Transformation

Currently showing at a group show.

Earthworks 02: Transformation presented by CAFE MODE
February 26, 2009 - April 26, 2009
SHOJIN restaurant 333 S. Alameda St., Suite 310 (3rd Floor) Los Angeles, CA 90013
open everyday 11:30am - 10pm [except M-F between 2:30-5:00pm]

2009

Happy New Year!

2008

I can't believe there are only three more days left in the year. Of course this blog only got updated 11 times this year. 2008 was good, despite the unexpected lay off and the declining economy. I now have a new job that I love and enjoy, and this country will have a new president in about three weeks.

David came down from SF to hang out for the holidays and I think we did our fair share of partying. He brought some awesome Christmas gifts- "Little Big Planet" and "The Last Remnant"! LBP is super cute but I need to up my gaming skills because the simplest movements are so hard for me.

Yesterday I got to go to Joshua Tree for the first time although it was rather brief and COLD! It was beautiful out there though, and I had fun watching William and Angeline ride this crazy bike that Kio and Alan made and shot for their film.

Autumn

Last summer I made a few posts about gardening. My lavenders are still doing ok, but the potted plants have long gone. My yard as seen in this post was overgrown, but imagine another year had gone by without any maintenance. Yes, it was out of control. My landlord finally said something about it, and so I made yet another attempt to improve the situation.

It's literally back-breaking work dragging over 60 palm fronds that are between 15-20ft long with hard spikes on them. I was out in the yard again today trying to clear out the back end of the yard (which I rarely visit) and found this.



It's hard to tell from the photo but I think it's slightly larger than a cat. ...But a skull? What is going on in my own backyard??

Smena Symbol

I'm not a that good of a photographer but I own a lot of cameras. Off the top of my head, I can count 9 cameras. More then half of them are Lomography cameras that I've collected over the years. I also have a nice SLR that I barely ever use. I use my Lomo LC-A the most, but lately I've been trying to use my Smena Symbol more.

I'm always excited to see what kind of images I get, and I was especially pleased with the results from my last roll of film. I've gotten a couple of double exposures here and there, but this time the entire roll was double exposed. I love the accidental combination of images.

Silk screening: step two, attempt two

I realized that after cleaning the screen, I blew out some of the detail of the image. I wouldn't be able to get a nice crisp print like the original painting I did with the drawing fluid. Regardless, I wanted to make the best of what I had left, and I think I managed to get one decent print. My standards have become pretty low at this point...







The lesson I have learned from all of this is as follows:

- choose a design without thin lines in between

- use enough screen filler (I didn't, and I ended up having to coat the screen more than once which is not recommended)

- be careful when washing out the drawing fluid or cleaning the screen so as not to blow out the image

- don't give up


I definitely want to try this again. Despite the mess, I had fun.

Silk screening: step two

I was starting to think that silk screening was easy.
For over 4 years I watched guys at work screen printing shirts. Piece of cake. I knew all about it too. "It's smudging. The screen needs to be cleaned." "The image isn't coming out. The ink dried up and it's clogging the mesh."
Then I tried doing it myself for the first time in like 6 years or possibly more. Yeah, now I remember... I suck at this.

I think I've been seeing all these beautiful prints online and elsewhere, I began to believe that it was going to be just as easy and beautiful for me as well. I went to an art opening on Saturday at Little Bird Gallery that featured prints by various designers/artists. Of course all the work was beautiful and flawless. The show is called "OFF-REGISTER" but the prints I saw were pretty much well registered, not to mentions there were no smudges in sight.

Anyway, here is my first attempt at these prints.





Disastrous. Talk about smudges. I decided to clean the screen and start over. Once again, I'm waiting for my screen to dry so I can attempt this again. I know I can do this... I hope.

