How subtly, yet dramatically, the scenes change; the environment in constant renewal and dynamic change:

The silence on the street may have been jolting (as I live in a vibrant neighborhood populated with night owls), but the lone whoop of a jovial reveler made me smile:

11:46pm, 1/11/11 from Serene Careaga on Vimeo.

Best of 2010 from Serene Careaga on Vimeo.

Song: Jonsi, “Go Do”

True fact: if you don’t like Daniel Clowes, we cannot be friends.

2. Kayaking

Sure, you might look like a d-b, but it’s fun. And if you are super fancy and fashion forward you can bring a beer in a cozy to complete the amazing ensemble of fat suit life-jackets and awkward (flailing) rowing.

3. Sunshine in Seattle

It appears that we will be breaching the 80 degree mark in Seattle this week. This means that the hipsters will break out their cut off skinny pant shorts, the curmudgeons will begin smiling at fellow humans, and people will fall in love. Summer in Seattle is epic in its awesomeness.

4. Smena 8M

Once upon a time I bought this old toy lomo camera. The translated “instruction manual” is hilarious, as it is full of unhelpful and poorly constructed tips that apparently were at one point helpful in Russian. My first roll will be hilarious (if I can figure out how to actually remove the film), and I promise to post the inevitable disaster to my flickr account.

5. Jenny Peterson photography

This Seattle photographer came to my attention when I needed an injection of inspiration the most. Her work is full of humor and weirdness and awesome light. Check it out.

What have you guys been checking out?

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!

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.

There just weren’t words to capture how hilarious this moment was, so I had to make an animated GIF to share.

(p.s. Making an animated GIF in CS4 is hard. Try it sometime.)

Step 2: Take a sunny, snowy photowalk.

Step 3: Pick up a care package from home (thanks Ludie and family!).

Step 4: Ooh and Ahh over contents of care package. Particularly swoon if the contents are hot, spicy, and/or green chile.

Step 5: Cook with contents of care package.

Step 6: Stuff your face with tastes from home.

Step 7: Rub your belly in comfort and relax by watching episodes of Arrested Development.

There you have it folks. Don’t you wish everything in life were so simple?

It has. I’m dealing with a daily craving of pho, a mind which wanders to those of you who keep me sane and centered and laughing, and a desire to watch a lot of American television online.

The one positive change with adjustment is that school is starting to get more intense, not only in course work, but also adapting to the Danish style of teaching (which will merit an entirely different entry). In addition, my group of UW students have had an interesting week, including going to Dyrehaven (a deer park in North Copenhagen) and a visit to Nationalmuseet  (National Museum of Denmark). My personal highlight was retreating behind my camera and capturing some hilarious moments.

Lakrids smile.

Another interesting part of this week included seeing an international reaction to the seventh anniversary of 9/11. Many of us were asked how we were feeling and what the day means to us. For me, the sentiment was stronger here. I will never forget that day and how I felt, and my memories felt amplified by being in an unfamiliar place, trying to decipher newspaper articles using images burned into my memory in a language I can’t read. Those emotions are even trickier to reconcile when people are asking you questions about your feelings, which inevitably leads to a political discussion (yet another blog post).