Thursday, December 31, 2009

20.365 - Sean Jumps


I tend to avoid posting photos of Sean, even though I take so many of them. The reason is not because I think he's not photogenic, or that the photos are bad, but rather I feel like what I capture with the camera just isn't the Sean that I see. It just doesn't seems like the Sean that I know and love. It makes me a little bit sad, and maybe I'm looking for too much in the photos, but it is just a block I have.

Earlier this evening, Sean wanted a "Spiderman" photo of himself. I believe Claire managed to get the shot Sean was looking for. I, on the other hand, took a slightly different vantage and came out with this little gem. It's so delightfully Sean. He's almost out of the frame by the time I got this shot, which speaks to me of his eagerness to always be on to the next thing. Honestly, that boy never stops moving. I love his shadow on the wall, and I adore that you can follow his line of movement.

I adore this shot in so many ways.

Monday, December 28, 2009

19.365 - Goddess of Chaos and Discord


My cat, Eris, is four and half years old and she's as cantankerous as the day I brought her home. I named her Eris after the Greek Goddess of Strife. I realized a little belatedly that I was tempting fate a bit too well with that name. Eris is an adorable little girl, but she grew into her name as time went along. As I was feeling a little less than motivated today I decided to take photos of my adorable little girl. She didn't like that very much. She was all but uncooperative. Seeing as she's been more than annoying most of the time in recent days I thought it was a bit rich of her to snub her nose at me. So, I did what any good mother would do...I bribed her with food. My rweard for that was to earn her all to sharp claw in my fingers. I love my cat.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

18.365 - Ramen


There is nothing like the holiday season to up and crush any dreams I might have had for my 365. So, I plow along as though nothing ever happened. My holidays were good, thanks kindly for asking. I spent some time with the family and a scattering of hours with my friends and enjoyed it all immensely. There was the allotted amount of drama that always happens. All things considered, it was a good year.

Sean and I, thus exhausted from the holiday weekend, did what we do best in response to exhaustion and stress. We went out for Japanese food. Tonight's main course took the form of Kahoo Ramen's Shoyu Ramen. It was, as it ought to have been and always is...amazing. There's something about a bowl of ramen that always does the trick at the end of a long couple of days.

Monday, December 21, 2009

17.365 - Best Friends


Sometimes all one needs is a good coffee date with some old friends and all seems to right itself with the world.

16.365 - I <3 _______


I've been feeling a little bit down lately. Not for any particular reason really, but it's just sort of been there. It's almost as though I'm sick. Only, I know I'm not. There's no sore throat, no cough, nothing. My sleep patterns have been okay at best, and it's sort of getting to me. I've been taking far too much personally, and it all adds up to something of a grumpy Siobhán. I found this bush vine thing in front of my car and photographed it. Only after it got onto my computer did I realize that it looked like a heart.

There is something about the end of the year and the holiday season that always has me going on an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs. So, as I've been down I'm working on moving righ back up. If I have any power to change the things in my own life I hope that by executive decision I can move right on back up. Between this and the Cafe Brule shot I took the other day, I'm feeling a bit better.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

15.365 - Mila


This is yesterdays photo. I was just too tired to upload it last night. So here it is today.

This is Mila, an adorable little 1 year old English Bulldog puppy. She weighed in around 45 pounds and was happy and peppy as any puppy I've ever met.

Friday, December 18, 2009

14.365 - Bay Area Rawk

Curious Quail (aka Mike) played a free show at Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View tonight. I always enjoy his shows, and it's a bonus to get coffee while I'm at it. I took a million photos while I was there, and got some good shots...and some bad ones. In the end, I REALLY REALLY wanted to post a photo I took of Mike's feet...but I felt it was a little anti-climactic. And, since a good deal of you might not even know who this guy is...I feel like I ought to give you a shot of his face. And, you know, maybe some kind of indication that he's a real musician and all. Check him out. He's awesome. Curious Quail. :)

13.365 - We Could All Be Gods


Alex is such an amazing guitarist and singer, and he's so fun to watch when he plays. I practically bounded from my scrabble game when he began playing and snapped a few quick photos of him. He was great and ignored me for the most part, which I hoped he would do.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

12.365 - I <3 Yarn


Knitting is one of my most obsessive hobbies. I fall in and out of it more easily than I do anything else. Yarn stores are a haven of compulsive shopping and I generally have to stop myself from picking up each and every skein of yarn I see. The green yarn you see there will eventually form a few Christmas presents for a few people. The brown and white skein is awaiting its transformation into a sweater dress for myself. And the pink yarn is one I've been coveting for a good long while and is currently being knitted into a cabled scarf and matching hat. :) I <3 yarn hardcore...you don't even know.

