This past weekend was one of the better weekends of the year. I had low expectations, mainly because I was a bit sad, with it being the first Thanksgiving without my ex and his family in something like 4 years. Turns out this Thanksgiving was even better than all of those combined. My friends are amazing. The only way this weekend could have been better is if my lady, jaylin, had been there. She was away in Canadia, sadly. It all started with Thanksgiving dinner at a new friend's place, and about 10 hours of drinking wine and eating amazing food. It only continued from there with Thanksgiving, leftovers edition, followed by a ladies only brunchsgiving on Sunday. So many new friends and stories. I'm so thankful to have been able to spend Thanksgiving in SF.

The one I met last month ended up being a bit of a mess, emotionally/mentally and far too complicated for anything I need in my life. Since moving to San Francisco, I've become so relaxed and low maintenance. I don't have the time, nor do I want to put the effort into something like that. Be clear in your intentions, and just have fun. Eesh. In light of all that, I met another boy. I saw him at a party but was too shy to actually approach him, so of course the internet was used afterwards. Hanging out with him has been super easy and chill. A really, really nice change. At this point in my life, I need that. I don't want to play games or worry about whether he likes me or not. I've also decided to just hang out with one fella. One worthy fella.

Which leads me to my job stuff. I've still technically freelancing, but I do have a nice job offer. I'm just waiting on my actual start date, but contracting with them until it's official. I just wrapped a project that was strictly webkit. The freedom! I've already learned so much, and of course have been exceptionally spoiled with CSS3 support. It's a nice change from working on a product that is geared toward Windoze users with 30% IE 6 users. I'm super excited about my future here.

I'm also developing a cooking project to likely debut January 1st. I need some projects, and now that a HUGE amount of stress have left my shoulders, it's time!

Okay, and now for the necessary I love my friends photos.

I meant to say I met two boys. And both are hilarious, witty and adorable. Exclusive relationships ftl right now.

I met a boy.

Jaylin and I had japanese marble soda tonight. Being new to it, we decided to make a video. I swear I'm not as ditzy as it appears!

Fruit flies have invaded my apartment! Jaylin and I are going mad dealing with these awful little insects. It all started with a horrible decision. That decision involved placing a homebaked peach pie covered in tin foil on top of the microwave well above my eye level. Put it there, throw it out, I thought. And then I probably smoked a ton and forgot all about it. For a while. Only to be discovered a couple days ago after doing the dishes and seeing a surprising amount of specks in my peripheral vision. I picked up some of that ultra sticky, difficult to handle, fly tape which seems to be sort of working. Though one of my cats decided to jump up the wall to get at it, chew it, and then, of course, vomit (and then proceeded to eat said vomit). What I discovered also works is spraying them with windex! And it's great fun too! Ugh. These little bastards better get dead soon.

I went to see Bon Iver last week at the Fillmore. I'd like to say I went to see them, but in reality, I went to see Megafaun who was opening for them. Megafaun is this amazing trio of hillbilly looking dudes with beautiful voices. The way they hamonize makes me melt. I've been on this epic indie folk kick and they are at the center of it. They played with the Bowerbirds, another one of my favorite bands of this year, a couple months ago at Cafe du Nord and got off the stage during one of their songs and played it right there in the middle of the crowd. I recommend one song of theirs in particular. It's called Kaufman's Ballad. And if you like it, look into the story behind. Really fantastic stuff.

I'm planning a trip down to LA in the very near future. Anyone want to shoot a set?!

Someone messaged me on here the other day saying they missed my radiance in my earlier sets and now my sets are more nor-cal and gritty. So in honor of being gritty, I love buckets of pbr:

I love San Francisco so much! On Saturday, I went to a top secret food fight in a random park. I'd say 50 people showed up, some in costumes. Tons of kids. Of course, it was the kids that ended up being the most vicious! Cost of admission was 5 tubs of cool whip, which in hindsight, may not have been the best of ideas. Or maybe it was just the fact that most of us had picked them up 10 minutes earlier. I had frostbitten fingers and ice welts. I just love how this city has the most random events happening, all the time. Such life and spirit. Oh yeah, maybe it's also turning me into a bit of a hippy, but in the best way possible.



