San francisco — I can’t hold my breath too long. My instructor says I don’t use my legs correctly, I almost power strictly from my arms— and definitely when I kick off the wall when jumping in. At least I jumped in,...
København n — Enormous highways to forever. The feel of a powerful vehicle responding to my touch. A dry salt wind from deserts truncated by the ocean. Walking, where it is life and love and the very breath of the...
Ljubljana — The screen only got chipped at the top left side but it seems that’s enough for the phone not to work anymore. My Strava ride didn’t matter anymore. I wasn’t too bummed out. I knew I only had to take...
Ahmedabad — Maids form a major part of any Indian household. They are an indispensable lot that people can live without their spouse but not without their maids. Maids are feminine in nature, but most of the hous...
Tokyo — On the way back from the Immigration Office to the city I stopped to draw Tokyo Bay. The sketch was almost complete when a gust of wind blew the loose page from my hand. I watched helplessly as it slo...
Ewing township — You know, some times you just accept. Fo a long time now, since I lost my job as an art director in ’08, money has been non extant. I am even on ‘Obama care’. Pretty much I pay the mortgage and that’s...
Ewing township — This is the view from the green room at Brooklyn Bowl. For all the acts they have coming through here, it’s one of the smallest we’ve been in. It was hot, too. We ended up getting ready/changing in th...
Ewing township — This is my friend Chris giving vintage 80’s Madonna before going on stage at last night’s Madonnathon at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn. It was a hectic afternoon/night with costume alterations and dance r...
Ewing township — With hours to go until last night’s Madonnathon, Gabe- my friend, a dancer and choreographer- had to bedazzle the boots he and the other male backup dancer were going to wear (for ‘Vogue’). Turns out ...
Lasalle, gard — the brain electric ideas jostle the keyboard still missing the light
Duluth — A 25 mph gale off Lake Superior has driven the temperature to the very low 60’s, even the high 50’s. Winter haunts us. I plan to attend an evening gathering at a house which has a wonderful outside d...
Portland — Coffee doesn’t change a mood, it intensifies it. Feeling happy? Here, have some added color for your day. Feeling overwhelmed and uncertain? Like a good friend, coffee will share the burden of your ...
Kathmandu — Domaine d’étude : Psychologie analytique. Traumatisme psychologique et dépression. Cas de dépression psycho-social (Non inflammatoire, non neurogénique, etc.) Avant-propos Cet essai ne se fonde pas ...
Tokyo — Dreamed up and created my first perfume ever today. I also signed up for a full 12-class beginner course in fragrance compounds. Cannot wait to learn and create more, and share my creations in this sp...
New york — I’m stalling. I’ve been stalling on writing the first chapter. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been writing. Humorous emails, copious amount of notes, drafted and re-drafted press release and strategy memos...
Tangerang — Every year, Indonesia as an independent country, people celebrate its independence day in many ways. Some will hold fun and easy contest, such as makan krupuk, kepruk kendil, panjat pinang. Some hold ...
Mountain view — I envied my friend who worked on his startup 10+ years ago even though it didn’t work out. I’ve said I don’t want the stress and that’s not me. Yet, deep, deep inside I’ve always wondered if startup l...
Aireys inlet — I’ve written on the Hi topic ‘Seasons’ before especially here and also here. Where I grew up in Oklahoma, Jonquils and Snowflakes (pictured above in our Australian back garden) were fairly precise ha...
Parañaque — As far back as I can remember, I have been blessed (or should I say cursed)with an inexplicable ability to kill even the hardiest of plants (I can’t even take care of a cactus). However, to my surpris...
Hanoi — Here in Hanoi, there are two different kinds of street vendors. The one with a stall or a shop front, however small they might be, they are stationary. The stall might be occupying part of the alley, ...
Kathmandu — I was sitting in my four dollar a day bedroom at a guesthouse run by a Sherpa family in Nepal, when I realized one thing: Living is an act of letting go. I used to think life was a grand process of ...
Hanoi — The two girls share a bowl of noodles and plate of fish cakes. I can’t tell if they are twins but they are definitely sisters. There is a special magic siblings share; a bond I’m envious of. I am the...
Healdsburg — to find my next event: what heat what lane? Please dear god lane four lane four lane four lane four, please please please lane four lane four. Aaack. Lane six. OK. Lane six. Lane six. Crap. I hate th...
Bordeaux — ➜ ŤĦƐ ṀȪƝṨŤƎṞ The monster is always another one*. The monster is always a stranger. The monster is Weird. The monster always come where you live. Near you. In YOUR town, in YOUR Country. The monster ...
