The memory card came!!!

Last Friday, the memory card came for my camera. I now can take 7 hours of video or 9,000 photos. I'm pretty sure that will be enough :)

Sunday late afternoon, Martin and I went up to Buena Vista park, and we played with taking videos. Unfortunately, it was set on the compressed mode, and we didn't realize how to fix it until we got home. It was pretty windy and cold, so taking the gloves off to fiddle with the camera buttons wasn't going to happen.

Here's some of the ones we did take.
I promise we'll make some better ones in the near future.


Twirling, running and jumping will keep you warm on those cold days.


Showing you one of the cool paths in the park.


Martin and I decided to improvise a site specific dance ... okay, okay I decided we should improvise a site specific dance and Martin went along with it.

An art experience

Last Thursday, I went to SFMOMA to see a showing of the documentary film, 1000 Journals, about the 1000 Journals Project. This is a participatory art project that I had been interested in for a while. It started in 2000 when Someguy decided to send 1000 blank journals out into the world. Some were given to friends, some were left in coffee shops or on park benches. It eventually garnered a lot attention online and by word of mouth.

The SFMOMA has an exhibit up of the project with photos from the journals and actual journals. That's why they were doing the screening. Amusingly, during the film, there was a scene where the curator at SFMOMA explained to Someguy why the nature of the project was contradictory to putting together an exhibition.

The original 1000 journals are all out there and have lists of people signed up to get them eventually. So, 1001 Journals was started. Through 1001 Journals, you can start your own journal. You can either share your personal journal(s), start a location based journal, or start a traveling journal. A traveling journal can either be open for anyone to sign up for or you can close it and invite certain people (friends, family, etc.) sign up for it. The person who starts the journal is ultimately responsible for it and it would be understood that the entries would eventually be sent to the project to be scanned and shared with the world.

Should I start a traveling journal?

It would be a closed journal limited to people I know. The theme would be connecting to people, and in honor of that, in addition to your own personal entries, each person would be required to invite a friend, stranger, acquaintance, someone to make an entry with them. Make it an excuse to get together with someone you haven't seen in forever.

If you would be interested in doing this journal with me, post a comment here letting me know.

Laurynzilla vs. Sumo Martin

On Sunday, we met up with Tyrus, Martin's co-worker & friend, at Raymond Kimbell Playground. We walked up to Japantown, wandered around the shops, and had lunch. I bought some Japanese cards. Tyrus bought a rubber stamp that was a picture of his face. It turned out really well and was named the best purchase of the day. Tyrus also took the award winning photo above.On the way home, we walked through the Fillmore District, which has a strong jazz culture and music. We passed by the Church of St. John Coltrane, and couldn't resist taking a picture of the sign. They invited us to come by on Sunday for their 3 hour service based on the music of John Coltrane, but they assured us that we wouldn't be obligated to stay for the whole time.
Then, we stopped by Alamo Square to give Martin another chance to do a panorama. I took Tyrus up to the tiny, shoe garden that surrounds the tool shed in the park. It looks like they take shoes that have been left on the street or in the park and convert them into tiny planters. Every time I go, I feel like little elves should be walking around tending the shoes.

On my way to work

Photography Excursion

Martin has been interested in taking some pictures to make panoramas recently. We tried to make one of our apartment/room, but since it's so small, it didn't really work well. Yesterday, we decided to go back to some of the spots that we knew had great views of the city so that Martin could take pictures and make them into panoramas. We went to Corona Heights and to Tank Hill, aka number 17.5 Unexpected View Park. While he was taking the panorama pictures, I wandered around and took a few shots of my own (unfortunately, we're still waiting for the new memory card).

Martin setting up for his first panorama shots on Corona Heights.

Martin taking his panorama shots. Taken behind some rocks on Corona Heights.

Flowers in Corona Heights.

The weird circle of concrete on Tank Hill that was previously the base of a water tank. I think it would be fun for a dance party though the concrete is a little uneven.

My shadow on Tank Hill.

Graffiti on the rocks on Tank Hill. I liked how the only word I could make out was "in."

After Martin was done, we walked down to Golden Gate Park again. We were thinking that we would go to the new California Academy of Sciences, but the lines were out the doors and they were restricting the number of people who could enter the building. We decided to go get lunch instead and ended up at Pasquale's Pizzeria. When we were in the park, we found the National AIDS Memorial Grove, and walked through it. It was really beautiful.
While we were walking around to all of our random destinations, we saw some street stencils. I asked Martin if he would take some pictures of them, since I was all out of room. Hopefully, I'll have some time to work on that project some more.

