Needless to say, I don't use a blog template for this site. This means that the sheer labour-intensiveness of updating this page results in ... not many updates. Given my verbosity, that's a GOOD thing.

December 2007.
Happy Holidays!

In lieu of the usual Annual Letter I send with my holiday cards, I decided to wrap up my year online. 2007 has been a very good year! An assortment of photos through the year is online over at Flickr, but please read on if you'd like to know what I've done this year. Very soon, I shall be updating the photo albums with the whole collection of travel and candid photos from 2007.

So! My year in review.
Last Christmas, my friend Teresa visited Boston with her two daughters Tabi and Maggie. They had never seen Boston before, so we did all the requisite strolling around Boston, Salem, and other beautiful places. Our friend Danielle had moved in with us at the end of November, so it was quite cozy in our apartment.

January and February: We went to a friend's holiday party in New Hampshire, complete with 16 cats and a donkey. I held my own party, and my friend Tess arrived with nothing less than the culinary curiousity that is SPAM cupcakes. Oddly enough, they were fairly good! We visited Nhan's parents in Ocala, Florida, and then spent time at Sea World and Busch Gardens. Nhan and I got a behind-the-scenes look at the penguin habitat, and even met an Emperor penguin. Thanks to our friend Tracy, we are smitten with 'guins. We stopped by to visit Dana and her guinea pigs as well.

In March we went to Newport, Rhode Island with friends and checked out the mansions. During most of March I was also photographing bearded dragons and frogs for pet care books.

In April Nhan's company was back at the NAB Convention in Vegas, and they have been selling their Broadcast Pix systems like hotcakes. I also took an elecrtonic music class, hoping to absorb some intelligence about MIDI and sequencing. It didn't quite absorb, for I'm still in the dark...

In May we had a vacation in Vermont and Montreal. We stayed at Killington for a week and visited some of the small towns. In Montreal, we visited the Biodome, which was fascinating. I traveled back to Vermont for a weekend with friends, and then a long day in New Haven. We stuffed our friend Annabel into a shopping cart. Two of our elder guinea pigs died - Winnie and Chestnut - in May.

June was our monkey-themed birthday party and a day trip to Gloucester to photograph dogs and visit a street fair. I had several photo shoots in June, and photographed several dogs for more pet books. I also photographed Genevieve, a Middle Eastern dancer and friend. That was a fun photo shoot.

In late July, I was contacted by a publishing company who needed a cat photographer. They were printing a pair of books featuring dogs and cats dressed to kill. The first one, Doggy Style, was finished; they did an online search for "cat photographer," and found me. We met, and they liked me. :)

The first week of August I visited Mum, who was having another back surgery. Her lumbar rod-thing needed to be "re-installed." (I don't know how else to describe it.) I returned to Boston on August 6; from August 9-12 was the Blacksun Festival, for which I am a photographer. I had the opportunity to meet some new people, including Gia, who lives in New Haven (and with whom I've struck up a lively friendship), and Bruno Kramm, a producer/musician in Germany. I also met Bruno's friend Jenni from Finland, who was fabulous to hang around with.

September, of course, was filled with cat costuming. I managed, in the month of September (and a week in August and October, too) to create many costumes and find 60 cat models. The finished book, Smitten Kitten, will be available at Barnes & Noble in August 2008. This was a huge project for me. I cannot post photos of the finished costumes until the book is published, so you will all have to be patient. :)

In October, we went back to Vegas for a week with friends Brian and Jodi. We checked out the Liberace Museum, which was amazing (he's quite the philanthropist), and went to the Hoover Dam. I'm in awe of the Hoover Dam. While we were in Vegas, our guinea pig Nutmeg died. She had been ill for a couple of weeks, but always seemed to perk up. We are very sad about losing her.

For Halloween, I went to New York with friends to see Das Ich in concert, but unfortunately, they had passport issues and couldn't enter the US. Another band stood in for them at the last minute. After the concert, we wandered around Greenwich Village staring at all the bizarre costumes, including one guy's homage to the Saturday Night Live "D.. in a Box" music video. Fabulous!

In November, we went to Maine with friends Angela and David for Thanksgiving. I took many photos of Sam, the black Lab puppy. Nhan is a sucker for black Labs. We also had a Goth Bowling night, which is always hilarious, and we set up the Christmas tree.

