The Have-Not Journal

Scenes from my last trip to Costa Rica for the foreseeable future

2011-10-24T23:41:00.000-05:00

this costa rican hermit crab from playa superfaraway, at the service limits of our brave kia subcompact, possessed a feisty and defiant attitude to go with its unusual home; we left footprints before eating chuletas in the watchful presence of the neighborhood chickens; i have no images of the drive to alajuela, but it was eventful; here is a church; Add caption, indeed; i

September 10th, 2011

2011-09-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

Ten years ago today, I was doing some homework for my Spanish class at 8 a.m. the following morning, a class that would begin in one world and end in another.

No more lens tilting

2011-08-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

Just kidding. A bunch more shots. Owl's Head Park, Bay Ridge Balcony and backyard, Williamsburg Bedford and S 9th, Williamsburg Roof, Williamsburg Shore Parkway and the Verrazano-Narrows

Just a couple more

2011-08-13T11:39:00.000-05:00

My dear car managed to get itself into that last picture.

Full tilt

2011-08-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

After my first and only nighttime scuba diving experience, I told anyone who would listen that "I will never again dive during the day." That is how I currently feel about my tilt-enabled Frankencamera setup (NEX-5, EzFoto tilt Pentax K adapter, various Pentax primes): I will never again take a photo with my lens perpendicular to the film/sensor plane. And you will endure more pictures taken

Tilt photography

2011-08-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

is totally awesome. Here is some good stuff. Tilting the lens just a few degrees can have a miniaturizing effect on landscapes and cityscapes. I have always wanted a tilt lens for my Pentax, but they are hard to find and rather expensive. Recently, as I was surfing the web in pursuit of a Pentax K mount to Sony Alpha E adapter, I came across a reasonably priced model that also tilted. I thought

What you know about Alaska is wrong

2011-08-02T20:39:00.010-05:00

That is, dear reader, if you are anything like yours truly, whose prior exposure to Alaska had been a few hours spent in the state capital slurping air terminal udon noodles on my way to or from Seoul, Korea. But even that is wrong, since the state capital is actually Juneau and not Anchorage. It turns out that real people live in Alaska, and at least in Anchorage they do "normal" American

Summer, etc.

2011-01-31T23:33:00.000-05:00

This may be difficult to believe, dear reader, but during my absence from this journal I managed to find a moment or two away from the citrus groves, freeing my mind, if only for a few minutes, from the obsessive concerns of a common farmer, whose livelihood depends on the whims of the weather, and perhaps the exposure of his living room.Rather than subject you to the tedium of a full

Calamondin

2011-01-30T20:20:00.008-05:00

I have not tended to my blog in nearly a year. What have I been doing instead? Have you been to the produce section lately? Witness the piles of oranges and clementines that have replaced the seasonal fruit bins; it has been a busy season for us citrus farmers.Sunkist may be proud of its bazillions of orange groves, but I have chosen instead to concentrate my love and labor into a single indoor

Red Cliff: a review.

2010-05-08T00:14:00.010-05:00

Red Cliff, misdirected by John Woo, is a state-produced Chinese movie about men with dense, flowing black locks who enjoy wearing various armored outfits and commanding tens of thousands of expendable soldiers to their annihilation.These men spend the majority of their screen time making awkward and sometimes creepy faces at the camera and at one another as they predict the weather ("If, during a

A reading list for April.

2010-04-14T23:02:00.002-05:00

Cormac McCarthy. In the past month I have read The Road, Blood Meridian, Outer Dark and Child of God. Never before has anyone written about murder, cannibalism, incest, filth and general human depravity with such grace and beauty. I am smitten.Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game. Card is certainly a visionary; the kids at the academy are using iPads and Ender's sister is blogging on the internet, and

A few words about the iPad.

2010-04-07T22:42:00.004-05:00

All weekend I had managed to avoid the Apple store for fear that I might succumb to the siren song of the iPad, the ridiculous name and all. I reasoned that this was a device for which I literally had no need. Guilt would follow an impulse purchase.But this week I felt strongly the pull of Jobs, and I found myself with an iPad this evening.The second I "unboxed" the tablet, the air around me

Snow

2009-12-27T10:32:00.005-05:00

From a distance, Seoul is all apartment buildings and mountain peaks.An accident somehow left this lone car perpendicular to the traffic in the middle of an elevated highway.Nearing the center of the older city, north of the Han.Our octogenarian taxi driver was very grateful for our fare. He sat extremely close to the steering wheel, NASCAR-style.Wait! Watch out for motorcycles when getting out!

