I got tagged?

So this is new to me - a "blog tag." My dearest friend, Mai, decided to tag me through her blog, and I was like, huh? Didn't know what it was all about and so I looked it up a bit. Interestingly it has been around, but as you could see obviously I'm not so in trend.

A blog tag, or based on wiki, a "memetag," is when someone starts a meme on a blog and then sends out tags or invitations to others to continue on. Okay, at this point I was like, and what is this meme thing again? Gosh, I wonder how people keep up with the lingo these days. So, keep going, the term meme goes back to 1976, referring to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another.. something that causes cultures to evolve. At this point, I decide to stop and keep it there. The thought of quantifying something into a unit, when in fact it is just not measurable, doesn't inspire me much. Or maybe they think it'll be possible some day.. let's see if i live that long :P

Anywho, so that explains this intro to the world of tagging. My assignment, almost, is to write about five things people might not know about me. I do not plan to respond to her tag just yet.. Gotta give it some thought! Good things don't come fast, people.. That, I know for sure.. And Mai, thanks for giving me an activity to do over here. You really know I get bored and have too much time huh? This will surely keep me from being ฟุ้งซ่าน for a couple days haha..

Update: so I've finished it.. especially for you, Mai! My 5 stories

Go Bears, Poor Bears..

Superbowl จบไปแล้ว ไม่ได้เป็นแฟนติดตาม แล้วก็ดูฟุตบอลไม่เป็น แต่ที่นี่้บ้ากันเหลือเกินล่ะ คงเป็นกีฬาประจำชาติเค้า ถามใคร ใครก็ต้องออกไปดูกันที่ไหนซักแห่ง มันคงต้องดูกันหลายๆคน จีบเบียร์ไปพลางๆ จะได้ได้บรรยากาศความมัน เวลาเชียรก็์จะได้ออกอาการได้เต็มที่ :) แต่ก็จะมีเพื่อนบางคน ที่ดูเพราะจะดู Ad แค่นั้น ปีนี้เค้าบอกว่า ค่าโฆษณาสำหรับ 30-sec spot ก็ปาเข้าไป $2.6MM ฟังแล้วโอ้โห แพงขนาดนั้น Ad มันคงต้องเจ๋งมาก แต่เท่าที่ได้ยิน (ได้ดูไปนิ๊ด..เดี่ยว) เค้าว่าโฆษณาไม่ค่อยดี เปลืองเิงินแทนพวกนั้นเหมือนกัน เสียตังค์แถมยังโดนด่าอีก เอาไปลงอย่างอื่นอาจจะดีกว่า.. สุดท้าย Bears แพ้ ก็เศร้าไป แต่ก็นะ เราไม่ได้เดือดร้อนอะไร ไม่ได้อินเหมือนเค้า อิอิ..

ก็เลยเป็นที่มา ควันหลง Bears ซักหน่อย วันก่อนที่ไป chinatown กับเพื่อนๆ ขากลับก็ขับผ่านในเมือง ตรงหน้า Art Institute ปกติจะมีรูปปั้นสิงโตอยู่สองตัว หน้าประตูทางเข้า พอฤดู Superbowl เจ้าสิงโตสองตัวก็เลยใส่หมวก Chicago Bears ไปกะเค้าด้วย น่ารักจริงๆ เลยต้องถ่ายเก็บไว้ เสียดายไม่ค่อยชัดเพราะอยู่ในรถ..

ส่วนอันนี้ก็จากในรถเหมือนกัน ดูเหมือนไม่มีอะไร แต่เพื่อนบอกว่า เนี่ย.. เค้าเปิดไฟสีส้มๆ ตัดกะท้องฟ้า ให้เป็นสีประจำทีม bears อีกเหมือนกัน น้ำเงินกับส้ม ไม่รู้เค้ามั่วป่าวนะ แต่ก็อาจจะจริงก็ได้.. ม่ายรู้..

A Year Older

Again, another year older eek laew.. This year, no more surprises. Yesterday happened to be the Friday that the Cancuners were getting together for a reunion, so I sort of bundled that with my upcoming bday. And today just went out for some yummy dim sum in Chinatown with my FinD gang :) It is the coldest weekend, and man, it was super cold indeed! Came back to evanston and hang out at my friend's place for a couple hours before heading home. And just spent a quiet evening by myself :) Tomorrow's plan is dinner with the thai gang. Probably the weekend i eat the most! The scale is shouting "alert, alert!" already hehe. But given the winter mood and how quiet it is around here, I need all the possible get-togethers i can have :P Anyway, really wanna thank everyone for the cards, the calls, and the wishes.. nextdoor and across the world.. I'm a very happy bday girl this year :)

Dodge 'n Burn

I recently signed up for a mini class in digital photography, hoping to learn a bit more about it and make more use of the camera and photoshop. Yea, it shouldn't say that. But these days you probably don't come across the 'originals' that often anymore. And I guess it's okay to make use of technology. That's what they invented it for anyway :) So we talked about light and color today, and went through some assignment pictures. One of the key takeaways was, if you have to, it is better to have underexposure than overexposure. In other words, too dark is actually better than overly bright, because even when it appears dark and shadowed, the information captured is still there. Once we got to photoshop and tried different ways of adjustments, I realized you can really fix that and it was kinda cool..

So think of the toolbar on the left-hand side in photoshop with all those little icons, and there's one called dodge tool. Again this is like revealing my illiteracy, but honestly I never really knew how to use it. So we tried with this indoor photo, and because there was a hanging light in the middle the ceiling background was just dark. Using this thing can brighten part of the photo you want, and voila the ceiling emerged (it was nicely decorated). And vice versa, the burn tool does the opposite (but i guess it wouldn't be as neat)..

I guess what i'll do from now is not to ignore the photos that seem useless. Now I know I might be able to uncover many things underneath. You never know what you'll see.. Somehow I just relate this to first impressions with people, cuz a lot of times it doesn't say much about them at all. Over time you'll learn more, and hopefully find out who they are.. and then you might go wow like when i saw the ceiling :) Of course, despite time, it's not always the case that you'll be able to understand.. You can't crack the code with the wrong method.. it's like using photoshop with photos taken with non-digital cameras ngai.. :P