Good grief, I have learned my lesson on rushing things. It’s been too long since I’ve updated this blog and the one night I finally have enough time and energy I accidentally delete my ENTIRE Lightroom catalog/ photos. Definitely didn’t understand what my computer meant by clearing my Lightroom catalog to make space - I still don’t know what that means…Anyways, having meticulously recovered at least these past couple of months, I am going to still try to update this thing. 

     10 days ago I was fortunate enough to celebrate my 23rd birthday with my closest friends at Busboys and Poets in Arlington. Never one for large crowds, let alone large crowds focused on me, I have to say the dinner went by amazingly. It was the overlapping of many different circles of friends and family and, as one of my friends put it, it was “real-life google circles”! Among the guests were my best friend Lillian of whom I have had a love-hate relationship for the past 5 years. She’s seen my at my best and at my worst and has been with me through many an emotional, physical and natural disaster. I couldn’t ask for a better person to keep me frustrated and grounded as her and love her with all my heart. But sometimes I just want to shake the hell out of her. Next was the amazing power couple Jerry and Sonja. Jerry was with me through my photography semester and represented to me the discovery and embrace of the art half of my life. He represented the completely different world of art I had the privilege to live and grow in ultimately shaping me into a braver, bolder gentleman. He is also the responsibility circle of my friends. Work hard, play hard and treat your lady right - you are my #gent for life Jerry Jones! Then there was Sean Lacey! My co-worker, my good friend and my partner in adventure. Sean has shown and taught me not only a huge amount of gear knowledge but has opened my eyes to the world of good honest adventuring. Gone are the days off spent in my house or just sleeping in. If you don’t have anything planned that day get outside and have an adventure or do something for the community. Since meeting him in just these short 3 months I have hiked 4 mountains (one completely at night), spent the day stacking hay and repairing trailers at a farm and manned beer tent at a huge outdoor concert. I learned from Sean the value of being active and giving back. I learned from him the value of living a simple, honest, hardworking life. That there isn’t ever anything to big or too small to be considered an adventure and that there are times where you just need to strap on your boots and “TAP THEM OUT”! Then there was my sister Ivy Te (to the right of me). She’s been with me as long as Lillian has and has always been there to keep my spirits up. Kindred spirits, we have always been able to talk heart to heart through thick and thin and there aren’t many people out there that understand and care about me as much as she does. Always the voice of reason and patience she has helped me with my decisions and has always been there to appreciate my taste in clothes and music haha. If Lillian is the devil, which she is, then Ivy is the angel and I love her to death. My fantastic family was there too! My cousins Kanika, Lisa and Michael were all there. Kanika has become not only a closer cousin and friend to me but she is also my kick-ass-ready-to-rumble BJJ partner in crime! It was because of her and a groupon that we discovered Silverback Academy and that my life has been blessed with BJJ. I really owe her for constantly driving me to go to practice and for always being there to listen to my silly life rants. My life has become more confident, patient and stronger because of BJJ and her. My cousins Lisa and Michael have grown up with me. We went through all of the awkward growing stages and then some but they have always supported me. Even during my fat, geeky, yugioh playing days they would still invite me out to parties and the such and man do I appreciate how patient they were haha! My twin basically, Lisa has gone through college with the same “become a doctor” pressure that I have and, seeing as how neither of us are doctors, I can say she is in the same “omg what am I going to do with my life” boat I am in now. Always there to talk life with me, I love my cousin Lisa to death and would do anything for her. Of course the dinner couldn’t have been complete without my boys (Manisha included)! I grew up with these hoodlums and couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys! I say hoodlum but it’s ironic seeing as how Johnny is my age and already has a master’s degree, several published scientific papers, a girlfriend (yes that’s an accomplishment) and is on his way to becoming an extreme kayaker. Mason just graduated and is already working a salary job for Accenture, is an avid fisher and is a consistant gym rat (and he’s single ladies). Manisha, aside from knowing every exotic dance known to man, is both a teacher and a lab tech all in the meanwhile applying to medical school. Needless to say, one’s character can be seen in the people they choose to surround themselves with and I must say I am blessed to have so many amazing people in my life - they make me look really, really good. I love these people to death and know they will be with me for the long haul. Here’s to a birthday well-spent with people well-loved. 

Trek On,

Chris

   I recently spent the 4th of July week down in OBX, North Carolina with a group of old friends. We had all pitched in to rent a simple, cozy beach house at the southern tip of the strip (Avon, NC to be more specific). I have to say that the trip was a much needed escape from the suburban/metropolitan rush of daily life and was just enough to wind me down to discover a new way of fulfilling my current mantra, “Live Simply”. We spent each day waking up early for a delicious family breakfast made by the amazing Johnny Chen and Sarah Nguyen. In all honesty, without them we would never have experienced such a well-coordinated, well thought out trip. We would have also starved. The two are the nerdiest, cutest, smartest couple I know and I am damned happy for them both. After breakfast we would all lather on the SPF and make our 5 minute pilgrimage to the Atlantic coast where we would swim, lay out, frisbee, volleyball and talk our day away. The smell of the ocean and the warmth of the sun would follow us home to our little beach house where we would wash up and dry our things as Johnny and Sarah would cook up yet another amazing meal from scratch. I recall it was spaghetti the first night, lasagna the second night and hotdogs and burgers the third. The fourth we ended up eating a thanksgiving amount of frozen foods thanks to every restaurant inexplicably closing at 9pm on the OBX. I learned to wake up early with the sun, I learned to sleep late with good conversation, I learned that I was not above showering outside with a hose, and that it’s never too late at night to practice yoga or to have a zumba dance party. I learned to love the people I was with like my own family. In only 4 short days I learned to appreciate the people in my life and the simple pleasures of holding onto them.

