Guilie Castillo-Oriard's Blog, page 22
January 10, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #10
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge brings us to... The top ten! It was so hard to choose, and there's like 100+ pics that I'd have loved to share, but--alas--only ten places are left, and I had to choose the best of the best. Here's #10:
April 2013, Perú. A street dancer with musicians in the background. The photo isn't excellent,but the joy on the girl's face, and the way the photo captures movement--makes you imagine the next step, makes you want to join in. That photography allows me to bring such a moment to you--bizarre, and fantastic.
Come back tomorrow for #9, my favorite portrait of my dushi.
April 2013, Perú. A street dancer with musicians in the background. The photo isn't excellent,but the joy on the girl's face, and the way the photo captures movement--makes you imagine the next step, makes you want to join in. That photography allows me to bring such a moment to you--bizarre, and fantastic.
Come back tomorrow for #9, my favorite portrait of my dushi.
I Think; Therefore, I Yam: The Cold Truth
A Finnish scale of temperatures, with helpful comparisons--for all of us non-Finns--with the rest of Europe. The last line cracks me up every time.
+15 --- Spanish wear caps, gloves, and winter coats; Finns are sunbathing.+10 --- French desperately try to get their central heating on; Finns plant flowers.+ 5 --- Italian cars won't start; Finns drive convertibles. 0 --- Pure water freezes; water in River Vantaa thickens a bit.- 5 --- First people are found frozen in California; Finnish midsummer festival ends.-10 --- Scots turn the heat on in their houses; Finns start to wear long-sleeved shirts.-20 --- Swedes stay indoors; Finns are having last barbecue before winter.-30 --- Half of the Greek people have been frozen to death; Finns start to dry laundry indoors.-50 --- Polar bears evacuate North Pole; Finnish army starts its winter training.-70 --- Siberians are moving to Moscow; Finns are furious, because their Kiskenkorva liquor can't be stored outdoors anymore.-273 --- Absolute zero; Finns admit that it is quite cold outside.-300 --- Hell freezes over; Finland wins the World Cup.
Visit I Think; Therefore, I Yam: The Cold Truth for more hilarity, including a priceless list headed "How Cold Was It?" It was so cold that... Hitchhikers were holding out pictures of thumbs. Starbucks started selling coffee on a stick. Oh, there's more, much more. Brilliant humor from this marvelous woman who's trying to figure out if she's "a writer who blogs or a blogger who writes"--which, of course, we should *all* be doing.
+15 --- Spanish wear caps, gloves, and winter coats; Finns are sunbathing.+10 --- French desperately try to get their central heating on; Finns plant flowers.+ 5 --- Italian cars won't start; Finns drive convertibles. 0 --- Pure water freezes; water in River Vantaa thickens a bit.- 5 --- First people are found frozen in California; Finnish midsummer festival ends.-10 --- Scots turn the heat on in their houses; Finns start to wear long-sleeved shirts.-20 --- Swedes stay indoors; Finns are having last barbecue before winter.-30 --- Half of the Greek people have been frozen to death; Finns start to dry laundry indoors.-50 --- Polar bears evacuate North Pole; Finnish army starts its winter training.-70 --- Siberians are moving to Moscow; Finns are furious, because their Kiskenkorva liquor can't be stored outdoors anymore.-273 --- Absolute zero; Finns admit that it is quite cold outside.-300 --- Hell freezes over; Finland wins the World Cup.
Visit I Think; Therefore, I Yam: The Cold Truth for more hilarity, including a priceless list headed "How Cold Was It?" It was so cold that... Hitchhikers were holding out pictures of thumbs. Starbucks started selling coffee on a stick. Oh, there's more, much more. Brilliant humor from this marvelous woman who's trying to figure out if she's "a writer who blogs or a blogger who writes"--which, of course, we should *all* be doing.
