Author Archives: pk

Vermont

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note: photos from the trip are available here

So I went up to Vermont with Andy and Melanie this weekend. It was the second time Andy and I had been up to Vermont, the same Shelburne/Burlington area on the eastern coast of Lake Champlain. Things were familiar and it was almost as if a homecoming of sorts was taking place.

We did a bunch of touristy things such as the walk through sprawling Shelburne Farms, a visit to the Magic Hat Factory, and pitstops here and there to buy cheeses and wine. Lake Champlain was a beauty, especially at sunset, where the big lake retains a cozy feel as you realize that on the horizon, there are mountains that enclose this body of water – that its reach is finite. What colored the weekend in Vermont, without a doubt, was the foliage. In full swing, the fiery reds, saturated oranges, and bright yellows had us gasping from time to time at the sheer prettiness of nature. Looking at the leaves, I was reminded of that adolescent feeling of finding myself constantly staring at a very delicate and pretty girl for the first time, unable to pull my eyes away and trying all I can to remember her features, knowing that soon enough, she would hardly notice me and move on with her own life, much like the leaves that make breathtaking impressions only to fall away and disappear for another year.

Driving around Lake Champlain and eventually stopping by to take pictures near the water, the three of us silently took in the clarity of the skies and the intensity of all the colors under the noon sun. I joked (not without some seriousness) that perhaps when our fortunes materialized in the future, we should invest in a nice lakeside home in Burlington, complete with a docking pier for the boat and a spacious yard for barbeques and outdoor dinners. Most of all, for the sight we were currently witnessing. We would live the delicious bourgeois fantasy of the lakeside vacation home — invite and entertain friends, make weekend “getaways” from the rigors of our careers, and be able to say, Oh, we’ve got a place up there – you’re more than welcome to use it. Yes, such dreams will always come attached with pretensions and status markers, and of such concerns I am hardly exempt. But this past weekend, there definitely were moments when we did indeed experience dreams of unadulterated and innocent wishes – the kind where property values and renovated interiors are nonexistent and all you see are clear blue skies, a serene yet lively lake, and leaves with burning colors that kindle the nostalgia of your childhood moments spent with nature.

After School

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note: first of many 30-minute short story exercises

“I think Jesse and Hannah have a thing for each other,” Annie said, as she scratched her bare knee.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” said Eduardo. Eduardo reached into his backpack and took out the remaining half of his turkey sandwich from lunch.

“You always buy your lunch at Han’s, right?” Annie asked.

“Yeah, I never wake up early enough to make my own,” he said. He took a bite and regretted not having put enough mayonnaise.

“You should make it before you go to bed. That’s what I do,” said Annie.

Eduardo took a sip of Gatorade. He wondered if he should offer a bite to Annie.

“I have so much homework to do tonight,” she said. “I wish it was Thanksgiving already.”

It was already past three in the afternoon. Although sunny, Eduardo could feel the cool autumn breeze. He wondered if Annie was cold. She wore shorts and a light denim jacket.

“You know, I think Jesse and Hannah would look cute together, although Jesse could be a little taller,” she said. Annie played with her smooth black hair. Eduardo caught a whiff of her flowery scent.

“Hannah could be a little thinner, too,” he suggested.

“You think Hannah is fat?” Annie asked, surprised. Eduardo realized that Annie and Hannah were very similar in shape and size.

“Well, no. But I mean, if you really wanted them to look good together, Jesse should be taller and Hannah should be a little bit thinner,” he said. He regretted having made the remark about Hannah.

“Hmm. Well, I think Hannah looks just fine,” Annie said.

The two of them leaned back against the graffiti-covered brick wall. Around the corner was a Chinese take-out where many of their classmates went after school to get cheap chicken nuggets.

Eduardo looked at his watch. He would have to leave soon for his shift at Food World. He glanced at Annie, who rubbed the backside of her calf. He didn’t think she was fat at all. She had a friendly round face and nice hair. He wondered if they would look “cute” together.

“I should get going. I have to meet up with Julie for that science project,” Annie said.

“Yeah, I need to get going, too,” Eduardo said. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” she said. “Oh yeah, I might call you later tonight. Just to talk.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be home by ten.”

They got up from the sidewalk and headed their separate ways.

New Design… Sort of

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I was looking to give pkblog a design overhaul today and spent a good amount of time looking through other people’s blogs for inspiration. But when it came down to deciding on a design, I couldn’t entirely let go of the original “classic” template (the default on WordPress 1.5) that I had used for the past two years. So I found a bare-bone WordPress template and went to work with my limited CSS skills.

My main concern for the blog design was its readability. The previous design scaled the content to 100% of the browser screen. This may not be a problem if you’re using a 800-pixel-wide screen, but most people today use 1024 pixels and up, making my entries seem like an endless verbage train. I decided to center-align the blog, which seems to be the standard these days, and limited the main content width to 675 pixels. Decreasing the width has made me to see how long and tedious my entries can be sometimes — no wonder readership is rare!

I also decided that it was time to change the font. For the entry body, I opted for Verdana, a safe choice although sometimes difficult to read in bulk. With Verdana, I know I’ll have to cut down my word count if I wish to keep readers from straining their eyes. For the entry title, I switched to Georgia because I like the way Georgia looks when it’s big – a nice contrast from the utilitarian sans-serif typography of Verdana. And for a barely noticeable aesthetic upgrade, I made the blog header into an image so that the title – in a font called Milo – would have a smoother and more elegant look. As for the colors, I couldn’t ditch the blue and green – they’re almost like old friends at this point.

You may have noticed already, but a few months ago, I started making small buttons on the right side of the blog that link to my other pages (under “more pk”). I thought these buttons added a nice graphical touch to the site since my policy from day one has been to post text-only entries (there is a pk photo album for images). I hope I don’t go overboard with all these new buttons, but I’m looking forward to making a few more since they’re sort of like mini book covers.

Thinking about today’s exercise, I feel that, generally, an entire design overhaul (a makeover) is unnecessary, especially when a new look may threaten the original, unique flavor of a particular design. But this doesn’t mean that improvements are out of the question. In design, even the smallest adjustments can make the biggest impact. I don’t mean to say that my previous blog design was anything special, but it did become something comfortable and familiar to me, and I know that this “new” look still retains some of the familiarity while being an improvement on some key design aspects. Dull? Well, nobody ever did make a reality show about mere touch-ups.