a calm winter

this month was full of wistful thinking and numbness, probably. i had asked myself countless rhetorical questions, not expecting any answer back. what if i didn't study for this test, what would happen if the bridge collapsed, who lives in that building, what are the people walking past me thinking about, when is too cold for jogging outside, what kind of 30 year old do i want to be, how do i deal with my aging body in a way that is both elegant and practical, will i ever get rid of my belly and thigh fat, even if i work out really hard? my writing was "published" online via QQ archive. i attended many events, and was able to successfully transfer my placement to calgary. i am looking forward to this change of pace, i want to push myself further in a sense, even though it means spending more time at home feeling awkward with my parents. i want to be more assertive. 

ricoh pictures from august / september

I think this is the fastest turnaround time for my pictures in the history of my film career. I guess not swapping between 2 film cameras helped streamline this process. 

I can still remember feeling this relaxed. Especially today, with the abnormal 25 degree end of September weather. This was taken at Rouge park at one of the small isolated beaches. I got a lot of "swimming" done. 

This was taken at the High Park zoo. They had a capybara! Here is my attempt to document this moment. 

I can only imagine how great the capybara would have looked if this picture was focused. 

Here we are at the Riverdale ravine observing the shelters made by people that have left society. 

These were taken on the day we went to 小郡肝串串香, a hotpot/skewer place. The menu was completely in chinese, but we were able to google translate the more advanced foods. The skewers were dipped into the boiling soup and eaten with either dry seasoning or vinegar/soy sauce and diced cilantro. The menu consisted of pork tongue, beef slices, chicken hearts, you name it. We got one of everything 😋 

After the cooking session, we bought freshly made egg tarts from a bakery stall next door. The plaza has about 6-7 restaurants and its own food court with $5 meals. I will definitely go back and get their combos some time. What a great day. The following week was not so great, though. The hotpot was so intense that I ended up getting acid reflux (which I originally thought was COVID because of the persistent sore throat). But thanks to the walk-in doctor's phone consultation, I was deemed gastrically acidic. Is that a thing? 

I wasn't sure which picture to post, so I'll post both :^) hey ma, I can drive! 

the travelling ricoh camera

this picture was taken with an old film camera my parents brought from china. it is so old even they've forgotten that it's ours. this was taken on the day i left waterloo, right before i gave nina a haircut. i liked the darkness of the living room with the image of a girl sitting on the balcony reading. this was one of those images i had ready in my mind before taking the photo. maybe it looks too forced, though. 

the lens must not be opening properly in this picture, but it looks fine in the other picture. i can only hope she comes to visit again. 

pentax june photos

 here are some pictures of my roomate's old cat archie. this really bulky camera has a cooler tinted lens, which gave good results, but it's probably better for up close pictures (it has a macro setting).

pictures from july on the small kodak "pill" camera

Nina at the waterloo library picking up books:
who do you think you are, 在大雪封闭的山庄里, and large print format of the amber spyglass
she is also reading the sun also rises by hemingway and women by bukowski

a farmer peeling garlic at the st. jacobs farmer market in waterloo.