WCOG Meeting Oct 8, 2005

wcThis wasn't my first choice in music, because it is very slow (not as slow as the Barry Manilow version); but, hey! It has October in its name. I was actually hoping to include a fun, Halloween themed music, but no one brought any Halloween origami; too early in the month, I suppose. We also had a lighter turnout than we've had in a while, perhaps due to this Saturday, not feeling like the 2nd Saturday of the month.

WCOG (9/11) Tribute Meeting

California State University Long Beach Origami Festival2005

You can see photos from previous years in one of my old yahoo photo albums. Kudos to Alison Redfoot for her tireless work in putting this together every year. I must say, our free lunch was the best lunch...ever!

Saturday in the Library Dungeon (July WCOG Meeting)

OUSA Convention June 24-27, 2005

"I've Been to OUSA, Man!":




"Wander My Friends...Into the Fold":

WCOG June Meeting 2005

"Shut Up and Fold" (WCOG May meeting)

Lessons in Origami

I taught a few workshops back in April for a Charter school, culminating in a silent auction, including donated pieces.

Cherry Blossom Festival, Monterey Park, California April 16-17, 2005

The Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival was the first cultural festival I had ever done. This was probably around 2001. This is also where I met Kathern Inouye who has done much in her 80+ years to promote Japanese and Japanese-American culture. She was my contact source for the Festival, and subsequently, every other festival I have done. A very remarkable, endearing, and generous woman. Yami and Joe have joined me these last couple of years. I think we had one of our best festivals ever. It included 2 on-stage performances. Subsequently, this is one of my favorite videos, ever. It's long, but I have always loved this song. A friend of mine, Kenichi, used to street perform in Little Tokyo's Japanese Village Plaza; and I first heard the Okinawan song, "Hana" from him. He'd always perform it for me whenever I saw him out there.




I had this idea to have volunteers from the audience have a quickfold contest: Whoever could fold a banger and make it >bang<>

WCOG April Meeting

Pasadena Cherry Blossom Festival 2005

"I Crease the Line" (WCOG March Meeting)

"Year of the Butterfly" (Chinese New Year Festival)

Matsuri Festival in Phoenix, Arizona

I was invited out to teach at the Matsuri Festival, in Phoenix. Hopefully this video captures some of the fun. It was nice to see familiar faces from my past OUSA Convention visits.

WCOG February Meeting

Two videos for this month. The first one has Phu Tran teaching his rose:



It really is quite gorgeous. He has several different variations, all based off of the Kawasaki twist-fold method, but quite original in how he has given his rose the illusion of additional petals. The calyx and leaves are interlocked into the stem; and the calyx itself locks into the rose by incorporating a spearhead-shaped insertion-tip.

I brought two of my gymnasts to this meeting:

WCOG 01-08-2005 New Beginnings & Top Fun

I split January's meeting into two different videos:





Here's the second video, "Top Fun":




(Cartoon by Lar deSouza)

"Folding in the New Year"

WCOG 12-11-2004 Christmas-themed Meeting

(Cartoon by Lar deSouza).

Japan Expo 2004

It was great to have my friends, Donna and Nika, show up.

WCOG Meeting: November 13, 2004

This was my first experiment in video-preserving our monthly Westcoast Origami Guild meetings. I had tinkered around for about a month with Windows movie-maker already. The camera I use is a 2.0 megapixel digital Canon camera. It only takes videos in 10 to 20 seconds clips at a time. So I just strung the clips together and ran it to music, and there ya go!