Ride

Marin Headlands, CA. 2014 Dec 23.

Fog

Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach. 7am. 2014 Dec 23.

....And finally, no matter where you are, even thousands of miles away from home, if you are patient, and if you keep your mind open, good people will lift the fog and make a new home for you there.

Search

Fort Point looking out on Alcatraz Island. San Francisco. 2014 Dec 23.

....And while there may not be a cure for homesickness, or past-sickness equally so, I've come to find hidden ameliorants wherever I go. And they can work surprisingly well.

Sickness

Marin Headlands overlooking a waking San Francisco Bay. 2014 Dec 23.

....And even with all the constant advancement in technology and treatments, I'm not sure if there will ever be a true cure for home sickness.

Arithmetic

M. Yu and L. Li. Boston Public Garden. 2013 Oct 12.

....It's completely impossible to describe a sincere connection between two people. I guess it's because I've found that it's not always logical, despite how hard I try to make it to be. I'm used to numbers. 1+1=2. Always. I'm even okay with randomness, in fact comforted by statistics and probability. But when it comes to people. 1+1 does not always equal two. For I have seen 1 amazing person find an other 1 amazing person. And my goodness, the sum of the amazing things they've done together cannot be quantified by a number.  Most definitely not by the number 2.

Recession

Boston Skyline from the Blue Hills Reservation. 2014 Jul 12

....Because taking a step back to reassess and reevaluate doesn't mean you have to do it alone.

Person

2013 Sep 30. Memorial Dr. x MIT. Cambridge, MA.

....And I've never really been a people-person. And while introversion has never steered me wrong, it's not because I'm shy that I avoid people. I think it's because I'm more of a person-person. Because with people, it's easy to get a little lost in all the words and faces. But with a person, it's easier to see what makes that person so extraordinary. After all, I've often found that the most extraordinary person in a people-d room is the person that doesn't ordinarily stand out as extraordinary.

Seascape

Juneau, Alaska. 2013 May 21.

Channeling Hiroshi Sugimoto.

"Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing."
http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/seascapes-1
Hiroshi Sugimoto on Artsy

Marlene

M. Castle. Whitehead Institute. Cambridge, MA 2013 Jan 21

Meet Marlene. She's the director behind the curtain, the one who keeps the lab running smoothly without ever recognizing that she's sometimes without recognition.

And she's the type of person who will re-inspire you with her booming laughter when you find yourself still working in the lab late into the night. The type to tell you to turn up the music and to embarass you by trying to make you dance, P1000 still in your hand. The type who will give you her watch when all you asked for was the time.

And of all the people I've met so far since moving to the East Coast, above some of the most successful professors and superhumanly genius students I've ever come across, Marlene manages to win my highest respect. Every single time.

Turns

Highland Ave. x College Ave. Davis Square, Somerville, MA. 2013 Jan 8

....Warm lights and quiet nights, on a two-wheeled flight with brightness in sight.

Height

Porter Square MBTA Station. Somerville, MA. 2013 Jan 8 

....And even for the greatest climbs, sometimes all we need is a little push.

Unspoken

Father. Home. Cotati, CA. 2012 Dec 24

....And sometimes all you need is the slight smile of someone's eyes to re-insipire you.

Cover

Northeast corner of Boston Common. Boston, MA. 2012 Dec 16

....and as cold and as tired as we get sometimes, it just takes a little bit of warmth from someone to keep us burning bright.

Skies

70th floor of the Rockefeller Center. NYC, NY. 2012 Aug 18

....and maybe one day we will look outward together in the same direction, and be surprised by all of the motion around us, but still feel safe right where we are.

Roads

Memorial Drive north of JFK. Cambridge, MA. 2012 Jun 24

....though open roads ahead of me, to only shallow depths I see, though flying fast the world around, my feet have never left the ground. 

Time

Boston Harbor and Charlestown. Over the the span of an hour. Boston, MA. 2012 Jan 28.

And in 45 minutes, I've seen everything from red to blue, light to dark, warm to cold. And yet, I'm left feeling just a little bit empty still, as if I have seen it all and arrived at the end, but have no idea how I got there.

Memory

Davis, CA. 2010 Jun 22.

Some day I will realize that all of the things that I've left behind are actually still right in front of me.

Respire

Chinatown. New York, NY. 2011 Aug 20.

Some day we will all grow enough to return all the love we've been given.

Miles

M. Yu. Providence, RI. 2011 Jul 16.

Look up to see where you're going, glance down to see where you step. Go back to to see where you've been, push forward to face your regrets.

Flight

Providence, RI. 2011 Jul 16.

Certain mornings my alarm will go off at its usual time, and my eyes will open. But they haven't quite focused on anything yet, and I'm still partially asleep. And my mind is free to travel anywhere in the world.

Eyes

Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, MA. 2011 Jul 13.

Margaret once told me that the world didn't have enough color. And she's right. But every once in a while, if you stand waiting long enough, you come across something or someone that blinds you with brightness. And you don't even have to be able to see to know that it's beautiful.

Growth

Walker Memorial. MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2011 Jul 3.

Entropy erodes at everyone and everything. But somehow there's a beauty to the way we still manage to stand, even if we're scared, even if we're hurt.

Silence

"The Alchemist" sculpture by Jaume Plensa. MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2011 Jul 3.

Sometimes, the best thing in the world is to just sit, without the worry of wrong words, and think about all of the good things to come.

Across

Atlantic Ocean, Boston Harbor. 2010 Oct 10.

Oceans have always intrigued me. Named differently because they're somehow divided by the large lands that have surfaced over time. But they're connected. And yet I still glance over the Atlantic not with an entirely light heart, hoping that if I lay it down in these waters to rest, somehow it'll sail from here and end up on the West.

Pause

Full moon. Charles River looking into Back Bay. Boston, MA. 2011 June 15.

I read an article today about how we as humans in this technology-dependent world live such fast-paced lives. In constant need of constant stimulation through multitasking on our computers and phones (ironic and hypocritical, I know, as I'm doing just that). But the next time I wait for the bus, I will just sit quietly and peacefully. And take a break from it all, and just wait for the bus. And when I get home, instead of watching the computer screen illuminate my room, maybe I'll take a walk along the Charles, and watch the moon illuminate the sky.

Water

Harvard Dragon Boats. Boston Dragon Boat Festival. Cambridge, MA. 2011 June 12

It's nice to be living by the river. And no matter how dirty the water is, or how many people are sitting on it, or even if it freezes over in the winter, it's always moving.

Direction

Auntie Reina. City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Ukiah, CA. 2011 May 29

And as we walk we roam and roam and hope we find the right way home.

Humbled

Schools at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Ukiah, CA. 2011 May 29

I think Terry would understand if I told her I am putting grad school on pause, so that I can go back to learn the essentials.

Redwoods

Great redwoods of Leggett, CA. 2011 May 29

What an amazing feeling it is to be in the presence of life that has been around well before we began worrying. To feel what it's like to not feel any consequence of not having to think. To realize how small everything is that we think about.

Parallel

The tracks running in between and parallel to Albany and Vassar Streets. Cambridge, MA. 2011 May 20

I have forgotten people. Though I say that I really haven't. If I look far enough into the places I can't really see, it's all so perfectly reconciled. And yet these vanishing promises come flooding back to me.