Great Night

I have to park a few blocks away from my school, so my walk is not bad. It's not too far that if I'm so tired I dread it. And it's not too close that on a nice cool night, I'm able to enjoy a nice stroll. The other night was one of those nights. Great night for a walk. Some cool shots w/ my iphone. =) Enjoy.


That lil' speck is the moon.






Underpass.


This is the parking lot. You can see the San Jose Hp Pavillion where the Sharks play in the background. GO SHARKS! =)

~V

Graffiti I See

Guess what I saw on my way to school the other day? You guessed it! Some more art. On the same wall! Lol I thought it was kinda funny. This artist must really like this spot. It does get a lot of attention. It got mine. It's still pretty cool. Seems from the same era. U can tell how I was zooming past cuz the flowers are all blurry. Haha Anyway thought I'd share. Thx 4 visiting. =)





~V

Horses

I've always loved horses. Even when I was younger. They're beautiful animals. Never ridden. Always wanted to. I always say for my birthday I want to go horse back riding. And I never do. On my way to school I pass several country homes and they have horses. I'm jealous. I want a country home with horses! Haha.

~V

Saturday Farmer's Markets

As a routine, early Saturday afternoon's are spent at one of our local farmer's market. My Grandma and I stroll around and usually meet up with some of her daughters (my Aunts). I enjoy the farmer's market. Some cool stands. Things you can't find in stores. Lotta hand made stuff. Flowers. Colors. Lots of colors. I always have my camera with me. These are some photos I've collected over a cpl weeks. Enjoy.

It was like 80 degrees out but my Aunt bought my Grandma
a scarf. But she's a good sport. She posed anyway. =)

It's a chair!

Butterfly bead curtains.

Birds.

Baby pinatas.

~V

Graffiti I See

Here I is again. Let me start off by saying I apologize, for the limited few who actually visit my blog lol, that it's been a while. I've been lazy and busy. Mostly, I just haven't thought of things to blog about. But I've been taking pictures, as I usually do, of different things that catch my eye and I've been brainstorming about things I want to blog about. Even if not many tune it, I like to document it even for myself.

One brainstorm idea, at which I hope to keep up with, is a series I will call "Graffiti I See". There's plenty in the area I live. For the most part it's not interesting. Little gangster wanna-bees taggin' all over town bout what they 'claim'. Stupid s#!t. But every once and a while I find something cool. Something worth photographing. Couple weeks ago, I was getting ready for school, as I usually do. Got on the freeway heading en route, as I usually do... and I saw some graffiti that caught my attention. It was way cool. I wasn't able to snap it at that moment because its' like 4 seconds onto the freeway. My plan was to catch it the next day, HOPING maintenance hadn't noticed it yet and covered it up. So next day I remembered about it and got my camera ready before hand. Now I think I've posted before, about how I've gotten pretty good at taking pictures while I'm driving. I know, I know, I know....it's dangerous, but let me assure you I'm not speeding (even though I'm getting on to a freeway- its barely on the on-ramp so I'm not speeding quite yet anyway) and I'm NOT looking at what I'm shooting. I just sort of stick my hand out, wish myself luck that I get it and *CLICK*. Not till after do I check out what I captured. So I was pretty happy with myself that I got a pretty decent shot on my first try.

Here it is:

Whoever the artist was, past tense because it has been covered up since (you can see the cover-ups of past 'artists'), did a pretty good job. Kind of a random spot. But hey!, it was going to get noticed. It's a pretty busy on-ramp. It kinda looks like a huelga bird. Or one of those birds from an aztec calendar. This is the closest pic I could find online that resembles it.


Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool. Until next session. (Much sooner I promise.) Have a good day! =)

~V

IME

So looking from my last post, which was Jan 4th, that was my 1st day of school. Well back to school. Again. Man I've been going to school forever. When's it gonna end?!?! Haha. Actually yesterday in class, my teacher made a comment giving me the impression that I'd have at least another 5 years of schooling to finish what I ultimately want to do. :o/ Whoa! But I can't worry about that right now. I need to concentrate on what I'm working on right now. And what's that you ask? My MRI Tech certification over in San Jose at the...


Yup. As of this week I've been going to this new school for one whole month! PHEW! It's been interesting and intense! Lots of info. Short amount of time. I feel like I've been going for a lot longer than I have been. I've made some new friends. I'm passing all my tests. We have one every week. In fact, last week I scored 100%! The only one in class too. I was muy proud to myself. ::cheers:: ::pats self on back::

It's pretty cool. We've been looking at alot of MRI/CT scans. Granted CT scans is not our expertise, but they're trying to get us familiar with structures in the body for us to be able to identify them later when we're taking the pictures. Check em out...

This MRI scan is a Coronal Plane of the head.
Meaning the 'cut' is dividing the head from Front/Back.

And this MRI scan is of a Transverse Plane of the head.
Meaning the 'cut' is dividing the head from Top/Bottom.