January 9, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #11
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge:
July 2013, Amsterdam. My brother-in-law listening to his mother answer the judge's question:Why do you think your son asked you to be a witness to his marriage?The photo itself isn't special except for the fact that it's among maybe 10 others (of over 60) I shotthat didn't come out blurry. I was shooting without a tripod and without flash (I hate flash), more anexperiment than actual documentation--witness the professional photographer behind the groom.But it's special--very, very much so--to me because of the moment, the raw emotion.The little boy inside the man.
July 2013, Amsterdam. My brother-in-law listening to his mother answer the judge's question:Why do you think your son asked you to be a witness to his marriage?The photo itself isn't special except for the fact that it's among maybe 10 others (of over 60) I shotthat didn't come out blurry. I was shooting without a tripod and without flash (I hate flash), more anexperiment than actual documentation--witness the professional photographer behind the groom.But it's special--very, very much so--to me because of the moment, the raw emotion.The little boy inside the man.
January 8, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #12
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge:
April 2013, Perú. At the highest point (4,950 meters above sea level) on the mountain roadbetween Arequipa and the Cañón del Colca, home of the condors. (Sadly, none of the thousandcondor photos came out well enough to make this Top 20.)
Tomorrow: #11 is one of the few photos from my brother-in-law's wedding I took thatcame out well. It made the list because it captured a side of him I didn't know, and probablywon't see again.
April 2013, Perú. At the highest point (4,950 meters above sea level) on the mountain roadbetween Arequipa and the Cañón del Colca, home of the condors. (Sadly, none of the thousandcondor photos came out well enough to make this Top 20.)
Tomorrow: #11 is one of the few photos from my brother-in-law's wedding I took thatcame out well. It made the list because it captured a side of him I didn't know, and probablywon't see again.
January 6, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #14
#14: At the West Friesland parade in Schagen (Holland), tradition is kept alive. I love this one because the little girl's excitement is so evident. (July 2013)
The search (words) for Quiet Laughter
I've often wondered how people find my blog. Not the other bloggers, the ones I visit, or the ones who follow people I follow and find one of my comments, or who click on a link provided by a blogger in their blogroll or whatever. Not the readers of litmags where I might have published something, or friends on Twitter or Facebook that follow the links I or others have shared. Those Blogger is really good about providing stats: referring websites and URLs, so on.
But among those is the ever-present www.google.com. And that piques my curiosity. Sure, lots will be people--like my darling, beloved partner, who doesn't do blogs and finds mine, probably just to check if I've written something nasty about him, by typing in guilie castillo in his browser (see item #3 in the list above)--that don't use blogrolls and haven't bookmarked Quiet Laughter. Or they know people I've blogged about (like friends and family of Ad van Berchum, see items #1 and #7).
But then there's the really random. The all-time most popular searchword for my blog is kidnapping (or kidnap, or variations therewith), which is absolutely terrifying. Who googles "kidnap"? For what possible law-abiding purpose would anyone google "kidnap"? And then there's carpe diem, which I find flattering. YES, I believe in Carpe Diem, and I'm glad the mystery algorithms of meta-data have figured it out.
And then there's stuff like miss bennys tiping class, which cracks me up. Tipping--as in cow tipping? Or as in tucking in dollar bills under thong strings? I do believe I've blogged about Miss Benny's TYPING class--but it can't have been more than once or twice. So the question remains: was the person who typed that in Miss Benny's class, too? Or is there a Miss Benny that teaches cow tipping--or strip club etiquette?
Blogging, people, is fun.
Top 20 Photos of 2013 (late as usual)
Hey, I'm Latin. Sorry--that was racist and discriminatory, and pejorative, too, for good measure. You're absolutely right, not all Latins have the elastic sense of time I do. Sorry. I accept full and personal responsibility for my tardiness.
But, uh, better late than never. Right?
I joined The Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Photos bloghop, which means I'll be sharing the best 20 photos I took in 2013 over the first twenty days of January. The idea is to work up to the best photo for 2013 on January 20th, but I'm not sure how good I'll be about keeping the quality increments the other days--it's hard! And, of course, it's totally subjective.
Still, I hope you'll bear with me, and that you'll enjoy the show. Some of the photos are good (for me) in terms of composition or light or general photographical achievement; others because of what they represent, the moment they captured. I look forward to sharing these snippets of my year, and even more to your thoughts.
