LOL I ended the post about helping Chooch move and forgot that Henry and I had the audacity to go out to dinner afterward without him hahaha. He was like, “W O W” when he found out, lol.

To be fair, we didn’t eat until we got to Harrisburg and it was just at the Capitol Diner which is not that great but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Immediately Henry had to chase after the hostess after she dumped us at a table — the whole dining room was full of empty tables and she sat us right next to the only other occupied table where we were practically pressing into each other, it was so uncomfortable. But on the way there, we passed a veritable Backrooms of empty booths so Henry asked if we could just sit at one of those. She said yes (I would have left otherwise, I am SERIOUS about where I sit in a restaurant!!! It takes very little to make me overcome with uncomfortable feelings) so then I was happy.

Big baby mood.

We had a wonderful server who immediately liked my phone case so I knew that moving sections was, well, the move.

I ordered the HEART HEALTHY omelet which came with cottage cheese. Can I just say that I am so smug about cottage cheese having its moment? Everyone is fucking with cottage cheese now when I have been made fun of my whole life for enjoying a side of those creamy curds. I remember one time I ordered a fruit salad that came served on a mound of cottage cheese and the person I was with said it looked like I was eating rot. :(

(I hope melba toast has a renaissance next.)

I only ordered the diet breakfast platter so I could beast a slice of coconut cream pie without guilt.

The lady in the booth behind me was so fucking annoying the whole time. She was running our server ragged and just being so high maintenance. I don’t know what dessert she ordered—-I think it was some cheese cake variation—-but she asked the server, “Do you put whipped cream on the side?”

The server said yes, and I was thinking she was requesting the whipped cream on the side, but FIRMLY said, “Please don’t.” She then launched into this boring explanation about COMMERCIAL WHIPPED CREAM and it would be different if they make their own whipped cream in house, but she cannot “do” COMMERCIAL WHIPPED CREAM.

Until I got my own pie placed in front of me, I was so confused about this question, like who just asks out of the blue, “Do you put whipped cream on the side?” but then I saw that both Henry’s and my plate had a small dollop of whipped cream on the side. More of a decorative plating choice than anything else, I imagine, but then made me think she has probably been there before and knew that they did this so that made more sense but also—just don’t eat it? It was legit just a small squirt.

Both she and her dumb man companion were extremely annoying and talked about the most boring things (setting up a trust, for instance, zzzzzzzz). It made me realize that Henry actually isn’t the worst conversationalist after all.

Crazy!!

Here are some Charmera snaps!

Ew, I used the bathroom before we left and the woman in the stall next to me flushed and walked RIGHT OUT OF THE BATHROOM WITHOUT WASHING HER HANDS. I mean, that’s her choice I guess BUT I COULDN’T HELP BUT NOTICE THAT SHE WAS WEARING BLACK SHOES AKIN TO THOSE WORN IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY, WAS SHE ONE OF THE SERVERS?!?!

Henry was hulking around by the hostess area when I came out and I hurried over to ask him if he saw who came out before me and of course he was being Captain Obtuse and gave me approx. 3 different answers like, brother this ain’t multiple choice.

He said it “could” have been one of the servers (“Not ours!”) he said, but he’s not entirely sure if that’s who he saw come out before me because there were two women in there when I walked in.

What a lame mystery.

Well, that’s about all the highlights—titillating, I know. We didn’t make it home until almost midnight. These same-day trips are so tiring but worth it even just to see BEST SON (lol) for a few hours.

Plus, we got to listen to a ton of BIGBANG and Romanian popcorn music, lol. And we had “good talks.” Communication, y’all.

I bought myself a plastic 35mm camera from Lomography earlier this summer and took it for a spin on our recent trip to Coney Island—oh you didn’t know we went to Coney Island based on all of the stupid ass posts on here over the last two weeks? Must be nice!

Anyway, a ton of the pictures didn’t turn out because I legit forgot that I was using a cheap film camera and was stupidly using it at night without a flash before I realized what I was doing so I wasn’t surprised when I got a bunch of black scans back. Anyway, here are the best ones. Please do enjoy yourself and don’t slam the door too hard on your way out.