In my time of funemployment, I decided I should definitely get a part-time job, to offset the freelance dev stuff, at my favorite Blue Bottle kiosk. So I did! It only pays $11 an hour, but it doesn't feel like work at all and it gets me out of the house and off the computer. Next week I'm going to the Blue Bottle roasters for full on, proper training. I'm just glad it's one of the snobbier establishments where I don't have to memorize a ton of fancy coffee drinks.

In other news, I CUT OFF MY HAIR! After growing it out for a few changes, I needed something new. I love it. Went back to the pixie! Pics below! Now I really want to shoot a new set, but there aren't any official photographers here in SG.





Jaylin and I posed for the 2010 My Zombie Pin-up Calendar a few months ago, and the calendar is finally complete and available! The makeup and special effects are pretty rad. I'm May, and jaylin is July. So cool. Look!



I switched to a thinkgeek wishlist! So many awesome nerdtastic things.

I got laid off a couple days ago. Womp womp! It's actually not so bad, given that last week I had already updated my resume and sent it out once. My job is being outsourced tho, so that does indeed suck. Alas! focusing on the positive, like severance! Woo!

That said, I'm considering going on a trip. Where should I go? Can I come stay with you?! I'm looking for somewhere in the US. I need some adventure and new people to meet!

I survived skydiving! Woo! I can absolutely say that was the best experience in my life so far. Life changing, in fact. Hurling yourself out of a plane at 120mph definitely adds some perspective.

I was incredibly nervous leading up to the jump, but once we got around 16,000 feet, and everyone started getting ready, my nerves disappeared. Suddenly, at 18,000 feet, my instructor was saying go go go, get your feet out the door, as we scooted across the airplane floor. It was incredibly cold windy as I hung out my feet outside the plane and thought, this is it. Seconds later I was falling through the air, feeling the intensity of the wind against every inch of my body. Never once did I feel scared nor in danger, or maybe I was just so content with everything, I didn't care. I do wish I was a little less tensed, because it was really hard to move my arms around to good pictures, heh.

Then he pulled the parachute cord and back up we went, hurling around while the parachute opened and settled in the wind. My face hurt from smiling so much as we soared around. The ocean, the mountains, from so high up, so fucking beautiful. I've never felt so alive.

I've tried to put together words to accurately describe the intensity and life-affirming moment, and it's impossible. I just keep thinking, omg, I fell out of an airplane. On purpose!That's crazy talk!

Here's the video of my jump! (the audio is off, sorry!)




And here are some photos from the day!















More photos over on my Flickr!

I can't wait to go again!

Jaylin and I are going Skydiving today! RIGHT NOW! HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZOOOOOONE!!! We made you guys a video!!

Yesterday I was invited to speak on a panel for the first time. It's called The Road to Development: Women Leading the Charge, and it's about women developers, how we got to where we are and what our experiences have been like. I'm incredibly excited, as this is one of the main things I'd like to do in my career in tech. I want to inspire girls to go into this profession, and this is the first step toward it! I'm super nervous though. I have visions of just throwing up on stage when I go to speak, like in It's Always Sunny when Sweet Dee does her stand up.

My lady, Jaylin, has been in Greece for the past 9 days and I miss her SO much. This trip has been so amazing for her, and I can't wait for her to get back and become my adventuring partner in crime. We're planning a camping trip for the weekend of August 1st. But not just any camping trip...

We're going skydiving!!

I'm SO excited! I think we're doing the 18k ft jump. That's like, 90+ seconds of freefall. I hope I don't pee on the person attached to my back.

Oh yeah, and my set is still in member review, so please check it out and give it some more love!