Without further ado, the first six of the Best Of 2013 Collection. Yes, six, because, like I said, I'm late.
#20: A globe at Amsterdam's Scheepvaartmuseum
(the National Maritime museum). I love how the back edges of
the glass case made a sort of frame for the globe, and how the
reflections (it was glass, not mirrors) play up.
(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#19: Also at the Scheepvaartmuseum, from the
collection of wooden figures--some totally qualify
for sculpture status--for the bows of ships. The storms
they must have weathered. The distant lands they
must have seen. The people they saw, the stories
they heard. Oh, if they only had a voice.
(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#18: A very un-typical Amsterdammer. Just, you know, cruisin'.
(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#17: You knew this was coming. What's any
collection of photos without a puppy nose-bump?
Look at that face. Just look at it.
(Feb 2013, Curaçao)
#16: This is a bad photo. In the old days of having film developed,
this is the kind you'd throw away in the car, maybe even before
leaving the store. But there's something about these ghostly figures...
Oh, I don't know. And there's something Trekkie-ish, isn't there, about
the guy (guy?) on the right. What about that bare midriff?
And that bartender with the arm that disappears into the ghost's--
the same ghost who's about to kiss Spock. While Spock touches his (her?) boob.
Surreal, dude.
(April 2013, Curaçao)
#15: One of my all-time favorites.
Lights strung up at Wet n' Wild. The bar, not the amusement park.
(April 2013, Curaçao)
That's it for today. Hope you liked these pictures. If you did, leave a comment. If you didn't... well, leave a comment anyway. I'm the forgive-and-forget kind of girl.
Off to visit the other Top 20 participants.
But, uh, better late than never. Right?
I joined The Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Photos bloghop, which means I'll be sharing the best 20 photos I took in 2013 over the first twenty days of January. The idea is to work up to the best photo for 2013 on January 20th, but I'm not sure how good I'll be about keeping the quality increments the other days--it's hard! And, of course, it's totally subjective.
Still, I hope you'll bear with me, and that you'll enjoy the show. Some of the photos are good (for me) in terms of composition or light or general photographical achievement; others because of what they represent, the moment they captured. I look forward to sharing these snippets of my year, and even more to your thoughts.
Without further ado, the first six of the Best Of 2013 Collection. Yes, six, because, like I said, I'm late.
#20: A globe at Amsterdam's Scheepvaartmuseum(the National Maritime museum). I love how the back edges of
the glass case made a sort of frame for the globe, and how the
reflections (it was glass, not mirrors) play up.
(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#19: Also at the Scheepvaartmuseum, from thecollection of wooden figures--some totally qualify
for sculpture status--for the bows of ships. The storms
they must have weathered. The distant lands they
must have seen. The people they saw, the stories
they heard. Oh, if they only had a voice.
(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#18: A very un-typical Amsterdammer. Just, you know, cruisin'.(July 2013, Amsterdam)
#17: You knew this was coming. What's anycollection of photos without a puppy nose-bump?
Look at that face. Just look at it.
(Feb 2013, Curaçao)
#16: This is a bad photo. In the old days of having film developed,this is the kind you'd throw away in the car, maybe even before
leaving the store. But there's something about these ghostly figures...
Oh, I don't know. And there's something Trekkie-ish, isn't there, about
the guy (guy?) on the right. What about that bare midriff?
And that bartender with the arm that disappears into the ghost's--
the same ghost who's about to kiss Spock. While Spock touches his (her?) boob.
Surreal, dude.
(April 2013, Curaçao)
#15: One of my all-time favorites.Lights strung up at Wet n' Wild. The bar, not the amusement park.
(April 2013, Curaçao)
That's it for today. Hope you liked these pictures. If you did, leave a comment. If you didn't... well, leave a comment anyway. I'm the forgive-and-forget kind of girl.
Off to visit the other Top 20 participants.
January 2, 2014
And... My heart stopped.