San francisco — Adhesive LED Poetry Amalgam Neon The service elevator.Remnants of things gone wrong littering the path. “Art lives everywhere.” Process is met with a smile and belly laugh. The insanity of it all is w...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Ernest & Celestine, settle in for a charming and endearing story for all ages. Don’t mind the subtitles, because hearing a cute mouse and burly bear speak in French...
Penna in teverina — It’s seeing a lot of activity these days, especially from this duo of 5 year olds. One of them can already explore its depth, while the other explores how far he can swim without his dad’s help. 「いやだ...
Somewhere — This man ventures out of his village at 5:30 in the morning, through the narrow water channels, heading straight to the vegetable market to buy his day’s supplies and things needed to begin his day on...
San francisco — Monday So, yeah, we decided not to push through with the interview process. We’ve decided that we need someone with more experience. Tuesday I don’t know how to say this, but … I’m no longer i...
Stinson beach — Between a new job, going to school, and using friends as guinea pigs to practice my massage technique, I am more exhausted than usual. I remembered my vitamins (after I found them finally, the bottles...
Antipolo — Just last week, as I was working (or entertaining the delusion of productivity as it allowed me to), the thought crossed my mind that it and I could go on like this forever. A foolish thought in these...
Duluth — I set Mozart’s Divertimento no 17 on repeat and cranked the volume up a bit higher than is perhaps polite in an apartment building. I poured a glass of Black Wine from Argentina, hoping a saying from ...
Wailuku — Sometime in the early ’70s, as an adolescent, I discovered the wider world beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago of 7,000-odd islands on which I had lived; born, in 1960, somewhere in the northern mo...
Katrineholm — Looking at the sky is the act of a visionary. Raising your head, measuring the distance, that sense of inter-connectedness as you imagine all those other places you could be at that same time, if you ...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, please don’t be like my judgmental friends who wouldn’t even consider seeing it because it has “monkeys” in it. Seriously, this is an awesom...
Leeds — Not a vast wood near where my friend Ralf lives in Finland, a small wood. A small suburban wood in Leeds. This is disconcerting for someone with a perfect sense of direction. I blame my new hat, ther...
Paris — The Eiffel Tower. Try and take a picture there! Everything has been seen a thousand times, everything is cliché. I was about to put away my camera, aiming one last time, without believing in it too mu...
Tokyo — Having curly hair requires constant vigilance. It’s like having a toddler: every two minutes you think, what it’s doing now? As a kid I had thick, straight hair, cut into a hedgerow with a fringe as ...
Cholargos — Another favourite actor dies. But this death hits closer to home because Robin’s role as Mr Keating was the closest to a mentor I ever had and because the film Dead Poets Society changed my life. It m...
Curitiba — I truly love street fairs and its particular food! Near my apartment, there is one that it happens every Thursday, and I go there to eat a “pastel” - just google it if you doesn’t know what it is :) -...
Curitiba — This place was a very popular bar ten years ago. It was called Bill’s Bar, and used to be home for a variety of kinds of people who didn’t have a better place to be at night. You’d see at that time a ...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Chef, settle in for the kind of movie we don’t see often enough anymore: a movie steeped in joy, with a cast that loves the project, and a heartwarming story. “Chef is ...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Lucy, consider first whether you like Luc Besson films, because that’s a good indicator of how much you’ll enjoy this one. Personally, I’m not his biggest fan. I will free...
Ogaki — The truth knocks on the door and you say, “Go away, I’m looking for the truth,” and so it goes away. Puzzling.1 As part of our research project at IAMAS2, my recent insects eating experience didn...
Mountain view — I realized that I was in almost exactly the same place when I wrote this post that when I decided to leave my last job and figure out what the next stage of my career and my life would be. I am not t...
Wakefield — The mornings she sees him on her way to the library upstairs, she knows she will have a good day. The mornings he is not, she knows will be full of irritating enquiries from bad tempered people, or un...
Hanoi — Last week’s moment, Barefoot Cafe got a bit of feedback (thank you) and all of sudden, there is this need to achieve, to out do myself. This place, where I come to deposit —- moments —— moments tha...
Rodriguez — I walk closer to their enclosures, carrying her. Up until today, she has called them lions ninety-five percent of the time, lions being the more common jungle cat of choice in toddler literature and p...
