Sprocket Rocket images from Hong Kong! Featuring: Stanley Park, Disneyland, The Peak, and the view from thousands of miles up in the air. Lomography CN 100.

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X-Pro Chrome

Got these prints today. They suck. I have to get better~ at taking film pictures. One, because I like it a lot, and two, because I think it’s a good skill to have (knowing proper techniques, etc). Truthfully, I was way better when I started out, although I used to use a Nikon FM-2. It’s broken now, so I’ve been using a Nikon FE. I’ll have the FM-2 fixed one of these days.

Lomography Tungsten

X-Pro Chrome

If you haven’t seen the video it is here:

More Pictures of this Tungsten mess

Since my last post here, I’ve finished reading three books on my Kindle, namely J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” (a review of which can be found here), Sara Zarr’s “Story of a Girl,” and Julian Barnes’ “The Sense of an Ending,” all of which I love to pieces. Funnily enough, my busy self has found time to read—funnily enough, on a Kindle—but I suppose it’s Internet activity that has suffered a decline. Good thing or bad thing, you decide!

So far, I’ve been successful with four January goals, the four being Get two big projects, Work six hours a day, five days a week, Save 50% of my paycheck, and Write down all expenses. Begin budgeting. Obviously have not been exercising. I thought I had a good motivation, but I guess that’s not enough. I’ll try again, though. January is still young and there is still a lot of fat to be lost.

2012 has been exciting, to say the least. I’ll be exhibiting some more works for a group show next week (I’ll post the details as soon as I can) and also next week, I’m taking a trip to the mountains! This is exciting because I’ve always wanted to go exploring up north and also because I’ve just read “The Hobbit,” which still makes my heart ache in numerous places but has also somehow planted this weird seed of adventure in me. Seeing a little part of the world from a mountaintop would be a great start; I can’t wait!

Speaking of traveling—while it looks to be a year that’s full of traveling for me—I came upon this gorgeous list from the New York Times, 45 Places to Go to in 2012, and obviously I can’t possibly go to all of these places, but it’s a great reminder of what kind of adventure could lie behind your door. My mountain is not on this list; in fact, only two places are. But, I feel like it’s a start.

I’ve always loved traveling, but I think my sense of exploration and discovery has somehow been dulled. I like seeing different cities, but when I’m on the plane, from way high up, I always wonder what it’d be like to get lost in something other than buildings and metal structures and monuments and seas of people. I’ve been watching a lot of Survivor‘s past seasons lately, and behind all the scheming and starving, it’s such a beautiful peek into places around the world that I don’t know how I would find myself lost in.

Maybe that’s a romanticism of the wilderness, because I know there are all sorts of threats unimaginable if I chose to coop myself up in cities. But there’s also satiated wonder and an unmatched awe in the God that created these places.

I’ve always said that I wanted to see the world, and lately I’ve been thinking about which parts I want to see. Which parts I would gladly be uncomfortable for. I’ve been thinking about taking risks a lot, and I’ve realized that sometimes the greatest payouts come from the greatest risks. I don’t mean to sound like a cliché and announce my newfound lifestyle of being a daredevil explorer with a constant need for an adrenaline fix. What I want to say is that when I say I want to see the world, I mean that I want to really see all of it. Not just the manicured lawns, or the smooth roads, or some local iteration of Starbucks and McDonald’s. I still want to cities, yes. I want to see art and culture and different sorts of places, but I want to see the earth that was before everything started becoming what it is now.

The world is so big. I suppose I’ve got to get moving.

This year, I have decided not to make any resolutions, partly because I don’t follow them anyway. Rather, I thought about what my 2011 had been and thought about what I had learned and experienced, and how I could make my 2012 better. So, instead, I have GOALS.

My head is a muddle right now, so I don’t feel very comfortable sharing my big, long-term goals. I also believe in keeping some things secrets for the time being. Anyway, I’m copying an LJ friend who had been doing a monthly goals type of thing for a few years now.

Doing Monthly Goals instead of Yearly Resolutions is helpful because it gives you a chance to review your progress more closely and also to regroup after each month. Big, yearly resolutions are harder to keep track of, but I think it’s good to have overarching goals each year, to kind of direct you towards specific choices. Arriane actually does annual thematic overhauls, which I think is super interesting, but a little intimidating and overwhelming for a first timer like me. Maybe next year.

As for myself, here are my JANUARY GOALS:

• Read 7 books.
• Go on the treadmill at least 3 times a week. (I’ll explain later.)
• Get two big projects. YAY.
• Work six hours a day, five days a week. (Or a total of thirty hours a week.)
• Save 50% of each paycheck.
• Write down all expenses. Begin accounting.
• Mail out all pending packages.
• Fix/fine-tune Recovery.
• Writing project with Liana.
• Maybe revive Maybe Very Happy.

