So as many of you know, I have a 3rd job as 2 jobs and going to school full time just left me with too much free time, haha

Anyway, so we have a big box in the front full of toys for the "Toys for Tots" drive. Well I guess the other night some guy thought he would help himself to the large (like 3') Winnie The Pooh. Apparently he walked out like it was no big deal and the toys were there for the taking.

A couple of minutes later he came back in and people sighed in relief thinking that he would be returning the giant stuffed animal. Maybe the guilty conscience had got to him?? But NO! He actually went and grabbed another toy of some sort and walked out the door again. Hearing about it just left me dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it. The nerve of people...

Ok my rant is over.... On the righter side of news, I aced my final in Geology. Before my lab score was even entered I already had sealed the A grade. So I got a 98% in the class. I am still waiting on my other grades... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's a funny feeling being done with my Finals now. It feels like I should be studying, lol Kinda weird I know.

I am starting to toss around ideas of where i want to go camping/exploring this next year. I am open to any suggestions. However, I wont be bale to travel too far so keep them limited to the Western U.S.

Here are some images from some of the places I was thinking of going....

(Images below are not mine and belong their respective owners...)

So I took my art final this morning and completely bombed the test. What sucks is I studied hard for it and knew the information, but just not how to identify the "isms" and pieces of art which was instrumental in being able to answer the questions that would follow it. I hope my term paper is good enough to hold my grade up to a decent level.

On another note... my pinky finger is black and blue from jamming it last night. Ouch! :(

Sunday was quite the busy day for me. I had some work to do in the morning, so I was up early around 6a.m. Then later I had to head to downtown L.A. for an awards ceremony that the Midnight Mission was putting together to thank some of their donors and volunteers. Learn more about the Midnight Mission here. I am lucky enough to be invited to some of their dinners, awards ceremonies etc, and I always have a great time and there is always some celebrities in attendance. Although I am only one of maybe 2 or perhaps 3 photographers I sometimes feel like a pseudo paparazzi, lol.

Anyways, a regular celebrity is Dick Van Dyke. Who is always in incredibly great spirits, and will even sing and do a little dance too if the mood strikes him. Anthony Hopkins was also in attendance so it was a great time for everyone at the event. I am not the "star struck" type, but I have to admit meeting Anthony Hopkins was pretty cool. He is also a very down to earth individual and genuinely interested in giving back to the community.

Well I have an extremely busy day ahead of me so I have to run for now, but here are some photos...

Sunday I had some time and I figured it would be good to go for a mountain bike ride. Although you re not supposed to ride alone, I figured its not that bad of a ride so why not!?!?. Anyways, I went riding in Cleveland National Forest and man did I feel out of shape. The whole way up I kept telling myself "going down will be totally worth it!" Well after losing a lot of sweat and stopping to take views of the scenery and 2500' of elevation I made it to the top.

After taking a rest, it was time to head down. I couldnt have gone more than 40 yards and realized something was wrong. My bike felt weird and I knew something was up. Another basic rule I didn't follow bit me in the butt. I didnt bring a spare tube or pump and my rear tire was flat. Unable to fix it I had to walk all the way down back to my truck. *sigh*

Ahh well at least I got some decent exercise in...

So I recentlytook some family portraits of the Abila family. I had beautiful light to work with and equally beautiful people and personalities as well. They told me that they had not had any family portraits done since their oldest son was a baby so they were definitely due. They also found out recently that their youngest has cancer and is going through chemotherapy treatments. I felt honored they chose me to spend some time with them and take their portraits.

Anyway... on to some photos from the shoot.

Man this week has been going by pretty quick! Well Tuesday night, my soccer team payed our first playoff game, and we won! Anyway so now we advance to the quarter finals next week.

School is going ok, I suppose. I bombed my Geology Test last week and I think my score was a D. Which sucks cuz thats really gonna pull my grade down. Luckily, we got an extra credit test yesterday and I completely aced it, so I think it should being my bad test score to a B. It just made me realize that I need to study a bit harder even when I dont understand something. My small misunderstanding led me to bombing my test because the questions compounded. Meaning if you missed one you missed a series which led me to the bad grade...

Today I was coming home and I spotted a brand spankin new Nissan GT-R. Now for those who don't know, this car (Nissan Skyline) has been dreamed about by sport compact fans for many years as it was built in Japan, but never sold here on the U.S. shores. Importing or acquiring them was quite costly (upwards of $100K) plus it was extremely hard to legalize them for the streets, plus more $$$. After halting production of the cars in 2003, many requests flooded to Nissan asking for the return of the fabled Japanese supercar. Well for 2009 they have finally decided to bring them stateside with their new design as well.

Some basic specs...
480 HP
V6 Twin Turbo
All Wheel Drive
193MPH top speed.

Need I go on???

Anyways here are some shots and for more info on it go here and the official site here.

Well obviously Halloween was on Friday. Feeling a bit lazy and the feeling that I really should stay home and study looming over me I made a decision. On one hand I thought, "How often do I get a friday night off?" and maybe a night out would be good for me... On the other hand I thought, maybe I should relax, stay in and study a little bit.

I decided to throw something together and head out. I went with my friend Crystal (an awesome hairstylist) and we went to this little carnival thing, and then just went and had drinks after. Nothing big, but it was fun to get out and break the routine up which seemed to be the theme of my weekend... On to the pictures which I think speak for themselves.





And one of me and Crystal after I stole her wig...


Here is a shot of my brother and his costume. Can you guess who he is supposed to be???



If you guessed Travis Barker of Blink 182, your right!

Saturday I worked for a bit before heading to Madison's 2nd birthday party. Madison is the incredibly adorable daughter of my best friend Marko and his wife Alisha. You can see some photos and stuff at Alisha's blog.

Sunday morning, Marko Madison and I headed over to Huntington Beach to check out some hot rods, but as it turns out we showed up on the wrong day. Being up early (despite the time change) we had some breakfast over at the Sugar Shack before heading back home.

That was pretty much it. I got to do some studying before class so I am off.