I smiled at each other about how ridiculous their conversation was.

I don't even know why I'm going into this now, but these are the things that I love. I love going to parties and dancing and being in these little, crazy, hot rooms. I love talking with people and feeling like I'm in a world so different from my everyday life. I love this nightlife I get to experience before I fall asleep, always too early. I love drunk people. I love their hugs and random introductions. I love being around them whether or not I'm drunk because I love the things they say. I love walking back after the party is over and listening to other drunk people I don't know say ridiculous things that I would never get to hear if they were sober. They don't care, I don't care. There is something very beautiful in this.

DAY 112

Today's photo of the day was taken with the fisheye and it's a self-portrait of me in that fabulous red lipstick that Loosine and I bought at the dollar store.

DAY 111

Today's photo is a reminder of my sometimes laziness. Instead of taking a picture of Manveen, with whom we reunited for an old roommate dinner, or taking a picture at the concert, which featured mesmerizing performances by Slang Chicken and Warpaint, I took a picture of a flower pot that had fallen off a balcony. You can see my shadow. Also, I think some of my hair flew into the frame. I have no idea how this shot is going to turn out! Photo to be revealed when I finish this roll from the $3. Stay tuned.

DAY 110

The best fortune I've found in a while. Maybe ever.

DAY 109

So. Horrible day for pictures. I brought out the fisheye, but since I've dropped it too many times, the shutter release is a little broken. For some reason, I also thought the film wasn't winding, so I wound it back a bit (but not too much that it would be rewound completely) and then opened the case. Unfortunately, I had overestimated how much I had wound the film, so I exposed some of my previous shots to light. Ooops. Then I took a lot of crappy shots, hoping that some of the shots would be double exposed. A mistake on all accounts, so I'm not really sure what today's photos will come out like. Fingers crossed?

DAY 108

DAY 107

Today, I convinced Tom and Jeff to hike Paseo Miramar with me. The blog that I heard about it from described it as the "best time you'll ever have getting kicked in the face" which ended up being a pretty accurate description! It's a 2.5-mile hike each way, and it's all uphill on the way there, but the views are so worth it. You can see more than 180 degrees' worth of ocean and cities and mountains from up there. It's so vast that you can't see it all at the same time - you have to rotate to get a glimpse of everything. And it's not even a 20-minute drive from UCLA! And it's free. Love it. More hikes to be planned soon!

Today's photos were taken with the Fisheye and they document the hike.

I don't know what happened to today's photos. I think I opened the camera before the film was developed and wiped them out!

DAY 106

A drop of water on the shower door:

DAY 105

Today, I took a picture with the $3 of Katie Hagan napping. I found her in the 2nd floor hall of Humanities. She didn't know I took the picture.

DAY 104

Our shower is broken again. It won't drain correctly, so the bottom of the shower fills up, eventually setting all our shampoos and conditioners afloat. When the water finally drains an hour later, this is what it looks like:

DAY 103

DAY 102

My favorite dollar-store mug in which Jesus, as Alex Goodman pointed out, appears to be smoking:

DAY 101

I didn't actually end up taking any pictures at retreat with my own camera. Instead, every so often throughout the night I would see something and think, "This would make a good picture," but then I didn't want to miss anything by running to get my camera, so I never took any pictures. Oh well, no regrets.

But this turned out to be a lie, because I forgot that I had taken a picture of Jimmy passed out on the couch.

However, I did end up playing with someone else's camera. BLT, who came specifically to photograph our retreat, showed me how to use his $3000 camera. It was amazing. I didn't realize how much better a camera you can get if you just throw in a couple thousand dollars more. BLT told me that the big difference between my DSLR and his is that his has a larger depth of field. This means that the camera sees things more like the human eye, instead of cropping it like mine does. Also, it has a way better focusing system - it can literally focus on ahair. The pictures come out looking so professional, with people's faces illuminated perfectly. And the close-ups are amazing. Wow, I am so in love.

Here are the shots from BLT's nice camera:

Anyway, today's photo, in order to best illustrate our post-retreat morning-after state, is of Loosine curled up on a couch back at our apartment, taken with the $3 camera.

DAY 100

TRIPLE DIGITS!!! I'm so proud of us for making it this far. Other people also taking the photo-a-day challenge: Laraine, Gina, Liz, Alanna, Alli, Robert, and Vivian. Thanks, guys, for making sure I stay on track and don't miss any days. :)

My photo for today was taken with the $3 camera and is kind of crappy because I didn't actually intend for it to be the photo of the day but I didn't end up taking any more photos that day. Anyway, it's a picture of Diana's and Loosine's legs underneath a table at a pita sandwich restaurant in Hermosa.

DAY 099

The view of LA from Griffith, where we experienced one of the most amazing planetarium shows in existence:

DAY 098

Today's photo of the day is Jeff, Gwen, and Hanna at Hammer Bike Night, which ended up being kind of a bust since we got there late, but we did get to see Pee Wee Herman. Win?

DAY 097

DAY 096

Two-in-one: Heath Ledger and ghost.

DAY 095

DAY 094

Sweet Velveeta!

DAY 093

Venice/Santa Monica wanderings with Jeff and Amy. The swings were the best part.

DAY 092

What I do when you're not home:

DAY 091

The Law of Dogs: If there is a dog, I will pet it.

Well, only if it's a nice dog and it wants to be petted.