Batman? Really?

I was checking my email tonight and came across this article on my Yahoo news feed. I think it's pretty interesting what some people name their kids, but this takes it to the extreme...

1. BATMAN
Venezuelans are among the world’s most creative namers. In fact, according to their own government, they’re too creative. In September 2007, after hearing about babies named Superman and Batman, state authorities urged parents to pick their names from an approved list of 100 common Spanish monikers. Those conventional names (such as Juanita and Miguel) quickly acquired a patrician ring, ironically giving rise to more novel names, like Hochiminh (after the Vietnamese guerilla) and Eisenhower (after the president). There are also at least 60 Venezuelans with the first name Hitler.

For the other five names check out the article.

Final Assignment

My final assignment is due next Wednesday. For this assignment I had to create a grid using 20 or more photographs and compile them into a self-portrait. I finished the assignment today (I just have to mount it on Monday) which means that I am totally done with my class... Now what?

As a part of my final assignment I had to create a portfolio online... Since I have already been doing that, I created a set with all of my assignments from this class.

I Say Hello...

This morning I went for a walk with my mom. We walked the bike path down towards Oak View and I began to wonder; Why is it that people say hello when you pass them on the bike path? Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful and I always say hello myself, but why do we do it? I mean, if we were walking/running/biking on a sidewalk, we never say hello to people we pass (some people do, but most times you won't). So why is it that it is almost expected of you to greet other bike path goers?

I don't know... just something I was thinking about today...

Election Day... WOOO!!!

All I can say about Election Day is "Man I am glad it's over!" I am so tired of hearing people discussing politics and crap, thinking that their way is the best way... I just get tired of it. I thought it would be better today, but I overheard some ladies in the doctor's office getting into it about Prop 8 and abortion and Obama. Oh well...

So, even though I am not a big fan of Election Day, I am a big fan of a (hopefully) new tradition Holly, Elissa, Janae, and I started. Yesterday was the first stop in Ingrid Michaelson's new tour and we all decided to go. The concert was at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Since the concert wasn't until 8pm (even though we wanted to line up at 5pm since it was general admission and we wanted to get a good spot) we decided to spend the day at California Adventure and Disneyland. It was a super fun day and the concert was amazing! Not only did Ingrid rock, but the opener's, David Ford and Newton Falkner, were incredible! David used a looper and layed down all of his own beats and backround music and vocals before singing the melody of his very poetic songs. Newton Falkner was a super neat British guy with long crazy dreds. He did stuff with his guitar that I have never even seen before (it was practically 3 instruments in one...). He did a couple of covers (which I normally think is pretty stupid), but he did Bohemien Rhapsody which is one of my favorite songs and it was incredible!!!



Finally Ingrid came out and played (along with Allie Moss). She is such a character and was joking around the whole time, complaining about the mirrors catching her butt at a bad angle, laughing about the set lists with the word fart in every song... It probably doesn't make any sense, but it was funny and super entertaining. She is a great performer and if you know who she is and/or want to hear some great music, you should go see her tomorrow night at the El Rey theatre on Wilshire.

All in all, it was a great day, even if it was Eleciton Day! Wooo!

Assignment 4

My current assignment for my photography class is to use one piece of paper, one light source, and my imagination to come up with one photograph... Yup. That's the whole assignment. Pretty much I can do whatever I want, which should be pretty cool. But it actually kinda sucks. I don't consider myself as having the best imagination in the world and I really like focused, guided assignments... But I took some shots out at FHOV and I am kinda happy with a few that I came up with. None of these have been edited yet so please let me know what you think about them. Be as critical as you want cause it actually helps me out a lot!

Assignment 4

Ojai Day... 10 years later...

Alright, I know Ojai Day was like 10 weeks ago (ok, more like 3 weeks...), but I wanted to share some photos with you. Ryan let me borrow his camera for the day and it was super fun to ride around on my bicycle and pretend to be a professional photographer for the day... I am pretty happy with a few of these. Ojai Day really is my favorite day of the year. I just love how everyone and their mother comes out. It's such a great community event and the music is pretty fantastic too!

Sweet 16

Last weekend was my dear friend, and sort of adopted sister, Ruby's 16th birthday. To celebrate, we had her over for a taco dinner and an evening of laughs. Ruby was one of my mom's first students at OVS and is now the sophomore class president at Villanova Prep. She came here maybe 5 years ago from Taiwan knowing very little English and it is really amazing to see how much she has grown and changed and turned into the wonderful young woman that she is (Ohkay, I sound like I am 80 saying it that way... but it is the truth). I love Ruby and I am so glad that we got to spend time with her for her birthday.

