Week in photos (225-231)

225/365. This moment.


226/365. Night fog.


227/365. Sister and boyf.


228/365. Rooftops are quite dirty but dancing must happen.


229/365. Miss E's tea.


230/365. On top of a hill in LA.


231/365. Sunrise in Fiji during my layover.

Jellies, continued / Telling the whole story

I finally got the second roll of film from the Monterey Bay Aquarium developed (selections from first roll here).

I was feeling greedy for some pictures of the jellyfish, because they're just such trippy sweet-looking animals and photograph nicely in the bare, professionally lit tanks. But of course, that's what everyone else was thinking; it wasn't a crowded exhibit, but people were certainly blocking the view, particularly the ones with their cameras and phones.

Then it occurred to me to consider the scene from an anthropological/documentarian perspective, according to which the story needs a lot more thickness, is a little more meta, and would be worse off if I recorded the presence of jellyfish without a mention of the people taking pictures of the jellyfish.

So I took these pictures instead.

(Do you begin to see the connections between me loving documentary photography, having a degree in anthropology, and being a mindfulness devotee?!)

Week in photos (220-224)

220/365. Couscous salad. I am going to give you the recipe, because it's great and really easy.


221/365. Beach Sui.


222/365. Haircut and Sunshine Holly.


223/365. You can't really justify wax seals as necessary, but that's fine; they don't need justifying.


224/365. This is my external brain at present (things to remember not to forget before I leave).
(I have not been terribly good about the "every day" part of this project since resuming...I think my mind is too full of Australia logistics right now. I'll get there!)

Gratitudes + things that are making me happy

• days when my hair behaves

• fangirling over the TV show Dance Academy with Odessa

• good secondhand clothing finds when I have trade credit

• managing to get up when the sun is still more in the east than overhead

• excellent Antipodeans to look forward to hanging out with

• in particular the ones who have also volunteered to host and guide me around places — lovely people are lovely

• getting out of the house when I need to

• stellar customer service

• my little sister

• the perfect pairing of unsweetened black tea with frosted cake

Read in August 2012

1.When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair: 50 Ways to Feel Thin, Gorgeous, and Happy (When You Feel Anything But), by Geneen Roth

2. Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work, by Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun

3. Miracle Fair: Selected Poems, by Wisława Szymborska, trans. Joanna Trzeciak

4. Living with the Enemy, by Donna Ferrato

5. Palace of Stone, by Shannon Hale