I’ve been a long-time fan of Zannah’s blog - #!/usr/bin/girl (since the late 1990’s). Here she is testing the new video feature on flickr.com (as she goes through the Starbucks 24 hour drive-thru. Zannah is an “interent rock star”:
Just thought I would post some photos from my flickr account that were recently faved, being that this is a rare occurence:
This is me like, four and a half years ago when I was vegan, though not a raw foodie yet. As you can see I drank a lot of Starbucks soy mochas. And, my Apple Powerbook G4 was working (properly) before I switched to an HP Pavilion Notebook. Hmm… I look quite different here.
A couple of years ago the family and I traveled to the Grand Canyon for the first time. Actually, I had to perform at a lavish wedding in Scottsdale, so we thought about making a family trip out of the journey too. Here is the El Tovar Hotel and Restaurant, along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I had completely forgotten about this pic. Unfortunately, our youngest boy was sick during most of the trip.
This photo is the most popular of all my flickr photos. But it’s kind of misleading… the room is actually much smaller than it looks. And, right now it isn’t that clean. The room looks like a train wreck right now.
Anyways, thanks to all who visit my flickr photos. If you haven’t been there yet, please explore…
Recently, during Spring Break, my son and I went to the flower fields in Carlsbad. And I took lots of photos. But, I wasn’t happy with them overall. Thinking back, it was midday and the sun was directly above us.
I must remember… never to take photos during midday when the sun is directly overhead.
From my experience, the best times to take photos are early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, or whenever it’s slightly overcast.
Some of the best flower photos I’ve taken were on cloudy days. And some of the best overall photos have been taken in the late afternoons. So, (and I haven’t read any photography books on this lately) my logic tells me that it’s best to take photos when the sun is at a 45 degree angle to the horizon in relationship to the object being photographed. And, anything less than that, as long as there is still sunlight, is ideal.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to underwater photography or night time photography. But, I do know that photos taken in the middle of the day just don’t look as good, unless I use a special filter.
Perhaps, someone more experienced can elaborate on specifics, or suggest ways in which to successfully take photos during midday. For now, I’m going to focus on taking photos in the afternoon and early evening. I seem to have the best success taking photos during this time.
Here are some photos taken yesterday on Easter Sunday…
Baby Cactus Named Wilbur… Recently Flowering!
My Niece With Her Easter Eggs and Candy
A Cala Lily Flower
White Daisies…
Yellow and White Ranunculas
Yellow Snapdragons
This is a beautiful photo of a sunset at Manila Bay in The Philippines. Love the colours.
The family is planning a trip to The Philippines in June 2008. I can’t wait to go back. For me I think it’s been almost 20 years?
Anyway, we’re planning on visiting the following Asian cities in this order: Tokyo, Japan - Kyoto, Japan - Beijing, China - Hong Kong - Manila, Philippines. Can we do this in 15 days? Hmm…
Great shot by Govinda Kai, of a yogini in Padmasana pose.
Check out Govinda Kai’s website at: LunaticMonk.com
Creating A Meditation Garden
Today I took lots of photos of the backyard/garden, since the rains have stopped and it was reasonably sunny outside.
A while back I made a commitment to myself to create a beautiful meditation garden in my backyard. I’d been inspired by the meditation garden at the SRF Temple in Encinitas, a beautiful retreat and hermitage overlooking the Pacific Ocean where anyone can go to admire the garden or meditate on any of the meditation benches available there.
A Place To Sit and Meditate
I don’t have a plan as to how the design of this garden would look. Years ago we hired a landscape architect to design our whole backyard, and so we already have a design plan drawn, and half of the construction was done with the project before we sort of ran out of money. But the basic look of the backyard had already been achieved. It was just a matter of creating a beautiful garden.
Here are a few of my goals for this garden:
1. Have lots of flowering shrubs and perrenials, and maybe a few annuals in pots and in certain key areas.
2. I also want to be able to have lots of flowers available for flower arrangements indoors.
3. We have a large hill in the backyard between the patio area and the street. And this is where I want to create natural paths to walk around and start planting new shrubs and put some nice outdoor lighting to light the paths.
4. I’m also investigating the best placement for new trees that will allow more shade during the harsh summer months. So, I’m closely studying the path of the sunlight throughout the garden.
It’s been raining quite a bit here in San Diego and today was a pretty sunny day, the soil is still to wet and muddy to do any kind of serious gardening. So I thought I would take photos of the backyard to document the start of this whole project.