Silk screening: step one

I bought this book Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin a few weeks ago at a store in Silver Lake called Reform School. Since then I've been itching to make some prints. The book introduces a good variety of printing techniques- some I was familiar with, and some I was not. I've done some silk screening when I was in school and I've worked for a screen printer, so this technique is not new to me. But I was surprised to learn that there are more ways to print with the screen than to just make the stencil by burning the film onto the emulsion coated screen.

I have a screen that I'd bought years ago in college that I have never used. I decided to use one of the techniques shown in the book to make my first ever print with my very own screen. I bought some screen drawing fluid and started painting directly on the screen. I am letting it dry right now. Later I will coat the screen with screen filler and after that's dry, wash out the part I painted with drawing fluid. Then I'll finally be able to print. It's a lot of drying and waiting for now...

Ants on a Log

William started this diet this week, and part of it requires him to eat celery with peanut butter. First he chose Jiff, then later realized that it needed to be organic peanut butter. Watching him eat this snack made me want one myself, so I decided to make one out of Jiff and another out of Trader Joe's organic peanut butter. I added some raisins to complete the nostalgic snack "Ants on a Log".

The Jiff is to the right, and the organic peanut butter is the shinier runnier looking one.

Jiff: Eating it with the celery made me realize how sweet the peanut butter was. I could taste the sugar. Not so much the peanuts.

TJ's organic peanut butter: No sweetness here, but I could really taste the peanuts. Very rich flavor.

I added more raisins to the organic peanut butter and it was perfect. When I first encountered ants on a log (they do not have these in Japan) I thought it was the strangest thing. But then again I thought PB&J was weird.

giant spider

This spider has been building and rebuilding its web for over a week now. Part of the web relies on the lid of the trash can that sits outside our house, so every time the lid is opened, the web is destroyed. I try to use the other trash can when I can, but even then it gets destroyed every other day. Nonetheless the spider keeps coming back for that same spot. I hadn't seen the spider until today, but William has told me how big it was. And it was. There was no web this morning, but he rebuilt it beautifully. I wonder how long it takes?

caramelized pear & toasted pecan ice cream

When I was in Pavilion's the other day, I wandered over to the ice cream section (as I often do) and found this. I couldn't imagine what it would taste like at the time, but it just sounded good. I scooped a spoonful as soon as I got home, and was instantly glad I made this choice. It's so good!! Basically it tastes like pears. With pecans mixed in. The pear is refreshing while the pecan and the creamy ice cream is rich. I've never seen this flavor before but I guess it's not that new.

Haagen-Dazs has a new flavor called "Vanilla Honey Bee", which donates the proceeds to support the research to protect honey bees. They're disappearing and nobody knows why! Visit their special website for more info.

New Face

I decided to finally add a banner for this blog. I think I'll start posting more, and I want to include more of my art and other findings... Here is a drawing I did in my sketchbook recently to start.

NabuTHIS is it

Almost a year later, I am back playing FFXII. AGAIN. STILL. I think the last time In posted, I played for a while but then stopped again. I got busy. Something like that. But a few weeks ago, things happened and I along with 9 other employees got let go from our job. Yeah, it sucked. It was a management thing so there was nothing we could do about it. But as I recovered from my state of shock (which was surprisingly brief) I began to think about all the possibilities... I can go to that farmers market they have in my town on Thursdays! I can finally work on my web site that has been close to being abandoned! I can... I can finally FINISH FINAL FANTASY XII...!!!

Unfortunately William has little tolerance for watching FFXII so I have to sneak around at night or when he's not around to play. Last night I was up until 3 am doing a hunt. What I've realized is that the graphics aren't that hot now that I'm used to seeing PS3 games. I'm looking forward to FFXIII. Who knows how long that will take me to finish. I'm probably the only person still blogging about FFXII in real time. But despite the time it's taken me to get this far, I think I can do it. This is my chance. I think I can beat this game! I'm going to be sad though, so I think I'm going to hang around a bit longer doing hunts and other nonesense.

NabuYES

I started playing FFXII again.