I am by no means an expert on the life and times of Ray and Charles Eames. All that I know about them by heart begins and ends with the iconic lounge chair and ottoman, and also the fact that they made movies. I am not an expert, and it’s a shame that I’ve only looked into their lives just now.

“Eames: The Architect and The Artist” came out on November 2011. Having only looked at this short trailer (still cannot find the film!), my heart has been roused into action. Truth be told, I’ve always wanted to be something remarkable—not in the way that people are remarkably famous or notorious of fame, really. Rather, I’ve come to realize that I wanted to be remarkable in the way that Charles and Ray Eames were. I just never quite understood how to do that.

It’s not really something you outright seek to do. I don’t think they did things so that they would be well-known, but that they became illustrious and indispensable because of the things that they did. That’s something I’ve thought about fairly frequently—how the “fame culture” today has been poisonous more than helpful—but that’s another story.

Now, I’m beginning to think that everything great begins with the relentless pursuit of solutions and beauty, without expecting the promise of success. It’s an unwavering desire to make things that make what exists better. I’ve often wondered why I don’t seem to be progressing as much as I thought I ought to, and it’s perhaps because I have been taking so many detours, big and small, but maybe it’s also because I don’t really think of what will propel the action. I do things with this tremendous pressure to have something to be good at, and not really for the purest motives of discovery and solution-making.

Another thing I admire from the Eameses is their partnership. There simply isn’t anything like it. Their lives and philosophies bled into their Venice Beach office, and it was so inspiring to see how the people they’ve worked with still light up when the Eameses come up. I can just imagine their energies being so tremendously contagious.

I was doing my Life Plan for 2012 and paused only to watch this trailer, but ended up being so encouraged by seeing how they were into so many things, were good at them, and did what they did with a genuine interest and spirit. I’m so driven to “excel” even more just because they have proven it possible, being armed with a sense of wonder and an understanding of things that work.

I think I gravitate towards the Eameses because they have imbued their work with a feeling of warmth and perhaps even love, not necessarily in their output but in their approach. They loved design, and so they were good at it. And just thinking about this, there is this weight that is lifted from me, which I got from examining the future and my 2012. My challenges are still there, of course, but it’s nice to see that it’s possible to get through them in a way that won’t destroy me.

The world as we know it came about because of explorers and adventurers who sought out and “discovered” foreign lands and continents. The world would not be the same if these people did not leave what was familiar to embark on these potentially dangerous quests.

2011 was ultimately a year in discovery. It began as a struggle in a sad, dark, and scary place where I lost a lot of things that meant a lot to me. Certain things that had to do with my job, my career, and my personal life didn’t work out so early in the year. It was a truly sad and disappointing beginning to what I had hoped to be a great year for me. A friend of a friend said that my 2011 ran like the story line of a T.V. show’s sophomoric season finale.

But the truly great thing about losing things is that it opens the door for something brighter.

2011 was filled with so many disappointments, from situations, people, and myself, but what I’ve come to take away from this wonderful year is that sometimes, I should learn to let go and let things unfold. I was talking with Isa about Ennaegram types and she said that my type tended to “exacerbate negative emotions,” and it was true. I’m a dweller and I know it, but I’ve learned that sometimes, it’s easier to try and not be one.

It was this year that I fell in love with food and with having a life less ordinary. I learned to love adventure and confronted myself with the real meaning of courage, bravery, and kindness. I had my first solo exhibit (and I’d like to think that I did pretty well). I shared with you 10 things I knew to be true.

I learned what real friendship was. I learned that it was possible to even have them at all.

2011 was the year when poetry helped me out when I was in a tight, hard-to-get-out-of spot. It was when I lost a dream and got it back. I had to let go of other dreams, too, and in what seemed to be a particularly hopeless place in my life, I learned how to be OK.

A number of times, I found myself thinking of stopping this (sometimes inane) public documentation of my life and my thoughts. You start to wonder what the point of all of this is. But, keeping this little space alive always wins out in the end. It’s nice to have a look back at what you have been through, no matter how shameful or arduous or sad. It reminds you of where you started out and how far along you’ve traveled. It’s proof of progress, or at least, a change in direction.

I’ve learned that sometimes, discovery is that recognition of what is already there. It’s taking a hold of a part of you that you never listened to before, and embracing it even though it might be scary or different. Someone said to me this year that a beautiful person is comfortable enough with himself to not be afraid of discovering new things about himself.

The explorers of the new world set out for their journeys despite all the “not knowing.” Venturing into the unknown is being open to getting shipwrecked, marooned on a desert island, or being hijacked by pirates, and then finding all of these risks worth it if it means a shot at getting to where you want to be. The thing is, no one ever discovered anything new without leaving the shore and setting sail into the unseen horizon.

In 2011, I took the plunge, I was honest with myself, and I suppose I will see in 2012 exactly where these discoveries will take me.