Seoul, Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T07:32:00.006-05:00

Snack stand on a subway platformSplitting noodlesMe, mom, and some random unkempt dude on the subwayDad and momA subway station entrance that doubled as a pillow and bedding superstoreFish cakes and meat on sticks on the sidewalkFried potato on a stick on the sidewalkShoes for saleLeggings for saleA building full of stuff for saleMerry Christmas!

This Domestic Life

2009-11-17T18:30:00.004-05:00

I have a cold. This is a good excuse to spend a sick day and do my homework. These days I rather enjoy the comforts of home.Recent scientific evidence suggests that the common cold is caused by a deficiency of jook, which is what Koreans call congee. Fortunately, I am getting quite good at making it, and I have loads of rice.I recently rearranged my apartment. I like the new layout very much.I

Odds and ends from Central America

2009-11-10T00:31:00.004-05:00

This bridge hangs about eight trillion feet off the forest floor in the Monteverde Reserve and I motherfucking crossed it without soiling my pants all that much. Later I learned that it was built by a high school dropout with no engineering training whatsoever.My favorite part about this picture is not that I just missed the ventilated buttcrack peeking out under the fluttering shirttail of the

Pride

2009-10-25T00:27:00.002-05:00

Dartmouth snaps 17-game losing streak"The Big Green snapped its 17-game losing streak in convincing fashion with a 28-6 win over Columbia at Memorial Field in a Homecoming matchup ... Dartmouth was hit with a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration after the score."The end of this mighty streak should not be celebrated; it should be mourned. Going so long without a win in the Ivy League is a

The Fauna and Flora of Monteverde

2009-10-21T23:22:00.000-05:00

BugTwo monkeysBugBirdDead bugCheese, and eventually beefPlantMore plantPlants, sunsetPlants, mudPlants covered in plantsThe continental divide covered in plants

More Playa Santo Domingo

2009-10-21T22:45:00.003-05:00

Alas, I did not leave so quickly. Yes, I did nearly pass out on a hill. But there was also a proper beach vacation. The beach was black, the water was fresh and to either side there loomed a volcano. The hotel was empty and the waitress was sassy.There were these big birds that the waiter called urakas.The purple room.Ginna read to me an abridged history of Nicaragua. There was a time when a man

Playa

2009-10-20T22:59:00.005-05:00

Hotel Ometepetl has an appealing exterior. Unfortunately its rooms are far less attractive. The woman who presumably owns the hotel wears a muumuu. Later we learn that she is an island mogul and owns another hotel in Playa Santo Domingo. I wonder about the set of pressures and incentives that leads to this lack of investment into the quality of the rooms.It looks fake, particularly because it is

Moyogalpa

2009-10-19T22:07:00.002-05:00

They are curiously clever and exceedingly devoid of soul. They make a racket at inconvenient hours. They speak as much Spanish as I do but roll their R's with more authenticity. At least one is eager to grab a hold of you in its leathery talon. It is an uncomfortable offer and possibly a threat.We walk up and down a darkening street and peek into one empty restaurant after another. A lone soldier

Calzado

2009-10-19T12:19:00.002-05:00

It is too early in the morning, but it is sunny and I am walking around the streets of San Jose near the Ticabus station with Ginna.In between storefronts there are homes that share the same sagging structure and brightly colored paintwork. In the evening we could look into open doors and see living rooms lit by television screens.We are thinking about breakfast. No; I am thinking about breakfast

Windmills

2009-10-19T02:11:00.006-05:00

We have just sprung free into Nicaragua from the hot and dusty Costa Rican border, where I had nearly lost any and all faith in Central American bureaucracy. We are traveling through a field of wind turbines along the Interamerica highway. The kid across the aisle from us, the kid with the impossibly optimistic temperament, the kid who will ride a bus for days on end through hell and smile, is

How to Disappear for a Week

2009-10-19T01:49:00.002-05:00

At six in the morning of the 10th, following a heroic display of how not to pack that lasted until three in the morning, I went out to LaGuardia for a Costa Rica-by-way-of-Charlotte-bound flight. For the following week I traveled with Ginna to San Jose, Costa Rica; Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua; and Monteverde, Costa Rica.I will leave its narration to more capable hands. Instead, here is a series of

The end of August

2009-08-31T22:38:00.004-05:00

Today I saw a black plastic bag hovering high over the Atlantic and Clinton intersection. Pigeons flew circles around it. It was strange enough that I reached for my camera. Only afterward did I note the parallel to American Beauty.I was looking out from my new observation post:You are looking north into Clinton St. I am unpacking and making a mess of the apartment. I am also loving my new place.