Phone Photography – Page 4 – This is Another Story

US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 8

Published on September 28, 2022September 28, 2022 by Yinglan11 Comments

For reference, day 8 is referring to September 27, 2022.

I have so many thoughts at the moment. I don’t know whether that’s due to sleep deprivation or the fact that I am now sick, too, caught whatever Mom got from sharing a bed and probably not covering her mouth when she coughed around me. I feel like shit. My nose is stuffy, my voice is hoarse and at times, gone, and I’m coughing like there’s no tomorrow.

I’ve also been getting next to no sleep with mom blasting YouTube all night long while unconsciously snatching the covers, leaving me with nothing, and snoring so loud and I mean loud. I think my sleep at night has been more like catnaps – waking up every so often like someone’s anticipating the alarm to ring.

This morning, I woke up in the worst motel room imaginable, my hair and body reek of cigarette smoke and marijuana. I felt a bit better, not coughing as much. Mom was quite the opposite. She looked like she’s going to cough out a lung. That’s the last time I will ever share a bed.

At 9:30 AM, we arrived in the heart of Philadelphia, PA – the city of Brotherly Love. The traffic felt absolutely chaotic. The moment we got off the Ben Franklin bridge, we saw people walking in the middle of the road, among cars!

Aren’t they afraid of being hit? It is a highway after all.

After parking the car in the lot next to the hotel, we made our way around the city – first to Chinatown and then to Independence Hall.

I have never been to Independence Hall nor seen the Liberty Bell in person, only in movies. So I was excited to expand my knowledge of U.S. History.

Or so I thought…

Mom rushed me from one display to the next without ever allowing me to read the text. I told her to hold on and wait for me a few times but her answer was always, “there’s nothing to see here.” She said Independence Hall has changed drastically since her last visit which was 24 years ago. She said the history placards have been rewritten by the recent presidents to make the history of the Founding Fathers skew toward the institution of slavery.

To be honest, from the texts I managed to read, I did not see any skewing and biases toward African American. Sure, history is always told from one perspective and that perspective isn’t always right but that’s just what history is, isn’t it?

US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 7

Published on September 27, 2022September 28, 2022 by Yinglan12 Comments

I’m writing this post on my phone as opposed to my laptop. I’m not sure how it’ll look, so bear with me.

I traveled to 3 states yesterday. That must be some kind of record or maybe that’s just me because I’m from Western U.S. and the states are huge compared to the east. Anyway, we crossed into the US early in the morning after we were grilled by the custom officer.

He asked why, of all the cities in the whole world, we chose to visit Toronto and Ottawa. I don’t remember being grilled like this when I returned to the US after visiting Canada 5 years ago or is that just typical manner of the people on the east coast? Mom said he was just doing his job but really?

It certainly left a sour taste in my mouth.

We drove through New York and Pennsylvania before getting to our destination – Washington Crossing State Park in New Jersey. It surprised me by how green it was. Perhaps, it’s because I’m from out west where there’s little to no rain.

I loved the greenery and seeing the autumn colors starting to peek through. It was one of my purposes of the trip.

I’ve always wanted to see the place where George Washington crossed the Delaware river as depicted by the famous painting but it turned out, the painting had exaggerated the event as often history does. It was certainly a good history lesson and I learned quite a bit from this little history tour.

Which brings me back to why I’m writing this post on my phone. I stayed at the worst motel in the history of worst motel last night in Bordentown, New Jersey. I requested for a non-smoking room and the moment I entered the room, the smell of pot and smoke hit me like a punch in the face. I told front desk and all he did was spritzed air freshener in the room.

After he left, I discovered not only could I not get wifi in the room but my cell signal was gone too. It was like being sucked into a black hole. Normally, I wouldn’t mind a night without internet but I happened to need to modify the itinerary which involved modifying a few hotel reservations and I can’t do that when I don’t have internet.

After complaining to the guy and showing him the room was a black hole, he switched me to another room. Still, the smell of pot and smoke hit me when I opened the door. I’ve stayed at plenty of bad motels before but this is by far the worst.

Well, I’ll reporting from Philadelphia for the next 2 days. Hopefully, my living accomodations improves.

CFFC: Photos in 50 steps or less

Published on September 15, 2022 by Yinglan5 Comments

The garden is always less than 50 steps away.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

CMMC: July Pick a Topic

Published on July 22, 2022July 21, 2022 by Yinglan2 Comments

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CMMC: June Week 5: Flowers

Published on July 1, 2022June 30, 2022 by Yinglan2 Comments

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CFFC: Wood

Published on April 14, 2022April 13, 2022 by Yinglan4 Comments

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CMMC: March Close Up

Published on March 4, 2022March 3, 2022 by Yinglan2 Comments

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CMMC: January Pick a Topic

Published on January 21, 2022January 19, 2022 by Yinglan6 Comments

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #165: Going Wide

Published on September 12, 2021September 11, 2021 by Yinglan14 Comments

This week, on Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #165, Patti invites everyone to go wide (in photos, not football).

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CFFC: Here Comes the Sun

Published on August 18, 2021August 17, 2021 by Yinglan8 Comments

First time trying to match a photo to song lyrics, the song given is Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. I fear I might had botched the meaning but this is how I interpreted this section of the song:

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Independence Day 2021

Published on July 5, 2021 by Yinglan7 Comments

It has certainly been an interesting Independence Day this year. I spent this morning squeezing past crowds, trying to find a good spot to watch the annual parade. There was so much festivity in the park, something I didn’t think I’d ever see again after more than a year of masks and social-distancing.

The city started celebrating on July 2 and I got the feeling that this was a belated celebration of the city’s 100th birthday was supposed to be 2020 but…

This was my first time seeing this parade. I was an active participant last time, walking alongside my church’s float while tossing candies into the crowd. It is definitely a different experience. One, I get to see all the parade floats and two, I know now why there is a plastic bag tied to the little kids’ wrists. This is like a second Halloween for them.

If I get to go to this parade again next year, I would be better prepared. I would pack chairs, a tent, and lots of ice and water to keep cool and to prevent my arms from getting ten shades darker.

CMMC: Getting Close at Home

Published on June 30, 2021June 30, 2021 by Yinglan14 Comments

This week, Brian from Bushboys World is guest-hosting this challenge and the topic is Getting close at home.

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A Photo a Week Challenge: Unedited

Published on June 28, 2021 by Yinglan3 Comments

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A Photo a Week Challenge: Weathered

Published on June 25, 2021June 24, 2021 by Yinglan2 Comments

I was going over the photos on my phone and came across this photo which I took Mid-May when I went on my road trip. I think it fits the description of weathered since this landscape is crafted by millions of years of wind erosion.

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