I'm not a fan of technology. Sure I love my laptop, and my (relatively easy, given I live in an island) access to internet. I love electricity, and downloading whole TV series otherwise unaccessible (I live in an island). I love downloading books, too, although e-readers, like a pragmatic lover, still leave me somewhat unsatisfied. I love my phone, and how easy it is to stay in touch with people: Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, G+.
But I hate how phones have come to rule our lives. I hate how people jump to them whenever a random piece of trivia comes up: "Who was President in 1964?" "What's the name of that singer that died in...?" "Oh, man, that movie with the guy with the big nose--no, not the French one."
Given the above, it feels contradictory--hypocritical--to admit the first thing I do as I wake up is check my phone. Email. Blogs. Facebook. As I brush my teeth, get into halfway decent clothes (i.e., no pajamas, but close) to go check on the dogs and make my tea. And as I'm doing this, as I'm scrolling through whatever email came in as I slept, whatever notifications Facebook sent me, I'm thinking about hypocrisy, about how it's become so urgent, this needing to know, and why I can't wait the ten minutes it would take to go boot up my computer and do this in a screen that doesn't require so much damn scrolling.
And then there's days like today. Actually, no. There's never been a day like today, but--am I allowed?--I hope there are many, many more. A Facebook notification. So-and-so mentioned you in a post. I tap, screen loads. It's about the Pure Slush 2014 project I've been participating in.
"... a link to Stephen Ramey's blog where he intends to discuss each story on the day it is published." And then:
"SO GO THERE FOR A TASTE OF GUILIE CASTILLO ORIARD'S WORK."
My heart stopped.
Someone outside my circle of friends has read my story. AND has posted a review of it on their blog.
Is it a good review? Is it bad? Will my fragile, co-dependent, approval-seeking spirit be crushed forever?
Only one way to find out.
P.S. -- Thank you, Stephen.
But I hate how phones have come to rule our lives. I hate how people jump to them whenever a random piece of trivia comes up: "Who was President in 1964?" "What's the name of that singer that died in...?" "Oh, man, that movie with the guy with the big nose--no, not the French one."Given the above, it feels contradictory--hypocritical--to admit the first thing I do as I wake up is check my phone. Email. Blogs. Facebook. As I brush my teeth, get into halfway decent clothes (i.e., no pajamas, but close) to go check on the dogs and make my tea. And as I'm doing this, as I'm scrolling through whatever email came in as I slept, whatever notifications Facebook sent me, I'm thinking about hypocrisy, about how it's become so urgent, this needing to know, and why I can't wait the ten minutes it would take to go boot up my computer and do this in a screen that doesn't require so much damn scrolling.
And then there's days like today. Actually, no. There's never been a day like today, but--am I allowed?--I hope there are many, many more. A Facebook notification. So-and-so mentioned you in a post. I tap, screen loads. It's about the Pure Slush 2014 project I've been participating in."... a link to Stephen Ramey's blog where he intends to discuss each story on the day it is published." And then:
"SO GO THERE FOR A TASTE OF GUILIE CASTILLO ORIARD'S WORK."
My heart stopped.
Someone outside my circle of friends has read my story. AND has posted a review of it on their blog.
Is it a good review? Is it bad? Will my fragile, co-dependent, approval-seeking spirit be crushed forever?
Only one way to find out.
P.S. -- Thank you, Stephen.
December 31, 2013
December 23, 2013
Merry Christmas!
It's an oldie, but it always makes me laugh. Happy holidays!
(From Jim's Joke Repository)
HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE RECIPE.
(From Jim's Joke Repository)
HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE RECIPE.
You'll need the following:1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
4 large brown eggs
2 cups of dried fruit
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of brown sugar
Lemon juice
1 cup of nuts
1 bottle of whiskey.
Sample the whiskey to check for quality.
Take a large bowl. Check the whiskey again. To be sure it's the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again.
Make sure the whiskey is still okay. Cry another tup. Turn off the mixer. Beat two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the tuner. If the fired druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the whiskey. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.
Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window. Check the whiskey again and go to bed.