Last weekend was also Parent Weekend which, I'm not gonna lie, was pretty rough. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy that some parents actually come visit their kids one weekend out of the year, but seeing some of these kid's family dynamics literally breaks my heart. One of my 4th grader's dad's can't be more than 2 years old than me. Another one of my kid's mom (who I think is insane...) brought her new "friend" to meet her daughter since they are going to be spending Thanksgiving with him... Are you serious? Who brings their new boyfriend to Parent Weekend to meet their daughter for the first time? Who does that? It breaks my heart. And then there are the kids whose parents don't even come to Parent Weekend. I had a forth grader who was alone this last weekend because her parents couldn't fly out for the weekend. Granted I understand that flying out from Japan for one weekend is kinda crazy, but other parents do it. And their kid is in 4th grade! For reals? You can't come see her? Stay for a week for crying out loud! Just come visit your daughter! Parent Weekend is always really depressing, but I am glad I got to be there for the kids who had no one, or worse, the kids who's parents at psycho!

Hittin' It Hard

Yesterday was sort of an interesting day. I got up, went to class and then went to Kinkos to print some of my recent photos. When I got there I went into my backpack to get my USB drive where ALL of my photos are right now and I couldn't find the drive. I seriously almost died trying to figure out where I had left it. Then I remembered that I was working on some photos at OVS the night before and left the USB in the computer I was working on. So I drove back to OVS and grabbed my drive and then drove back to Ventura to print my images (I have to mount my images today so I sort of needed to print them yesterday).

After printing my images, I went over to the Coffee Shop to hang out with Cory for a bit. After Cory left, I waited a little while longer to pick up Nae from school. While waiting, There was this other guy at the table across from me (definitely a hippie in his linen clothes). He kept staring at me until he finally said "Hello! How are you?" "I'm good thanks. How are you?" He said he was good and asked me what my name was. I told him to which he responded, "Michaela, you have a very good energy coming off of you." I said thank you and asked him his name. He told me his name was River (which I totally believe). He told me that he had been gone for 3 months and now his computer wouldn't start. He asked me if I knew any good "Computer Wizes" in town (which I don't... well, other than Ryan who just knows everything). We chatted for a little while about how our computers hate us (mine really hates me and I think John keeps making fun of me whenever I plug in the PC...) and how crappy the stock market is right now and how we could care less.

Later in the evening I went to Sumo Sushi with Cory, Holly, and Carl. The evening was pretty funny with Cory hitting all of the Taboo dinner topics (religion, politics, and money). After dinner we went over to the new frozen yogurt place, Tuti Fruti or something like that. The whole day was pretty great and I am glad I got to hang out with friends.

Soap Stories

This weekend of work was really nice. A bunch of my kids went home so I actually only had about 19 girls. Friday night was kinda just a hangout night. Once it was too dark for the kids to be outside, Lauren and I sat outside of the girls dorm and played some guitar until it was too cold to move. Saturday we took the kids down to Hollywood and Highland to watch the Chihuahua movie at the El Capitan Theater. The movie was pretty stupid but hanging out in Hollywood wasn't bad. After the movie, we went up to Universal City Walk (which is one of my favorite places!).

One of my favorite things about taking a Saturday trip is being able to take the kids to the Farmer's Market on Sunday. I actually ended up not having any kids so I got to walk around and pick up some great veggies for dinner. While I was wandering around, I ran into my boss Dave who was chatting with one of his friends. He called me over to introduce me to his friend. After I introduced myself, his friend turned to Dave and said "It looks like you have a very competent assistant. It's important to have someone who is respectful and reliable as an assistant." There was some more back and forth stuff about me (while I was standing right there, feeling awkward that people were talking about me right in front of my face). Dave then started talking to his other friend and I was trying to find a good way to walk away in the least awkward way. Before I got a chance to leave, Dave's friend asks me, "Can I gift you with something? I would like to gift you with something." I politely said "Thank you so much, but no thank you. I'm ok." After insisting, she asked me when I was born. I told her September 22. to which she responded "Hmm, right on the edge... Are you a Virgo or a Libra?" I told her Virgo (funny cause I had just looked at some magnents at City Walk that fully described each sign... interesting). She asked "Are you really very much a Virgo? Does that describe you well?" I said yes (because I saw it on the magnent the day before). She picked out some amazing soap and put it in a bag for me. I thanked her and went on my way. The soap smells fantastic and I thought the whole story was pretty good. Only in Ojai right? Next Saturday is Ojai Day and I can't wait!

PS: I though this was the funniest picture of soap! So Great!

C.S. Hopping

Today was pretty funny. I woke up at 7:30 (after not sleeping super well for two nights now... I feel better, but at night I can't stop coughing) and rolled over to Coffee Connection around 8... I spent a few hours hanging in the back patio. Around 11 Holly, Cory, and I decided that it was far to hot to continue sitting there, so Holly and I went down to Bad Ass Coffee in Ventura. The place was practically abandoned but we hung out for an hour or so before I had to head over to my Digital Photography class. There I finished my 3rd assignment (I think I finished it... I think I am as happy as I can get with these photos... it's just time for a new camera...). I cut out two of the photos and decided to stick with the color.

'Guitar Man'

'Music Man'

'Anything Helps'

'Book Club'

After class I dropped off some paperwork at the Business Office before, yup, heading back to Coffee Connection to wait for Nae to finish with a test. So... a few cups of coffee later, It's time to try and go to sleep. Please let me know what you think of the photos. The assignment isn't due until a week from Monday, but I have to print them and mount them next week so any suggestions would be great!