need some fog in my life

I love San Francisco.

Every time I cross the Bay Bridge, my heart starts pounding. With every second, it grows faster and louder. Thu-thump. The-dump. "San Franciscoooo!" I yell at the top of my lungs as I stick my head out the window.

Lately, though, my primal reaction has been held back for the fear of rear-ending the poor lad in front of me, or worse, multiple lads all around. But when I'm not driving (and if there's no passengers speaking at the moment), I instinctively return to holla-ing at the city. SF makes me come alive. 

The other day, it dawned on me. What if... what if my love for this place is conditional?  During my latest excursions in SF, the sun wouldn't stop kissing the city - smothering it with a big wet (or should I say dry) one, and forbidding any clouds to roll in. Needless to say, I was miserable. Disappointed, distraught, distressed, disgruntled... disillusioned, among other depressing D-words. Could it be that I only like San Francisco when it's foggy?

I'm scared of falling out of love with a city.

el fin

Being a perfectionist, I had (and still am having) a difficult time publishing this.
But, I've reached a point where a) I'm sick of carrying this overdue baby and b) I've realized I can't just keep working on it until I'm satisfied because that won't ever happen.
So here it is.

The long awaited p o r t f o l i o.

Still under construction, but when am I not?

This marks the end of my Blogspot era. All new blogs will be posted here. See you at a different URL!

boys will be boys

When they see salt on the ground,

they will pick it up and proceed to...

you guessed it: put it in their mouth.

Sometimes off the bottom of their shoe.

Jagged rocks? No problem.

Harvest is easy with dirty fingers. Every time you ask if anyone would like Purell, they will impolitely refuse. "Who uses that stuff anyway?"

Although their faces give it away, they'll feign delight and try to pressure you into joining them. "Come on, you gotta try it! When else are you going to do this?" 

Possibly never, boys. Probably never.

dante's view

Sometimes we need to get away, to a place where we are minimized - quite literally. We need to be reminded how small we are. Take our eyes off ourselves, our problems, our fears, our pain, shifting our attention instead to the world - to those around us, their issues, their needs, and how we can be the answer.

How we blend in with the tiniest of rocks pebbles in the big picture of mountain ranges. 

Even the vehicles that transport us from A to B, prove our 'worth' as status symbols, and can kill us when maneuvered carelessly are nothing but little speckles. Specklettes? ¡Speckelitos! Okay I'm done.

sneak peek parte dos

There's no chronology here. Just a jumble of belated photos. Today, we continue the preview of #ontheroadwithdumbanddumber.

looking out at 75 mph

As with all trips, time came to leave behind all the snow and go home.

Commence five hours of singing, rapping, ridiculous games, and taking photos of the road (for me, and ducking out of the way for the poor passengers in the truck - sorry, and thanks guys). 

I had no idea the route from Mammoth to SoCal would be so scenic! Windy roads through mountains and deserts... much better than the usually bleak miles and miles of absolutely nothing from LA to the Bay on the I-5. Eyes glued to the windows - occasionally rotating from left to right to front to back - I realized how much of California I have yet to see. Oh you state of many sights, you.  

war

Stills from a wintertime feud, a long, long time ago--

My sincere apologies for the utter lack of excellence in the images - twas my first time shooting war, and I was not armed with proper weaponry. Hopefully I'll have a telephoto handy to capture the action next time.

As a blizzard cut short Day Two of snowboarding, chaos ensued in the woods of Mammoth Lakes. I firsthand witnessed

attack,

ambush,

retreat,

grieving,

savagery,

and casualty.

Alliances disbanded left and right, and pandemonium quickly escalated into a hot cold mess. 

And in the midst of it all,

joy.