Ew why is Henry standing so worm-y!?

This was a house on the street where we ate breakfast at Milk & Honey.

I don’t recall giving Henry permission to use my camera.

This one is my favorite. This camera was definitely made for gritty city photography.

On the Wonder Wheel! Wearing my Johnnie Guilbert shirt that Chooch hates!

Bored on the tea cups.

My stupidly taking a picture of fireworks from the teacups and expecting it to turn out, LOL.

OK that’s all. This was just using the pre-loaded film that came with the camera so I’m going to play around with different / better films. I have a Mr. Negative roll sitting here that I will probably try next and ONLY shoot in daylight unless I’m inside shooting someone in the face with the flash on.

(Maybe this will be good for Riot Fest?!)

I can’t believe this happened, but I somehow failed to bring either of my two Charmera cameras with me on Friday so this will just be a Saturday and Sunday Chameradump I guess. :(

Saturday’s coffee break led us to Redstart in the East End. I didn’t realize until we pulled into the lot but in 2019 when Jiyong and I used to meet up every Saturday, we came here but it was called something else at the time. All I could remember was that it shared a space with Schoolhouse (the lighting company) but when I googled it, “The Bureau” is what came up, which didn’t seem correct AT ALL.

So I consulted my blog, and yeah, it was the same place. I remember very well being INSIDE but the name rings not even the tiniest bell buried in the recesses of my corroded mind. I did have fun reading the blog post that mentioned it though, which has us meeting Tommy and Jessy for lunch somewhere in Butler that also rings zero bells in my mind but Chooch’s sick burn near the end of the blog post had me gagged. I sent him a screenshot yesterday and he said, “Lol wow, got him.”

(RIP Jessy though for real, ugh.)

Anyway! This place had the most quiet vibes. It was mostly people there alone to either read a book or work so this is the atmosphere I was looking for on my Baby Girl Goes to the City Alone day earlier this month. (God, it was still July yet it feels like that months ago at this point. How is this summer going by so fast but then these weird time lags are also happening!?)

I got the coconut latte and Henry got pandan but then I made him swap with me after I tried his. We also split a vegan sea salt chocolate chip cookie. Overall, great lattes and the cookie would have been better if it wasn’t shared. The barista was also a super nice guy who didn’t make us feel like we were encroaching on holy grounds. (OH COME ON YOU KNOW HOW SOME OF THEM CAN BE!!)

I would go back. Good job, Redstart.

Before we went home, we stopped at Bodega Film Lab to pick up some film for our little mini trip coming up later this week.

The guy who helped us was super nice and also didn’t act like an elitist so I was happy about that. I love photography but I love it on my terms and by that I mean I know zero of the technical aspects of it so please do not ask me what kind of ISO I’m looking for and if you even START to say aperature, just know I’m already tuning you out on the first syllable.

Later that night, we watched the Italian horror movie Torso, and it was excellent.

Sunday (today!) I met Sandy and Nate at Palm Palm for brunch! I haven’t seen them since February so it was a nice little catch-up sesh. They brought me a birthday bouquet :)

We were all smitten with the water carafe that looked like a volcano.

Not Charmera, but I got the coconut pancakes with yuzu marmalade and the most delicious whipped topping which ended up being my brunch AND dinner:

It was so good but I am excited to eat something savory today, lol.

And here’s a better picture of Sandy and Nate too:

It was such a great brunch! And I loved Palm Palm (they even have matchbooks which to me is such a great touch) and already can’t wait to go back.

Later in the afternoon, Henry and I went to my mom’s because she is moving out slowly and I wanted to not only poke around and see what things of mine are still there, but we also needed to send Chooch some pictures of my brother Ryan’s old bedroom set because he (Chooch) is moving into a new place this September and has no furniture. I asked him if he liked it and he was like, “Well, I have nothing so I’m relying on Val’s donation here.” LOL I guess that’s a yes.

Meanwhile, I found some really good old shit—LIKE MY FIRST PUBLIC DIARY FROM FIFTH GRADE!!! So, I was pretty happy about that but overall felt kind of weird. I haven’t been in my mom’s house in probably over 15 years if we’re being honest here, and it made me sort of sad to see my old room which used to be so cool, I’m not getting, it was so fucking cozy and ambiant, but after I moved out one of my brothers took over and killed the vibe.

