I had this jar of origami stars sitting in my room for the longest time. When I poured a few out for a photograph, a yellow star landed in this perfect position.
Also, one of the snowflake photos in my previous post somehow ended up on Flickr’s explore page. This is my first time on that page. Thank you all for your support!
Merry Christmas! Hope you are all warm and enjoying some delicious goodies with the family. Here are some more photos of snowflakes.
This weekend in Toronto there was frozen rain and freezing temperatures which resulted in some beautiful ice formations. Naturally, I took some photos!
Nash gave me my Christmas present early. I was surprised with a new Nintendo 2DS and a copy of Pokemon X! I’ve been wanting to play the game since I heard about its existence but buying a system for it wasn’t in my budget for now.
The 2DS is the budget version of the 3DS but I’ve played Nash’s and always ended up turning down the 3D after a few minutes. I found the stereoscopic 3D to be a little headache inducing so the 2DS was actually perfect for my needs. It’s a little bit weird how it doesn’t flip, but holding it is actually comfy. The system itself is light and the L & R buttons are easier to press than the 3DS. The size is around 2 iPhone 4S placed beside each other.
Though it can’t display the stereophonic 3D, there are still two cameras on the back for taking 3D images that can be viewed elsewhere. It hasn’t affected my gameplay of Pokemon at all, I’m loving it!
If you have a 2DS/3DS let me know your code and I’ll add you. Mine is: 3926-5891-9582. Now back to becoming a Pokemon master.
After hearing about We Heart It on a couple of tech blogs, I decided to check it out. It has been around for a few years but picked up in the media recently for having over 25 million active users. The network was created as a place to share inspiring images. It differs from Tumblr and Pinterest in that you can’t comment. You simply upload and “heart” stuff. This makes it harder for people to cyberbully or troll. If you don’t like something, you simply don’t heart it.
I had a first hand experience on how many people actually use this network. I signed up, uploaded the snowflake photo in my previous post and within half an hour had 100 hearts. That’s amazing considering I started out with no followers.
The network also has a beautiful iOS/Android app. Now excuse me as I go heart some more stuff. You can follow me here.
I voluntarily went outside in -14 degrees (celcius) weather to capture macro snowflakes. This was the only photo that turned out. It’s actually not shot in B/W. The glove I used to catch falling slow happened to to be black. No flash, just the 100mm 2.8 L macro lens on my 60D.
I recently picked up the 100mm 2.8 L macro lens for a decent price. Here are some random test shots on my turtle!
Last night’s food adventure took us to Barrio Coreano, a fusion taco place in Koreatown by the owners of Playa Cabana. It was not difficult to find as you could see the flashy inside which stood out from the mom and pop Korean restaurants that surrounded it. The décor was in colourful and bright. Lights flashed. The music was loud but it wasn’t difficult to have a conversation. We were seated instantly. The place went a lot deeper than most places in the area.
The menus were written on large chalkboards on the wall. We had to stand up to read them, but it wasn’t that awkward. I liked the informal feel of the atmosphere. It was very inviting and everybody seemed to be enjoying their time. Our waiter took her time to welcome us and get us acquainted with the famous Playa Cabana hot sauces. Food was made fresh and to order so everything didn’t come together, but that was okay because it gave us breaks to recover.
As a starter, I ordered the Salmon Ceviche ($9). I thought it would come in a dinky little glass to be eaten with a spoon. That’s how much ceviche you usually get for that price at other place. I was surprised when we got a bowl of ceviche with tortilla chips. They are very generous with the portions. The ceviche was fresh, and it wasn’t fishy at all. Even Nash (who doesn’t normally like Salmon) was enjoying the dish.
I had a Soju Sangria ($9) to sip on. Soju is plum wine and it was mixed with unknown fruits. A starfruit sat on top as a decoration. It was sweet but just what I needed on a Friday night.
Two of Nash’s tacos came first. One of them was the Chihuahua and Tofu Taco ($5). Before our waiter explained it as a cheese from the province of Chihuahua, I actually thought they might have put the scrawny dog on the menu. The cheese had an interesting taste. It was a sort of like blue cheese, strong at first, but without the after taste. I liked it.