In December we went to the Berkshires for a weekend that included a timeshare "owner update" (read: sales pitch), but we got a free room and dinner. We visited the Berkshire Museum's Festival of Trees, which was cute. The first weekend of December, our friend Traci visited Boston for a surprise visit; we took her to lunch and spent some time together chatting. We hope to visit her in Dallas soon. Traci is running a burlesque dance workshop in Texas in February 2008; I designed a couple flyers for her. On Thursday, 13 December, a snowstorm hit the Boston area, dumping about 8 inches on us throughout the afternoon. Nhan was in a car accident; the Prius hydroplaned (snow-planed?) and hit a Mini Cooper, but he was only going about 10 MPH. Unfortunately, the front of the Prius is toast. :( Everyone was OK.

We plan to stay put for Christmas; we're going to have a HALO videogame marathon the Saturday before Christmas, since we have two people with birthdays on Christmas Eve. Danielle is still living with us, and her son Jasper (who's turning 11 on Christmas Eve) stays over three nights a week.

We started 2007 with six guinea pigs, but our elderly herd has dwindled down to three. Gwinnie (Guinivere) had surgery to remove a bladder stone, and Hazel had a shot to help shrink an ovarian cyst. Titania is still our little grey Wombat piggy, and deals with itchy skin, but is thankfully healthy. Our three cats are doing well, but Gabrielle is starting to look pretty frail. She's an elder kitty, but is generally healthy.

Rubicat has been doing well; in addition to the cat book, I have been working on several pet care books in the Happy Healthy Pet series. I donated my photography services to the House Rabbit Network, Cocker Spaniel Rescue of New England, and Parents & Kids Magazine of Greater Boston. I was hired to provide food and garden photography for an upcoming Middle Eastern cookbook, and I shot my second wedding in November. I've been getting steady work, which is wonderful.

I finally finished a re-design of my guinea pig website, CavyMadness.com. I also re-designed and launched a new site for Sweet Meadow Farm, wonderful friends who make hay and food for rabbits, guinea pigs, and other small animals. Their products are amazing; if you ever happen to need rabbit, guinea pig, or hamster/gerbil food, check them out.

Nhan's company is doing well. He goes to the office two days a week now, but we get to stay home and work side by side the other days. The cats love all the extra attention, of course. Nhan continues to play tennis every week, and he's been having a lot of fun with videogames. I have been trying to cook more healthfully, and have lost a lot of weight in the process. Nhan and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this year and we're still ridiculously happy.

And if you're wondering....

(mine)

(nhan's)

October 2007.
Project Overload.

The summer was bumping along until late July; a received a call from a publisher asking me if I were interested in a cat photography book project. They had wrapped a dog book with a New York Photographer, needed a cat photographer, and found me on the Web (I suppose having "rubiCAT" as a name helped matters). The only problem: August.

• 30 July - 7 August: in South Carolina.
• 9 - 13 August: working at Blacksun Festival.
• 16 - 25 August: on vacation in Dominican Republic.

So, they extended the deadline for me, and I spent the entire month of September creating fabulous costumes and wrestling cats into them. Then I patiently waited while the cats decided (or not) to calm down so I could shoot them. I made the deadline; the publisher is generally happy with my work, and I have now spent the first half of October doing some re-shoots while I catch up on design projects. In total, I've dressed and photographed around 60 cats. This is absolutely mad. The book is titled Smitten Kitten, and will hit bookstores in August 2008.

While at Blacksun I spent some time with Bruno, the guy who inspired me to live more enthusiastically. He's fantastic. I also met Gia, who has become a great friend. I look forward to the next Blacksun Festival in March.

We went to Vegas for a fun vacation the first week of October with friends Brian and Jodi. If you are ever there, visit the Liberace Museum. The man was amazing and quite the philanthropist as well. The Atomic Testing Museum was chilling and amazing all at once. We also saw some shows, but the week ended up being something of a blur because I was so fried after finishing the book!

Now that things are settling back into a normal routine, I'm hoping to rearrange our tiny home office and get back into learning how to make music. I'm also catching up on things. But honestly, when am I ever NOT catching up on things?

June 2007.
My birthday was not welcome. So much still to do, and time is moving too fast!