But, I digress. It’s just really weird that both my childhood home and my grandparent’s house on the same street are basically just…done.

So after we left there, we stopped at a local pizza shop / brewery called Truss to have a “we were just sweating in an attic” beer.

I had a red ale and it was SO GOOD, but not only that, we chatted with the owner and he is so cool and down to earth. He was encouraging us to sample everything but once I tried the red ale, I was like, “No need, this is the one.”

Henry got the CAR WASH COMING SOON summer wheat which is based on an inside joke with the community because there are so many car washes on one small strip of highway that runs through, that every time a new one pops up, people get so triggered. Anyway, one guy took it to the next level but having a giant “car wash coming soon” sign printed and then he hung it at Chick-fil-a on a Sunday so the community Facebook page popped of with, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME, CHICK-FIL-A IS TURNING INTO A CAR WASH???”

Anyway, long story still long, that guy is friends/friendly with the Truss owner, and when the Truss guy went on vacation, the CAR WASH COMING SOON sign ended up in front of the brewery, lol. He told us that he came back from his trip to Mexico with his inbox full of concerned messages about Truss closing. So, the car wash beer was born. IT IS SO GOOD, TOO! I stole some sips :)

Then I read aloud from my 5th grade public diary and Henry was like FML. SHOULD THIS BE MY FUTURE CLOWN ACT!?!? Just, me in face paint sitting on a stool and reading pages from my journals??

Hilariously in the same vein, Henry was digging around on some old computer drives and found an audio recording of the time I read an entire haunted house review for LiveJournal. (It was the infamous IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK review!!!)

Well, that pretty much sums up the weekend, minus Friday which will be a separate post. CIAO FOR NOW.

We had two concerts to go to this weekend – Friday and Saturday – and my Kodak Charmera came with me to both. I have to laugh that while normal people are buying better and better phones and cameras for concerts and I’m over here with m y $30 digital keychain purposely taking shitty 1990s quality shots.

The first concert was Friday night at the Roxian – the Summer School tour! I’ll have another post with all those pertinent deets at another time (your bitch is fucking tired and on this Lord’s Day I plan on RELAXING).

Carmella Donna’s Creatures.

Henry hating his life (this show had 6 bands and his limit is 2). Also! I was so excited because some guy in the pit also had his Charmera with him!!! CHARMERA TWINS!

Then I forgot that I had my Charmera with me and missed the next two bands but here’s South Arcade from Oxford, England. Obsessed with them.

Games We Play (my least favorite of the night).

HONEY REVENGE!!!

It was such a great night! I still hate the Roxian as a venue though.

Yesterday’s show was at Preserving Underground. We perused records beforehand and I left with a Goblin-scored horror movie soundtrack for The Other Hell:

Hand dryer reflection.

Back at Preserving Underground for Armor For Sleep!

Henry was happy because he could sit on a church pew the entire time. I sat with him in between bands, like a child returning to their parent.

Ben came out as a guest guitarist for the opening band, Flycatcher. I was so happy to see him again after all these years.

Spanish Love Songs!

That guy in the blue was wearing an old school The Academy Is….shirt and it made me so nostalgic for that specific moment in the scene when everything was bright neon with over the top cartoon monster designs. Ugh. Now everything is black. Concert and band shirts used to be so much fun!!

OMG. AFS still make me feel exactly the same as they did in 2005: gutted.

Such a great weekend so far and I am happy that my Charmera captured such fun moments! You know what the best part is? You can hold this thing up to take pictures and bother absolutely NO ONE because it’s so fucking tiny. And there’s no adjusting or trying to frame it perfectly because that viewfinder is impossibly small and you have no choice but to just point and shoot and hope for the best, lol.

Imagine Chooch’s excitement when I produced my Charmera from my purse as soon as we walked into Waldameer :) At least Zakk was a good sport!

Obviously, this camera isn’t meant to take award-winning photographs so you have to expect extremely low-quality, but I learned on this day that the Charmera doesn’t seem to like sunny days.

