sunday at the california academy of sciences

This aquarium supposedly has coral reef from the Philippines.

That dude from Green Day.

Don't adjust your screen. The fish heads are indeed upside down.


Dino and I could stare at this all day.



Nautilus in such a cramped space.

Glow in the dark.

Another oddity, the upside down jelly fish.

Jolie-Pitt lips.

Baaad picture. Just trying to demonstrate the size of that ugly fish behind Dino.

Under the sea...with three spiraling levels of simulated tropical rain forest above.
View from top.

leonardo

Seen and heard in downtown San Jose a couple of days ago:



kid: Miss Sullivan, I think they should give the horse underwear next time.
teacher: *looked up at the giant horse statue and was stupefied*

remains

distance

I just received a Christmas card from my mom in the Philippines and I cannot stop crying.
The card contains a quote from some person named Linda Sackett-Morrison. I don't really care who she is but I am thankful that she and Blue Mountain Arts card company exist. No matter how unoriginal, I choose to hear my mother's voice through these printed words.

"My daughter, these special wishes are just for you at Christmas...

When you close your eyes at the end of each day, I wish you contented and peaceful sleep.
When you are fearful or uncertain, I wish for warmth and light to surround you.
When you dream, I wish you soaring images and endless possibilities.
When you wake each morning, I wish you the joy of anticipating a beautiful day ahead.
When you face problems, I wish you boundless strength and courage to guide you.
When you walk along your path, I wish you lasting friendships to brighten your way.
Most of all, I wish you love...to fill your heart and make your world complete."

ocean beach

I'm slowly finding my path. Being out of work for some months now, and also with much prodding from Dino, I made the decision to recover my artist child.
Although I've had the opportunity to work as a photographer in the last 4 years, I have not really cultivated the artist in me with any consistency. The artist that I aimed to be since I finished my fine art degree has been in the shadows and I just realized that this has made me so unhappy. There's an important part of my self that I've neglected for years.
I've had too many fears, and I still do...but I cannot allow my self to be in this negative situation any longer.

I just started a course to recover my creativity and inspiration with the help of a book called The Artist's Way. In the past weeks I've been following the ideas, suggested activities and tasks in the book.
I'm slowly going back to taking pictures for myself and not for a company or other purposes. I'm trying to rediscover the pleasure of taking photos, without preconceived ideas and simply going out and just doing it.

sunset

My in laws are staying with us until the 18th. I wish they could stay longer. I wish they could be here until Spring.
I find that I am most stable when family is around. Too bad for me, Daddy and Mama will be leaving next week to join the rest of the clan in Manila. The thought of another Christmas alone depresses me.

After spending the first half of the day at home, I wandered around a park to take some photos.

I found some of my Santa Cruz photos from at least three summers ago. I should print them out. They'll be good as my little pep talk every dull, slow winter morning.