Rare sighting

I went for a walk to the lakefront last night. Hoping for some therapeutic crashing waves, I was welcomed instead with a frozen and snow-covered lake. I guess that will do. I sat and stared at the Chicago skyline and the vast emptiness surrounding it.

That's when I looked down and saw something I never really noticed before. Most of the time, I see hearts like Chookooloonks' Love Thursday sightings. Today? I found a semblance of a broken heart in the snow on the ground.

All I could do was stare.

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It is going to be a busy two weeks ahead of me, so I am going to take a hiatus until March 9th. I'm looking forward to Demetri Martin, Chicago Bulls v. Houston Rockets, Joshua Radin and Dance Marathon. But that combined with projects and homework I need to stay on top of? Unfortunately, the blog will be put on the back burner.

A dose of medicine

Pancakes and waffles. The perfect way to wake up in the morning, and the best remedy to any under-the-weather day.

I recommend heading to Shutter Sisters today. Today's post is so powerful and applicable to what I have been thinking about lately. Lately, I have been stuck in my head, thinking about my future, what I really want to do, how I handle situations, whether or not I am being too idealistic and stubborn. I can think of so many things to write on a leaf and it may be time to stop thinking and acting.

There is so much power to simply "doing." Plans are always made, people always talk, promises are always set, but to what extent do these things form into action? I am tired of passivity. I have no energy in me to try anymore. There is a great deal of truth to actually expressing your feelings and telling people that you care about them, because those things that go unsaid tend to be forgotten. Funny how life works, huh?

I am not sure where I am going with this. Things on my "to-do" list are chalking up and I have very little time in the day to accomplish everything. I don't really feel like I have a lot of weight on my shoulders, but there is this nagging feeling I can't brush off.







Winter quarter has been miserable and dreary to say the least, yet I have had so much fun forging friendships in NBN, hanging out at coffee shops and exploring Chicago. The ups and downs make any general reflection of my 2009 winter quarter a toss-up. Just yesterday, Laura and I hopped on the Intercampus Shuttle and visited Pressure Billiards and Cafe because I needed to take pictures for an NBN audio feature that will hopefully be up in the next few days. The entire neighborhood near Loyola University held an air of quirkiness. A funeral home sat next to a loan office. Next to that was an Egyptian restaurant, a local liquor store and a cozy, little coffee shop. With such an eclectic collection of shops, it was hard to really place my finger on what type of neighboorhood it was. Pressure Billards & Cafe? An adorable little sit-down area with regulars ranging from college students to working class men. Photographs were scattered across the walls and the clutter in the cafe was more comforting than overwhelming. A lady, who worked behind the counter, sat at the table next to us playing cards with a friend. People sat glued to their laptops, working on work and school assignments. Others nestled into the black leather couches with a book to read. Laura and I? We had a delicious plate of cheesy fries and white raspberry hot chocolates. Warm and sweet, white raspberry hot chocolate is in fact deceiving; it hardly tasted like chocolate.

Nonetheless, it was refreshing to walk around, talk, catch up and hang out off campus for three hours even with the shuttle time confusions and whatnot.

But, it is time to crack down. Or maybe it is time to hit Clarke's again and find a remedy to the busy workload.

Be Mine

I hope everyone is having a happy Valentine's Day. I am not a big fan of this holiday and especially not this year. It doesn't make sense to me. Why would you celebrate your love for friends, family and a significant other on one specific day? Why give into the pressure and expectations when making plans and doing simple things seems more special and priceless. Maybe that's just me. Keep it simple, that's my motto.

Although, my friend Janise and I spent a good three hours making candy grams for our friends to get into the holiday spirit, so to speak. Felt hearts? Embroidery thread? As much as it is a cute idea and gesture, sewing handmade candy grams took wayyyyy too long. It was fun though.

But, you'll have to excuse me. I have a date with my homework.

Relax

Things that help me relax:
1. Hot cup of tea or coffee
2. Warm chocolate chip cookies
3. Listening to Norah Jones while curled up in bed
4. Catching up on episodes of my favorite TV shows
5. Taking a nice walk and breathing in that fresh air
6. Taking a drive around my neighborhood back home
7. Sketching
8. Dancing and stretching
9. Lying still and listening to cars pass by outside
10. A really great massage

And so many more.

It's going to feel great to be home.

Broken.

It has barely been three hours since I woke up and everything has gone wrong. The sky is gray. The rain is coming down heavily. I am already late to class when I get a phone call from my photo editor about an accident on Sheridan Road. I can't pass up an opportunity to shoot an urgent news story, especially one that I know NBN is covering as I hung up the phone. So I grab my d90 and run out the door. I trudge down Sheridan in my clunky houndstooth rainboots, snap two photographs and walk quickly to class. I make a scene because I am walking in late to a class of less than forty people. I place my stuff down and next thing I know, my camera falls to the ground. Adrenaline rush and all, I worried that the heavy fall damaged my camera but did not think much of it until I picked it up and I heard clinking inside the camera.

The glass on my lens shattered.

What a great way to start my day.

Remedy

Sunny days really can cheer people up. With 60-degree weather, Northwestern students were out and about, with a bounce in their steps. The wind blew off the lakefront, a little old lady fed the ducks some bread and some men even casted fishing poles, hoping to catch some fish. People sat on the benches outside of the dorm playing guitar and ukulele. Mostly everyone had smiles on their faces. Sure, mid-terms are still consuming our lives and the workload is just as heavy as it was the last five weeks, but at least the good weather lifted some of the weight off our shoulders.

Sweet tooth

Check me out over here today because I am very proud of the wonderful collaboration between NBN's writers, photographers and multimedia staff. Three days and a few retakes later, we have a little feature on some of the best and worst chocolates that can be found in Evanston.

Our set-up for chocolate shots? A small light box, made out of one of those bulk printer paper cardboard boxes with frames cut out on either end and a opening on top, a desk lamp, acrylic glass, a piece of white wood and black poster board. A little unconventional, but it did the trick.

Inspire

I saw this on one of my daily reads a few months ago and found it absolutely inspirational. I didn't even turn on the volume while I watched it the first time. There's just something about it that is cute, simple and sweet.

With mid-terms and meetings finally coming to an end, blogging will ensue.

Into the past

Since I have been a little busy with JOUR 201-2 and mid-terms, I haven't been taking out my camera as much as I would like and I know I have missed photo opportunities: geese hanging out in front of the dorm, So Real Cru and FarEast Movement at Celebrasia (although, to my defense, I was filming for 201-2), random snow shots, etc.

With that, here are some photographs that I took for North by Northwestern in 2008 that I can finally post because of our publishing rules.









Mind you, I took these with a Canon Rebel, a camera I am hardly familiar with, and an 18 - 50mm lens, not exactly ideal for sports.