You win, Karma

I've been trying to figure out what bad Karma I accumulated last year to be punished with a bout of back-itis so soon into the Lunar New Year by Choi Sun (the God of Fortune, or in my case, Misfortune). And I think I've found it. Recently, I was grocery shopping when I saw a toddler sitting in the handle bar slot portion of a shopping cart, swinging his feet back and forth. And when his foot firmly junked his very surprised father with an audible thud, I remember distinctly giggling and then walking away thinking, oh that's going to come back and haunt me.

Sure enough. You win, Karma. I hate you.









And if the back strain isn't bad enough, I can't even take the narcotic painkillers the doc prescribed, cause they're making me nauseous and pukey. Hooray.

恭喜發財 - Gung Hei Fat Choi - Congratulations Get Rich!

Chinese New Year for Dummies, by G.Mach. Chapter 1: If some random Asian dude starts wishing you well in Chinese, here are some common New Year blessings he may be saying, and their literal translations into English.

恭喜發財 (Gung Hei Fat Choy) - 'Congratulations Get Rich!'
身壯力健 (Sun Jong Lik Geen) - 'Body Strong Strength Healthy!'
心想事成 (Sum Seung See Sing) - 'Heart Want Come True!'
一帆風順 (Yat Fan Fung Sun) - 'One Trouble Wind Smooth!'

Yes folks, today marks the start of the Lunar new year, and it's the Year of the Sheep/ Ram/ Goat in the Chinese Zodiac. Get ye down to the temple, burn some incense, and kowtow to the pantheon to curry favour with your favourite deity.

















And if you pop down to Chinatown or any Asian themed place over the next few days, you may hear this song playing over and over. It's essentially the Cantonese equivalent of "Santa Claus is coming to town." Except instead of St. Nick giving out toys, it's about Choy Sun (the God of Fortune) coming to bless those who have been good peeps with ingots of GOOOOOLD!



I'm going to stray from stereotypes, and not wish you lots of wealth, but instead focus on the two things that are far more important. I wish you and your families good health and happiness in this coming year!

#CNY2015 #Yearofthesheep #Dontbeasheep #beashepherd #WongTaiSin

Kung Fu Bok Choy - The Year of the Horse

Happy Lunar New Year to you all, or as Dean would say, Kung Fu Bok Choy! Wishing you all good health, happiness, and prosperity in the Year of the Horse. Now give me all your money in a red packet! Seriously. I need your money. Somehow, I forgot to sock away a third of all my earnings from teaching last year, and so come tax time, I'm going to owe a CHA-CHING amount of money to Emperor Harper's royal coffers. Choi Sun Yeh (the Chinese God of Prosperity) needs to pay my bank account a visit, STAT!



And while my cholesterol levels are going to disagree, my stomach says that the only thing better than celebrating Lunar New Year with a delicious feast of Hot Pot, is to have it twice in a three days (I'm salivating over tomorrow's feast already). Especially in this bitchingly cold weather.

MOONCAKES!!!

It's almost time for mid-autumn festival, that Chinese holiday marking the fall equinox (on the lunar calendar) and the full moon. Realistically, being raised in Canada means that I don't actually know anything about the significance of this holiday other than the fact that it coincides with the few week period in which I get to fatten myself up with mooncakes!!! Mmm...

I couldn't resist buying this mooncake from T&T, simply because it came in an awesome little tin (which also happens to perfectly fit 3 rolls of 120 film). The tiny pastry was totally not worth 4 bucks, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for stupid little collectible stuff.

Photowalk Edmonton

So Marc and I went out on a photostroll this week through a bit of Chinatown, then the Art Gallery, and ending off at Churchill Square. I only had my 50mm, which is awesome, but sometimes you need something a bit wider...


























Quick story about the portrait of the lady in the last photo - she approached Marc as we were walking through the very picturesque concrete slab in Churchill Square, and she requested Marc to take her photo. But she insisted that he had to take the photo at a distance from which she could touch him. Very odd. Anyways, Marc had his 70-300 lens slapped on, which can't focus that close, and so I ended snapping this shot of her. It's blurry cause manual focus in the dark is fricking hard, and the DoF at f/1.2 is really shallow. But I love the way it turned out. Apres photo, she poked me with her finger, and let us on our way. Strange, but fun.

There are few more photos from this night, which I'll post later.

-Comrade G

The Fauxlaroid Cafe

The best camera you own is the one you have on you. So while sometimes I wish I had my Holga or my D300 with me everywhere I go, that's just plain not practical. Enter the craptastic iPhone 3G and the Shake It photo app from the app store. Instant Fauxlaroid goodness.

This is a quartet of the Calgary firefighters in action during last week's big Chinatown fire. The blaze started at 4 in the morning, and they were still dousing it by 2 in the afternoon.



Alright, gone skiing for the next two days. Have a great weekend!
-G

Shoot Wide Open

A few friends of mine have started an f/1.8 photoblog, dedicated to all of us bokeh whores. Check it out.

And, just to prove my point about us visiting Chinatown everywhere we go (ala my previous post), here's a shot of us searching out the motherland in London, England.



-G