This is one of our handouts. We have to know all these little structures of the skull. From Cranial bones, to Facial bones, to all the little holes in the skull for veins/nerves to pass through. All sutures, grooves and dips, protrusions and punctures. And that's just the skull! You can see here we were labeling everything. Sheesh! And I bet you thought it was just one big ol' bone huh? WRONG!

Anyway, I'm learning a lot. And most importantly, I'm having fun doing it. It's interesting to me. I think I've always had it in me to do something in the medical field. And with my interest and hobby in photography, this combines the two.

Speaking of which; this is a tree I pass everyday on my way
to class. I've been watching it bloom. It's pretty. I really need to find one weekend where I can go around the city and take pictures.

So I'm enjoying it. Till next time. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post later. I need to go get ready for class. See y'all soon. =)

~V

Same Idea

I like to sleep. I do. But I like to get up early too. It feels good. You get more done. Today, unexpectedly I woke up early. Those days are not so much fun, but either way I was up. Had some errands to run. So I took advantage of the early rise. Ok not like SUPER early or anything. My errands didn't start till like 915am. But that's still rather early for me.

Anyway... I think God and I had the same idea today. We were up early and had things to do. But in the midst of it, we took in the art. Me, with my camera. He, with his canvas; the sky.

Looks like he took a giant paint brush (maybe a redwood
tree or something?), dipped it in the Caribbean Ocean and swept the clouds with it.

A whip here. A toss there. Parted the clouds there. Some swirl action here.

And maybe just ooooone big SWOOSH across the sky.

Just for fun. Just 'cause He can.

Ok, It's late. I start school tomorrow.
I should get to that sleep I was talking about. =)

Gnite.

~V

BitterSweet/NervousExcited

Let me start off by saying I got a package in the mail this morning and it had me SUPER EXCITED! (One of the reasons 'excited' is in the title) My camera broke a couple weeks back and I was SUPER BUMMED. Especially 'cuz the holidays were going to be coming up and I'm always taking pictures. So I had mailed it out for some fixin and IT CAME TODAY! Right away I checked the address on it and I knew it was my camera and I was muy excited! So yay! It's working!!! This is me taking test photos. Lol

It's all good! =)

So yesterday, me and my friend Alma, whom I'm going to be going to school with, took a drive to San Jose to get some last minute stuff done before school starts on ... MONDAY! HELLO! Omgoodness! Time flew by. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm excited to start a new adventure. Hopefully the first stepping stones of my career. (well maybe not first, I've been going to school for what seems like forever now. lol) I'm feeling older and I need to get on track. Imma late bloomer. Most people would probably say that's fitting for me 'cuz I'm always late. ;) (Always late but worth the wait! Isn't that how the saying goes? haha) So this is a picture of my school that I took with my phone.

It's in the center of downtown San Jose. Very cool.
I'm excited to get to learn the area more.

So Christmas has come and gone. And I had a lovely mellow one at that. Kept tradition. Xmas eve was spent with my Mom's side of the family. Indulged myself in family made tamales. Which we barely finished off yesterday. We make dozens! We give many plates away. As much as I love and look forward to them, I cannot tear 'em all up myself. Haha. And just the same, Xmas day was spent with my Dad's side of family. More food. Them people like to make spreads! And coming in just two days, 2010. The new year. And I'm starting it with a fully packed school schedule. I'm so used to lawdy-dawdying it, I hope I don't get too overwhelmed. I don't have any plans for New Years. One, I don't have money to celebrate. And two, I'm not in the mood. Unfortunately a few days ago I got some sad news. A passing of someone dear to someone dear to me. I don't put any blame on anyone for changing my mood. Life happens. And it got me thinking of the ones I have lost as well. Another reason I like to look at the sky. I wonder where they are. I wonder if they can see me. I wonder if my Mom follows me on the clouds. Watches over me. Most often tho... I wonder if she misses me...

~V

Day Late and a Dollar Short...

So I haven't blogged since last month. And last month I was saying that I hadn't blogged in a long time. Here I am again. With the same ol' song. I think of things to blog about and then when it comes down to it, it slips on by. Then by the time I get to blogger and think "I should blog about that", it's too late. I.E.: my last Tuesday Tune. Lol Seems I'm always a day late (or a month lol) and a dollar short. But either way.. I apologize. I want to share some photos and I'm gonna blog now. =)

It's mid December and you know what that brings; winter weather, shopping (not that I get to do much of that tho lol) and Christmas cheer! Three things I love about Christmas. I love winter weather. It's my favorite season. It's cold out and warm inside. Few weeks ago I was driving in the rain, another one of my favorite things to do (safely of course), and I took some shots. I'll admit, taking pictures while driving, in the rain no less, is not super safe, but I promise I was driving super slow for this 1st shot. Excuse the rain drops from my windshield. I kinda like them there tho.

