Last night, Leah told me to go down and see something cool on Oak and 11th (which is three blocks from my house). "What is it?" -- "Just go, go for a walk, it's cool."

So I did, and then had to run home to grab my tripod. She was talking about a house that had about 50 individually carved and candle-lit pumpkins outside. I took some photos. In was cool.

It's Halloween! My favourite holiday. Shitty, I'm all by myself. I've got an exam tomorrow night and have to spend the evening studying. Plus, I work at 6am tomorrow morning, so I don't think I'll be up to much. Disguised in jogging pants and a T-shirt, I'll watch The Blair Witch Project by myself and fall asleep.

Last year, I went to the Urban Well Halloween party to visit a friend with my roommate and he got us kicked out before it even started by being wasted and yelling at bums on the street. So it was goodbye to my friend and taking his drunk ass home.

Halloween was always fun in Korea. It just happened to fall on the weekend of my first week in Gangneung and I went out to Bar Bumpin' with everyone and had an awesome night. The following year, it was at the Warehouse, in my ajummah costume. Good times. I always have a good time on Halloween, no matter what happens.

Here's a little quiz for you. I've blown up a portion of the top right-hand corner of the photo above and saturated it, so the artefacts are clearer. Notice the two white lines. If you can correctly tell me what caused those, you will win my admiration forever. Think about it, it was a 45 second exposure.

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This is a good PostSecret:


I sent one of my own in, but it didn't get published. Probably a good thing.

I had a dream the other night that I was back teaching English overseas. Except this time I went to Japan, but the setting wasn't Japan, as I'd imagine it, it was this town in the boondocks of Bulgaria called Rila that I visited on my trip. There was a river and it had just rained and an LCI Kids Club, and if I wasn't walking around the town, or in my apartment (which was made of concrete), I was mindlessly walking the halls of the school. I was trying to talk to everyone in Korean, hoping they'd mabe understand, but they couldn't. And I couldn't read any of the characters. Maybe, I should go back?

Last night, got wasted. Went for Randal's going away party to Lolita's and Subeez and Lucy Mae Brown and Earls afterwards. Got home at 5:30am. Hung over.

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Holy shite, I'm starving...

Inspired by rory's What Not To Cook...comes:

What TO Cook on a Cleanse When You're STARVING!

Here's one of my usual cleanse-safe meals for you...Eggs A La Kiran...



Start with an organic tomato, red pepper, some garlic, some cooked brown rice, three brown free-range eggs and some salsa (without vinegar, I use Que Pasa fresh salsa or Earls salsa).



Don't forget to wash your hands.



Heat some olive oil in a pan.



While the olive oil is heating, chop up your veggies and press a clove of garlic. I like my veggies chunky, mostly because I'm lazy.



Throw it all in the pan, toss it, get them nice and cooked up.



Crack the eggs in. Stir it up!



Here comes the cheese! What!? Cheese! You say? Not real cheese, this is organic soy bean cheese. It's cleanse safe! Looks like cheese, cuts like cheese, melts like cheese, tastes sort of like cheese! Made from soy beans. Not allowed dairy :(



Throw some nice soy cheese slices on top and stir it all up!



Add the salsa. If you've got some around, now would be a good time to add some herbs: fresh basil, cilantro, oregano...whatever you'd like. I didn't have any around.



Don't forget to turn off the stove!



Serve it up! Add some nice fresh cracked pepper and a little salt to taste and pile it on top of the pre-cooked brown rice. I made a bunch of brown rice a few days ago and keep it in tupperware in the fridge. I just scoop it out and heat whenever I want.

Tasty!

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These cleanses can be lonely without someone to do it with. Most of the time, I've had a girlfriend to share the cooking with and the eating with and the aches and pains that come along with. It's different all by yourself, you keep asking yourself everyday, "Why the hell am I doing this again?" That's the hardest part I think. NOT the NOT drinking, or the NOT eating whatever I want, it's the NOT being able to do anything except sit at home by myself. I can't call anyone to go out at night, because we'll just end up drinking. During the day, I'm usually working, so nights are all I have. Anyways, I'll be done by Friday.