     I have a Nepalese friend named Manisha that I’ve known for 5 years but until this week, have never actually sat down with her and talked heart to heart. Through our conversations she opened my eyes to the value of the people we befriend and the importance of being honest with ourselves. Her experiences in her own life allowed her to shed a different light on my present outlook on life. To my isolation and tendency to disconnect with people in the pursuit of my own adventures and growth she simply stated, “we get what we want”. When prompted to explain my goals/ reasoning for how I felt I was drifting away from everyone I found that I couldn’t give a solid explanation. I realized that I was simply pushing everyone away as if purging my life of my past self to create a new, successful Chris. Sitting on the beach as we watched our friends fish and the sun begin to set, she gazed across the ocean and told me this, “Wherever you go, go. If you want it you will get it. If you don’t want everyone and are tired of the people you’re with then you will find new ones. But as for me I treasure my friends and work hard to keep people in my life”. I realized how selfish and closed minded and short sighted and stupid I had become. Life keeps on rolling and we all need to keep adapting, this I know. We are all constantly trying to improve and change for the better but we are all in this together and that is something that I really lost sight of. I realized how busy everyone has been and how they have all still managed to make time for each other - I was no more busy or better than anyone. In bits and pieces an incredibly humbling picture was taking form in my mind and I have to admit I felt ashamed and frustrated with myself. Man oh man have I really digressed…

     Since returning home I have found myself to be quite restless. My mind has been a mixture of memories of the trip and this rapidly growing idea in my head that I need to turn my life around. Her words were so simple, so true, and yet they have clasped onto my deepest core. Ever the melodramatist and the overthinker, I know I just need to cultivate this freshly planted seed. The trip was an amazing experience and great reminder of how much I love the sea and the heat. As much as I love the northern winters I am still a summer baby at heart. There is a lot of work to be done in these coming months: GREs, SMSC and work to name a few but I’m just glad to know that I have these amazing goofballs in my life just a phone call away. Hopefully we can all start sharing more adventures together soon. 

Here’s to old friends, new friends and never saying no to adventure. 

Trek On,

Chris

P.S. Thank you for being an amazing friend, Manisha. 

Starbucks

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     Earlier this week I went back to my alma mater to meet with a potential job/intern connection (oh the things that incite excited speeding now a days). I decided to make the most out of the 4 hours I bought at the parking deck and met up with my good friends Jerry and Sonja for coffee and catching up.

As I sat and waited for them to arrive, I had a lot of time to look around and think. Things had changed so much since I graduated. This was the same 24-hour Starbucks I used to spend all-nighters cramming for bio exams and, eventually, editing photography projects. This was the Starbucks that I used to buy for my ex when we would study late into the night, this was the Starbucks I discovered the Peace Corps in and this was the Starbucks where I fell in love. I looked around and saw students idly chattering with coffees in their hands, macs galore littered the walls with their serpentine plugs. I thought to myself,

“Damn, if only they knew how much work they could get done on a laptop with decent internet and 8 hours of dedication, do they know how many jobs and internships they could be applying to right now? How many companies and non-profits they could be researching?”

My own mind sickened me. I tried to focus back on my coffee. My Americano, rather.I thought to myself how sad it was that I regretted buying it. I could have gotten cheaper coffee at McDonald’s or Dunkin’, hell, I could have made better coffee from home and brought it in my tumbler. Again, my mind sickened me. Through the echoes and hum drums of the coffee shop I realized how close I was to collapsing in on myself. My dress shoes, dress shirt and tie didn’t make a damn difference. The reflection in the dirty window was of a hungry animal stuck in a room full of children. Rejection and routine had begun to chip away at my self-esteem, my being. Hell, the last time I sat in this chair I basically told the girl I loved her ex still loved her and to go for it! I don’t think a homeless celibate monk could stay jobless and loveless as well as me.

Alas, Jerry and Sonja arrived before I could really dig myself in. The world needs people as bright and happy as these two, I mean it. If there was a success story to be heard it would likely be of these two’s relationship. Neuroscientist meets Photographer, could fate have chosen a more interesting intersection of intriguing arts? We talked about school and about life. We talked about Jerry’s senior art project and Sonja’s second attempt at the beast that is Genetics. Oh how they breathed life back into my day. Hum drums sound completely different when it comes from good friends.

After Sonja left for class, Jerry and I caught up on man-talk. We talked about my next plans and my next moves. We talked about my future jeep. We talked about his future photography projects. And what would boys be without their toys? I let him try out the Mark II and showed him how to use a white balance lens cap, in case he wanted to borrow her, and I took the quaint hipster pictures you see above. 

Seeing my gent and lady was very very much needed. As we bid farewell over promises to go to the shooting range soon, I took one last look at the Starbucks and realized that,

“That was the Starbucks where I got my hope back.”

Trek On,

Chris