A Meditation Bench
The garden looks clean and fresh in the cool winter sunshine right now. Recently I received some money for my 50th birthday and I thought I would use most of that toward a concrete meditation bench. We dropped by a garden shop in Carlsbad and we found the perfect one that curves, to go into a corner spot. So that’s a very good start to getting this meditation garden underway.
Here are photos from today. A good starting point before Spring, so I can slowly document the progress that is going to happen in the coming months.
. . . .
It’s been raining all evening and into the night here in San Diego. And it’s been quite cold for San Diego too. The forecast calls for rain here and there for the next few days. I have a gig tomorrow and I have to say that it’s difficult to load and unload my drums in the cold rain. It frustrates me but I have to deal with it.
Well, it’s not really all that bad, but it is a minor inconvenience and it does make it a bit more challenging to perform, not to mention that the audience might be smaller because some people just want to stay home when it rains.
Now, what brightened up my day earlier was receiving a special Amazon.com package in the mail. Yay! I had received a birthday gift from none other than one of my favorite people in the online world. Thank you, Cyn! I am forever grateful.
I also received (some time ago) a special parcel package that arrived all the way from Japan and that one came from KC! Thank you, KC!
Anyway, it’s dark, cold and it’s late. And I need to climb into bed under the warm blankets and just drift off to dreamland now…
Seriously though, I finally had the time to look at some of the photos taken during Christmas 2007, so I got to thinking that I should post a few of them. So here goes….
It’s very rare that I post newer pics of myself, let alone my family. So, here’s a rare photo of the family, taken on Christmas Eve 2007:
Left to Right: Cameron, Me, Jordan, My Wife
. . . .
Here’s the artificial tree. (just doing my part to save the trees)
Here’s the new grand piano, delivered just before Christmas, in time for me to play some Christmas songs.
And here’s a photo of all the wonderful food I couldn’t eat during Christmas. Lots of tasty Filipino dishes that smelled real nice.
And here’s a rare photo of one of my nieces, with her proud Papa looking on. She’s a sophomore at Harvard so from here-on-out I think I’ll refer to her as “Harvard Girl”.
Here’s the backyard on the morning after Christmas Day.
Last night was a really good night, performing with Flamenco Nova @ Le Papagayo. Lots of people were there and it was simply an active, lively evening! I was able to bring my Nikon digital camera and Francois (the owner) took photos of the band, and I took a few myself.
Here’s Francois behind the drums, checking out my drum kit:
There were lots of photos taken, but here are some of my favorites so far:
More to come… so stay tuned!
I really don’t like to post photos of myself, honestly. I’m shy that way. And for some reason it takes a lot of motivation for me to post new photos of myself. But going through my old photos on Flickr I think I do have a few all-time favorites that I might as well share, being that I’ve been camera-shy for several months now.
One of my favorite photos from the trip to Europe in August 2005, that of my wife and me on a tour bus in Rome… just before heading off to see the Sistine Chapel.
Here I am in front of the mirror in March 2005. I was doing a lot of x-training at the time… yoga, swimming, running, cycling… no time now! (I forgot to submit this to The Mirror Project)
So anyway, I let myself go last year and am working my way back to the photo above. But the one below I’ve always liked because that is my before photo when I really let myself go and as you can see, I ate a lot of chips! The photo below was taken circa 1992. The photo above was more than 10 years later. Hmmm….
And here’s one of my favorites of me circa 2003? Coding and drinking Starbucks mochas with gusto! Ah, the good ‘ole days.
Of course, me in my favorite yoga asana (pose)… the headstand.
I’ll try to share more photos later….
So, I visited Yahoo.com for the first time this year and right off the bat I see the top article:
Top 5 Habits To Increase Longevity
Okay, this is information I’ve read about before. Especially the part about eating several smaller meals a day, instead of 3, or even 1 meal a day like I used to do long ago.
In the Western culture, meals are taken three times a day, but it is much better to eat five smaller meals. When you eat smaller portions five times a day, you deliver a steady stream of nutrients, blood sugar, and energy to your body throughout the day.
Additionally, eating this way is less taxing on the digestive and metabolic systems and also reduces your risk of heart disease.
. . . .
The Home with New Shutters
. . . .
Eating 5 or 6 smaller meals a day is something I’ve been doing lately, so I’m already into that habit. I totally agree that it’s less taxing on the digestive system as a whole. Easier on the body in general. And I notice I have more energy throughout the day. If one feels like taking a nap or feeling sluggish after a meal, then that’s probably when you’ve eaten too much food at one time, obviously.
