The Vagabond is Back

Phew okay I know it's been a long, long time, but what can I say, life gets in the way of writing, as it does for many other things too: reading, apartment cleaning, laundry doing...

But I've officially completed (successfully) my second course at FIT. This time a photography course (film, what else) with darkroom instruction.

After a verbal spar with the photo guy, some wheeling and dealing, I managed to get my photos printed in time, albeit a bit purple. My prof said they printed my black and white photos on colored paper. How dare they. But at least I got a CD of my photos too.

Below #1-5 of my series "28 Hope" (all right reserved © Kiyomi Hayashida)

Packing My Life

(Here's a random picture from Montauk since I don't have anything else to post right now!)

What do I really need for a month trip? Well hopefully not much more than I put into my Osprey Kestral 48 (s/m).

I decided to pack light this time, bringing only a few necessary clothes, potions and doodads, including:

- 1 pair of $10 jeans, blk (hey I'm not going to risk having my good stuff ruined while traipsing around)
- 1 pair of Uniqlo leggings, blk
- 1 Uniqlo Heatech, long sleeved, blk
- 1 Uniqlo Heatech short sleeved, blk
- 1 ridiculously bright Nigerian dress, long
- 1 purple/white Nigerian shirt, long and wide (think rectangle...)
- 1 Levi's cutoff jeans, 6 years old (HA I can still fit into them...sort of, I remember buying these from ghetto Chinatown)
- 1 men's button down long sleeved shirt, yellow
- 1 down vest, red/pink (ouch...this does not go with anything else I'm bringing...I know, I've been wearing it these past days in California...not good)
- 1 keffiyeh, b/w (bought in Egypt, made in China?)
- bikini, green
- pj shorts, blue
- and vegetables that will need washing through out the trip (for those who don't know what vegetables are, think unmentionables...thanks Kimi for the vocab word all those years ago)

HA! We'll see how I fare, but my reasoning, is that I can always buy things along the way!

Regarding doodads:

- pad lock and bike cord/chain (oh gosh, but it'll be my security system for my nylon backpack...)
- Pentax K1000 + 13 rolls of b/w and color film (woot)
- (hopefully) 1 silk sleeping bag liner--I asked for it for xmas :)
- And some other stuff I probably don't need

Out of all of that, the two items I never travel without is a scarf that can double as a towel, beach towel, blanket, head wrap and a men's long sleeve button down shirt that can keep you warm and cool depending on the climate.

Sigh I can't wait!!

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK

And no I'm not a dinosaur!

I'm finally yanking up my roots and getting the hell out of this country. After a terrible flight back to California (Seriously Delta, I hate you. Fellow travelers, do not get conned into sitting in row 19 on transcontinental flights. It's not an exit row...the window seat SUCKS, especially when icy cold water is leaking into the plane. Wet socks are not fun), I'm one step closer to India!

By the way, the craptacular flight attendant has re-enforced my opinion that sometimes Americans suck. Perhaps I expect too much out of my fellow compatriots, but still.

After months and months of waiting, my departure date for India is right around the corner! I have everything planned out, meaning I have absolutely nothing planned out except for where I'm landing and departing. Ooo I picked up the wedding gift (good thing I made a list of things to do), and got my manual SLR in the mail (we'll see if it actually works. Unfortunately, I don't have time to test it out before I go...) and I'm ready to explore the sub-continent.

I know, I'm not supposed to eat food of the street. I know that it's a sure fire way of getting extremely sick, but the pictures of street cart vendors in my Lonely Planet look amazing...and if Lonely Planet says it's a must try...wellllll....

Okay, so I'll try to update this blog over the next month whilst away. Internet, email, and phone will be severely limited. But feel free to email me. I always like to know what's going on in the real world.

Ugh

Absolutely nothing interesting to report. This week's main event is getting weirdly semi-sick. No sniffles, no congestion, just a funny tickle in the throat, an on and off again dry cough, maybe feverish, fatigue...and oh my gosh is one of my nymph nodes swollen? I can only hope it's always been that size.

But hey at least I'm going camping this weekend...F

Pictures to come after the weekend!

Fabric and Other Randomness

Buying a great fabric, a fun fabric is an experience in itself. The downside to this high, is the tendency of buying fabric without actually making anything out of said fabric. In a small Brooklyn apartment, where space is already tight, this becomes a mammoth size problem, especially in my room where clothes seem to explode out of the closet, rocket launch off my body at the end of the day, creating a HUGE mess. But my fabrics are so pretty. Nothing too too magnificent, but a few great textures, the odd color, and a crazy ass stripe that is kind of cool, kind of psychedelic, and kind of hurts my eyes. I'm not sure if it's good crazy or awful crazy. We'll just see if someone buys the dress that I'm going to make out of it. Stare at it too long and you're eyesight is going to degenerate a few points!

Goal is SET!: 6 dresses by the 9th! Ack!

