Oh Coffee, How Do I Love Thee?
It's been a long time coming, but about two weeks ago I began to genuinely enjoy coffee. One good Americano at Starbucks and an excellent cappuccino at A Small World and I'm a coffee lover. I'm not addicted, I just like to enjoy a cup every few days.
The night I took this picture, I decided to try a large instead of a regular. I drank it happily, but began to feel strange about half an hour after I was finished. My legs were shaking, my head started swimming, and my stomach hurt. The walk home was accomplished in record time and I couldn't fall asleep until at least 1:30 a.m.
Lesson learned: I'm an amateur and I should stick to regular-sized coffees.
No Job to No Time
Other than learning Greek and being chief cook and bottle-washer at the Burdges', my summer has been sort of unproductive. I didn't get a job until this past Monday because getting work takes time and effort, time and effort I preferred to use taking photos or playing with my blog or watching all three seasons of Lost in less than a week. Now that the summer is coming to and end and my bank balance is getting low, I'm feeling inspired to stop using my time frivolously and begin making some money.
I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "When it rains, it pours." Well, that's how I'm feeling right now. On Monday, I began a temp job at Princeton's Institute for Youth Ministry. It's just some data entry stuff, nothing major, probably won't last long. Today, I'm going to speak with one of our lovely librarians about a job that might provide full time hours for the two weeks I don't have school and continue with a few hours a week throughout the school year. And once school begins on September 19th, I am going to go back to my beautiful job at the Y, which requires minimal work and allows for much undistracted study time. So, this is what I get for praying about my lackadaisical summer attitude toward work and money. When God gives, God gives in abundance.
Now all I can do is be thankful for the provision and continue asking for some of the other desires of my heart that weigh heavier than money ever could.
I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "When it rains, it pours." Well, that's how I'm feeling right now. On Monday, I began a temp job at Princeton's Institute for Youth Ministry. It's just some data entry stuff, nothing major, probably won't last long. Today, I'm going to speak with one of our lovely librarians about a job that might provide full time hours for the two weeks I don't have school and continue with a few hours a week throughout the school year. And once school begins on September 19th, I am going to go back to my beautiful job at the Y, which requires minimal work and allows for much undistracted study time. So, this is what I get for praying about my lackadaisical summer attitude toward work and money. When God gives, God gives in abundance.
Now all I can do is be thankful for the provision and continue asking for some of the other desires of my heart that weigh heavier than money ever could.
Gym Bag
One of my favorite groups on flickr is called "What's in Your Bag?" The name pretty much explains the concept: the flickrite takes one photo displaying the contents of a bag they carry so that the world might see. This is the third photo I've taken for the group in about six weeks. It's a fun activity for uninspired days. Since I've been uninspired for the past week, I decided today was a good day to pump up my photo mojo.
My favorite part about taking photos for this group is the challenge of telling an interesting story through one image featuring mostly mundane objects. My favorite part about the group itself is being able to indulge my slightly voyeuristic nature by getting a look inside other people's bags. If you're on flickr, check it out. It's fun...I promise!
Needing a Change
It's been sort of a rough weekend, so I took some time this afternoon to do a little blog therapy. I hope y'all enjoy my new template. Sometimes dark colors depress me, but I'm digging them right now.
If you think that some things are missing, you're probably right. Some stuff, such as the archives, can be viewed by clicking on the pull tab at top right. I couldn't figure out how to add a sidebar and decided it wasn't that important. I also tried to change the colors and couldn't do it satisfactorily. Maybe I'll work on that later.
If you think that some things are missing, you're probably right. Some stuff, such as the archives, can be viewed by clicking on the pull tab at top right. I couldn't figure out how to add a sidebar and decided it wasn't that important. I also tried to change the colors and couldn't do it satisfactorily. Maybe I'll work on that later.
An Old One
I took this photo over a year ago and was recently playing around with it on www.dumpr.net and thought this effect looked neat. Enjoy!
baby chameleon
Talk about a blast from the past. I took this photo with Barry's fancy new digital camera (he's the bloke in the photo) a little over four years ago. It would be so awesome to be back in Africa playing with baby chameleons again.
At Long Last
Haven't posted many flowers of late, so I thought y'all deserved one.