And I’ve also read before that a good habit doesn’t take hold until like the 19th day, so the following makes sense. After so many days a habit becomes automatic:
It takes 14 to 21 days of repetitive behavior to form a new pattern in your brain. Once the pattern is formed, it becomes an automatic behavioral response.
Okay. The Top 5 Habits….
1. Eat five small meals a day.
2. Climb the stairs instead of using elevators.
3. Laugh it up!
4. Drink 8 glasses of water every day.
5. Unwind with meditation.
Sure, these make perfect sense. And I pretty much already follow these with exception to drinking 8 glasses of water every day. Does anyone really do this? As a mostly raw vegan I eat plenty of fruits and veggies that contain mostly water. But, I’ve read recently that there is a difference between getting your water from food and drinking the water directly. But, I’d said I can drink about 4-5 glasses of water a day. I have plenty of juices and smoothies, but I wonder if it counts or not.
Resolutions
People usually say they don’t make New Year’s resolutions, or they make them around this time of year.
Sure, I’ve made them. But I think the world “resolution” has gotten a bad rep over the years.
I prefer the word “Goal” nowadays.
It’s important to make plans and set goals at the beginning of the year. I’m sort of bad at making all those detailed goals. But I’m good at setting some big goals, like traveling and acquiring something of importance.
Here are some of my random goals for 2008:
1. Improve on my (mostly raw) vegan diet even further.
2. Get a dehydrator (for making gourmet raw vegan dishes).
3. Travel to Asia in June.
4. Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Times Square in New York.
5. Finish the meditation garden in the backyard.
6. Perform more on piano (and practice more).
7. Improve on my yoga and meditation practices.
And I think that’s plenty to think about. I think it’s important not to set too many goals. Then one might compromise a few important goals and simply make it too hard to achieve them all.
But, I’ll definitely have to follow the above tips for longevity.
Happy New Year, everyone!
If your reading this, then you’ve made it to another year on Earth. Or, you haven’t been to my site, yet. But, you’re definitely reading this because I myself have made it to a new year. Thank God.
Anyway, after a New Year’s gig, I am always paranoid about running into a drunk driver early in the morning on New Year’s Day on my way home. And over the years I’ve seen a lot of crazy drivers out there around this time of year.
After The Rains
But, last night’s gig turned out to be a big success. And I heard that there was more than 1,500 people there on the Midway aircraft carrier. The entrance price was $159 per person, or $1,590 for 10 people.
I don’t really mind playing Top40 and Dance Music nowadays. Though I’d rather be playing jazz or flamenco or something more creative. But I had fun nonetheless. I’ve been performing dance music ever since my high school days. So it’s always fun for me. My wife said it was really sounding good out there on the dance floor.
So, here we are in 2008. The first day.
I was thinking about doing a personal review of 2007. You know… The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of 2007. But I think I just want to focus on the possible good in 2008. 2007 is now history. And there will always be our good moments, our bad, and some incredibly ugly moments that we would rather just forget.
A New Year. A clean slate.
A few wonderful things have already happened to me that have found its way into 2008. And I’ll have to write about those things in detail and depth. And stay positive, and keep that positive energy flowing.
Home Life
And good thing. I was up at 7am this morning with lots of energy! My mostly raw vegan diet allows me to wake up earlier now and feeling energetic, without having to jumpstart my body with caffeine. Which, for the most part I’ve given up.
And I’m ready to start the New Year working in the garden. In previous years, I’d still be asleep until 12noon after a New Year’s gig and not getting home until after 2am in the morning. But here I am alive and chipper!
Anyway, welcome to 2008, everyone! May you be blessed with a good year. A prosperous year filled with Love, Peace and Happiness… and good Health.
My oh my! Another gorgeous day in San Diego it seems. Not a cloud in the sky and it’s a beautiful blue up there! The sun is shining bright but it’s not hot and humid. A nice dry, slightly breezy day… and it all re-affirms why I continue to live in San Diego (despite the potential for wildfires, of course).
I’m currently enjoying a breakfast of freshly squeezed (from my manual juicer) organic orange juice, and a fruit salad consisting of organic grapes, pineapple, kiwi, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and mangos.
View From Where The TV Is Located, Looking Toward The Living Room
Later on, the Top 40/Big Band has a gig at UCSD at one of the dining halls. It should be fun. I haven’t performed at UCSD in a long, long time… so, nice!
Busy next few days….
UCSD gig tonight. Recording session tomorrow. Fairbanks Ranch gig on Friday, and two gigs on Saturday… The San Diego Wine and Food Festival at Seaport Village from 12noon to 4pm, and Le Papagayo’s in Leucadia later on from 7pm to 10pm. A double-header this Saturday!