And for 2nd shot, honestly I can't remember where I was. BUT! I can make another promise, I was NOT driving. For the sole purpose I was trying to photograph the full moon. And if anyone has ever tried to take a picture of the moon, and knows a little about the art of photography, you need the camera as still as can be! And driving would DEFINITELY not helped this shot out.


Almost everywhere you look you can witness the Christmas cheer. Stores are packed with crazed shoppers while listening to holiday music. Lights start going up on people's houses. Christmas tree lots start mounting. And this week, I did just that. I mounted our tree! Well more slipped into placed rather than mount. We have an artificial tree. But it still does that job. What do ya think?


It's a lil' bare towards the bottom at the moment, but come Christmas Eve, there won't be much room left. Let alone to walk! lol This house tends to get pretty packed. Especially since my Grandma makes her famous tamales. There was talk that there wasn't going to be any this year. She's elderly and it's a lot of work for her. But everyone is pitching in, yes including myself, as I do every year, and we're going to get them done!


Ok I'll leave this blog for now. So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! =)


~V

Tuesday Tune Return

So I know I haven't post in a long minute. I've thought of things to post, but then I'd forget or I'd get lazy or I wouldn't be motivated. Bad Vane! It's been almost a month and I had been wanting to share something since the Halloween holiday. I figure a Tuesday Tune would be a good chance to showcase that. So lemme back track a lil'... Back in October, people at hundreds of locations across the world were attempting to break a world record for the largest simultaneous performance of the Michael Jackson music video "Thriller". And my home town of Salinas was participating. Women, men, boys and girls, young and aged, all dressed up as zombies and rehearsed the dance routine in our 'Old Town' area. No auditions necessary. Whoever wanted to join, were more than welcomed. Some people went all out with their costumes. I only learned of the event from a friend. She said I should go out there and try to be on TV since I like to dance. But I didn't. Lol BUT, I did want to check it out. I went and I took a few video clips and pictures. Here they are...



The dance rehearsal to THRILLER. (I apologize for the shakiness. Couldn't always get a clear shot and there were many people and many people who were taller than me. lol I had to just point my camera above the crowd and hope I was getting a clear shot.)

Some photos...

Big crowd.



Like I said, there were all sorts of zombies.
Twin goth zombies...


Coming up from the ground zombies.


Triplet young Michael Jackson zombies.
I think these boys were best dressed.


Bride zombies.


Buff zombies? lol


Happy to be shot in the face zombies. Ouch!


And young cute adorable zombies.

The little boy above with the gray sweats and black shirt, his name is Justin. He is 4 years old. I think those are his older brothers in the background. Justin turned out to be quite the talented little zombie and soon became the center of attention when he started displaying his awesome MJ moves. Even though he is very young and I'm sure he doesn't completely understand what he's becoming a part of, he can still understand he enjoys dancing and pleasing the crowd. And he sure did!

Watch...



Here, that same taller fellow has a fun battle with a young girl.




All in all it was fun to watch and to see everyone have such a good time.


~V

Therapy

Driving is my therapy. And photos. Whenever I have an off day, I drive. And almost always, 99% of the time, I have my camera with me. When I drive, I take photos. (I've actually gotten some pretty cool shots off while driving- and NOT looking! At the shot that is. I'm still looking at the road.) I stop and take photos. I reverse and take photos. I get lost, on purpose, and take photos. To clear my mind. To focus on something else. Usually they're nothing. Sometimes they're something. Something that catches my eye. I might delete them. I might not. Some I like. Some I keep. Some make me proud. Some I work for. Today I needed a drive. So I took photos. These are the ones that made the cut. =) Hope you enjoy.

One of the first ones I took was of this car. It caught my eye cuz of what was tied to that back. Are those hula hoops? In various sizes? I haven't a clue, but like i said, sometimes my photos are nothing. lol

Passed thru a tunnel.

I'm lucky enough to live in very close driving
distance to the beach. Usually my drives lead me there.

Found a neighborhood. Nice garden.

Near that neighborhood, there was a park. Eh sort of a park. Didn't have alot of steady land for visiting. No where to sit but rocks and tree trunks. No play area. But it did have a bridge. Which was the reason for my stop. I liked it. It had tall trees. Leaves everywhere. Creek towards the bottom. (Actually it was just from a sewer.) And I found a friend. Ok he found me. I could hear him tho. haha

Found some color among the green.















Speaking of color. In that neighborhood, I found this house. Talk about color! Magenta walls. Sherbert orange chimeny. Teal window seals. And purple trimming. Oh my!

Said bridge.

My reflection in 'creek'.

Upon arriving to beach... or coast rather...

Kinda cool right. Think about it... Alone. At the edge of the earth.

Driving shot. Not bad. Darn bush was in the way tho.

Ok I think I should be heading home. I'm going to be losing the sunlight in a matter of minutes. Literally. Until next adventure. For the road... my goodbye photos.

Home.

~V