By the way, I realize I haven't been posting my promised 100 things for the past week or so, but I'm going through some stuff and don't really feel like writing is the best use of my time at the moment. So, enjoy the pictures and I'll be back to writing when I feel like I can.
Together
This shot seems to be the favorite of my flickr friends. Wish more of my real friends were also my flickr friends. Believe me, it's the coolest online photo gallery ever.
Two Pair
This is my favorite picture from my photo shoot with Lydia and Jeb. I was awkward about bossing them around, but it was fun, anyway. I got some pretty good shots. You can check them out here.
I don't know what inspired me, but I just told them to put their heads down together on the picnic table and this is what we got. I love their eyes.
After
Jordan's brother let me cut his hair while we were at the shore. He went to a real barber later because I sort of made him look like a girl. Making him look like a girl was not my plan, having him get his hair cut shorter may have been in the back of my mind...
Pink Flowers
I'm not sure what type of tree this is, but the blossoms smell wonderful and look like lace. To get the black and white effect I just desaturated every color but red and magenta.
No More Paradigms!
As I mentioned in my last post, I have a Greek exam in the morning. It's not cumulative, but it is our last exam of the summer. From here on out, we will be translating a bunch of 1 Corinthians and maybe a little bit of John. I still have about twelve paradigms to learn tonight and I'm pooped. My motivation is gone. I want it to be the weekend because I am totally distracted by other things right now. So, whether I'm done learning the paradigms or not, quittin' time is 10 o'clock.
Master Lock
Took this yesterday while I was scoping out a location for a photo shoot I'm going to do this weekend of my friends, Lydia and Jeb. Photos with people are not my forte, so I'm going to start practicing at it. Imagine that...practicing.
Now I am going to practice some Greek paradigms because I haven't studied much this week and I have an exam tomorrow morning at 8:45.
Spray
The beach was a good time. It would have been great if I could have stayed longer, but that was not in the cards. Jordan's uncle offered to pay for my train ticket back to school at the end of the week, but missing 5 days of class was never going to be a possibility.
Driving to Maryland on Saturday morning took half an hour more than driving to Princeton on Sunday evening, despite the fact that on the way home we stopped for dinner. Moral of the story: Traffic sucks going to the shore on a beautiful weekend.
The weather was perfect the entire time. Saturday was actually a little on the cool side because of some cloud cover, but all of us appreciated that. Sunday was hotter, but Jordan's uncle rented some umbrellas to take care of that. Since I'm pretty fair-skinned, one of my least favorite things at the beach is the lack of natural shade. The other thing I don't like is the sand, which is unfortunate, since it's unavoidable.
The house we stayed at was less than half a block from the beach. It was one of thousands of condos and apartments and hotel rooms lining the shore. It was a lovely little place meant to sleep fourteen people, but you could fit more if you wanted. For a rental, it was generously appointed. Some of the decorating wasn't to my taste, but it certainly made the place interesting and who needs a rental to be "to her taste."
Anyway, a good time was had by all.
I didn't take as many pictures as I normally would, but there are twenty or so on flickr. Click on the crashing wave above in order to see a slideshow, which includes pictures of me cutting Jordan's brother's hair.
Two for the Price of One
OR Things About Me #21 and #22
My first car was a powder blue, soft-top 1984 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, for which I paid $500.
Said car died on the highway, at rush hour, in subzero weather, eight months after I purchased it.
It was probably the coolest first car I could have ever hoped to own. It was completely rusting out, the tire treads were completely gone, the muffler fell off, it had power everything, but none of it worked, and the driver's side door didn't open, but it was still totally awesome.
The first thing Andrea said when she saw it was something about how the back seat was made for sex. She was probably right. I could have fit four people across that back seat, which was upholstered in leather.
Unfortunately, I only ever got one picture of the beauty and it's not digital. Perhaps one day I will scan it and show everyone my old boat in all its glory, but for now, sleep well and dream of large gas guzzlers.
My first car was a powder blue, soft-top 1984 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, for which I paid $500.
Said car died on the highway, at rush hour, in subzero weather, eight months after I purchased it.
It was probably the coolest first car I could have ever hoped to own. It was completely rusting out, the tire treads were completely gone, the muffler fell off, it had power everything, but none of it worked, and the driver's side door didn't open, but it was still totally awesome.
The first thing Andrea said when she saw it was something about how the back seat was made for sex. She was probably right. I could have fit four people across that back seat, which was upholstered in leather.