For Thanksgiving (which is already next week… wow, where does the time go?) I’m hosting the Thanksgiving Day celebration at my house for our family re-union. So, people will be staying from out-of-town. My son at UC Riverside is coming down as well. So it’s going to be quite busy starting today, as I do my gigs and get the house ready for the festivities.
And I’m doing some gardening today and for the next several days. Only because I’ve neglected the garden and a lot of work has to be done to rejuvenate it. So, fertilize, water, plant, and prune!
Right now, every muscle in my body seems to be aching… a direct result from doing some intense cardio, doing some weight training, and performing my gigs this weekend.
The flamenco band was so loud! I wasn’t mic’d so I had to really play hard on drums. *Sigh* Someday, other musicians who are non-drummers will appreciate the fact that drums need to be mic’d properly for outdoor venues. You can’t just tell a drummer to play louder. Then I can’t play “dynamically” and everything is just all LOUD!
Anyway, I think that’s the flamenco guitarist’s inclination, to play a fusion of rock and flamenco music, because the sounds were all distorted and just plain loud. About three people in the audience were plugging their ears and I was afraid the whole time we performed that the police would come, or we’d get into some sort of trouble with the people putting on this event.
Either way, it was fun and we played (especially me, physically) REALLY hard!
We had a double header, but the second gig at The Turquoise was cancelled because every 4th Sunday another group performs there. But, the manager (who’s also a musician) really likes and appreciates us. He still fed us dinner and drinks for showing up. The manager on Sundays is really a nice guy.
Anyway, it gave me an opportunity to finally go to the ocean and try to catch a sunset, and this is what I captured with the new Nikon D40:
Moments like these… just seem to re-affirm how it’s important to cherish life and appreciate the beauty of the sky, the ocean and the sunset….
Here are some recent random photos taken with the Nikon D40 in automatic mode, no flash. I still need to practice more with my “manual” photography….
@ Riverside Metrolink Station
@ Riverside Metrolink Station
Trumpeter Nathan Mills @ Fairbanks Ranch Country Club
Flamenco guitarist Jordano @ Fairbanks Ranch Country Club
Hot Air Balloon over Fairbanks Ranch Country Club
I finally got around to taking a photo of my new camera, which I just so happened to take along with a book on Pranayama, which was given to me a while back by LuckyKat (thanks again).
A photo of the new camera (taken by the old camera) was sort of like passing the flame of inspiration from the old to the new…. hopefully, I can get better at taking photos, taking into account lighting, exposure time, composition, etc… All in all, a process which just continues to evolve as time goes on…
The book reminds me that I need to also focus on practicing Pranayama and Yoga… I just need to also re-inspire myself to get into a good yoga practice.
I really don’t know when this photo was taken. But this is one of many, many photographs on glossy paper that I am currently trying to digitize and post on my flickr account.
This one is my youngest son, Jordan. I’m guessing he was around 4 or 5? He is almost 14 right now.
I hope to organize and digitize a bunch of favorite photos here and there, whenever I have a little time. It’s sort of yet another side project I plan to finish before the end of the year… along with cleaning out the garage… again.
The full set of grand canyon photos.
We took highway 180, which began for us in the northwestern section of Flagstaff, Arizona. Most of the road went through fairly mountainous areas. And at one point we stopped by the side of the road to take in the vistas. Humphreys Peak is something you can’t miss around Flagstaff. It’s the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 ft.
This photo of Humphreys Peak was taken just west of it. The trip from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon was roughly 1.5 hours.
When I first caught my first real glimpse of the Grand Canyon, it was sort of strange. It didn’t look real at first… like a painting. And considering the ponderosa trees and dry chaparral seen on the way there, one is in for a bit of a surprise, because of the stark contrasts in terrain.
The Grand Canyon was so mesmerizing to me, one simply HAS to believe in God, because it had to have been made by Him. Nevertheless, everyone should agree that the Grand Canyon is something one must see in one’s lifetime.
We spent the whole afternoon hiking along the South Rim Trail, from Mather Point to Yavapai Point, and over to the El Tovar Hotel. I was actually surprised that much of the trail had no railing, and just a few feet away was a sheer drop of several hundred feet in some areas.
I was surprised to find a few people sitting over the edge! I mean, there are signs that say, people HAVE died here… so, I personally am NOT that courageous… or crazy!
Anyway, it took me a long, long time to get to this place in my journey to have viewed this amazing wonder firsthand, and I’m glad I finally did.
Yesterday, the family and I drove all the way from San Diego to Flagstaff, Arizona. It turned out to be a 9 hour drive, including rest stops and a couple of detours to a gas station. So, Wednesday was spent just getting to our first destination.
