Window

6:40am, in Mom's bed.

Woke up facing this, first thought being "how did I get here?"

Is it weird that I find scenes like these incredibly beautiful? Almost poetic?

I swear it's not that time of the month. ;) 

It IS Fall season for NYC however, and I really missed being in a place where the leaves change color, where the air is crisp and rejuvenating. 

O'ahu Photography Tour

Disclaimer: THIS IS A PHOTO DUMP. I MEANT IT TO BE A PHOTO DUMP. ^_______^

Guys, what happened. My life imploded and I have too much going on and I'm working myself into a sleep deficit that I won't be able to dig out of anytime soon. My mother has been here in Shanghai with me for the last month, and I took her to Sichuan and Beijing. Then I had to fly to HK for work. And while everything is going on there's been major changes in my work structure and projects are finally coming to bud (knock on wood). I've had major tests on patience and professionalism. I've feared for my future. I've welcomed my future. It's all a hot mess, one that has prevented me from really blogging for the last 6 weeks. However, I still carry my camera around, so I have a major backlog of material to post. It's like staring at a textbook a day before the test.... should I cram or should I just burn the book?

Thus, photodump. Because it's midnight and I still have a month's worth of sleep to catch up. 

Synopsis -- I was a crazy girl who woke up at 4am while on vacation in Hawaii so I could take pretty pictures with O'ahu Photography Tour. Worth it? Totally. Alex, the tour operator, was super nice and chill. He took us to all these special places that he's staked out, so you get to see another side of O'ahu... it feels like it's your secret adventure, one with nature. Hope you enjoy. :)

Sunrise.

It was overcast, but I didn't mind... gave it a mystical feel.

Lovely Liza, the only other crazy who thought it was a great idea to wake up at 4am.

Yes, we were the only two people on the tour.

I love wildflowers.

Oh, hai!

Took this one through the car window (shaded) while enroute to another destination. 

I love looking through branch patterns, which here is mixed in with sky patterns. Double whammy!

More branch patterns! 

Or more accurately bamboo, which are grass stems. Did you know that? I did. Cookie pls.

These were tiny baby fern (?). 

Not sure exactly, but these tiny bright red shoots growing out of the mossy summer palace ruins caught my attention.

This reminded me of Spirited Away somehow...

Lush peace.

Step One

Create a platform for yourself.

And put a brave face forward.

... and get a manicure while you're at it. :p

The Supers

It's that time of the year -- NYFW Fall/Winter 2012. I was lucky to get a glimpse of AW's coterie of supermodels (yes, there is a distinction between super/models) posing for a final photoshoot before the show. It's a blurry picture, but the ones unmasked are Gisele and Carmen Kass. Yes, they're amazons in real life too. :p

Neo, I think they may be looking for you.

It's so very weird to see these people in real life.

Like a Breeze

My goal is to live unburdened in heart, body, and soul.

Pure and detached.

用一顆乾淨的心存自己的小天堂。

Life is a Highway

Ikea, who is probably my most loyal reader (second to my Mom), publicly accused me of abandoning my blog recently. I have to admit that Miffy's Adventures has suffered a bit in content since I left New York. >_< Here are my lame excuses:

1. The Great Firewall of China. It makes it slower to blog, although I've now shelled out for a better VPN (used to be Witopia aka craptopia, now I use VyprVPN... expensive at $20/month).
2. Busy with work and settling in.... there's not much for me to take pictures of without being one of those people who talk about work all the time. BORING!
3. I've left my Canon at home because my new iPhone's camera is good enough for everyday use, whereas my G11 is pretty damn heavy to haul around. I've realized that I still greatly prefer my real digital camera for blogging purposes though. 
4. Because of Reason #3, most of my picture-taking have been stored on Instagram. :)
5. I have very little friends/family here. So less occasions to write about. God that sounds so damn sad!

My professional life has been hectic -- it's essentially a start-up company so efficiency is low but the learning curve is high. Recently we've made some major headway in our projects, which is great news... otherwise I'd be on the next flight back to New York! Roles and responsibilities are still vague, but it'll all materialize soon with time. I can't speak too much about it right now since the planning is quite sensitive, but I'll leak more details once the terms are set! Generally I've been lackadaisical about interacting with Shanghai since I've gotten here... I usually pore over Cityweekend/Timeout for my next adventure. These days I'm just not in the mood. I'm still crashing at boss lady's apartment even though I found a small studio already, but it'll 2 weeks to repaint the place, buy furniture, install the internet, etc... I promise to give you a tour once it's all done. :D

Yan An Highway.

On the ground during night and in the air during day. Yes, Instagram!!!

So far I have no regrets about coming to Shanghai, except for leaving people behind. But I know that those who love you will always be there (and importantly WANT to be there) regardless of time and location. And if you can't meet that standard, then you'll eventually be culled. It's not cold but it is calculated. More than ever I only have a limited amount of resources at hand, and I want to give my best to those who deserve it most. :)

I feel like I'm back on track and that everything that I've worked on since early 2009 is finally converging on this point. This year when I went with my dad to the temple during Chinese New Year, I had prayed to the god[s] above to show me the way. It wasn't like throwing a penny into a fountain and making a wish, I was begging, with tears streaming down my face. It was quite embarrassing since I think my dad saw, but he was nice enough to not say a thing. Life didn't give me an answer right away, but with continual experimentation and help from above I'm hugely hopeful that I'm sitting at the cusp of something awesome. It's amazing how quickly things can change, which is why life can certainly feel like a highway.

GAH I can't help writing introspective shit when I'm sedentary!!! I am so boring. Blah.

Chinese Zodiac

@ Tian zi fang (田子坊)

I wonder how Rats fare next year?

Instagram Rookie

I LOVE INSTAGRAM!!!!!!!!! I downloaded the app on my iPhone yesterday and I can't stop playing with it. I think I'll start substituting my Canon with my iPhone for everyday occasions. Traditional camera still rules, but it adds like 5lbs to my purse and gives me a backache by the end of the day. I'm impressed with the quality of photos that come out here, enough to capture most moments. :)

I really do love my cappuccinos. Yum.

Holiday brunch @ Isola // Shanghai IFC with boss lady & friends.

They have the best antipasto buffets... can't get enough of  beets, artichokes, and prosciutto!

Snapshot

Umalayas, Bali Island, Indonesia.

August 14th, 2011.