An "official" street stencil about not dumping in the drains. You also see plastic signs on drains that are similar.

Firebirds near the corner of Hugo Street and 3rd Avenue.

Martin's blog

Martin has a new blog.! You should go visit.

http://abandonedwig.info/blog

I have to admit that I don't understand a word of the first post, but the second makes me smile. Here's my favorite clip of Buffy Saint-Maire on Sesame Street that we found when we were looking for the video that he posted on his blog.

More presents!!!

I just got one of my Christmas presents this evening. Every year my mom's family does a Secret Santa gift exchange, and mine just arrived from Atlanta. And it's awesome! Look at my sweet new Fair Trade hat handmade in Nepal.
Martin said he could tell I liked it since I put it on right away and then didn't take it off for the whole night. Here it is as seen from above.I also got a cookbook - The Joy of Cooking: All About Vegetarian Cooking. Martin had also gotten a veggie cookbook for x-mas - The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook. I love looking at the pictures in these books. They look so amazing even though I know photographers do really weird things to get the pictures to turn out that way. Looks like we're going to have to start incorporating some new recipes into our meals!

17. Mount Sutro (aka the Interior Park Belt)

I must say I didn't have very high expectations for this park outing, but it turned out to be my favorite so far. Mount Sutro is an area of undeveloped land owned by UCSF. For those Emory/Atlanta folks reading, it's kind of like Lullwater, but less tame and more woodsy. It was so nice to hear the wind in the trees. I didn't realize how long it had been. Even though we could still here sirens in the distance, it felt as though we were suddenly transported away from the city.

Here are the pictures I took. There are only a few because we haven't gotten a bigger memory card for the camera yet.

That last shot was actually taken on our way home. We came out of the park near the road that goes up to Twin Peaks. As we were walking down the road, I saw some stairs that didn't belong to a house. We went up and discovered this wonderful lookout spot. There was a big, circle of concrete that looked like it might have been the remains of some cistern or something. It was such a goregeous day, and we could see both the bay and out to the ocean. It's not marked as anything on the google maps, so I don't have an official name to give it. Let's call it the Unexpected View Park (no. 17 and a half).

I'm a working woman again!

So, the day after our adventures with Chris and Ben, I got a call. The week before I had interviewed for a job at a local dance organization. The call was them offering me the position!

As of last week, I am the new School Administrator for the ODC/Dance School. ODC/Dance is a local dance organization here in the city. They have a professional, performing company, a theater space that is currently undergoing renovations, and a dance school. My job focuses on the school, which serves dancers from beginning to professional and all ages.

It's been a whirlwind of a first week, but I really like the people and the space. I'm looking forward to learning more about my job and what I'll be doing. I have some nice perks like free dance classes and paid vacation. Best of all it fits all the criteria of what I was looking for when I moved out here - a job in a non-profit, arts organization dealing with arts education, and preferably, dance. Yay for me!

1. Golden Gate Park revisited & 16. Lands End Coastal Trail

The weekend after New Years, Martin and I got to hang out with Chris and Ben, two old friends from college. Chris lives out here, and Ben was visiting from Atlanta. The two of them can be trouble, but they were very well behaved for the afternoon we spent together.

We met up with them at Memphis Minnie's, a barbecue joint in our neighborhood. Martin and I kept them company while they ate (we had a huge lasagna at home from New Years day that we were working on). Then, we headed to Golden Gate park to hang out and throw the frisbee around. While we were there, we walked over to Lloyd Lake and I took a few photos before my camera ran out of batteries.

Then, we drove out to Lands End and hiked the Coastal Trail to Mile Rock Beach. I'm going to count the Coastal Trail as a park since I don't think the area has a particular name. It's part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area, but that covers too much ground for me to count it as one place.

Mile Rock Beach was a beautiful spot. You could either walk down to the beach or out to a rocky overhang. We went out to the overhang for the view. Unfortunately, no one had a working camera, so I have no pictures. You'll just have to believe me when I say that it was absolutely gorgeous. The name Mile Rock refers to Mile Rocks Lighthouse that you can see from this spot. It was a nice way to spend time with a visiting friend.