Biked up to Astoria and then into the city to Union Square today. Found some good bike routes up that gets me to a friend's apartment with no problem. Going down 2nd Ave is still kind of ridiculously scary for me. Too many face paced cars. A friend figured out the problem with my back break, and apparently my front tire is loose. HAHA Bad

Bought a b&w technique book and have read 4 pages. I'm just really NOT good at really learning things well, going the distance, etc. I should rectify that quirk and perhaps I'll go really far in life.

Governor's Island has it all

Killer Geese, a brand new spanking 'Manhattan' high school, old buildings, grass

And today (Saturday) it hosted not only the Jazz Age Lawn Party (the first day of the second installment of the summer) but also Rock the Bells featuring Snoop Dog. Oh my! What a lot to fit on a relatively small Island.

A picnic was eaten. People watching was gosh darn swell, and even a little dancing was attempted (have I ever told you guys that I'm absolutely hopeless dancing as a pair?).

Here are some pictures of some of the structures -- both old and new-- that keep Governor's Island entertaining thousands of New York folk: the scaffolding of the concert stage and the look out stations of the ferry docks. How majestic they look, all rectangles and crossbeams for support, cables and lights.

Governor's Island is a New York Summer Must!

Williamsburg Living I

Here's an example of what you may experience during your next trip to Williamsburg. It rather makes the Brooklyn experience for me:

Descending the stairs of the Marcy JMZ stop, I already have my eyes locked on the fruit stand across the street. I have a mission: mangoes.

To my dismay, the mangoes are rock hard. Instead I pounce on the strawberries. Three for $5? What's the difference between the two for $4 and the three for $5. Sigh. No matter, I just get some strawberries. The fruit seller urges me to go for the mangoes but I have to decline. He counters:

- 'Sooooo are you married?'
- 'No of course not -- I'm only 25 years old'
- 'Where are you from? Korea?'
- 'California'
-'Ahhh American'
-'Yes, American'
- 'So you're not married? Why not?'
-'Why so? I'm only 25. Where are you from?'
-'I'm from Bangladesh'
-'Ah'
-'So you're not married'

I hand over the money and take the black bag of fruit (rather feels as though I'm buying something on the black market, these sketchy black plastic bags). Mr. Fruit Seller then reaches for a mango and shoves it in my bag. 'A Gift' I am told. Of course this gift follows with a grab for my hand and the whispered promises of more mangoes to come. Yuuuuummmmmm

I round the corner and pass the McDonald's where the local wheelchair bound panhandler is stationed. As I pick up momentum I hear a 'Do you want to get married' from his direction. 'No!' I volley back. 'Well I do!' was his decided counter attack.

After the friendly 'Ohh pretty' from my empanada man (I love his chicken empanadas with lots of hot sauce), I was flattery free for the rest of the walk home.

Gosh, a girl can get a big head from all of these pretty words--and that would be a travesty for me. My head is already as big as it can been. With the added cushion of hair, good luck trying to find a hat that fits on my head and doesn't look ridiculous.

New York in the Morning

And I mean early morning. As in 2am to 5am. That's when people watching gets fun. It's a different kind of people watching that one can do on the streets of Nolita, the LES, the UES -- less about fashion and style, more about personality traits and quirks that come out, especially on the subway.

Early Morning Musing No. 1

What's the motive behind singing out loud in public while listening to music using earphones? In some cases the perpetrator is caught and bashfully throws an apologetic look to the reluctant audience, whose involuntary twinges from the high notes that are just not high enough and just a slight bit flat, effectively cut short the free concert. In other cases the star almost defiantly croons out the off key notes to the dismay of his fellow subway comrades, staring down anyone who dares to glance his way. I rather understand the people who fall in the first category. Sometimes a song is damn good. But the latter category...hmm Perhaps one can say that this guy has guts, but I think it's more that this guy has a misplaced sense of self-importance, and the rest of us early morning subway goers are unfortunately the victims of this selfish crime.

Red Hook Ikea, you amaze me!

After about a year hiatus from this bright yellow and blue oversize refrigerator box on the waterfront of Red Hook, I finally took a trip back.

Not only can you go to Ikea for the Swedish meatballs, Ikea now offers crayfish with assorted seafood for a low low price of $4.99. Pwhahaha! Amazing. Crayfish? Really? Yes! Eat this treat while admiring the (actually amazing) view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan's Financial District. See the sun set in the west from the large bay windows of the cafeteria. Admire the old shipping, docking, unloading cranes that pop out from the sea grass-like plants, ermmm at the right angle that is.

What will Ikea think of next!

Sew-tastic!

Or not! Ermghhhh!

Rather annoying not to be at all inspired by anything. And then there are all of the technical bits that impede my progress. Helas!

Okay I promise some images soon. Well that is, if I actually capture something that is remotely interesting on film.

Side note: I really like what little light I get from my window during the day. This light shines upon a three by five foot section of my stark, slightly tumble-y room and bathes (okay 'bathe' is too strong of a word), caresses it in a cool light. Picture taking time! It will be the first of my Bedroom Series. HA