If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it..

Post-Exam Outdoor Photoshoot

2011-02-17T16:56:00.004-05:00

Being cooped up all day yesterday studying for an exam this morning, along with the warm weather sweeping into Richmond, got me off my butt with my new D3100 and 70-300mm VR lens to walk around Richmond taking pictures and learning about photography at the same time.

Here's a picture taken today that was processed in Photoshop CS5. I started a photoblog on tumblr HERE. Let me know what you guys think!

Click to Enlarge

New DSLR, new hobby

2011-02-14T20:51:00.000-05:00

My new Nikon D3100 comes in tomorrow! along with a Nikon 70-300mm VR lens. I'm excited to really start taking pictures, learning, and playing with photoshop. As I learn and take pictures, I will be uploading them here to track my progress and my learning. I also plan on taking videos and trying to do something with them, so stay tuned for more updates!

I am really excited to start this new hobby and learn more about taking awesome photographs to share with the world :)

Wushu Practice???

2011-01-14T15:26:00.002-05:00

Last semester, I started practicing wushu again in a very small "Martial Arts Room" at the MCV campus gym and also started teaching my friends a little wushu as well. Going back to that, I took some videos of myself after 2-3 years of not practicing wushu of some nandu (jump difficulties) and they turned out pretty well. Looking back at them, it makes me believe that I have the abilities to keep going with this and makes me want to continue pursuing martial arts.

Here's some vids. Let me know what you think.

Butterfly Twist

Butterfly Kick

Aerials

Learn to Drive

2011-01-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

As much as I love driving around aimlessly and enjoying the freedom of traveling at high speeds on the open road, there's always something that annoys me to no end.

First off, if you're going to be driving on the road, at the very least be courteous enough to use your turn signal and not cut people off because you're stupid and forgot that you needed to make a right hand turn and decide to shift 3 lanes over, almost hitting a couple cars just so you can get to the mall. Learn to drive.

Just because it is nighttime, raining, or snowing, doesn't mean you HAVE to drive 1/2 the speed limit. If you don't feel comfortable driving at night or in the rain, get off the road. I don't need to be waiting so long for you to learn how to drive properly in undesirable conditions. What about not even hitting the speed limit on normal daylight hours? If you don't know where you're going and need to figure out where you are and where to go, PULL OFF SOMEWHERE and do your locating services there. There is absolutely no reason to be slowing down traffic because you have no idea where you are going, especially when there's a clear, visible GPS on your dashboard. Learn to drive.

Highbeams? Good for seeing more of the roadway in the dark and seeing animals (especially deer) at night. Bad for when there are other cars in front of you (either driving in the same direction or the opposite direction). If you're going to use your high beams, learn to turn them off when you are approach oncoming traffic or when you're behind someone. Just because you have a ridiculously large SUV doesn't mean high beams go OVER compact vehicles. Better yet, just don't use them at all. Learn to drive.

After driving in the metropolitan DC area for years now, I realize there's a very large difference in standards of who gets licensed in various states. Just because you have speeding cameras in your state, doesn't mean you have to slow down my commute in my state. Drive faster or move to a different lane. That being said, it also doesn't mean you have to ride my ass and drive 2x the speed limit. There doesn't seem to be a nice happy medium. Also, when the road curves and there's an intersection in the middle of the curve, it really only makes sense to FOLLOW the curve so you end up on the correct lane at you started on before the intersection, instead of somehow almost hitting another car because you don't know how to continue following a curve just because there was an intersection. If you want to come to Tyson's. LEARN TO DRIVE.

Also, learn to parallel park because not very many people do, and I hate coming out to my car to discover a bunch of "more-than-just-love-taps" on the rear bumper of my car. Thanks.

And please... learn to drive.

A new tree grows...

2010-10-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

I feel good. There's a goal, a purpose.

My wushu is getting back to mid-prime level. If I'd have to estimate, I'd say I'm about 60% to prime level. I never thought I'd be able to get back into wushu so quickly and get back in martial arts shape so quickly, but I'm definitely getting there and I'm really excited about it. I just got my butterfly twist back, so I'm going to be video taping myself and trying to work on height and spin, as well as other wushu jumps. Also, a friend is going to teach me how to do backflips and frontflips and all that janx. I'm definitely excited about that :)

I'm also working out a lot more, cardio and lifting (more lifting than cardio) trying to hit my goal weight of 140 lbs from 125 lb. I eat more now, every 2 hours is goal, so that's always a good thing, but so far, I've only gained ~1 lb in the span of 2-3 weeks. It seems that my eating more is simply compensating for my increased heightened metabolism. I guess I should eat even more.

ADD MORE WEIGHT!!

On another note, Richmond is a much nicer place to be when going out and hanging out with friends. Beer still tastes nasty - liquor is my niche.

Ustekinumab

2010-09-30T06:51:00.000-04:00

Pronounced: YOO STEK A NEW MAB

A new subcutaneous injection used for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. I suppose it is a good thing to have us Pharmacy students take a newly approved drug and research it and present it to our respective lab groups, but is this how we would go about learning about new drug updates when we're in the professional world? Doesn't seem likely. It seems like a lot of the things we do in school is geared towards learning stuff, but in solely a school environment. It doesn't really teach us what it would be like to be out in the real world, so the future seems kind of daunting at the moment.

I hate it when there isn't enough time to go work out because of school, studying, reading, eating, sleeping, etc., but today is Thursday, and it's Martial Arts day! :)

And.. it's raining. *hate*

*Quiz Friday, new drug update due Sunday, Exam Monday AND Tuesday, presentation Wednesday, and apple picking with the loved one on Saturday <3

Looking forward to the weekend ^-^v

Back to Martial Arts!!

2010-09-21T11:44:00.000-04:00

I'm finally getting back into martial arts, and I'm excited! I'm estimating it will take about 2 months for me to get back in complete martial arts shape :) I'm also happy for the friends who are going to be training with me. Yay~

Daunting..

2010-09-19T02:35:00.000-04:00

Since I'm still in school, the idea of the "real" world hasn't really hit me just yet, but I got to thinking today..

How in the world will I survive out there?

Once I move back to NoVa for my third and fourth year of Pharmacy School, will I stay at home? What happens when I get engaged? Buy an engagement ring? Get married? When do I move out of my parent's place? Would we even have enough money to get (buy) a place in NoVa? What about the wedding? Don't they cost like 15-20k these days? And the honeymoon? It seems like it takes quite a lot of starting money to get settled in the "real" world. Starting money I don't have.

I'll have to sleep on it, but I think in the end, it'll all work out :)

I need a hobby... or five

2010-09-16T10:13:00.007-04:00

Endless days of waking up at 6am to get ready for school at 8am every single day seems.. well, endless. It's almost like a robot set on a programmed schedule that I can't change. Every day is just the same thing over again.

I want a hobby. No. Rather, I need a hobby.

I want to..
Pick up my DSLR and go take a million pictures
Do some day trading for fun
Work out, get in shape
Pick up Martial Arts again
Travel and see the world
Take a cooking class and do some REAL cooking (aside from the occasional fried rice dish)

Shrimp Fried Rice

Well, it was good to daydream for a little bit..
Now back to studying for that exam..

Procrastination and priorities

2010-09-15T22:04:00.000-04:00

First post.

Second exam on Friday. Studying is crawling at a snail's pace. My mind jumps to and from all the things I could be better spending my time doing, the much more interesting things I could be learning about via the world wide web. Yet, the need to study still lingers in the back of my mind like the lingering smell of fresh air - something that is hard to come by in Pharmacy School.

Mmm... fresh air...