Stinky and John

In Thailand, I was by myself for 10 days of not eating anything except clay. But just three steps from my hut lay Hat Lamai beach, Koh Samui, the Gulf of Thailand...and don't forget my two friends, Stinky and John. Made the twice daily enemas a little bit more bearable.

Another midterm tomorrow and another one next week will keep me busy at least. Thursday's my only day off this week, no school, no work...and unfortunately no booze either.

But, for the first time in my life, I have Monday night off to watch Prison Break live.

What kind of kooky shite is Scofield going to get up to tonight?

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Today, this blog turns three. It began as a group email sent out on October 22, 2003 from the p'ishi bang down the street from my apartment in Gyo-dong Taekji, Gangneung, South Korea. I had just arrived a week earlier. I actually created the blog and posted a little while later on Christmas Day, while sitting alone in a p'ishi bang on the island of Jeju, South Korea. It was freezing rain outside and windy, I had eaten my Christmas dinner of a Big Mac and fries at McDonald's and was tired of wandering the streets, so the deep, dark, basement internet cafe was the only place to hide.

Three years. Three years. In that time I've fallen in love a few times, and fallen out of love, I've travelled through 33 countries and been drunk in every one of them. I've seen friends come and friends go, some forever.
I've lost lovers and loved losers.
I've swam in oceans and seas around the world.
I've been lost, I've been found.
I've had homes all over the world.
I've worked, I've played.
I've almost died.
I've seen death and life, the whole circle.
I've been hot and cold, dry and wet.
I've been back to school
and all along, I've spoken to you all through this blog.
If you've been reading since the beginning, then you know this already.

Let's see how the next three years go.

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And this is what you saw.

Isn't this one of the coolest pictures ever? I've always wanted a fisheye lens, and now need one. They're like $600 though so I'll have to wait until I'm rich. Maybe I can rent one for a bit. This photo is awesome because, not only is it taken with a 360 degrees Nikon fisheye lens, but it's also taken in infrared. This is a technique, using a specal filter, that I learned how to do in my Forensic Photography class, and I'm eager to try it. Infrared radiation shows up as white and represents heat in photos. Notice how on the hot day, the trees are trying to get rid of all of their heat. That's why the leaves show up as white.

In fact, while I'm on this topic, I saw a movie at the Viff last week called 'Ten Canoes', half of which was shot in infrared for a very cool effect.

It looks like my dream (from my previous post) isn't going to come true. I got suckered into taking a Monday day bar shift at the Red Door. But apparently, now, the General Manager owes me a favor. So long to falling asleep with the TV on and not setting my alarm. In any case, I'm enjoying my new job. It's busy enough to keep me busy and focused, but not too busy to stress me out too much. I make pretty good money, I don't start at the ridiculous hour of 6am (like that other place I work) and I'm off at the fairly decent time of 4:30.

My Forensic Photography class went out with a bang on Thursday. Found out I somehow scored 95% on the practical, despite feeling rushed and not finishing, and a whopping 100% on the written final exam, which I, of course, overstudied for. This overstudying thing seems to be a bit of common theme at BCIT, whereas at UBC, I somehow always managed to understudy...or overstudy the completely wrong thing. I like BCIT better anyways.

It's now 10:43 on Day 5 of my cleanse. I've lost 10 pounds so far. It's hard to eat properly when I work all day long, all the time, so I guess that could be contributing to it. It's sort of a fast now, I guess. I did find this awesome Punjabi chick pea muttar something at the grocery store, which is cleanse safe and have been living off of it, along with red pepper houmus and brown rice crackers, apples, sesame seeds, pan fried tofu with salsa (sans vinegar) and hard boiled eggs. At Figmint, the chefs cook me a nice grilled 1/2 breast of chicken, tossed with some mixed baby green lettuces and a couple of tomatoes as my staff meal and that gets me through the day.

I just got back from Gill's birthday get together at her house. It's also my dad's birthday today. Happy Birthday Gill, Happy Birthday Dad.

Things are working themselves out, on all avenues. I can't wait to have a beer and maybe two days off in a row, see some big white snowflakes falling again...I want to carve a pumpkin. I met a girl who makes me smile. I'm still trying to figure out if I make her smile too, but that's part of the fun.

