if you know me at all, then you know that i love my camera and taking pictures
i have not gone a day without having my camera on me since 2/15/2003 ... the day of the almost hit-and-run by the drunk driver.
it was ALMOST a hit-and-run because the drunk driver took off after t-boning my car in the intersection... but i ran after him on foot and caught him
he ended up getting arrested
anyway, i happened to have my camera with me in my suit jacket ...
when i caught up to the guy i took pictures of his license plate and of his face... i think that's what made him stop running
so since that day, i have not left the house without packing my camera

anyway... my trusty canon s400 just died on me a few days ago
after taking thousands of pictures during the 3+ years of service...
it just won't turn on anymore
so i finally have an excuse to buy a new camera
most likely will buy the sd600
although i'd love to get the sd700... there's a full $100+ difference between the two models

damn
i'm waking up like 7am these days so i can get to work in the morning
haven't had to do that since back in high school
(well, i did have to do it in college first year for language drill ... but i hardly went to that)
but i guess this is a good thing because it's forcing me to sleep at a decent hour everynight
hopefully i can carry that over into the school year and improve my attendance drastically

the day seems so much longer... when you wake up at 5am.

the view from the peak of mammoth mountain a 270 degree panorama it was beautiful why couldn't mammoth be my local mountain instead of big bear or mt.high?

i had a "tarot card" reading done once. it was by some korean guy from chicago... he was like 19 years old... i was 22... met him for the first time while hanging out with this girl. she told me he was good at reading tarot cards and that i should try it. i was curious. the guy took a deck of playing cards and did the reading. it was pretty scary how he was getting everything so accurately. he told me that i must be involved in law or law enforcement somehow... i was working with LAPD and i was applying to law schools. then he told me that i would make a lot of money easily... but that money will also disappear very fast. i believe him. remember that extra $1000 i came back from vegas with? well... in less than a week, that money is all gone. i spent $630 on new snowboarding gear and $250 on lift tickets... spent $100 on dinner for some friends after coming back from vegas... and spent money here and there on random things.
money easily earned is also easily spent. but i wonder if this will apply to me later on in life... because i've never been driven by the money when it comes to my career choice... we'll have to see.

i went boarding at big bear on 1/2/04... wow... 2004... yup... it's finally here. anyway conditions SUCKED... i mean.. the snow was actually pretty good.. and we all expected it to be snowing today... but it RAINED the whole day.. and it was windy and foggy.. not really ideal conditions for having fun on the slopes. but the important thing was that i got to test out my new gear. my new board and boots and the flow bindings i borrowed. i really like my new board. i had to adjust my bindings several times and my right boot twice... and now i think i've got the board set up the way i like it. i realized that i had been missing out all this time by hanging onto my old gear. the board is really aggressive compared to my old board. when i start a carve it wants to take me further.. and it's definitely faster but it feels nice and solid under my feet. it's slightly longer than my old board (162 vs. 159) but the extra length doesn't hinder me at all. i think it might actually be a little lighter. i still need to get used to the board and its edges but i can already tell that this board will allow me to step it up a notch on the slopes. i started landing my jumps with confidence after a few runs (although the fog and rain made me hold back a lot). one important thing i learned and put into practice was that i have to "stomp" the landings. and it worked. in the past.. i didn't really think about that part of the landing. it's a miracle that i've even landed a few 180s in the past without concentrating on landing with confidence. if it wasn't so dark and raining, i was ready to try some 180s and 360s with the new board. but there was no way i could do that when i couldn't even see the terrain correctly because of the lighting. i just did a few easy grabs and got some air on some of the jumps. we turned in our lift tickets early to get a little credit voucher because of the rain. we were all soaked and freezing out there. but i'm glad we still went. it's a good "warm up" for the big mammoth trip. i'll be leaving this sunday after church to go up to mammoth and stay til thursday. i plan on taking it hardcore on mon-tues, take it a little easy on wed, then hardcore on thursday before coming home. hopefully conditions will be better up there. my ideal snowboarding conditions are ... cold with a little sun peaking through the clouds, hard packed powder with a fresh layer of powder on top. that's what we get in the east coast all the time. i miss it. hopefully mammoth will give me what i'm looking for.

i took a picture of the very last sunset of 2003.

so it's the last day of 2003. wow. the year just flew by... to me... anything between february and now seems like a big blur... and here i am... at the footstep of the new year... it's a little scary. i have a lot to say about the past year... but at the same time, not much to say. i'm a little preoccupied by the regrets surrounding my failed relationship. i just wanted to leave all that behind and start off on the right foot for the new year. but today just brought everything back. i had an unexpected encounter with my ex today. the outcome was not good. i guess it's hopeless... i have so many unanswered questions... so many nagging issues... but i'm just going to let it all go. 'closure' is so elusive... and every new incident makes it more so. but i will move on. it really won't do much to get to the bottom of this. in summary.. 2003 feels like a year of prelude... everything is just leading to something bigger... and better... i'll be hearing back from law schools in a few months... i have a lot of traveling to look forward to... and then start of law school. a relationship is not a priority right now... but i expect things to look brighter in that department as well. 2004 will be a year of promise... fulfillment... realizing my potential... i will make it so. i learned much about myself this year. i won't make the same mistakes... and i'll continue to cultivate my strengths... the end result will make everything worth it. i'll commit the precious moments to my memory... even the bittersweet ones... and i'll keep moving forward. farewell 2003.

well... not exactly. the boots i already wrote about. the board, i just bought with the money i won at vegas. thanks mandalay bay, venetian, and flamingo~ it's a 02/03 burton custom 162. and the katana sword was a gift from my hyung that i took to vegas with me. he wanted to give it to me because i really took care of him and his gf while in vegas. it's his way of showing his appreciation. and it's very significant because we were both inspired to become samurai. i can finally retire the 5 year old gear i've been riding on. i really got my money's worth out of those.