Entrance of the Whacky Shack!

This babe.

Comet is such a cute and smooth woodie. This is the perfect first coaster for little kids, honestly.

He’s smiling genuinely here because he didn’t know I was taking his picture WITH MY TINY BABY CHARMERA.

In case you were wondering, I engaged in no hand gesture activity because my hands will white knuckling the safety bar the whole time. Ravine Flyer was HAULING ASS.

And here’s an ear-splitting video:

You’re welcome.

These are in absolutely no logical order, just like my brain. Let’s goooo.

I made Chooch hold up the menu for me so I could get it in this shot and he was so annoyed until he realized that he didn’t have to actually be in the picture, then he was suddenly amenable to my request.

Mirror selfie in Chooch’s dorm room!

View from Chooch’s window. He won’t get this view next year but his new place is on a really quaint and historic street + more room so I think that’s a good trade-off.   

LOL that effing Minecraft pillow.

Obligatory subway shoe shot.  

Bro, I love how 90s alternative, riot grrrl album cover this looks! This was a mirror selfie in the Silk City bathroom.

Vegan foods.

Ew.

Artistic coffee.

Diner still life.

(Imagine how annoying I am with this camera.)

Silk City bar! I don’t remember if they had a full bar like this when I was there in 1998. I feel like it was just a diner back then? OMG I JUST REMEMBERED that this was the place where I had A FUCKING EGG CREAM for the first time and it was deeee-sgusting.

Silk City, baby. I would definitely go back. The vibes were soooo good. Henry was happy that this lunch was cheaper than the lunch we had at Mintt the day before. He is probably still quietly fuming about that experience. (The food was fine but we felt like the price of the food compared to what we actually got was NOT aligned. It’s also concerning when you go to a restaurant specializing in any kind of Indian or Asian cuisine and the only other diners in the place are white.)

I think I accidentally took. this when we were walking into Silk City lol.

This is the garden section of Silk City! It had Pee Wee’s Playhouse aesthetics.

Hustler.

(Chooch knew this place was on the corner and started eagerly pointing it out a block away. We love to point out adult shops, strip clubs, and lingerie shops to Henry. It’s kind of our thing, you wouldn’t understand.)

Pretzel Man.

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LOL Happy Father’s Day, Pretzel Man.

BUNS.

Chooch was legit begging. me to not take pictures on the subway using this camera. It’s so tiny, no one even noticed!

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Oh shit, this was Henry and Chooch literally arguing over directions and Chooch knew I was going to try and snap a picture so HE MOVED. Ugh, this is my favorite FATHER-SON thing to photograph.

There are always food trucks parked outside of Chooch’s building, including one that has acai bowls but we always have lunch plans when we’re there so I never get one :(

View from the elevator bank on Chooch’s floor (the 20th!).

Chooch in his hallway! Jesus, he acts like he’s in witness protection.

The shared space in Chooch’s apartment dorm thing. Chooch got that Eagles guy cut-out from Wawa last year and then decided he was going to start collecting cut-outs but hasn’t gotten any more because he thinks they’re going to just fall in lap. How naive! Where does he get this from!? (Me and wheelchairs.)

More views from Chooch’s place.

Mirror selfie! Look how happy he is! 

Mirror selfie, car edition! MY NAIL POLISH MATCHES MY CAMERA!

Managed to get Chooch in this one!

Car reads.  

OK so basically, these pictures are in order from end of the day to beginning. LOL, oops.

Anyway,  this camera is so much fun. It inspires to me to try and get back into film photography as well. But the convenience of this one can’t be beat!

I’m still out here having a grand ol’ time with this tiny Kodak digital camera. It was one of the best surprise gifts Henry has ever given me! IT’S SO STUPID AND SIMPLE BUT SLAPS.

I bought it with me to the Cold concert on Thursday at Jergel’s and now I will show you the pictures I took with it even though I have not officially recapped the actual show yet (that will be coming soon—rest assured it was simply magical).

