I thought last night was the full moon, but earlier tonight I stepped out for a beer run to the market, and immediately realized tonight is the real full moon.
Xenolithic
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
A Forgotten Gem
Saturday, June 10, 2017 in downtown Los Angeles. I was driving home from Echo Park in the artsy Silverlake district after a leisurely stroll and photo session around the lake. I was almost home when I was greeted by the sight of these nude bicycle riders down what I had long come to think of as the "back street" (although it was hardly that, since the road cut through the heart of downtown). It may have been some kind of charity event, I don't really know, but anyway it was unusual enough that I pulled over and took a few precious shots for posterity before they passed out of sight. The guy in the detail shot noticed me grinning and flashed a "V for victory" sign. I held out a "thumbs up" in return. Was all this against some misdemeanor regulation? Of course not -- there was even a cop directing traffic to make sure the riders were safe. I just wished there had been more women riders.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Young And Crazy
As I explained in the November 6th, 2011 post, I developed a serious case of obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child. I believe it was triggered by the sudden anxiety I experienced when I woke up on New Year's Day morning and found that my parents had left me to go and visit my paternal grandmother in Daegu, which back then was several hours' ride away by train -- and of course, to a young child that might as well be on the other side of the world. The feeling of panic that overwhelmed me was absolutely crushing; my parents hadn't prepared me by informing me beforehand of their plans. But to be fair to mom and dad, I guess they really can't be expected to have foreseen the severity of my reaction to their sudden absence from my life; after all, by the age of ten the average boy probably would have faced it in a more pedestrian manner. So. Well. Except, I wasn't average -- at that stage in my life I was a sickly, delicate child (I remember my father's MD friend coming over to diagnose me and give me a shot -- yes, doctors still made house calls back in those days), less emotionally developed than my peers and highly dependent. I felt scared, vulnerable and abandoned. If someone could have seen my aura at the peak of my pediatric trauma they might have seen something like this:
You know -- emergency-red inside, all het up and hopped up, and not in a good way, and the world outside all jumbly unthinkable darkness; but still all locked in and unable to act out because of all the, well, all the societal rules and boundaries -- appearance and propriety still mattered, especially when you're a child and a "good boy" in Asia. Anyway, that's kind of how the inner me felt at the time.
But of course, over the years I managed to grow out of all that by and by. Albeit not completely (perhaps you can see traces of it in this very blog?); I still feel moderate twinges of it and I just have to obey the sudden irrational impulses that are apt to overtake me at unpredictable moments every day. I guess at those moments I might impress third party observers -- if any happened to be watching -- as "slightly eccentric" or something along those lines.
I suppose the above image could also do as a visualization of mental illness in general; the family medical encyclopedia wherein I first found my symptoms described also stated that in extreme cases OCD can be virtually indistinguishable from schizophrenia.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Another Appeal
I came across an innocent-seeming photo of a cloud. I got an inkling though, and so I turned it on its side, and something extraordinary happened.
Instantly, the cloud has become the very picture of grief, the victim of some grievous wrong, passionately making its case to Heaven and the world, informing all and sundry of the injustice done against it. In this it somewhat resembles this tree in a previous post; but whereas the image of the tree was comical, this one seems genuinely pained, like there's a great, transpersonal tragedy being appealed. The tree was funny because it reminded me of a panicked chicken with that "coxcomb", whereas this cloud has that exaggerated, Chagall-esque mask for a face that I think would fit seamlessly on Shylock -- another very famously wronged character -- from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
Friday, October 11, 2024
Where Heaven And Earth Touch
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Sunbird
Today as I wended my way up Insadong's main commercial strip toward the subway, I spotted this winged figure in the sky, silhouetted against the late afternoon sun. How glorious!
Related post: Dark Wings Over Seoul
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Monday, October 7, 2024
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Funny, Then Sad
Or funny and sad, in two parts. First, the funny (and cute) part: I was just walking down an alley in an unfamiliar neighborhood, looking and photographing. Then I came upon this building
with a pair of vent shafts behind a railing. The pipes looked for all the world like a big brother and a little brother looking out a window, watching the world go by, perhaps pointing out interesting shapes in the clouds to each other. Maybe this sounds a little odd, but they were "adorable" -- at least I found them so.
Now for the sad part. While preparing those images to post them, I was reminded of something else, something truly heartrending. Some time ago while cruising the internet I had come across these images of captive animals in a zoo, pining for the freedom that is rightfully theirs. The murals of their former environs decorating their cells serve only to cruelly tantalize them -- they are "looking", but not "looking out". I wonder if they know that they will never be free again.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Spur-Of-The-Moment
While visiting touristy BukChon, I happened upon this establishment with symbolic bird carvings out front. While photographing one of them juxtaposed with the real thing in the background, I happened to see an aircraft forming a vapor trail far off (middle shot, center left). And of course, I immediately realized the potential.
Friday, October 4, 2024
How Adorable Is This
Found this old shot of a hummingbird doing its level best to blend in with the tree buds around it. Even if it's probably just an accidentally assumed pose, the fact the buds are nearly the same size as the little guy brought a smile to my face. There are no hummingbirds in Korea, so coming across this image from the past was a genuine pleasure.
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Fish Crossings
Why does God have fish swimming in the sky?
So they can get to the other side, silly!
But (failed)attempts at ironic humor aside, this sky-crosser looking really, really like a fossil ostracoderm(?) strongly reminded me of all those scary-looking armored ancient fishes.
Like this "Dunkleosteus":
Whereas this cloud could stand for any one of the short-bodied modern fishes, of which there are many. Funny how as evolution proceeded over the eons organisms seem to have become less well-defended -- but maybe it means they've become more agile and better at evading predation.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Monday, September 30, 2024
Sunday, September 29, 2024
The Beautiful, Remote Moon II
While checking out some old files as I'm wont to do sometimes, I came across this lovely image. It was taken back in July -- I don't know why I didn't post it then. Maybe I was just too occupied with cicadas at the time.
Saturday, September 28, 2024
I Read Somewhere
that when you are outdoors in a natural environment, statistically you would never be more than three feet away from a spider. Well, yesterday a tiny spider was found within a decidedly non-natural, highly artificial environment -- in the lobby of my building, right next to the elevator, and in front of a mirror, too (placed there presumably so you can give yourself a final lookover before setting out).
So I took a picture of the spider in the mirror:
Today I forgot to check on the little fellow when I came home, so I went back down to take a look just now. He was gone. The hardworking "environment beautification technicians" (janitors/cleaning ladies) had got him. Ah well.
Friday, September 27, 2024
Crowned With Glory
Seoul is a huge place, and even after all this time I'm still learning my way around it. Another random long subway ride brought me to what looked like an old neighborhood with lots of history. And its own distinctive line of proud, nimbus-wearing clouds.