Journalist.Music Fan. Dork Extraordinaire.
Random Analysis and Thoughts
(from "Think of Me" in the musical Phantom of the Opera)
Today’s been an interesting day, full of memories.
For dinner, I went with my aunt and cousin to the near by Mexican restaurant. Despite being in the middle of suburbia, this place has really decent Mexican food and I’ve always enjoyed going. My aunt got the Caldo de Res, a beef soup with various vegetables. After of course butchering the name in her version of Spanish, I began reminiscing about my grandmother’s own soup. She would make that exact soup for my own father for lunch. I remember her pouring over the pot, adding different ingredients as the time went. I remember the smell of the soup in the house, sitting across from my dad as he ate a quick lunch while he was home from work. He usually had the soup with toasted tortillas that he would either dip into the soup or just throw little pieces into the soup. I would sometimes sit in his lap, when I was small enough to, and steal some of the tortilla or the boiled corn in the soup.
My grandmother was a good cook. She never, to my memory, used a cookbook or a recipe. I remember helping her cook, making various Salvadorean dishes like cheese and horchata and fish soup (lovingly called stinky fish soup by my sister and I). My favourite as a child was her chicken soup, which I always requested when I was sick as “sopa de pio pio” (cheep cheep soup).
I remember helping my own mother cook as well, but those memories are vaguer. Because of a weird allergy to eggs, cooking with my mother was always running into problems until the allergy went away. My mother often made a variety of dishes and she had a wide array of cookbooks. Amazingly, those are some of the memories that are clearer.
My aunts have tried recreate the meals, but because of my memories, I avoid eating those. It’s been a long road, being able to cope. A stranger once told that one doesn’t ever get over the loss, but instead learns to live with it.
As I write this, I’m watching Finding Neverland. I first saw this movie with my friends on my birthday. With the mother being sick and the children not knowing or understanding, this struck a chord with me. So naturally at the end of the movie, I was bawling. It brings about the grief that I have and will never get over. It’s that grief that reminds me of all that I had with them. When it reminds me that, though my memories have faded, my grief is really my love for my grandmother and mother.
(Title taken from Less Than Jake's "All My Best Friends Are Metal Heads")
An old coworker of mine once decided that I had been an Egyptian cat in a former life. After hearing my confused laugh, he described that like a Egyptian cat, I was loved and adored by those who knew me. Granted, it is a bit of a stretch, but it does sum up my relationships with my good friends.
I’ve always held my friends in extremely high regards, with my best friends being considered part of my family. Thanks to crazy schedules and just life, I don’t see most of my friends as much as I would like. The same serendipity that keeps me from seeing everyone also allows me to run into them all over the city, usually ensuing in some hugging and a quick catch up session. Even for this short amount of time, I am usually touched that the friends I run into are excited to see me and I walk away with a big smile on my face.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been able to see friends that I see only about a couple of times throughout the year.
The first batch was my four best friends from high school. It had been a trip we had all first thought of when we all came to San Francisco during our senior year of high school. I was stuck in jury duty most of their visit, but the few hours we spent together were filled with laughs, stories and just all the love we have for each other. The time was short but I spent every moment with them was just amazing. Those four women are still the same silly girls I first befriended all those years ago, but the love for each other is still there. The cherry on top was dancing and belting out “Single Ladies” at Q Bar in the Castro district.
(The ladies, 2011, five years after high school)
My second visit was from my touring buddy. This guy is from the East Coast and pretty much spends the year in some form of moving vehicle or in London, so even the time I do get to see him, he’s usually working or exhausted. Still, he’s a person that I admire as he and his wife pretty much are following their passions in life. We met about two years ago at a concert where we pretty much hung out all day and have been friends ever since. This last time we hung out, he got properly pissed, thanks to Edinburg Castle “Recession Drink” special. As I was saying goodbye to him, he told me hopes that I never change and that he’s still so grateful that I had hung out with him all those years ago. Considering he deals with so many people in his line of work, I was deeply touched that he did think highly of me (yes, I’m ignoring the 7 or so drinks he had had at this time). He then sent me off with a promise to never go back to being straightedge, as he has more in common with me now that I drink (love you, Dave!).
(2 years later and we're still that classy)
I’ve always said that my friends are the reason I am the way I am. I value my friends highly and usually, it is their opinions that I listen to loudest. Of course, not everyone that meets me or has to deal with me falls in love with me. Most of my guy friends see me as an adorable little sister type and my female friends see me as their problem solver (I am not complaining about this role in anyway). But there are always those people who will not like me and I’ve learned to accept that. I may not have a lot of friends, but the friends that I do have are amazing and I wouldn’t trade anyone of them. But pretty much, once you become my friend, you will always have a place in my heart.
(EDIT: Not mentioned but equally important are Grandpa and Cherry, whom I also hung out with this past week. Love you both!)
“I’ve got friends in all the right places.”-Manchester Orchestra "I've Got Friends"
Academy of Art student Cherise Olvera doesn't like to photograph the typical girl-next-door/American Eagle catalohgue look. This aspiring fashion photographer loves high fashion, high art and whimsy. When tasked with her final project for her Advanced Location Lighting class, Olvera put all three things together to create a photo series featuring up and coming models, creative looks and interesting settings.
I followed Olvera on her shoots, starting from setting up to the final shots. Here is the second day of her shoot!
Location: Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, November 20, 2010
Photographer: Cherise Olvera
Photo assistant: Jimmy Tsang
Make up artist: Terry Alabata
Model: Natalie Wallace
Music: courtsey of The Limousines, all song off their debut album "Get Sharp" and
Stay tuned for Part 3, coming soon!
Academy of Art student Cherise Olvera doesn't like to photograph the typical girl-next-door/American Eagle catalogue look. This aspiring fashion photographer loves high fashion, high art and whimsy. When tasked with her final project for her Advanced Location Lighting class, Olvera put all three things together to create a photo series featuring up and coming models, creative looks and interesting settings.
I followed Olvera on her shoots, starting from setting up to the final shots.
Location: Baker Beach, San Francisco, November 13, 2010
Photographer: Cherise Olvera
Photo assistant: Jimmy Tsang
Make up artist: Terry Alabata
Model: Renata
Music: courtsey of The Limousines, all song off their debut album "Get Sharp" and Deadmau5
Stay tuned for Day 2, coming soon!
With her deadline fast approaching Academy of Art fashion photographer Cherise Olvera put in two shoots over the weekend of December 4. Unfortunately because of scheduling issues, I could not follow her on her shoots. So instead, I met up with Cherise at one of the downtown campuses of AAU where we discussed the four shoots as she was in the lab and her own critiques of her work.
First a little bit more on Cherise herself:
Cherise and I sit down to critique her work:
Check out some of the finished photographs:
Journalist.Music Fan. Dork Extraordinaire.
Journalist.Music Fan. Dork Extraordinaire.
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