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Day four of my cleanse and I am exhausted. I've lost 8 pounds. I've been so busy with work and school, I haven't really had a chance to cook anything substantial. I've only managed to get down some apples, pears, wheat crackers, lettuce and sesame seeds. I haven't had much sleep either. A practical on Monday, a final exam this evening and two long shifts at work plus my Criminal Law and General Forensic Science classes took up too much time. I'm not complaining, just telling.

Once I get through this final exam tonight, for Photography, things should be easier. Unfortuntely, I work all day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's Gill's Birthday today, and we're going out tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to drinking water. I need some proper sleep, I need a day off without school, without work, without anything. I want to rent a movie, lie on the couch, and fall asleep with the TV on and not set an alarm. This is my dream. Dreams can come true.

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I don't know how this happened. I don't remember submitting a photo, actually, maybe I do. But I never got an email from them saying my picture would be in the running. If I had I might've sent friends to vote for me. Oh well! I just found this by doing an ego-search with my name.

Somehow, I came in fourth in the Carlson Wagolit Fall 2006 Travel Photo Contest. Fourth, is pretty good, I think. Especially because of the fact that I had no idea I was in the running. I didn't even get to vote for myself. My winning photo was called 'The Blue City of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India'

What did I win? Nothing...absolutely nothing, except your admiration!

I loved the blue city. It's sweeping alleyways in tones of blue spread downward from the great Meherangarh fort. The Jaswant Thada, royal crematorium, with its grand domes, and far off in the distance in every direction sits opulent palaces on rocky mountains. Cows and monkeys, wedding parties, women in brightly coloured saris, the milkman, a camel, a stray dog wind their way down the streets. The smell of paprika, cumin, sandalwood, oils and incense, the bitter stench of urine. The sounds of ancient sitars mix with the wafting scents and float out from the hand carved windows...

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As my Forensic Photography course comes to an end (next Thursday), I thought I'd post some photos I've taken over the past month and a half. We weren't taking photos of dead bodies or bloody pools, but learning how to expose, increase depth of field, use our flash correctly, and adjust for different environments. All can be applied to photographing real crime scenes. I have my practical exam on Monday. My instructor will set up a fake crime scene, and we'll be sent in to photograph it.


A UV fluorescent photograph of a latent fingerprint on a pop can. The fingerprint is stained with a dye called ardox that fluoresces under UV light. We took the photo in the dark shining a UV light on the can.


Photographing a highly reflective small object, such as this belt buckle, within a light diffusing tent and with an ABFO scale raised to the mid plane of the object.


A fingerprint on glass photographed with a black background and by reflecting flash light off the top of the glass and the print.


The same fingerprint on glass as above, but this time photographed by reflecting the flash off a white background and back up through the glass. The fingerprint now looks black because the light source is behind it.



A shotgun shell photographed with an ABFO scale.


The firing pin on the shotgun shell photgraphed with an ABFO scale and a 60mm macro lens.


A mid-view scene photograph showing the location of a footprint in the planter.

A close-up examination photo of the shoe print raking the flash at an oblique angle and feathering the light. The allows us to see the details in the ridges of the shoe sole.

The same footprint as above, but with the flash raked at an oblique angle from the opposite side. Notice how the ridges in the shoe print are reversed. This allows us to see detail on both sides.

A sample ink fingerprint shot with a 60mm macro lens at 1:2.


Fingerprints dye-stained with ninhydrin.


A close-up of one of the above fingerprints stained with ninhydrin. We used a cyan filter to make the red colored print stand out.


A latent fingerprint on a pop can.

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"you start to feel a stirring wave of optimism..." it says...

Tomorrow is another day of work, standing around staring out the window, studying for my upcoming midterm in-between making the occasional latte or glass of orange juice. Then it's back to class to learn how to take 3D pictures of small objects (hmmm?). I have a midterm on Wednesday. It's for my most dreaded class, Criminal Law. Next week, two more exams, a practical and a final, for the SAME class! But then it's over and school only twice a week...i think it's time to do a cleanse again soon.

There's somebody I really need to talk to, and they're reading this, so let's make it happen. You know who you are.