The other taco was the Korean beef taco ($5). The beef was marinated in Kalbi sauce to give it the Korean twist.
I was already getting full on the ceviche and bites of Nash’s tacos when my two tacos came. I always make a habit of trying fish tacos everywhere so I ordered the Yuzu Tuna ($5) and Chipotle Kambungki Chicken. The fish was nicely cooked and topped with a slaw that also had kimchi. I really enjoyed the Chipotle Chicken taco.
The chicken was battered (but not heavily) and flavoured sweet chili sauce. There was also jalapenos, radish and onions which made a crunchy and delicious taco.
Nash’s third taco was a Grilled Octopus Taco ($5). It was served with wasabi salsa which I thought would be empowering but totally wasn’t. The octopus was nicely cooked and not chewey at all.
We ordered a lot of food, but next time we know that it is unnecessary. The food is very well-priced and worth every cent. With delicious places like this in Toronto, I don’t know why anybody would want to wait 2 hours to get into Grand Electric. The service at Barrio Coreano was friendly and pleasant, food was exquisite and we got our money’s worth in portions. I’m already planning my next visit back with friends!
In November, I started hearing mentions of something called “Elf on the Shelf”. I had not previously known what this was and thought it was the next growing viral video sensation. Naturally, I eventually decided to Google it.
What I found was the latest in Christmas trends, and it was frightening. How it works is there is an elf. He comes with a book that you read to your children. The story goes that Santa can’t possibly know which little kids are naughty or nice so they sent an elf to come watch them and relay back to Santa. The rules are that the elf cannot be touched or it will lose its magic. Parents are supposed to put the elf in random places around the house while the child is not looking to provide the illusion that the thing is alive and is indeed watching.
All this might seem okay and magical but LOOK AT THE ELF. His little beady eyes are the creepiest thing. It reminds me of Slappy, the dummy from Goosebumps. He is literally looking at you from an eerie angle. On top of this you are told that he exists to watch and listen. If I saw this thing as a child moving around in my house I’d lose my mind. Not in a good way. In a HOLY SHIT HE IS GOING TO KILL MEÂ sort of way. Because I was that sort of child.
I was a smart child. I would have figured that this thing was here to ruin my ability to be naughty. I wouldn’t be able to eat copious amounts of holiday candy or take sneak peeks at my presents. Every time I thought about getting into mischief would be questioned by this lingering elf. Ultimately, I’d get mad and want to defeat it, despite still thinking it was the scariest thing ever. Sooner or later I’d go up to it and touch it and allow it to lose its magic. Then I’d rip his head off so there would be no way it could report back to Santa. Then I’d be the winner of Christmas.
In reality, we all know Santa is not real and that parents will buy their kids presents no matter what.
Yesterday, I opened the cubicle in which all our mail usually lay. Inside the dark hole perched a tiny grey package. It was addressed to me, and even included my phone number. There was no exact return address. It only mentioned Shen Zhen China and there were some Chinese words I couldn’t read. I was elated, thinking that one of the packages I had ordered off Ebay had finally arrived.
I ripped open the envelope to find a mysterious object wrapped in white foam. It was steel tubular object attached to a keychain. A knob could screw off and revealed a metal rod with what looked like a screw and a tiny bit of cloth at the end. I took a whiff of the inside of the tube and it smelt of gasoline. I was very confused. This was not the camera accessory, film or dog costume I had ordered. I had no idea what it was, so I took a photo of it and turned to Twitter.
A bunch of people assumed it was a tiny flask, but within minutes my question was answered. It was a flint fire starter, something people took camping and used to start fires in case of emergency. The question still remained, “Why was it sent to me?”.
Initially, I thought it may have been my 12 Days of Holiday bullshit so I took to Twitter to ask. Cards Against Humanity replied and said it would be very obvious it was from them. I guess they wouldn’t forget to include their own branding on their items. A confusing tube that could start fires was quite a quirky object so CAH was a good guess, but not the right one. Now I must wait until I get all my other orders and see which eBay seller sent me the wrong thing.
However, I could get all the right parcels and still be left with a flint lighter from a mysterious place. We’ll have to wait and find out.
Tiana Feng 