Ikeda — Time is money.1 The onsen shuts at 10pm. It’s almost nine — lingering work-dinner, trapped, no obvious exits.How long is long enough to fulfil my responsibilities before I can leave? Not wanting...
Ohakune — I’m on vacation for skiing this week! :) For those unfamiliar with the layout of the North Island of New Zealand (and my skiing habits), going skiing means finding your way to the big mountain roughl...
Mumbai — Sometimes you need to revisit the places you visited as a child to appreciate history a bit better. I last visited this place some 18 years ago when it was just a large stone arch gateway to me. Revis...
Nelamangala — There are certain moments that will bring a smile on everybody when it is summer. Sun shining down brightly to lighten up a warm shower is one of them.
Boulder — The plan: climb 2500 feet on pavement for the privilege of climbing 1500 on dirt. Now turn around and climb 1000 more home. On a singlespeed. How hard could it be? [27:00] I’m out of the saddle, I ...
Puerto lopez — We were on a little boat out on the Pacific, one by one falling to seasickness, when they finally appeared. We spent a blissful half hour or so watching Megaptera fly. Watching them spend that single ...
Mississauga — Yesterday, after picking me up from the bus terminal my mom reported, angrily, that someone had stolen her Oriental Lilies. She clarified, “Actually, they took the bulb. They left the flowers and the ...
Greenville — I wind down. I scribble some writing, scroll through Instagram, take one last sip of water. I do a visual sweep of the room. Is anything amiss? Is anything rustling? No? Are you there? Good. I lay b...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Begin Again, dive into a beautiful character study paired with some surprisingly enjoyable music. With the exception of Adam Levine’s questionable facial hair, this move re...
Ikeda — When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.1 Hairy legs are not enough to keep persistent mosqu...
Makati — I love the sight of you. The scent of you that fills my blood with life. That fires me up throughout the day. Sending my senses to overdrive. I love the comfort of your warmth. That tingles through my...
Somewhere — My friend and I went wandering around the Srinagar Railway Station. On either sides of the railway tracks were orchards of lush green apples, plums and other cold climate fruits. We saw bunch of kids ...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Maleficent,… don’t? I mean, unless you’re one of those Disney people. You might like it then. If you don’t think about it too much. Here’s the thing: Angelina Jolie’s co...
Berlin — I get the impression that I’m not supposed to be here; the impassable language, the strange food, and my own fumbling terror as I accidentally stroll through the red light district at eight in the mor...
Somewhere — The two rivers converge - Nubra & Shyok (tributaries to the Indus River) in the beautiful Nubra Valley in Ladakh. The landscapes here are out of this world. In one frame you see snow peaks, high a...
Willoughby — Clinking of empty glass. A search for left-over, unused lids. Too many drawers, too few systems. She was sure she saved them but where were they now? The problem with this new place was that nothing ...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Snowpiercer, prepare to be hit upside the head with obvious metaphor, but in a very beautiful way. In fact, so beautiful that you might not even mind being hit upside the h...
Acapulco — La amistad es como una isla privada para dos. Todos están fuera menos el amigo. Desde ahí el mundo es más amable. Porque es compartido en lo más profundo. Es como un escudo de felicidad.
Völklingen — During battle, the enemy couldn’t defeat us. But in a most unfortunate turn of events, some of our venerable chariots were stolen from us. In typical fashion, the enemy took what was ours while we sat...
Odda — Behind the cherry farm, essentially its backyard, is Folgefonna National Park. Olav lives beneath a glacier. A short walk up the hillside in the company of the local sheep and the mountains plateau ou...
Odda — Summer in Norway is a playground for aficionados of the granite outdoors. The entirety of Odda felt like a couple inches of topsoil on mounds of granite. The water has nowhere to run and ends up pouri...
Liverpool — Enjoying the mellow tones of the harp being played before me in the coffee shop. Like a well trained magician confident in his tricks this old man is weaving his magic spell on the audience. You ca...
Berlin —
Pune — A doctors son becomes a doctor while an engineer’s son an Engineer. What should a politician’s siblings do? This is the most haunted question in most countries, especially in democracies like India. B...
Pariyaram — Where does a river originate and where does it end? This question may not be perplexed but you will find only 1 in 10 answering it correctly. The world is trying to stop the rivers from what they call...
Liverpool — One of my friends wife did a charity sky dive, she also makes amazing cakes! To thank her backers she made this great skydiving themed cake 😄
London — I finally managed to stop off this morning on my way into work to get some pictures of 20 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8NY. I know what you’re thinking. “You needn’t have bothered, mate!” But please...