The trip through Arizona was pretty much uneventful. Just miles and miles of dry, desolate desert. Many times, the road was one straight line for miles and miles. But it was sunny and warm… a dry heat.
There was a bit of heavy traffic when we reached the outskirts of Phoenix. I saw the skyline in the distance, but we had to take the 101 Loop to I-17 which led us straight toward Flagstaff.
We stayed overnight in Flagstaff, and today we journey to The Grand Canyon. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some really good pictures. The day looks sunny so far.
At 5,000 ft. elevation, it’s cool up here.
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.
—-Paul McCartney
I wrote about Cilantro Live! before (see: Dining At Cilantro Live!) when I went there by myself for the first time to check it out. This time my wife took me, this time for a proper lunch (the last time, our dining experience was cut short by an emergency, so we had to leave early).
Sampler Platter from Cilantro Live!
The Cheeseburger Royale from Cilantro Live!
So, today was my birthday, and we finally sat down for lunch, had a nice window seat, and enjoyed a nice organic raw vegan meal without any disruptions. The food was heavenly… very fresh and full of flavor and texture!
This time I ordered the “Cheeseburger Royale” which came with a fairly large garden salad consisting of a light vinaigrette-type dressing that was very light and fresh. The actual veggie burger was totally raw:
Our house burger served on freshly prepared almond pulp/flax seed/buckwheat buns. The patty made of sun-dried tomatoes,flax seeds, red peppers, garlic & mushrooms. A layer of cashew cheese, all topped with ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado.
My wife ordered what I ordered the first time I was at Cilantro, the “Sampler Platter”:
2 Nori rolls, 1 Spring roll, 1 Buenos Vida Wrap, 2 Raw-violis, 1 Mini Pizzzaza and Small House Salad
For desert we shared a scoop of raw vegan vanilla ice cream… heavenly, and tasted just like regular vanilla ice cream, even better… we couldn’t believe it was made with cashews!
Overall, Cilantro Live! is an awesome place to dine out for the vegan, and for anyone who wishes to try something a bit adventurous and different.
. . . .
Afterward we went to the theater and watched Woody Allen’s Match Point… excellent movie. If you love the UK and London in particular, you’ll love the fact that this movie was filmed there, with lots of great shots of the Thames River and the English Countryside… upper society living!
“…but for now, let me say - Without hope or agenda - Just because it’s Christmas - And at Christmas you tell the truth - To me, you are perfect - And my wasted heart will love you…”
—Mark from Love Actually
. . . .
Tonight’s Gig: Solo Piano at Bistro 221 - 5pm to 8:30pm.
. . . .
Headstand… Sirsasana I
I had a very good 1 hour yoga session this morning. It felt like it went smoothly and the time flew by fast, probably because it was only half as long as the 2 hour session yesterday.
The headstand felt great, though it didn’t feel as solid as yesterday. There are times when I feel I am balanced very well… like the Rock of Gibraltar. Other times I’m a bit wobbly. Today was pretty good, but I could’ve been more firm on the headstand.
Many times during headstand, I can feel the blood leaving my legs, and I always get a “head rush”!
The CD Himalaya Roots: Traditional Music of Nepal is something I’ve been listening to a lot lately.
Nepal is a country that has always fascinated me… this land, the rooftop of the world in The Himalayas. NepalHomepage.com has an extensive collection of links to many photo galleries. Simply amazing…
One day, I would like to travel to Nepal, and also visit Tibet.
There’s a site called thingsasian.com that showcases lots of photos from Nepal and Tibet and other Asian countries.
It’s been a beautiful, peaceful summer day today…
Haven’t felt like updating the journal, and I’ve been doing a lot of gardening, planting and propagating… just working the soil. I created a compost pile in a corner of the backyard. I’ve been doing lots of work in the yard, and I’m finally beginning to see some results. Need to plant more flowering shrubs, though.
So, I’m sure everyone knows about the purchase of flickr.com by yahoo.com.
The good people at flickr.com say this is a great move for their people. And if that’s the case, then I’m happy for them.
It’s an awesome service. And I really feel like upgrading to the “pro” version. But, I’m a poor musician and web developer. Maybe someone can sponsor me?
One of my favorite photos taken in New York is that of the Hello Kitty store near Times Square.
The store is located on 42nd street near the Westin Hotel, where we stayed on the corner of 8th and 42nd street. New York’s Time Square was just one long block away.
By the way, the original journal entry about our NYC trip can be found here
|
|
