You can see the little increments on the compass for Safari and read the letters on the Contacts image!
I never really noticed that those globs along the right side of the Contacts image (as seen on an iPhone 3GS) were meant to be letters until I saw the retina display on the iPhone 4.
Finally, I’ve got a place to live near work now! After weeks of searching, I found a suitable apartmentmate to split a two-bedroom with me. I can’t wait to get rid of the commute and get back 3 hours of my life each day! Plus, I am going to get around to some things I’ve wanted to do for awhile – yoga, working out regularly, maybe even get back into swimming again. 🙂
We get our keys on New Year’s Eve and have the weekend to move in! I’m really excited, but I’ve got to figure out how to transport some furniture (and which items to bring). I’m going to need to get a desk as well. Once the big items are in, I’ve got plenty of time to bring all the little things over. And then I can relish my new digs, complete with pools, jacuzzis, grills, gym, media center, mini movie theater, and so much more!
Yay for a wonderful start to the new year!
This bird was acting like it was possessed or something. It has a strange garble and kept puffing up to try to scare us into giving it food.
crazy bird from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I was walking by some rooms in Saxon Suites on the UCLA campus when this kitty caught my eye. We’re not supposed to have animals in the rooms, so I wonder if those blinds were supposed to hide the cat, not frame him in the light. Oh how I miss having a cat! I can’t wait until I can get one again, one that will be naughty like this cat and let his curiosity guide him, defying any rules.
That’s what my cat did back in NY. He got us kicked out from a temporary living situation because he peeked through the blinds when management was walking by. We weren’t supposed to have a pet there. So, we had to move into the Hilton in Danbury until our house was ready for move-in. What a naughty little cat.
That was the image I created in my mind to help me remember three topics to write about – being pregnant, the police, and shoes (or more accurately, shoe boxes). Yeah, when you come up with such ridiculous imagery like that, it’s much easier to remember what you were trying to remind yourself when you were driving home. I seem to have this uncanny ability to forget all the things I told myself not to forget in the car. The moment I get out and into the house, my mind is elsewhere.
I’m thinking of getting the mail. I’m thinking of what to eat for dinner. I’m thinking of things to do when I get online. I’m certainly not thinking about what I was just 10 minutes before! And unfortunately for me, I tend to have quite the collection of brainstorms when I’m driving. Gotta keep my mind occupied, right? So I think of random interesting things and usually those become potential blog entries that I try to remember to write. But, many don’t get written because as soon as I turn off the car, I’ve got a million other things to consider. And out go all those ideas from the drive!
So one time, I decided to use the power of visual memory and put the three things I was trying to remember into one cohesive image. The items I wanted to write about were 1. how I never want to be “that” pregnant, 2. my fascination with law enforcement, and 3. how Scions look like shoe boxes to me. What do you think of my image? I was having trouble putting the shoe box into the picture, so I went for shoes (and the goofiest kind I could think of). Perhaps I should have thought of a pregnant police officer driving a Scion, but that just didn’t seem silly enough for me to remember. And hey, it worked! As you can see from the posts I linked to, I wrote about each of those topics. 🙂
Powerful imagery. Try it sometime!
I’m always fascinated by law enforcement/public servants (or whatever police, firemen, and paramedics are categorized as). The firefighters work to fix things after an underground explosion and the helo flies overhead to scan for something. All protecting us in their own way.
reeling firehose from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
helo overhead from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Hey, you can make a side business out of anything!
I miss writing.
Not so much writing to express myself, to create something, or to document things. What I really miss is the physical act of writing. I’ve been maintaining this blog for about two years now, a few months after I stopped keeping my daily (handwritten) journal. So all my thoughts and experiences are captured on the keyboard, electronically. Then at work I spend my typing emails, instant messages, and clicking around the internet. Hardly a need for pen and paper. At home, I talk to Panda via instant messenger and communicate with other friends through email and social networks.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had to sit in a class or meeting and take notes. I haven’t had a need to write a letter to anyone. I don’t even pass notes to my friends like I did in middle school. Now it’s all happening through my computer. And after two years, I’m finding that I want to get back into writing things again. Sure, it can be a waste of paper, but there’s something so satisfying about watching ink flow onto paper. I’d like to catch up in my journal (yikes, two and a half year’s worth of stuff to write!) and use my wonderful sets of pens again.
I suppose that’s my inspiration. I have some fantastic pens that make me itch to use them. One set is scented, smelling like anything from strawberries to blueberries to grapes or lemons. The other set Panda got for me and they’re designed to prevent check fraud. They also happen to write really well. It’ll be a bit overwhelming to piece together my life since I stopped keeping track of my daily experiences, but I might just start up again and get back into the world of writing. I’ve always found it a sort of pleasing end when I run out of ink in my pens. Think of all the things I wrote (and maybe also doodled) with that pen! The marks that were left behind! I love preserving memories.
Watch those black spots carefully!
cuttlefish from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I received my Square (read more here)! Now if only I had something to sell so I could use it. I’ve swiped my own cards a few times just to get a feel for it (it makes a satisfying click as the card exits the swiper) but it’d be awesome to make a real transaction and generate a receipt and everything. Nevertheless, this is so awesome! I’ll be carrying this around in my purse in case a transaction need ever arises. 🙂
A decal so people know you accept credit card payments with Square!
All plugged in and ready to go!