After about 9 months of mourning, I was ready. Afterall, this blog was named after it. It was bound to happen sometime. I had to start from the very beginning but it was ok, since I had forgotten a lot of things about the game. Like how to change leaders. I'm pretty sure there was an easier way to doing this but I sort of figured it out. This time I have the strategy guidebook with me which makes it a bit easier. I felt like I was cheating though, but when I said this William simply replied, "You've already done all this". True.

Gardening: Day 30 something

So, gardening. I haven't updated anything for about a month, but my plants have been making some progress. I took some pictures to compare what they looked like a month ago.



Mint is definitely more bushy, and the Aloe looks greener. I think it also sporouted more leaves (are they called leaves?).


Tomato plant is way taller, and look!

An actual tomato! I only have one tomato fruit growing so far... I hope i'll have more.

The lavenders are doing alright, aside from the fact that the English Lavender looks a little tired.

The okra and basil seedlings were doing fine for a while, but it stoped growing after a while. My okra never sprouted more leaves, and remained long and skinny. I tried to repot them too soon, which resulted in them wilting :( I had given up on my basil as well, and had left one pot sitting outside for a few days without water. Surely, it would have dried up and died...? But to my pleasant surprise, it was still alive! And kickin'!

It now had four leaves. I have kept it outside since, watering it occasionally without drowning it. It is growing slowly, but seems to be doing fine for now. I woinder how long it will take to become a decent plant that i can get basil leaves from.

Pies are best eaten at night

I just came home from the House of Pies Family Restaurant and Bakery in Los Feliz. I had passed by several times but never had had the opportunity to go inside. But tonight was the night.

After a pretty healthy meal of chicken patties with vegetable sauce and some tofu salad, William announced that he wanted some pastries. "Pastries??" I asked him what kind, and he started to name various baked goods. Apple pie, sweet potato pie, vanilla cake... I sat there trying to think of a place that served pastries after 9pm, and finally remembered House of Pies on the corner of Vermont and Franklin. It was hard to find parking because apparently everyone wants some pies on a Monday night. William was at first a little bummed to see that they didn't have any sweet potato pie, but decided on Southern Pecan pie a la mode. I got Dutch Apple and a decaf coffee. The best thing about family restaurants is that they have decaf. You can't get decaf at a cafe. Or can you? Either way, why would you go to a cafe to get decaffeinated coffee? I love my pastries with coffee, but as it was late at night, I gladly ordered decaf and it was awesome. So were the pies. The pecan pie reminded me of this pastry that my mom makes, and I reminded myself to ask her for the recipe.

There is something about going to a random place for a late-night indulgence that I love. It's spontaneous, carefree, and fun. It makes me feel like all of it is a part of a bigger plan. But the best part is that it isn't. All it is is eating pies. Then we go home.

Gardening: Day 3

Ok, so Day 3. I don't have a photo of my seedlings because nothing has happened yet. I'm impatient so I always assume it's not going to happen when I don't see any sprouting action in the first couple of days, but it says it will take about a week to two weeks on the seed packet. Patience, patience. Instead I am going to post some photos of the rest of the garden.

Three different lavenders. The last one is supposedly French Lavender.




Mint and Aloe.


Tomato


The Lily that Lived


Damn you, palm trees!!


The embarassing reality of our backyard

Gardening: Day 1

I started reading "You Grow Girl", a guidebook to gardening for the urban, younger generation. I've bought plants from time to time (especially this time of year) in hopes of starting a garden, but they have always ended up dying due to the lack of water. This time it'll be different, I would always say to myself. But so far, the results have been the same. The only survivor out of all the plants that I have attempted to grow in the past is Aloe Vera, plus a pot of lily that my roommate (3 roommates ago) had. There is also some lavender that I planted a while ago in the front of the house in the ground, which I'm assuming would not have survived this long if I had planted it in a pot. I just forget to water my plants. It's sad. I feel like a failure every time a leaf turns brown and crispy, crying out for water in this dry, severe SoCal climate.

