:: Katnip ::

What's in this section?
The stuff I'm digging at the moment, stuff that makes me happy and stuff that makes my little heart smile. :)

Debt Be Gone!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

I *think* I finished paying off one of my student loans!

I put the “I *think*” in there because it all depends on my new surrogate bank not failing. So assuming that the financial world doesn’t completely collapse by Monday, I’ll have finished off one piece of major debt! And it was the private loan with a variable interest rate too! Though honestly, with the Fed cutting interest rates to nothing, I think my variable interest rate ended up being better than my fixed interest rate on my other loan.

Wow - I looked at what I just wrote and realize that a couple years ago, if I had read that, I would have had no idea who or what it was talking about. Truly, there’s nothing like economic crisis and the financial world going down the toilet to act as a quick tutorial on loans and savings! Woohoo! Truly, a silver lining to this ugly cloud! LOL

So now I have freed up some capital to put into....a mutual fund? My 401K? Buy stocks? Government bonds? Or how about some property? Oh shoot. I might as well just stick it under my mattress or maybe use it as toilet paper. 

My New Theme Song: Little Superhero Girl

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

This song is by Corrinne May and I’ve adopted it as my theme song. 

I’ve been following Corrinne May, a Singaporian-born singer/songwriter in LA, for about 4 years now. Reuben introduced me to her. But I was not a very consistent fan. About 2 months ago, I went to hear her play at a venue that was really close to me. I had no excuse not to go!

She had one song that I just really loved called, “Little Superhero Girl.”

L I T T L E S U P E R H E R O G I R L
written by Corrinne May Ying Foo
Copyright 2003, Corrmay Gourmet Music (ASCAP)

I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world
Everybody wants a piece of me
And I just don’t know where to turn
I’ve got work piled up to my head
All I want to do is jump into bed
And wash away my troubles
with lemonade
Play hide and seek
with the boy next door
Take a trip to Singapore and
Imagine how I’ll make the world
a better place

All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I’m feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I’ve gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I’m gonna be a Superhero

Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah

If I were a little girl
Trying to clean up the whole wide world
I’d kick the bad boys back to school
Teach them fighting’s just not cool
I’d give every kid a teddy bear
Turn starving people into millionaires
Break glass ceilings with dynamite
sprinkle a little sugar and spice
Turn the bullies that terrorize
Into pink poodles that bark,
but don’t bite

All I need is a good disguise
One where nobody can recognise
That I’m feeling so small
All I need is a secret weapon
I’ve gotta have faith
Zapping monsters into outer space
I’m gonna be a Superhero

Na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na-
Yeah

Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me
Little Superhero Girl
Little Superhero Girl
Save me from myself

I feel like a little girl
Trying to conquer the whole wide world

You can hear it on her website, CorrinneMay.com and follow the directions below:

She’s playing a concert at my church (Hollywood SDA Church) this Thursday, May 29 @ 7:30 pm, so please come and hear her! It’s a free concert!

Pics of my New York Vacation!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

I finally uploaded them yesterday. 

I took a ton of pics. Luckily you won’t have to see ALL of them. Just the few I uploaded. I’ve broken the albums up into days so you can follow my wonderful journey through time!

Day 1: Church, the Met, Central Park

Day 2: Brooklyn with So-Young and Ian

(Note that day 3 is myseriously missing!)

Day 4: Aneta’s graduation party

Day 5: Central Park and the Upper West Side

Day 6: The Cloisters with Aneta

Day 7: The MOMA

Day 8: Church, kids and karaoke

Okay, now back to work for me! Enjoy the photogs!

A Photog-full Weekend

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

On Friday last week, I got a new lens for my Nikon D-80!

Ever since I met Ben Ho at work, it’s been a dark spiral downward into the world of super-consumerism of photographic equipment. What i really mean, is suddenly i *need* all kinds of stuff I never needed before. It’s amazing!

One of these purchases that I needed and had no idea how much I needed was my new lens: a Nikkor AF 50 mm f1.8. I never knew what I was missing until I met you, o beautious lens!

So promptly spent the entire weekend photography anything that would move. I took about 6 gigs of photos. W00t! Here are the links to the photogs that I shot:

Worship at Hollywood SDA Church
People up on stage, people in the pews, and people chowing down! I LOVE potluck!

“Kodomo no Hi” - Boys’ Day
I went to Irvine to celebrate Boys’ Day with my little nephew Joshua and his new friend Brandon. And by new, i mean brand spanking new! He was just born!

Saturday Night: Shootin’ the Breeze
After returning from Irvine, a couple of us got together just to talk, have rootbeer floats, and half-heartedly play card games. Most of these shots are actually by Kimi. I was too busy eating ice cream. Yum!

Kimi’s Photoshoot: Part A
Sunday was an all day photoshoot for Kimi. I’ve only been able to upload the first part, which were the outdoor shots. The theme was “The Neighborhood Artist.” (I’m not sure if Kimi even knew that since I just made that up on the spot! haha). The second part is a studio shoot. Thanks to Rommel, he brought all KINDS of lighting equipment! Most of them I don’t even know what they’re called! A beauty dish, a reflector, an umbrella, a snoot, backdrop, etc. My apartment could barely hold it all! I haven’t finished post-production editing on those yet, so stay tuned for more of those. You can see some of Rommel’ shots here.

Phew! What a fun weekend! I can’t wait til i get more equipment! Oh noes! I’m hooked!

Photoshoot: Marci

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

This was the most recent photoshoot from this past week. A little impromptu, but still good results!

Marci has been my friend for a very long time. This weekend I finally got a chance to photograph her. Using my normal “ghetto studio” tricks, we managed to get some very nice shots. In some of them, I think she almost looks like Jodi Foster. She has really soulful hazel eyes that just grab your attention.

Here are some of the shots from that day:

I really like this photo even tho it’s a little blurry and the lighting is weird. Mostly because her smile is so natural. Too bad it’s not in focus.

I loves the funny funny transvestite

Friday, March 28, 2008

I know Eddie Izzard is a well known comedian, but I just found him recently. And he’s HILARIOUS!

My friend Sean passed me this link to Eddie Izzard’s “Dress to Kill” on audio so you can listen to it from your cubicle at work. Ah, bless you people who work for the entertainment of us who work in Cube City. This has definitely helped pass the time as I wilf about at work. I mean, while I work REALLY REALLY hard at work.

I just thought I’d share this link with all of you because I enjoy it so much. There are more movies available for a listen, but I think stand-up comedy really works best for this kind of mind-occupation during work. Random “bang! bang!”, dialog that centers around action, and random sound-effects don’t really make for that enjoyable of a listen. Then again, if you’re REALLY bored, that just might do the trick…