Monday, December 14, 2009

11.365 - Psycho Holiday Bash

I'm using an image from last night for today's 365. I know it's a bit cheating, but I like it. Jordan (my boss) has told me that he "kind of knows how to play the piano". By which, of course, he meant that he plays...well.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

10.365 - Rio

Rio is a bird that hangs out at Barefoot quite a bit when his owner brings him around. He's quite beautiful, but seems to know what the camera wants and tries to avoid it at every turn. This was my best attempt.

9.365 - 26 points worth of FAIL


I play Scrabble. A lot. Kind of obsessively to be honest. I love Scrabble, but sometimes Scrabble doesn't love me. This is not the worst collection of letters ever...but it was pretty bad. I ended up playing "Key" using my K and my Y only to draw the X and another L. It was not my day.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

8.365 - Scrabble is Serious Business


Day 8. I've decided to go with my gut. This is not exactly because I believe that it is right, but rather because it will give me such a difficult time if I don't. But, to be honest, my gut (like my mother) is pretty much always right. I never learned to listen to my mother, although I think I'm getting better. I'm trying to learn to listen to my gut. I didn't do much of consequence today. I went to lunch with Sean in downtown San Jose and made my way to Barefoot Coffee Roasters afterward in the hopes of writing and photo-ing. What actually happened was two games of scrabble and a whole lot of coffee. This is what usually happens. At some point Saleema called me and we made our way to Pasta Pomodoro for dinner to catch up. As I haven't seen her in what can only be described as way to freaking long, it was lovely to spend some time with her. Despite it being an altogether dreary day, I'm enjoying the rain. It would, I believe, be difficult to put me in a bad mood today as I'm prancing around feeling somewhat vindicated. At the moment, I'm sitting at Steve's house next to Lachlan listening to Sean and Mike play StarCraft. It's a good night.

Now, back to my gut. This photo is fuzzy as a result of a long shutter speed. But I love it so. I kept coming back to this photo despite the slight blurred effect it has. So, I decided to listen to that gut. It is soft and pretty and so intense. Katie's been stressed lately, and I feel like she might need a softer touch in light of everything. What you may not know is that she is (at the moment of the photo) seriously contemplating a scrabble play. Like I said...Scrabble is serious business!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

7.365 - Oven Warming


It's been cold lately, and our heater is mediocre at best. I would have lit a fire to warm everything up more quickly, but it was a spare the air night and I was thwarted. So, in an attempt to keep myself busy with comfort activities. Life is, as always, crazy and I feel the need for those comfort activities and foods. So, I made cookies tonight. I am quite proud of my chocolate chip cookies. But, there was no bread flour, so these will be okay at best. People seem to be in want of these comfort foods, so, my cookies are baking and the house is slowly warming up.

6.365 - Broken and Whole


Seeing as I didn't get an image out yesterday, I offer up this rushed and sad-looking photo as my offering of apology. I don't like it. And I don't think I will like it more as time goes along. But, here it is.

Monday, December 7, 2009

5.365 - Looking Up


So, in lieu of my photo of Paul, I post this. It seems a bit trite and overdone to me, but here it is all the same. The seasons they are a-changin' and everyone seems to be noticing. This may well be one of the last nice days we have before winter sets in for good. A big storm is rolling its way in to San Jose and is due to hit on Wednesday. There are rumors of snow on the ground in the Bay Area and the hills are covered in snow all around us. So, before the leaves are gone for good and the sky is obscured until April, here is my Autumn photo.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

4.365 - Eris


I love my cat. She's beautiful and adorable and inquisitive and highly neurotic. Usually she's just needy. But, I love her. She was named after the Goddess or chaos and discord. Now there's a phone that bears the same name. Despite this, she is truly one of a kind. I love my cat.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