I already posted about this IN REAL TIME on Thursday (actually fun fact it was NOT in real time because I ended up having no service inside Jergel’s so I couldn’t get the post to publish. I tried connecting to Henry’s hotspot but that didn’t work. Then our waitress was supposed to give us the card with the Jergel’s wifi password but never did probably because she got distracted by the guy who looked like an actual child sitting next to me ordering his 7th Moscow mule (probably not 7th but he was throwing them back like water and he and his gf were getting giddier and giddier as the night went on—cute at first but OMG who was gong to drive home?! Horrifying…). Then Henry was tired of me crying about it so he went and asked the lady at the door for the password so then I was able to finally publish it.

Don’t worry—all of this was transpiring before the show started. I’m not THAT pyscho about blogging.

But you better go back and read that if you haven’t already, knowing now the trial and tribs behind posting it!!

Anyway, please also enjoy this short video from the evac.

I’m still getting the hang of where to aim the camera when taking selfies so I always end up looking like I’m concentrating bigly.

Jergel’s is the epitome of older person venue. You can pay extra for early entry in order to snag a table and eat a mediocre dinner pre-concert. That’s what we did. You can even bring your knitting gear. That’s what the lady in the gray shirt at the table on the right did.

I actually wish I had brought a book—there was so much time to kill before the first band came on.

My non-alcoholic beer, lol. Not that we were ever big drinkers at concerts but when you’re specifically NOT drinking it makes it so much more apparent how much everyone else IS drinking and it’s horrifying. Especially at these older shows.

COLD!! I loved that this camera makes it look like I took this picture in 2001 when I was basically a part-time groupie for this band. (If you ignore the fact that Scooter is the only original member left.)

It is stupid how much I love this dumb little camera.

Henry surprised me the other day with a Kodak blindbox and this cutie keychain camera came out of it! I love love love using cheap cameras, toy cameras, film cameras. Anything where you don’t really know what the output will be because it takes the pressure away when you expect imperfection. It puts the fun back into taking pictures! I already tested it out at a concert Tuesday night (more to come on that!) and yesterday I took it with us to Cedar Point! I figured, I have so many of the same pictures from Cedar Point, why not get a new perspective?

I’ll have a more comprehensive run-down of our day at CP (god forbid I skip an amusement park recap!) but I wanted to put the Kodak pictures here by themself because they’re fun! Also, it was hilarious how many times passers-by would give me a double-take and ask amongst themselves, “is that a CAMERA?” It is TINY so that’s a valid question! You can barely see out of the viewfinder, TBH, so a lot of these were shot with a hope and a prayer.

Top Thrill 2.

In line for Gatekeeper.

Leaving Siren’s Curse.

Intentional hand shot, lol.

Baby geese!

The Boardwalk is my favorite area of Cedar Point. The vibes are always vibing, even on overcast days in May with a “feels like” temp of 40 degrees.

SteVe <333333

In case you ever want to know what the ground looks like in Cedar Point.

Experimenting with camera-placement for selfies, lol – this was a fail.

Better, except for my face.

CALYPSO IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE RIDES!

Intentional shoe shot.

Dreading Calypso, lol.

On Sunday, we went to Freeport to grab some sweet treats from Vivian’s Bakery and then headed to Kittanning for a walk. Remember a few weeks ago when we were going to do this but I threw a fit without even getting out of the car because Kittanning looked stupid and then I pouted the whole hour drive home even a little bit after Henry stopped at Yinz Coffee and got me a lovely spring-flavored drink*? Well, we actually got out of the car and walked this time and it was kind of lame but at least we were out in the sunshine walking off our devoured sweet treats.

*(I think it was the cherry blossom chai and fun fact for anyone compiling a list of things I like so that you’re not ever on the same shit list as Henry, Yinz Coffee is one of the only places in Pgh that makes chai the way I like it.)

On the way there though, we stopped at a Sheetz and this fucking cowboy was next door looming over a defunct restaurant called Cadet’s or something so I had to stroll into private property land and take some pictures because these are some of my favorite roadside attractions, the Muffler Man and the rest of his ilk. Many years ago, I took a picture of an actual Muffler Man out in Uniontown with one of my toy cameras and titled it “Coming Down to Cut You Open” which is a line from a song I loved at the time and for the life of me cannot remember – was it Matthew Good Band?! Ugh. My memory. Hold please while I investigate.