Unfortunately, I only ever got one picture of the beauty and it's not digital. Perhaps one day I will scan it and show everyone my old boat in all its glory, but for now, sleep well and dream of large gas guzzlers.
Coke and a Gull
From my weekend at the shore. Don't worry; we picked up all the litter we found. As stencils on all of the trash cans urged, we left only our footprints.
Head and Shoulders (and Wings?!)
This little guy is a key chain I bought over seven years ago at Hampton Court Palace. He was supposed to be a gift for a friend but, clearly, I couldn't give him up...
Beau-tiful
This tiny kitten's name is Beau. His playmate is named Belle. His parents are tres creative.
As of today, I have begun a new blog. It's going to be my photoblog. I haven't decided yet whether my photo of the day feature is going to be moved to that venue or if I will continue posting it here. I'm considering keeping the other blog mostly for shots that I think are extra good, even to the point of having some sort of resale value.
Thing about me 101 (no, it's not on the list): In the past I've taken up many hobbies and dropped them when I got to the point where I needed to actually do hard work in order to get better.
With knitting, I started with scarves and ended when I got to hats.
With sewing, I made a couple dresses for a friend's wedding and then decided it wasn't worth it, except for the occasional crafty skirt or bag.
With guitar, I got good enough to play about 10 chords using a whopping three finger-picking patterns and, although unsatisfied with my accomplishment, I gave up.
I won't continue with the list. It could probably include more things than I'd like to mention. With photography, I don't want it to be like that. My goal is to push on to the next level. In fact, before I die, I would like to have at least one paying photography gig. It doesn't need to turn into a career, I just want to be good enough that someone with good taste would be willing to buy what I produce. I want to be good enough that the possibility of spending a couple thousand dollars on good equipment isn't a foolhardy wish.
Anyway, I'll let you know if the photos are going to make a permanent switch. For now, most of them will stay right here.
Tickle My Nose
OR Thing About Me #89
One of the things I got most excited about during my first visit to PTS was the fizzy water on tap in the cafeteria.
I wrote that in April '06 and it still holds true today. Almost every meal I eat in the cafeteria includes a glass of fizzy water, sometimes two.
One of the things I got most excited about during my first visit to PTS was the fizzy water on tap in the cafeteria.
I wrote that in April '06 and it still holds true today. Almost every meal I eat in the cafeteria includes a glass of fizzy water, sometimes two.
Sky Shadows
Goody! I haven't posted this one yet. I took this shot at the XPoNential Music Festival a couple weeks ago. Fully manual and no editing, straight from my eye to yours!
Greek Speak
OR Thing About Me #70
In junior high, my friends and I learned the Greek alphabet and wrote notes to each other using the characters as rough equivalents for the Western alphabet.
Now I'm relearning the Greek alphabet in order to read the New Testament. It still seems like I'm trying to crack some sort of secret code, especially when we start talking about manuscript variations and such.
In junior high, my friends and I learned the Greek alphabet and wrote notes to each other using the characters as rough equivalents for the Western alphabet.
Now I'm relearning the Greek alphabet in order to read the New Testament. It still seems like I'm trying to crack some sort of secret code, especially when we start talking about manuscript variations and such.
Brown Eyed Girl???
I have blue eyes. My driver's license attests to this fact, as does the mirror every time I look at myself. Somehow, though, without any manipulation, the camera turned my eyes brown.
Big Figures OR Thing About Me #27
Every time I go to a modern art gallery, I search for pieces by David Smith. Artists are not supposed to have mundane names like "David Smith."
A few of his pieces were in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and it always struck me as incredibly funny that a man with such a name was creating modern art. I think there were also a few of his sculptures in the Hirshhorn Museum in DC.
The sculpture pictured above is not by David Smith, but rather an artist with a much more artistic name, Magdalena Abakanowicz. The piece is entitled "Big Figures" and stands in front of the Princeton University Art Gallery. Apparently, there was quite a bit of controversy when the sculpture was first installed, but that has all quieted down.
If you're ever in Princeton, it's truly worth a look. Twenty figures around seven feet tall, just marching.
