Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Yes there's a lot of photos, Yes you will deal with it


HEY GUYS, GUESS WHY I'M SO HAPPY!
NO, it's not because I almost broke my phone while slamming my head into my desk!
NO, it's not because my friends said they'd go to lunch with me and then ditched me at the last minute!
NO, it's not because my linguistics exam is on Friday and I still can't concentrate on studying!

IT'S BECAUSE...
....
.....

IT'S SNOWING YAAAYYYYY!!


At this point I would like to apologize to Claire, who is in Foco right now where it was -13 degrees FAHRENHEIT this morning. And she has to go to aerobics. -13 degrees is not aerobics weather. It is weather for staying in with a heater and a blanket and hot chocolate. Did you know that the lowest recorded temperature in Colorado was -61 degrees, in 1985? What the hell! But that was in Maybell, not Foco. Just some handy weather facts. Colorado is friggin cold.

ANYWAY, it is not actually snowing anymore here, it is more slush-raining, which is really nasty. And I dropped my toothbrush on the disgusting bathroom floor this morning so I have to walk to Shoppers Drug Mart to get a new one, so I'm trying to wait until the slush stops falling for a few minutes. But last night at about 1am I looked outside and everything was white and there was snow falling from the sky!

I grabbed my little camera and ran out into the quad and threw snowballs at stuff for awhile, and took some blurry pictures from the doorway because this camera doesn't handle nighttime very well.



I also took an incredibly creepy myspace picture.


I went back in and continued studying linguistics until around 2am, when I texted Naufil to see if he had any food. He said we should go to Rabba (the 24/7 "grocery store" about 4 minutes away), and I wanted to go outside so I said okay. Usually I avoid Rabba because it is gross and sticky and there's always a pack of hobos outside the entrance. Most of the food is moldy and the people working there usually look at you as if you're the most exasperatingly bothersome thing they've ever had to deal with. But it was snowing! So we went anyway.
I donned my new black-version-of-the-Michelin-Man coat and put my big camera in my bag and we had a snowball fight all the way down St Mary's street. We pretty much walked backwards the rest of the way because of the violent wind, which made the seemingly innocent snowflakes feel like needles and sparks smacking into our faces.
Rabba was its usual grungy self but once we got outside I started taking some pictures.


I like this one especially because of the apartment building filling up the background and because of the snow on the right side of the pole, and the light flare at the top, and just the overall mood. I feel like it's one of my favorite photos I've taken. But I think this may be one of those pictures that I really love, but other people don't really get, like this one. I freaking loved that photo! I remember exactly where I was and what I was thinking when I took it, and I love the gradient of bright blues and the wispy clouds and how the airplane is small and heading off, out of the frame and how it all looks and seems together. Basically I liked everything that people told me was wrong with it, but I totally get why they might not like it or think it's uninteresting, cause it's also a really personal photo, and when I look at it, it immediately brings up all these feelings. Like when you hear a song you used to listen to a lot but haven't heard in a while? When people first started dissing on the plane photo, I was like "wtf! this is a great picture!" and got all insecure about it but i've realized that it's pretty much the same deal for most photos that I feel that kind of connection with. Not that I'm tremendously concerned with how well other people like my photos... I just noticed this trend and thought it was interesting. Plus I kind of like how a photo can be really meaningful to one person, and the rest of the world would just see it as a mehhh photo. Like a secret between you and the picture! ANYWAYY, did not mean to ramble on forever here are some other photos I took.


Green bike (the same bike that's in the top photo). I like red/yellow/green together (rasta? traffic light? anyway it reminds me of italian food) so I love the little accents of colour of the red and yellow bokeh dots at the top and the green bicycle frame. Also I liked the shadow of the bike on the pavement. But I think I could have done this shot better if Naufil hadn't been rushing me. >:[

Speaking of Naufil, this is his sincere attempt at looking badass:

He is completely serious. I laughed for a long time.


I don't like this all that much, but I thought it was kind of cool. Sushi Club is also a pretty good restaurant. I had butterfish sushi there! :O ("we'll take another round of the butterfish...")

On the way home, RJ hall in the background





Back in the common room... I parted the curtains a bit and took this through the gap. It's weird and I like the blown-out diamond of the light contrasted with the perfectly-exposed, snow-covered tree limb, and I like the negative space a lot. I guess I just like it cause it's kind of weird. Click to make it bigger if you want... cause the mini version looks kind of dumb.


I took some photos of the festive decor in the common room...


This is a closeup of that red shiny tinsel-y string stuff that you can see in the bottom of the bow picture. THIS STUFF. What the hell do you call that kind of thing??

Anyway we watched Seinfeld in the common room for a bit and then I studied more and then Rifqi called and was like "let's go outside it's snowing!" He ended up running around in the quad while I took pictures from the soho entrance. He even fell down once and I caught it mid-fall! Ohohoho!


He wanted his mom to know he hadn't forgotten about her, so he wrote MAMA in the snow.



I will leave you with a couple almost-not-fail shots of my favorite mini Harajuku girl.

Dirty head fail


Not-quite-in-focus fail


Um. Sorry this post was so long and, uh, expository... I've been writing too many essays.

7 comments:

Claire said...

:D

the word you were looking for is tinsel i believe.

i'm jealous that you can go snapping photos in a winter wonder land, because its been pretty damn cold here too BUT I HAVE NO SNOW TO SHOW FOR IT.

the sign at the sushi club has one of my old vocab words on it!

GOOD LUCK FRIDAY!

Claire said...

:D

the word you were looking for is tinsel i believe.

i'm jealous that you can go snapping photos in a winter wonder land, because its been pretty damn cold here too BUT I HAVE NO SNOW TO SHOW FOR IT.

the sign at the sushi club has one of my old vocab words on it!

GOOD LUCK FRIDAY!

Claire said...

erin, claire took up two of your robots.
just saying.
anyways, I FREAKING LOVE PICTURE POSTS! this one was different though because you got all feelingsy and shit. which i liked, because it does really suck when you create a masterpiece in your own mind and everyone is all "WHATS WITH THE MOTION BLUR" and "DIAMONDS?"
My favorite one is definitely the one with the pretty green bike. I like

"we'll take another round of the butterfish"
ahahaa, i had completely forgotten about that! I lowled profusely!

can't wait to see you!

Unknown said...

Great photos! I especially like the green bike. And Naufil's badass pose!
I did notice the new shirt. I'm glad that package made it.
See you in a few days!!
Good luck on your linguistics exam!

alv said...

Hi Erin! The pictures are awesome. We're so excited that you are coming home. Only two more days! -dad

jenna miller said...

erinnnnn

i just used your blog as motivation to get through highlighting my stats chapters,
it worked like a charm and the reward was great : - )

you're going to be the first person i see when i return and i can't say how excited i am
i love your pics

caro said...

ok. my favourite is the bike photo.

these pictures make me want to hang out in toronto again. i forgot how much fun it was at u of t. it makes me want to go to hart house....except for that i saw one of my profs naked in the change room there after a swim.