Wrong, I’m confusing it with “They’ve brought someone in to shut you up.”

It was Longwave:

Interestingly:

• I don’t remember ever listening to Longwave
• I don’t remember this song AT ALL
• it must be the one though because I found a blog post from 2008 where I posted the photo and I apparently named him Farfel Longwave and the “cut you open” part was in the description.

I can’t even remember my own shit anymore.

(comingdowntocutyouopen would have been a great crabcore band name in the 00s, honestly.)

Slowly getting to through the camera photos from our Romania trip. I simultaneously am so relieved to almost be wrapping up these recaps but also – so sad. It really was one of the best times of my life and I will never forget it! (How can I with a vacation journal, 1000 pictures, and approximately 75 blog posts about it? Yes, I know – I’m exhausting. Try being me!!)

Anyway, these are the only pictures from Sighisoara we took with the camera, mostly just of the cemetery and the cafe where I got the best pie of my freaking life!

<3 you, Sighisoara!

We were just watching some travel YouTuber’s video the other night of the best/cheapest places to travel in Europe in 2026 and Sighisoara was on his list. I was happy but also like bro, don’t tell everyone the secret!

This was right outside the entrance to the cemetery.

The Scholar’s Steps from above! I loved those steps.

Cemeteries are basically my whole personality.

OK back to listening to the Pens game on my phone!

I finally sat down and started going through more of the DSLR pictures we took in Romania. Here are the salvageable ones from the Merry Cemetery + some blurry/unfocused Henry gems because they capture the true disdain that shows on my face when he is doing something I don’t approve of, in this case, using  my camera lol:

Classic Erin, annoyed AF.

Rimetea, Romania

It’s always a crap shoot with these cameras, but I brought one of my toy cameras – the Diana – to Romania with me because it’s been literally over 15 years since I used her. In fact, there was a roll of film in her that we never even got developed (there was nothing salvageable on it, sadly). These cameras might be cheap AF, but the film really isn’t, especially when there’s no guarantee that the pictures will turn out.

But, when in Romania, right?? I had two rolls and only used up one full one and was pleasantly surprised that every INTENTIONAL shot I took actually came out. Then there were the three fuck ups, but we knew about those so those ones weren’t a shock, lol.

Anyway, here they are! I’m going to get them printed, definitely.

Signature Green Window in Rimetea

Merry Cemetery, Sapanta

Church in the Merry Cemetery

Saxon Cemetery, Sighisoara

OK we didn’t get to the Sighisoara section of the trip recaps yet but I will tell you now that it was my favorite town in Romania. I miss it so much everyday! (And I love saying it out loud: SiggiSHWARA.

I don’t know what all is on the other roll. I guess I’ll have to make Chooch pose for some pictures while he’s home, and maybe take it to Chicago next month to use up the rest of the roll. WITH INTENTION! This shit is expensive, I’m not going to take 8 pictures of myself in the mirror with the flash on like my grandma used to do when she wanted to use up a roll that needed developed, lol.

(Speaking of, I miss Ritz Camera sooo much. I have so many memories of going to the mall between shifts at Olan Mills to drop off my film (2 hour development!), charge a bunch of slutty clothes from Contempo to my corporate American Express that my mom paid, and then maybe go to the movies by myself before having to go back to work! Split shifts, man,)

Once again, I was compelled by the power of G-Dragon. For the longest time, I have wanted to get some type of Seoul 1988 Olympics memorabilia because G-Dragon, born in 1988, has made Seoul 1988 Olympics kind of his thing. He can very often be seen wearing Seoul 88 hats. I’m not a hat-wearing, so I went on eBay in search of anything else and I found this jacket at a super reasonable price!

It is honestly SO GOOD. Yes, it stunk like someone’s basement closet from 1988 for sure, but with a bit of airing out it’s fine now! It’s the perfect fall jacket too, I love it so much.

The Mister Softee shirt I wish I had been wearing in Philly last weekend! Also, my Vans match it perfectly which really tickled me.

Also? Eat Flem.

Blair Witch shot.

