Author Archives: serene

OMGOMGOMG

Written by serene. Posted on July 2, 2010. Filed under Nerdy. 2 Comments.

I know it’s old news, but still….NERDBONER. So, so excited. In case you didn’t know, Scott P. and I are like *this*.

Why I Hated FF XIII

Written by serene. Posted on June 30, 2010. Filed under Nerdy. 3 Comments.

Let’s sit around the warm and cozy internet fire and have a litttle nerd time, shall we?

I will admit something that may or may not come as a shocker: I love Final Fantasy. I know I’m not the only one. My love all for Final Fantasy is about as deep as they come. I’ve played FF for years: I have many adolescent and adult hours hours glued to my SNES, PS1, PS2, Nintendo DS, and now my PS3. Now that I have extolled my deep and historic love for the series, let’s change gears. Oh ye Game gods, open-up the flood gates and let the nerd rage flow in… I HATE FF XIII.

First, way too many cut scenes. For example, during chapter 3, I’d play for about 3 minutes, be interrupted by some very fancy looking scene that would last another 6 minutes, and then go back to have the same cycle repeat. Sure, it was pretty. But it gets old, fast. Especially if you die during battle and have to watch the whole cut scene over again.

Next, there seems to be a lack of skill required. You walk along, you fight mercilessly and without strategy, you survive, and your health is restored at the end of the battle. YAWN. Try again, Square Enix.

Last, the architecture seems weird. There are no levels. There are no shops (you just buy materials at save points). And that whole linear-progression until you are deep in the game.

It felt like a giant disappointment. But don’t get me wrong, you know I’ll be playing FF XIV in September. I just don’t know when to walk away.

Pride!

Written by serene. Posted on June 28, 2010. Filed under Photography, Seattle, Uncategorized. No comments.

Pride Flags

Only my queer community could convince me to set an alarm on a day off.  But, I did, and I marched myself and my camera downtown to watch the Pride Parade and followed it to Seattle Center to party with my people. And I don’t mean ‘my people’ in some co-optive and evil way. I truly mean my people. I did it for my Uncle and my Grandpa and for a few hearts I may have broken along the way.

Seattle Pride is an interesting event. I should admit that my perception of Pride is almost entirely shaped by my four years as a Capitol Hill resident. For the unaware and non-Seattleites, you should come to my neighborhood. No, really, it’s a lot of fun. It is considered colorful and fun for a reason: two blocks away from me is a weekly drag revue at Julia’s, a few more blocks down Broadway is Neighbours (a gay nightclub), and let’s not forget the famous Babeland to give you a taste of my ‘hood.

There is a reason why I chose this neighborhood. Besides allowing my environmental footprint to be tiny (no car, what what!), the diversity and eccentricity is my fuel. I need my surroundings to be as plugged-in and energized as I am. There is no doubt that I cherish where I live. It’s vibrant, it’s fun, and it’s comfortable for me.

But, I digress. Back to the Parade: yes, the corporate floats were lame. Everyone from Wells Fargo Bank to Miller Lite was there. But there was also a lot of authentic community celebrating and bonding. There were families and leather daddies and Dykes on Bikes, and everyone in between. But don’t take my word for it – come join me next year!

DSC_0186

Art Projects

Written by serene. Posted on June 21, 2010. Filed under Nerdy, Photography. 2 Comments.

My summer will be all about art. I miss my creativity. I sometimes look at my negatives and my journals and sketchbooks and see all the verve and excitement and wonder where all that energy went. Then I remember being in school full-time and being trapped under oppressive gray skies and quickly see why I am tapped.

I digress! If you are in Seattle and need of some crafty or arty energy, hit me up. Maybe we can help each other out. My only request is that you be comfortable in front of a camera and not be a total turd.

P/30

Written by serene. Posted on April 1, 2010. Filed under Culture Club, I am a sap. 3 Comments.