Ok, so this time, for real. I can do this. That's what I'd like to think. For starters, I actually read a book on gardening this time. The book is really good, and makes understanding about soils much more easier than I had thought. After reading a couple of chapters, I decided to go out and get some plants.

This is what I am starting out with:

- mint [POT]: Can't remember how many time's I've tried to grow this
- lavender [GROUND]: I had a positive experience with it so why not get more
- tomatoes [POT]: Wasn't too sure about this one but maybe actually having some tomatoes to look forward to and harvest might help me water them on a regular basis

- basil [SEED]: Had bought seeds a while back and attempted to grow them once unsuccessfully
- okra [SEED]: Had randomly bought seeds a few weeks ago.

I am worried about the seeds, but I am going to try to keep a journal with photo documentation.

Now that I've put all this up on the Internet, hopefully this will help me keep up my garden.

Making a difference (with baby steps)

When I was at a graduation party in Palmdale last night, I was reminded by a friend about this blog. And how I have not written in it. I was surprised to hear that he had been checking up on it every now and then. But when he told me that the last post I had made was about the Darth Vader samurai doll, I felt better. I had forcasted ahead enough that the topic of my last entry was Children's Day, which just happened a week ago. I had been bloggin on Mixi (Japanese version of myspace) and micro blogging on Twitter, but it's true I had neglected Nabudis and Nabudat.

Lately I have been trying to make small differences to bring back order into my life. Or at least trying to get into the mindset of it. The house was a mess and had been for a long time, the backyard was a jungle, I was arriving at work late, cats were running amok leaving hair everywhere. Something needed to be done.

Cat hair was a problem. They are shedding more due to the season. I bought sitcky roller things to roll up hair on carpet and furniture (and clothes). I try to vacuum more. I also bought an amazing brush called the Furminator. The amount of hair it removes is unbelievable. Too bad the cats kind of freak out when I use it. Another change I made was getting up at before 9 (yes, nine). I have only managed to get to work 30 minutes earlier, but it's better than feeling guilty for being the last one to walk into the office. There was also some home improvement that went on. Nothing more than putting away my countless magazines and moving the unused computer desk into the livingroom so I can finally use my Powerbook on a desk instead of on top of a tiny bookshelf with no room for my legs, but it's made my life and the living room much better. More home improvement to come.

I started on the backyard today which is the biggest obstacle of all. The palm trees that tower between our house and the neighbors (but is technically on their property) drop huge "leaves" on the yard. These leaves are over 10ft long, heavy, dangerously spikey, and there were over 40 of them. While I think about how to get rid of these, I am going to read the book "You Grow Girl" that was delivered in the same Amazon box as the Furminator and figure out how to start a decent garden.

Darth Vader the Samurai

In Mexico May 5 is Cinco de Mayo. In Japan, it's Childrens' Day, also known as "Boys' Day". It was originally just for boys, I guess, since girls have a day to themselves on March 3. So even though it's called "Kodomono hi" (litereally Childrens' Day) all the tradition that go with it pertain to boys. One of them is putting up a samurai outfit doll in your house. It's way too expensive and fragile so you can't play with it or anything, and besides, playing with dolls is for girls anyway with the exception of GI Joe's and Kinnikuman figurines. It just sits there looking angry with its crazy black mask that usually has a white mustache and crazy teeth. At least the one we had did.

But there is a new samurai doll in town. The Darth Vader samurai, available for approximately $2,800. I'm not particularly a Star Wars fan and to tell you the truth I haven't even seen all the movies (not even all the original ones), but it looks pretty cool. He looks like he's been doing it for years. He's a natural.

Ok, so I was only mildy amused by this doll and decided to blog about it because the photos were pretty nice. What I wanted to say was that this reminded me of the Imperial March, which to me is just Dave Dameshek singing "Creep of the Week".