miss and the missing

I miss creating tangible products… I miss my belongings… I miss having my own little space.  

I need to create.

It’s time to get pro-active again and let the itch take over again.  I’m scared and excited.

My Most Recent Spin Class…

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I shit you not.

Somehow the spin instructor deemed it appropriate that our “struggle” in spin class was comparable to the strife of Anne Frank and preceded to read us a quote from the celebrated author and Holocaust victim. You know, because that is what the life and written words of Anne Frank is intended for…. Followed by ’ Yes! I love John Cougar!”, as the opening chords of “Jack and Diane” began as she finished her quote. The guy next to me gave an enthusiastic “cougar” growl. There was a definite mental “Fuck yeah!” high five exchanged between him and the instructor. I’m fairly positive that it was for John Cougar and not Anne Frank….

I just spent 20 minutes watching youtube clips of the 1992 Disney movie/musical, Newsies.  Captivating.

I think I may be the ONLY designer out there who rarely takes time to document any of their work or doesn’t really ever take pictures…ever.  

But I’m always incredibly impressed by the sheer amount of diverse talent all my friends seem to exhibit with photography.  Really… almost EVERY SINGLE ONE…  did I miss something?  Fortunately or unfortunately, having to catalog, create a small look book and online portfolio has me scrambling to either coerce my dear friends into becoming my photographer/model/ and mentor….or having to learn to do it myself…  ugh.  Since my friends apparently have their own lives…whatever… I decided to finally get my sorry ass to learn how to take proper product shots.  

That does not come without:

1. harassing those in particular with high level skills and knowledge, to offer opinions on what sort of camera I should buy.  (sorry, dudes, I’m not forking over $600-700 for an SLR I will probably break or use 2x… also, I’m incredibly cheap when it comes to certain things — cars, mascara, sunglasses and cameras )

2.  look at sites where I can look at the images to try to gauge inspiration on styling, environment and lighting— then wonder if I’m going to blatantly rip someone off and have to worry about getting a beat down for intellectual property theft, then realize the ridiculousness of that thought and begin to giggle quietly, then actually get scared.  I’m such a wuss.

3.  Decide that against my better judgment to make un-informed impulsive buy of camera that borrowing a couple of different cameras to play with is probably the best bet.  (Thank you, Christoph! your nikon SLR scares me and I have already cast it aside after 2 test shots. )

4.  Scout places where I want to take images, thankfully, several if not all, of my friends seem to all live in homes that either look like it should be in Dwell magazine or some perfect hip Mormon design blog.  I guess I’m the only one who lives in the slums… sad.

5. Story board images and look… this is simultaneously fun and overwhelming.  Hopefully, it will streamline my actual shooting session tomorrow and I must remember that I can always change it later on… 

So, wish me luck….  

(some cameras suggested: Canon G11/G12, S95, some Canon SLR, Nikon D90, etc… I will be using the canon s95… I think…)

(Source: thelionsbiscuit)

one of my favorite books, graphic novel, stories….etc…etc…

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They make me want to document all I cook and eat…  This is one of the most unique food blogs and interfaces I’ve seen, no surprise to the brilliance as it’s designed by Mike Mata and Sharon Hwang.

(Mike is the brilliant UI designer who created Delicious Monster at 17, or something… and Sharon is a wonderful graphic designer at Apple)

The shoe that cost me $1600….

retail: $495

Let’s play the blame game…

1. order said shoes for sister’s wedding (her chosen shoe for that day) and make sure to order in timely manner as said wedding is in Shanghai

2.  place order as soon you are told to:  midnight, Sun, 9/25/11

3.  Receive order confirmation- mistakenly assume that it will be processed via merchant’s system and out the door by Monday or Tuesday latest and arrive Friday or Saturday. (you leave on Mon, Oct. 3, early…)

4.  Hello!  Email from Alexander Wang on Wednesday morning at 4:30ish am- )

“We processed your order and it’s on it’s way….track…oh hello…. scheduled arrival…Mon, Oct 3, end of day”  

FUCK!

5.  Frantic emailing ensues to customer service.  Go for run until customer service department is open in 1.5hrs (EST).

6.  Chat to someone in customer service, explaining you CANNOT leave US soil without those shoes ( + multiple bottles of Sriracha, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, and bulk boxes of Tampax Compact tampons in tow ).  

” Sorry, we can’t do anything once it’s shipped.”

WTF?!?  What took so long to process and ship???  

Snippily told off that it’s in the customer service page of online shop… WHO THE HELL reads that??  And WHY DOES IT TAKE 24 to 48 business days to process??  (Net-a-porter has EXCELLENT service and user interface/experience…realize that I should have ordered from them….)

7.  Buy 2nd pair from retail store in NYC with expedited shipping…cough up $525 more.

8.  Request return on 1st pair.  Oh, but guess what?  While Alexander Wang might be slow on the process they are quick to shorten length of return time…. 14 days from day of process (24 to 48hrs after the 25th?  Nope….the 25th…).  so those 5 to 7 to 10 business days it takes to get your order is counted against you… thanks, Alex.  Hope that UPS will honor the signature delivery confirmation and since I’m in China, will return to sender..all within 14 days…  but don’t worry when they receive your return it will take 7 to 10 business days to refund the original amount… minus shipping, of course.  

9.  Call from retailer… 

“uhm I charged you the wrong amount of $538. 93 vs. $525, and cancelled it…and tried to charge you again…but it got declined due to multiple transactions…”

*insert 2 hours of talking to very AMICABLE and Professional salesman, Kyle at store location  (seriously) , merchant services, and bank…

find out I have to purchase shoes with another transaction of $525 while the first $538.93 is processed and then refunded… all in a glorious 7 to 10 business days.

Thanks, Alex….thanks, merchant services… 

PS.  If it weren’t for Kyle, I would be stuck with $538.93 of store credit vs. refund on my card b/c Wang doesn’t do cash/credit refund at his store.  ONLY STORE CREDIT! wtf….  

Moral:  If you are a luxury goods retailer maybe you should have better policies, quicker e-commerce services/systems (i.e. Net-a-porter) or maybe my dumbass should read all the fine print…..

(via habitualsomething)