Here is my assortment of pics from May. New friends, old friends, ebonics and perversion at the Chinese supermarket, Doggles, and all the randomness you've come to expect and love, um, right?

Random thought of the day / week / month: It has just occurred to me that I'm not really a photographer, but more a documenter of life. Does it really matter? Probably not. It's just that when I see some of the portfolios out there, I am deeply humbled. I gots no skills. Just lots of enthusiasm. :)

Photo-viewing hint: there's a slideshow button at the top. I actually really like viewing other peoples' pictures in slideshow format, with captions on.

Update - Bonus: if you go through the gallery carefully, you *might* find a funny video clip of me. :) (SmugMug doesn't have lots of support for videos yet, so I had to use YouTube.)

I came home from my little excursion last weekend with a cold and legs massively covered in red bug bites. My best friend right now is a bottle of Benadryl anti-itch gel. MUST ... NOT ... SCRATCH!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!

My cousin Min, ever the ihatepink.com ham (and do I ever love her so for it!), writes:

"Hi Caroline and Howard,

Your cousin Min is now a minor celebrity in the world of Fear Factor Live!  While at Universal Studios last Sunday, Peter and I were asked to participate in some crazy stunts.  This was to show the audience that the scenarios where the contestants would be participating were real.  Peter had an electric current run through his body while I had live emperor scorpions (5 of them) put on my head.

Watch and enjoy!

Love
Min (& Peter)

P.S. I so-o-o-o deserve a spot on your blog for this!  =)"

And so, minor celebrity cousin Min, here is your spot. (WMV, 57secs, 4.8MB) :)

I wanna know if Min kept her eyes squeezed shut the entire time, or if she dared open 'em for a peek. :)

Ah yes, fresh air that only a non-Houston location could offer. Pics to come ...

But first, pics from my trip up to Austin from a couple weeks back where Annie, Jerry, and I went to see Wei 'n Oscar's new abode!

My observant readers may notice that I've invested in SmugMug, a new picture host, which should allow me to share pics more efficiently! Also, if you sign up for hosting with them thru this here link or enter coupon code K6kiJKNRnnN7A, you get $5 off - and give me a lil' cut too. Sweet!

My colleague and I had been collaborating for some time now on a difficult infertility treatment - he handled the husband's case, while I handled the wife's case. Both acupuncture and herbs were involved. Well ...

Today we received in the mail an ultrasound picture of our newly pregnant couple.

It was truly a high-five moment (we couldn't hold back). I think we both wanted to jump around and hug and cry from the sheer joy, but there were patients around, so we didn't.

I can't stop staring at the ultrasound and thinking, "We did that. WE did that. WE DID THAT!!"

Can't wipe the smile off my face.

OK, so I got pretty good at doing slideshows with Adobe Premiere, but my inner slideshow geek had its way and I wanted to try out different slideshow programs for different projects. I've tried Sony Vegas and Photodex Proshow Gold as well. For now, I've gone back to Premiere.

For the latest slideshow effort for a friend, I have been collaborating with her sister to get the pictures so we can surprise her with the slideshow at her upcoming party. The last words from my friend's sister were: "Oh man, look at her hair! She's SO gonna kill you for putting those pictures in. You GOTTA use these."

Hmm. Haven't done a slideshow yet where my life was at risk. How exciting! :)


Here's a snippet from the slideshow I did for a temple charity event earlier this month (WMV, 1min 30secs, 5.2Mb).

Total DVD Running Time: 5mins 8secs
Total Hours Spent: One month, in my spare time.
Number of Major Revisions: None. But billions of minor tweaks and adjustments.
Programs Used:

• Sony Vegas 5
  
• Sonic MyDVD (for authoring to DVD and making a pretty animated menu screen)

Song Used: a super cool melodical rendition of the Da4 Bei1 Zhou4 (I don't know the proper English translation - literally, "Lots 'n Lots of Compassion Chant").

Several of my friends have switched to more energy-efficient lighting, as electricity costs climb to about 18 cents per kWh. Boooo. Well, I've been reluctant to make the switch, as my impression of fluorescent lighting is that of nasty cold light that takes forever to reach its nasty brightest point.

Well, call me converted, cuz I tried some today, and damn I love these things! They're surprisingly brighter than their regular counterparts and the lighting feels pretty nice. And they're instant on!! That's it! I'm replacing everything in the apartment with these things!

In a previous post, I marvelled at what retouching could do for a photo. So I tried it out for myself.

I couldn't find a decent bikini pic of myself, so I ganked a recently-posted one of sillyvibe. Hope you don't mind, girl! So I went at it, trying to use the cloning tool and healing brush and color adjustments and all that. I was going for fuller lips, glossier hair and skin, an extra ounce or two in the boobs and butt, an ounce or two less in the abs ...

But then I gave up, and realized that the art of retouching is a very personal one, that each should seek their own style, and that I should stop emulating others.

And so, I ended up with a masterpiece that improves upon the pic subtly, yet dramatically. Yes, sillyvibe should be cringing in fear. :) Drum roll please! (Caution: not exactly work safe)

Just got a phone call from the brother. Apparently he got his left shoulder on national TV. (I can't say I'm all that excited about it, but he was pumped enough about it to call me and tell me, so here I am.)

If you have ESPN, and if you see coverage of Detroit vs. Cleveland's 7th game (basketball) and see an interview of a player named Lindsey Hunter (yes, that is a man's name), my brother's left shoulder is apparently taking up 25% of the screen, for 10-15 secs. He says he was wearing a blue suit? Can't remember.

Anyway! If anyone sees this tonight or tomorrow, do me a favor and take a pic / video clip of the screen as you're watching, eh? (I don't have cable so there's no way I would be able to see it for myself.) Bonus if you get a pic of yourself making funny faces beside the TV!

I suppose if your left shoulder gets on national TV, you're a few inches away from having your face on national TV. :)

Update: The bro just called again, saying that his friend saw him on ABC (as in, his face was actually discernible) post-game from some camera angle or other. "I'm probably the only Asian on the floor with a camera!" he exclaimed excitedly. Hahaha. Well, one day when he's famous and has his mug on national TV on a regular basis, I'm gonna look back on this post and smile. :)

I'm totally just taking this straight from sillyvibe cuz I thought it was SO cool (warning: no nudity, but lots of scantily clad, strategically-covered bodies, so isn't entirely work-safe):

Pics (and a video clip) here from the Vienna Teng show May 9th here in Houston at The Mucky Duck (again). This time we had the biggest table in the house, hee hee (yay for Evite!). There was some organizational ability needed just because 1) by the time I found out about the show there were only 4 days left, 2) I ended up with 20 people coming (WAY above my expectations!), 3) the ticket pre-purchase could only be done in person, and 4) I'd gotten mixed up about when the show was going to start. But in the end, thanks to Will going and grabbing tickets for me, everything went without a hitch. Otherwise, I would've gone mad. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, and to those who didn't go, these pics will just have to tide you over until she next comes to town. Her new CD is available for pre-order. Her first two albums, Waking Hour and Warm Strangers, are both available on Amazon.com, complete with sound samples. Will has already picked up both albums; anyone else? :)

Small world this is. Turns out Dakao knows Vienna's best friend's brother. Ah yes, knowing everyone within 6 degrees ... And, turns out Vienna remembered me from meeting her a couple years ago through Eric (I really didn't expect her to, after a gazillion meals with tons of "warm strangers", I'm sure) and we ended up exchanging some friendly banter after the show.

While I'm plugging away - hey NY and L.A. peoples - she will be performing at a venue near you in June! Go see go see!