3.365 - Making Up for Lost Time


Every relationship has its ups and downs. We all know this. There are days when a relationship flows with such ease and tranquility that it requires no effort whatsoever. Other days however, you wonder how it even stays together. And then, when it gets really bad, you find yourself angry because your significant other went to a new coffee shop without you. Or maybe that's just me. However, with that said, I move on to talk about day #3. If you know me at all, you will know that the act of doing coffee means a great deal to me as an individual. I pride myself on my tastes and my palate. I not only love coffee, coffee loves me. The ritual and act of DOING coffee is a big deal. When Sean and I met, we met over coffee. We then bonded over coffee. He is possibly the first person who can really fit into my ritual that is DOING coffee. So, come earlier this week and I find myself having a truly off day and I'm throwing an absolute fit because I didn't get to go to the new coffee shop with him. It makes sense, if you know me. So, to make up for that, Sean and I trekked out to Palo Alto today to try Philz Coffee. They do drip coffee by the cup. Which makes it expensive, but oh so delicious. The coffee is good and the service is better. I am pleased and mollified.

Friday, December 4, 2009

2.365 - Sunsets are Revealing Too


It's day #2, and somehow, I'm already feeling a little bit overwhelmed by this project. I had a few things to do today that were weighing on my mind quite a bit, and decided not to bring the camera along. I found myself staring at the hamachi sashimi I had ordered for lunch wishing I had the camera. Alas, I did not, and so, I ate without documentation. Then, I went to coffee. My barista Paul did an awesome latte art of the letter 'S' for Siobhan, and again...I had no camera. So, I drank that without documentation. I returned home, feeling quite a bit sorry for myself and tried to find the motivation to go out and photograph something, ANYTHING. None came. So, sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself I did the only thing I knew how to do, and complained to anyone who would listen. In the middle of my complaining, low and behold, I looked out my window and saw that the sky had suddenly turned magenta! It had been something of a sad day in San Jose. Cloudy and hazy and smoggy and somewhat depressing. But all of that came together for a magenta sunset that lasted all of 5 minutes. I rushed outside to photograph it, and was aggravated to find that I could not get this damn tree branch out of my way. So, instead of scrapping the photo for something else, I worked with it. And it turned into this beautiful silhouette of its own accord. I love these colors. They make me happy.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

1.365 - Remy

So, I jump on this bandwagon already a little conflicted about my photos. For those of you not in the know. I am beginning a 365 project in which I endeavor to take and post one photo per day for the next 365 days. I could wait until the New Year to start, but that seems sort of silly. So, here I am. I will be blogging this here, as well as on my flickr site. Please comment, if no one one is watching I'll simply cancel the show as callously and quickly as Fox cancels Joss Whedon's masterpieces.

Away we go.

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Everyone, meet Remy. I acquired Remy on August 25, 2008. I decided, for Science knows what reason, that I NEEDED a typewriter. Knowing close to nothing about them, I went in search on Craigslist for some kind of 20th century machine that would fill my desires. I found Remy. He was made in October of 1926 and he is a Remington Portable. He is fully functional and beautiful. So, I begin with him. Jess and I meant to take photos with and of him when she braved my cat ridden home for a day to do her closet photo shoot with me. However, in the light of cat allergies and other things to be done, we forgot, and haven't gotten back to him. So, since he worked so hard with me during the month of November for NaNoWriMo, I thought I'd give him a moment to be a star. I post both versions of this photo here because I am conflicted. As you might have noticed, there's a rather conspicious arm hiding behind the type arms back there. The numbers 5 & 6 held themselves up because I had to wrap them around eachother to make them appear in the correct order. 3 however was the lone arm, and would not remain in frame unless something was holding his key down. Now, in the interest of focusing far closer than Sean's camera really wanted to, I was tied to the camera and could not do both tasks at once. So, I enlisted Sean's help. And, so you see his arm. I am convinced that it sort of ruins the color image, but I love it so. It is less problematic in the B/W, but...I like the image less. So, here we are. 1 of 365. Done.

EDIT: Oh, and if you would like to see the image larger, just click on it. KayThxBai!

EDIT #2: It has been decided. By me and others, the color is superior. So, I am taking the B/W version down. Though it is still available on my flickr here.