The Postal Service rules.

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you should not call someone, but you do
you should not eat so much, but you do
you should not remember, but you do
you should not forget, but you do
you should not drink excessively, but you do
you should not say that, but you do
you should not watch tv, but you do
you should not feel hurt, but you do
you should not feel sad, but you do
you should not think about it, but you do
you should not be like this, but you are

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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Kiran
Birthday:	May 15, 1979
Birthplace:	vancity
Current Location:	vancity
Eye Color:	swamp water
Hair Color:	swamp water
Height:	5'7"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	right
Your Heritage:	indian irish
The Shoes You Wore Today:	work shoes
Your Weakness:	cleaning
Your Fears:	things not working out
Your Perfect Pizza:	ham and pineapple
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	none of your business
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	ish
Thoughts First Waking Up:	what the hell happened?
Your Best Physical Feature:	none of your business
Your Bedtime:	as late as possible
Your Most Missed Memory:	actually living a dream
Pepsi or Coke:	coke
MacDonalds or Burger King:	mcds
Single or Group Dates:	only one girl at a time
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	nestea
Chocolate or Vanilla:	vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee:	instant coffee
Do you Smoke:	yesh
Do you Swear:	fuck yeah
Do you Sing:	uh huh
Do you Shower Daily:	sometimes twice
Have you Been in Love:	yesh
Do you want to go to College:	did and am and yes
Do you want to get Married:	yes
Do you belive in yourself:	sometimes
Do you get Motion Sickness:	nope
Do you think you are Attractive:	hawt
Are you a Health Freak:	not really
Do you get along with your Parents:	sometimes
Do you like Thunderstorms:	yesh
Do you play an Instrument:	yep
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	i \'m drinking alcoohhll rgiht mnow
In the past month have you Smoked:	yep
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	tylenol
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	yep sort of
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	yep
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	no
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	yes
In the past month have you been on Stage:	no
In the past month have you been Dumped:	no
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	no
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	yes, a pen, from work, and i'm not giving it back
Ever been Drunk:	i'm drunk right now
Ever been called a Tease:	no, i put out
Ever been Beaten up:	yep, scott you bastard
Ever Shoplifted:	no
How do you want to Die:	i'm going to get hit by a bus
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	a travelling carnival ticket salesman
What country would you most like to Visit:	nepal
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	blue
Favourite Hair Color:	dark brown
Short or Long Hair:	long hair
Height:	normal girls
Weight:	not fat girls
Best Clothing Style:	emily carr student meets a hippie girls
Number of Drugs I have taken:	too many to count
Number of CDs I own:	hundreds
Number of Piercings:	zero
Number of Tattoos:	two
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	one
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

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ONE TWO TIE MY SHOE

Monday, October 02, 2006

It's been awhile. Blogish, I missed you. Last week was busy, working during the days and school at night, midterms and quizzes which i overstudied for. I can't believe I'm halfway through the term already. My photography class ends in three weeks. Good because it frees up Monday and Thursday nights. Bad because time has disappeared so fast.


Caffe Barney and 1516 and wine and Leah and Sarah...

Becky came over after work on Friday night, and we got wasted at my house, played 'Crazy Eights' and 'Big Two' and smoked our brains out. From there it was a bus ride to 'The Loose Moose' to meet Dawn, Gill, Ryan and Jodi. Drinks and tasty steak bites, the Royal, the Buffalo Club. Then me to earls and home.

Saturday night at Figmint was slow until a big 1930's style birthday party around 11. It filled the lounge with young industry types who tipped and danced on the bar. Speaking of Figmint, I got a second job at bartending at the Red Door around the corner to supplement my income. I'm looking forward to starting next week.

The Viff (Vancouver International Film Festival) is here, at last. I've only ever been to one film, in 2002, a collection of shorts, including one done by a guy I used to work with, 'The Bug'. So I'm looking forward to seeing more this time. Tomorrow morning, I'm off to see 'The Host', a Korean film about US Army Pollution in the Han River in Seoul, and a dysfunctional family trying to save their daughter from a watery grave. I'll tell you all about it.

Right now, I'm starving.

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