I worked on several books during the spring, and have had a myriad of subjects to shoot. My most recent shoot was a belly dancer, who became a fun and malleable subject. It's like moulding human Play-Dough. :)

I finished egodram.com, my site for German goth/industrial band Das Ich. They like it a lot, so I may have the opportunity to redesign their site, too! Of course, I hope this leads to other similarly fun projects. CavyMadness is about halfway done; the redesign is looking fantastic.

The Blacksun Festival is coming up, and I am very excited to be managing a photography meetup during the festival. I'm also submitting art for the gallery show!

Nhan and I recently watched Away From Her, a soulful movie about a couple who, after 44 years of marriage, is deeply affected by her onset of Alzheimer's disease. Being with Nhan almost 24/7 reminds me that life is both a short sprint and a long journey. Only recently have I finally been grounded enough to find sanctuary within myself and the space around me, and I'm still aghast at how far I have to go. Then to think how delicate memories and mind are, and how quickly it all can be lost. It's massively humbling.

spring 2007.
Ever notice how, when you finally have a semblance of momentum, something comes along to shatter it?

In February, I started worrying about a lack of creative projects, but I was making progress with lyrics and music. Be careful what you wish for; I suddenly had a deluge of photography projects that has kept me very busy throughout March. Of course I appreciate the work and the opportunity to be published! But I really want to get a couple personal-ish projects going. Namely, a little site for Das Ich and a full update of CavyMadness (is that latter one ad nauseam yet?)

In April: Vegas. The caricature of a city that I love simply for its ostentatiousness. Time is moving much too fast.

january 2007.
I finally created a new look for all my sites! I've been so worried about keeping my sites "safe," but I'm finally comfortable with who I am. So let me get going with stuff.

First, working on music lessons, with humble beginnings of putting thoughts to music. Of course, this also entails learning MIDI and all that; I've a long battle ahead of me. I mentioned humble, right? At least I can suck in the privacy of my own bedroom. LOL.

Second, simplify, simplify, simplify.

Finally, more practice with cooler design and photography projects. My lovemonkey bought me toys for Christmas, including a new fast lens. Good for concerts, so if I ever get to some (ahemdasich) concerts, I'll be ready. :)

December 2006.
The holiday season brings with it a total forgetfulness of time; I find myself thinking I have more time to get things done than I do! This year I am at home the whole month of December, so I'm aproaching things in a calm, reasonable manner. End-of-year duties include an inventory of CavyMadness and wrapping up all the administrative paperwork surrounding Rubicat.

I finished the wedding photo gallery for my friend Traci; she is happy with the photos, even though I realize that my lens was inadequate for a wedding. I'm currently looking at obtaining a new constant-aperture (f/2.8) zoom lens.

We purhcased a Toyota Prius hybrid after someone rammed our Camry in November. The insurance claim went horribly awry, since some past damage was not fixed properly (by the same body shop that was about to fix THIS dent...). So we cut our losses and dove into a new Prius.

My design projects continue to waddle along, and I find myself with two more projects coming in early 2007. The Happy Healthy Pet Hamster book for which I provided some photography has been published; my Guinea Pig Book, for which I provided pretty much all of the photography, has gotten some great press. I also provided photography for a gecko book, coming in 2007.

Fall 2006.
In July I helped backstage at Blacksun Festival, a gothic/industrial music festival that made me realize I really needed to wake up and do something creative. All these years I had been "safe" with my endeavours, but really, where's the fun in that? While still dedicated to my design and photography projects, I am studying music theory and re-learning piano, in hopes to get some of the angst out of my head and into songs. I'm writing again as well. I'm also redefining my relationship with food, which means that I'm no longer having to stuff myself to quiet my head.

Summer 2006.
I've been asked by a friend to photograph her wedding in Texas this November. This is my very first time photographing a wedding. My approach to photography is quite unstructured, so the photos should be interesting.

I also loaded a camera gear page, for geek cred. I need to add a Canon 100mm macro lens, and the 50mm 1.4. :) Enjoy.

March 2006.
Rubicat.com has been re-designed and uploaded. It's very plain (as is this page), but I do intend to become a bit edgier in my design as soon as I can settle on an approach. CavyMadness.com has been languishing for years, and is one of my first design projects. I should pay more attention to my online presence.