Hanoi — I roam around Hanoi on my 125cc motorbike (Sylvia is her name) and alternate cafes for offices. Today’s office is actually called The KAfe. The crowd is a mixture of Vietnamese and expats. The blond w...
Seattle — If you’ve considered seeing Edge of Tomorrow, prepare yourself for what might be the best sci-fi movie of the year. Certainly the best sci-fi movie of the summer. Okay, I haven’t seen Guardians of the...
Bordeaux — I always wondered when the Black (my favorite color) stops to be black to become Grey..? That is one of my existentialism question I can’t answer for now.
Tokyo — “Overwhelming” can mean so many different things. Lately, when asked about how my new job, my new apartment, this new chapter in my life is going, all I can say is, “Overwhelming!” I’m not unhappy. ...
Ayyampuzha — Monsoon in Kerala is a festival in itself. The already green valleys and forests turn dark green and sky turns blue. Rivers and small streams push their way into wherever they can rush to and makes th...
Tokyo — Late night early morning sees crowds swilling around, barely dressed and swigging beer, shrill shrieks washing through the muggy night air. The neon seem to melt into the moist air, the men in white f...
Santa fe — The last week of our annual sojourn in Santa Fe has arrived: rushing around, seeing friends, watching movies, visiting museums, attending concerts. The chamber music program, see below, was a highli...
Aireys inlet — Mad I know, but it was in his Will and Testament, for God’s sake, ‘to be etched in granite’! I don’t think we have any choice in the matter. If I believed, as I do believe, that the end of the world...
Duluth — Today I went blueberry picking (a summer passion of mine) just a few minutes from home. Close to the Lake, Lake Superior! Today I could hear the rollers crashing into the shore as I picked. A cool, g...
Toronto — Unlike drawing portrait, drawing trees doesn’t require you to have the features to be in the right place to look right. Once you understand the basic structure of a tree, you can scribble away and it’...
Paris — Depuis le temps que je voulais prendre cette photo en photo. Un visage se reflète sur de l’eau dans la paume d’une main. Photo suivante, l’eau a coulé. Reste la main humide. Et c’était au Jeu de paum...
Trinity — We were surprised to see you north of the island, everyone in the boat grabbed their cameras and phones and we followed you, engine idling. It is only back at the house, out of the screen-blinding su...
Tokyo — I walk into our destination and my expression probably gave away my initial thoughts: what in the world? The interior looks like a thrift store threw up and spat out the leftover items. Blood red carp...
Albuquerque — A curious golden cloud on the horizon.
Ahmedabad — I have seen dog lovers everywhere and many of them are in my apartment too. Very conveniently they take their leftover food and go a distance to dispense them. And when they enter the apartment, they ...
Chichester — It’s the quintessential English view. More specifically, the quintessential Southern English view. A thousand-year old cathedral towering over formal gardens, a symbol of Norman power to cow the local...
London — Just as good fences makes good neighbours so do well-tested railings make for a reduced likelihood in railings-related insurance claims. The UK’s leading authority in testing railings (and other domes...
Helston — Luciano Barcodi was a pioneer in the early days of data compression and transmission. His antennae, installed on a cliff in Cornwall, were the first to beam product and pricing information across ocea...
Mandaluyong — It was the kind of love that no one can put into words how great but doubters would always have something bad to say about. He was not my biological father. A Godfather only but people who just met u...
Edinburgh — Sitting at the airport in Edinburgh, waiting to fly home. I spent two wonderful weeks exploring Scotland, and I know I have seen the smallest sampling. The architecture of Edinburgh’s Old and New Town...
Odda — The days are impossibly long. I don’t think I’ve seen night time in a week. The Bleie family met us with open arms from the moment we arrived. A dinner of local sausage, potatoes and a fascinating rut...
Crawley — A bump, a pregnant pause and then the gentle pull of the carriage as it starts to move slowly away from the platform, gathering speed as it breaks free from the weight of the station. I love that mom...
Tokyo — It was my last lunch as a full time official PechaKucha team member. Founders Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein were unfortunately too busy to join us, running their successful firm Klein Dytham Architectu...
Tokyo — One hot summer day, I was 14 and got the idea of going to the swimming pool with a friend. My mother, who would have normally go with me – actually I would go with them – insisted that storm was forec...
Chennai — Friday evening at office. Unhurried conversation, weekend plans, the smell of coffee from the pantry. I’m a blue shirt under neon lights. It’s a slow day. I open Facebook, and a few inane scrolls l...