Knowing that someone has the potential to succeed is beautiful, but when you get to watch that person come into real success, it feels like the world is right and the stars have aligned and fate feels a little more believable. When I caught wind of Patrick Tafoya’s restaurant being written up by the San Francisco Chronicle and local food critics writing glowing reviews, it seems as though his world is on the verge of changing forever. I always knew he would make it big. And now that he is really, truly, tangibly successful, the world has righted itself.

I have an admittedly misguided pride in his success. I see his burgeoning fame through a prism of memories: I remember trying to encourage his interest in cooking while he was a server at the Courtyard Marriott in Albuquerque, I remember driving a U-Haul of our belongings from Albuquerque to Portland so he could attend culinary school, I remember quizzing him with flash cards covered in measurement conversions, I remember moving to Santa Rosa so he could move up the kitchen ranks.

(Note: this is about all I will offer publicly. The words aching to spill out are best saved for a therapists couch.)

Lucky for him, he seems to have met his match in his wife Christine. She seems to offer equal parts creativity, ambition, and drive. It is clear from concept, design, website, and a robust Facebook marketing mechanism that this is not his endeavor alone. There is an organic coherence between concept and menu, website and interior design; working in tandem has clearly worked out well for them.

For some of my oldest friends, you should also take a moment to be excited. You probably also remember him as a culinary student or a server, or maybe you encouraged us to move to Portland to follow his dream, or maybe you were even there at our wedding. And in this moment of collective pride, I gladly extended the same warmth and well-wishings to my other successful friends – the web guru in Albuquerque, the photographer in Las Cruces, the tech-whiz in Albuquerque, the teacher in Indianapolis, the instructor in Manhattan, the whip-smart SLP in Tukwila. The list goes on and on.

Before this gets too tangential or sentimental, just do me a favor and drop into P/30 if you happen to be in the North Bay area. And in the midst of a kitchen rush, with tickets stacking up and  a mob of four-tops waiting to be seated, look up to the chef and give him a polite wave for me.

Anniversary photo post.

Written by serene. Posted on March 30, 2010. Filed under I am a sap, Photography. No comments.

Where: Alexis Hotel, downtown Seattle
When: Last Week
Why: To celebrate a one year wedding anniversary. Well that, and I’m a sucker for a nice hotel.


Mi familia

Written by serene. Posted on March 28, 2010. Filed under I am a sap. 3 Comments.

My beloved, lifesaving, hero of a Grandpa turned 78 yesterday. He beat his oncologists diagnosis of terminal lung cancer taking his life within the year. He still has the spunk and sharpness that I expect from him. Though he has no hair and lost considerable weight, his stubborn Careaga ways have beaten all the odds, with the panache and swagger that I have come to expect.

(Technical side note: He is not in remission, but his tumors haven’t grown. That’s all I care about.)

To celebrate, I wanted to do something big. Like, BIG. A 78 year old man has next to no material desires, but I knew I could offer something big and wonderful to him: my brother. Ever since I walked into his house on Manzano Street in Albuquerque as a virtual stranger back in 1993, my Grandpa insisted that my brother would come back into my life. He somehow mustered a strong enough optimism to counter my perpetual forlorn attitude after all my attempts to reach out to him failed. And what do you know, he was right.

I must admit this reunion is hardly mine to claim. Big, huge props must be given to my brother for being willing to entertain the idea that he had an unknown Grandfather and that he would be worth meeting. I’d like to think that all my stories about how amazing and wonderful and powerful my experience was with Grandpa and Lee warmed him up to the idea. Yesterday all of the efforts came into fruition.

The reunion was an experience too beautiful for words or pictures or a synopsis. Let’s just say that those years of being apart quickly dissipated. I watched them search each others faces across the table, and nearly burst into tears when I saw Justin’s hand reach across the table to him. We sat at a table in a suburban strip mall burger joint that resembles hundreds of thousand bland suburban strip mall burger joints, but there was serious healing happening amongst the tacky wall decorations and cacophonous sounds of NCAA tournament cheering.

Inevitably, the missing link – our father – came up in conversation. Grandpa hadn’t heard from him in a year. The last I talked to him was on an uncomfortable Skype call while I was in Denmark. Justin had a passing interest in seeing him, if only to punch him in the shoulder. I blew off the lack of news like I always have: he can pick up a phone, I could care less, he knows where I am, etc.