Oh I look so friendly here but I am actually berating Henry through this fake-ass smile. “Can you please just take the picture without fucking it up, thanks.”

We won’t talk about how frustrating Henry was being in his photographer role. I mean, we got through it but Chooch would have done it better!

I liked this tree.

Also, you can’t tell here but the front has “Leon” embroidered on it which is EVEN BETTER because one of the things I learned on our first trip to Korea in 2018 is that Leon: The Professional has something a bit bigger than a cult following there?? There was Leon merch everywhere – phone cases, socks, etc. I don’t exactly know the lore behind it but it’s a real thing, Leon is big in Korea. So this jacket is even that much more of a chef’s kiss!

Anyway, that’s all from Sunday. I’m tired.

Hi. I remembered to use the “good” camera at one point during our weekend trip and here are some of the pictures I took that came out OK despite my poor eyesight. These are from Rockland Harbor and the iconic Portland Head Light. Of course, I have a million more photos from these places but they’re iPhone photos and will be posted later with like, more words and stuff.

I almost died climbing down here but I liked this spot a lot. And it was surprisingly not very crowded at sunset!

We went to three lighthouses on this day – am I now a lighthouse thoosie!?

Chooch keeps arguing that no one in his class has gotten proper senior portraits taken and even if that’s true (doubtful), I was not letting him get out of this. It’s MOMMY’S LAST CHANCE to photograph her surly son, you know? Let me have this.

Anyway, I wanted to get some nice pictures of him while we were in Korea because of the aesthetics of course, but also because it’s meaningful. I haven’t decided which ones to get printed for friends and family yet, but here are the contenders!

We took these at one of the smaller palaces, RIGHT when it opened to avoid the surge of tourists. However, we had to contend with a throng of older Asian gentlemen who were lining up at the gates with their big-ass paparazzi camera equipment. Was there going to be a celebrity appearance at the Changgyeonggung Palace? NOPE, just spring blossoms. You guys, the older population go NUTS over cherry blossoms, magnolia blossoms, any type of colorful blossom in March is subject to exploitation. And when I say they are packing $$$$$ lenses, I mean it. It’s like TMZ-levels of photography.

These first three photos were taken on the walk to the palace:

I had to take this one extremely fast because the pap were gaining on us.

If we’re Instagram friends, you might have seen that Chooch actually let us buy him a jacket while we were there! NOT because he was cold, don’t even think that. But we wandered into a vintage shop in Insadong and the sweetest halmeoni helped Chooch decided on a jacket. She even gave my arm a loving squeeze at one point and said we were a pretty family and gave us candy and called me umma – this was the best trip to Korea yet. I felt like I belonged there this time more than ever, like what even was my past life because I am sure it involved Korea somehow.

It’s the only explanation.

This palace was just as beautiful as the other more “popular” ones. My tip to you if you ever go to Korea, if you want great pictures without a million tourists in hanbok milling about in the background, come to this one when it opens at 9 and enjoy the serenity and peacefulness. (We were there in March so this might be just as nuts in the summer as the other main palaces, so don’t come for me!)

Obviously this isn’t a contender for senior portrait prints, but I liked the composition of this one!

Celebrity blossoms.

I like this one because you can see the city and a glimpse of Namsan Tower behind his head. It’s nuts how much ancient history is interspersed with the modern city. Seoul is amazing.

Also! We finally saw our first  (AND ONLY) squirrel in Korea here in this palace! Chooch took this photo for me and when one of the old guy photogs saw Chooch pointing the SLR at a tree, he came scurrying over not wanting to miss a bloom I guess. But then when he saw the subject matter was a squirrel, he still seemed into it so he joined Chooch and started snapping away, as well. It was kind of adorable.

I posted a picture of the squirrel on Instagram using what I thought was the Korean word for squirrel, but Jiyong saw it and corrected me via Kakao Talk because the word I used was actually for chipmunk! Fuck you, Google Translate! Jiyong said that actually, most Koreans don’t even know the word for squirrel and just default to chipmunk and that there are more squirrels in the US than in Korea, apparently! What a great morning and learning experience.

I have more non-Chooch pictures from that day so we will revisit with more words (yay for you) at some point. Wow, look forward to that!