Shoot 'Em Up

The only set of pictures I ever posted on Flickr were the ones from Paris back in 2005 with B. That's when he had just purchased his digital SLR and was getting all jiggy with it. I put up his stunning images into one folder, along with my crappy ones taken with a tiny point-and-shoot. Then I proceeded to forget all about them.

Until now. I just received an email from Schmap informing me that one of the pictures of St. Sulpice church was chosen to be included in the fourth edition of their Paris guide! There's no monetary compensation, but B gets credit as the photographer. I have to concede that Schmap is implementing some brilliant business tactics. I mean, each touristy locale has a ton of pics culled from regular folks off Flickr, and you can imagine how much traffic is generated from all the excited people blogging or sending out the link to their friends. Not to mention the money the site itself saves from not having to hire photographers or buy stock images.

The shot shows the interior of the church,
and was taken a couple of days before Christmas.

It's Just Another New Year's Eve

I have to blog now before I make excuses. The pics are up, so BOOM, baby!

For NYE, 07/08, I joined Dre and the boys in San Diego for Soom's brother's wedding. Held on the beautiful property of Le Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, it boasted a sumptuous Indian buffet and an open bar. I had resolved not to drink, as usual, until Myles told me off in one rapid dictum: "I did not drive 130 miles so that you could be sober all night!"

So, I drank. (Refer to pics of alcohol and me, on the left. Else no one would believe me!) I had my first drink, a diluted Kamikaze on the rocks, and felt this cozy, gentle glow. Surely, I thought, I must be building a tolerance for the stuff! So I paced myself, then grabbed another one. All too suddenly, that soothing, vibrant warmth spiraled into a pulsating headache, crimson skin, and wobbly legs.

Despite my inebriated state from 1.5 drinks, I managed to snatch Dre's camera and take plenty of decent shots to immortalize the evening. You can see them all on her Picasa. Occasionally, people managed to take the camera back and get a picture of me, hence the shot of me pitifully trying to fondle Dre's breast and missing. That's my first time ever flubbing a tit-grope, and it better be the last!

Overall, it was a great night, with amazing people. Thanks, Dre, for curling my hair (the last time I can recall doing that was senior year prom, and now I want to go buy a hair curler badly!), and thanks Dre and Drea for taking care of me when I was THISCLOSE to hurling. Thanks to Tim for offering to carry me out on the makeshift stretcher. Thank you Soom, for letting me crash your brother's wedding, thanks to Myles for driving and forcing an innocent girl to drink (although your wicked hangover was karma enough), and Colburn rocks for keeping me warm when it was effin freezing outside!