Swarms

This isn't really great photography or anything, it's more of a Halloween post.  You see, swarms of anything gross me out in a creepy, Halloweeny way.  Doesn't matter if it's rats or people crawling all over each other, it's stomach-turning.  So you can imagine my consternation when, on a winter hike in the Poconos with boyfriend, I came upon an area of snow pocked here and there with holes FULL of swarming insects.  These are big holes, about a foot across, and there were at least a dozen of them.  That's a lot of bugs.  And they were all wriggling and squirming.  It's snow, bugs!  It should be pristine and pretty.  Stop making it gross.

Anyway, Happy Halloween.  May your snow be free of weird bug spawns.

The horror, the horror...

Today, I am going to the Exhumed Films 24-hour Horror Fest.  I went a few years ago (was in Nepal last year, poor me!), and it was pretty bonkers.  Its 3am, you're hopped up on candy, and you are watching some true, delirious insanity unfold on the screen in front of you.  Its usually an eclectic mix of movies, from the actually good (Cronenberg), to the classic (Suspiria), to the classic B-movie (the original Piranhas), aaand to the apeshit, shot-on-a-shoestring, Indonesian, cannibals-kung fu-special forces-orgiastic-pagan sacrifice-zombies whatthefuckery.

And in the spirit of this event and this holiday, here is one of many carcasses we saw piled along a half-mile stretch of the Bishnumati River in Kathmandu- an urban water source.  That is true horror.

AZ hearts DL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOYFRIEND!

I know your birthday is tomorrow, but you usually see these when they come to your email the morning after I post them- this way, it'll be sitting in your inbox all happy-like for your b-day.

I posted this picture, from the top of Gokyo Ri, because even when you're not with me, you're always in my heart (even if the reason you're not with me because it was cold and early so you wussed out and went back to your sleeping bag).  I love you boyfriend.  I think you are one of the most giving and generous people I've ever met, and I'm proud to share my life with you. :)

Enough sappy, let's go find you some steak frites!

Inheriting the spirit of adventure

My Dad is one of the most adventuresome people I know.  He is always striving for something bigger, truer, harder, higher.  The highest point in the city, the top of the highest (accessible, relatively non-technical) mountain, the depth of the densest tome.  Arguing with him, traveling with him, is simultaneously infuriating and illuminating because he has so much drive to know and to do.  All that same desire that is present in me is there because of him.  I will never cease being impressed and inspired by my Dad.  And I hope that when I am his age I will be able to do half the things, mentally and physically, that he can.

Dad, here is to all of our past adventures and a hope that we will have many, many more.  Happy father's day!

(Special thanks to photographer-mum)

(Pixellated) Flowers for my Mum

Yes, it is a virtual bouquet, but on the plus side a) no flowers were harmed in the making of this Mother's Day gift, and b) didn't have to propagate the hallmarky consumery grossness of this most sacred day.  I took this picture in Suzhou garden, on a day that was actually rather strife-filled and unhappy for me.  But it was my Mom (and, I guess, boyfriend) that cheered me back up and let me enjoy and remember all the aspects of the day (and there were many) that weren't unpleasant and strife-filled.  My mother is simply a good person- compassionate, empathetic, giving, and supportive.  All qualities I hope to have should I pass on these genes to another generation.  Yep, I said it- I want to be like my Mum.

I love you Mom!  Happy Mother's Day.