But, as always, my facade was a lie. I do care. To find my father, I turned to the most reliable of sites for him: New Mexico Corrections Department website. A quick inmate search lead me to him.

To be in my family is to ride a wilde rollercoaster. We are all flawed people. And I’m sure that most people can relate, as the image or idea of a perfect family is but a myth. But regardless of where we live or how we fail or hurt each other, I’d like to think that there will always be someone in my family that cares. I guess tonight I get to be that person for my father.

Busy bee

Written by serene. Posted on March 16, 2010. Filed under Culture Club, I am a sap. No comments.

I’ve been too busy with finals to properly thank you all for lifting my spirits about my hair-tastrophe. (Oh, sleepless nights make me think I’m soooo witty!)

Anyway, this is not a proper gift, but I figured I’d share a song with you all that should inspire the fiercest of booty-shakin’.

File under: Vanity is overrated

Written by serene. Posted on March 7, 2010. Filed under I am a sap, Whining. 5 Comments.

I am not vain, I swear. I really don’t care much about my appearance, just as long as I am comfortable. But I have had a lingering feeling that my long hair was boring. I decided to get it dyed. Being a poor college kid, I thought I’d get it done on the cheap at the Gary Manuel Aveda training salon.

My tale of woe begins yesterday, as I walked in for my appointment. I was immediately told that my hair was too dark to be done within the alloted 2 hour appointment. I was then told my wish of getting teal was also out of the question, as apparently there is some boring rule that one shouldn’t venture two shades outside of their normal color? All I knew was getting dark brown streaks was not exactly what I had in mind.

But whatever, I decide while I was in a chair and had two hours to kill, I’d let her play with my hair. Apparently this student was utterly clueless and uncreative. I kept saying “..but I look so plain…” and “this is not at all what I want” without any success. She was apologetic, saying that she just wasn’t sure what to do. Two hours later, I walked out looking like a Stepford Wife.

I woke up this morning with the resolve to get it fixed. There was no way I could give a presentation in my class tomorrow looking like a Martha Stewart Living subscriber. (No offense if that’s your bag, but I find that brand of normalcy utterly repulsive)

Living in Capitol Hill paid off, because I found a place open on Sundays that appeared to be up for the challenge. I would go get it fixed at a quirky little joint up on 15th. I would come home prancing with renewed confidence, even if I am finishing this weekend with a lot of hair chopped off. Sadly for her there wasn’t a lot to work with, so I ended up with even less hair and a bruised ego.

Vanity is so lame. I mean, honestly, who cares if I look bad. I will still give my presentation tomorrow, I’m pretty sure my husband will still find me attractive enough, and I have plenty of hats and scarves to disguise the errors in my judgement. If nothing else, at least it is Girl Scouts cookie time. I swear to you – Thin Mints can cure the most wicked of broken spirits.

Apropos everything

Written by serene. Posted on February 2, 2010. Filed under Nerdy. No comments.

Watch this video first.

Okay, now we are on the same page. Not to point out the obvious to anyone, but the Media (yes, capital M implying a singular entity, which I defend with giant conglomerate media companies) – it is a cesspool of suckage. It is a buy-product of an era where people had at most two venues for information (newspaper and network television), mediated by whatever network affiliates found interesting for the day. It is dying. And it is scary because it is the thing I always thought I would be involved with, career-wise. I think this video gently pokes fun at how predictable, unimaginative, and formulaic it comes across to audiences.

Now we have Twitter, RSS feeds, and even Facebook to receive what we consider pertinent information. The question that haunts me, and shapes most of my academic interest, is what classifies information as pertinent. Is it demarcated as interesting because it pops up in a news feed of Facebook, or truncated in a 140 character tweet? It’s a complicated issue to think about, considering how diverse motivations for information gathering can be. For some, news is simply something to talk to others about (social stitching?) and for others, it is to be engaged in a global environment.

This is an open-ended dialogue. What does news look like to you? Why is it useful? What types of information are compelling to you?