Blogging about Blogging
You've probably noticed this already, but sometimes I struggle with topics to blog. It's easy when you have a boss about whom you can complain or you're completely anonymous and can write about anything as long as you don't give out the personal details or you have a niche blog with new material cropping up every day. But when your life is fairly calm and you don't have the blanket of anonymity, blogging can become a struggle.
Anyway, I found something yesterday that very well may save me from this struggle for the next few months, at least. Some of my time spent not working while on the job in DC was spent making a list of 100 things about me. Some of them are unique, some of them are quirky, some of them are downright boring, but all of them are going to be posted...one by one. Sometimes with a picture, sometimes without. Sometimes with an explanation or a story, sometimes not.
The list was completed on April 18, 2006. Since then, quite a few things in my life have changed. I'll post the original list items and provide editorial comment as necessary. You get to join me on this introspective journey whether you like it or not. Oh wait, it's a blog. You can stop reading. Don't stop reading! Please, oh please, don't stop reading.
Without further ado, here you have the first item on my list:
Anyway, I found something yesterday that very well may save me from this struggle for the next few months, at least. Some of my time spent not working while on the job in DC was spent making a list of 100 things about me. Some of them are unique, some of them are quirky, some of them are downright boring, but all of them are going to be posted...one by one. Sometimes with a picture, sometimes without. Sometimes with an explanation or a story, sometimes not.
The list was completed on April 18, 2006. Since then, quite a few things in my life have changed. I'll post the original list items and provide editorial comment as necessary. You get to join me on this introspective journey whether you like it or not. Oh wait, it's a blog. You can stop reading. Don't stop reading! Please, oh please, don't stop reading.
Without further ado, here you have the first item on my list:
My favorite color is blue; always has been, always will be. Once I tried to change it to red, it just didn't stick.
What's your favorite color? Has it ever changed? Have you ever tried to change it?
Halfway Through
The fourth week of Greek has now come and gone. Our third exam, which I finished in half an hour, was this morning. I like to think it only took me half an hour because I'm brilliant, but it's really just because the exams are completely predictable, thus easily studied.
I've always thought that taking Hebrew over the summer was a bad idea because it wouldn't really stick, but I'm beginning to think that, for me, an intensive course is a good way to learn a language. It's amazing how much more smoothly it's all going since I get to completely focus on one class rather than trying to juggle all the reading and assignments for five other classes while cramming vocab and grammar into my brain.
In my free time, I've been playing around with photography a lot. With the help of some white posterboard and my dresser, I've set up a makeshift "studio." Mostly, I've been shooting some nail polish bottles, a piggy bank and a little key chain I bought in London, but it's been fun. We have Christmas break on Monday. Some friends and I might be heading to the shore for a day along the sea, so that would give me a great opportunity for some outdoor shots.
I may have said this before, but I'm coveting a digital SLR. Reading Understanding Exposure has made me wish for one even more. After some discussion with friends who are into photography here at Princeton, I've decided not to purchase a DSLR until I can afford a used professional grade camera. In the meantime, I will practice my technique with the camera that has served me well for over a year.
Blah blah blah...there I go blathering. Anyway, now I'm going to read some politically correct fairy tales. Have a great day!
I've always thought that taking Hebrew over the summer was a bad idea because it wouldn't really stick, but I'm beginning to think that, for me, an intensive course is a good way to learn a language. It's amazing how much more smoothly it's all going since I get to completely focus on one class rather than trying to juggle all the reading and assignments for five other classes while cramming vocab and grammar into my brain.
In my free time, I've been playing around with photography a lot. With the help of some white posterboard and my dresser, I've set up a makeshift "studio." Mostly, I've been shooting some nail polish bottles, a piggy bank and a little key chain I bought in London, but it's been fun. We have Christmas break on Monday. Some friends and I might be heading to the shore for a day along the sea, so that would give me a great opportunity for some outdoor shots.
I may have said this before, but I'm coveting a digital SLR. Reading Understanding Exposure has made me wish for one even more. After some discussion with friends who are into photography here at Princeton, I've decided not to purchase a DSLR until I can afford a used professional grade camera. In the meantime, I will practice my technique with the camera that has served me well for over a year.
Blah blah blah...there I go blathering. Anyway, now I'm going to read some politically correct fairy tales. Have a great day!
Overexposed
This shot is overexposed, but I think it's also one of my best of late. The colors are true to life and the shadows are fun, except for the one in the bottom left corner.
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