Wednesday Weirdness

Saying Grace

So I've been thinking,  I think it's great the different devices the photo bloggers have to spark ideas for blog posts ... Macro Mondays, Ruby Tuesdays, Wordless Wednesdays, Scenic Sundays ... we can all use a little nudge of inspiration now and again.

I haven't gotten involved in any besides Carmi's because while I do post photos here, it is not my intention for this to become a photo blog.  This is my personal blog, my writing therapy blog, my virtual shrink.  And well ... Wordless Wednesday? ...  It's all well and good for those who don't post pictures as a rule but that would kind of defeat my purpose here.

Still, I really like the idea of have a theme of sorts, so I thought maybe I'd start one of my own.  As nobody has ever accused me of being normal, I will call it Wednesday Weirdness and regale you with some of the twisted and bizarre things that have happened to me in the course of my life.  Because, you see, I am THAT girl ... the one THOSE things happen to, things that just don't happen to real people in real life.  Uh huh, that's me.

I'll start with a short one so this post doesn't grow into a small book.

I didn't drive when I was in high school.  My father wouldn't allow me to get my drivers license until I was 18.  I had a cousin who was just a few years older than me that had gotten hers at 16, and she hit a tree and died.  It happened that I looked a lot like her and the whole idea of me driving just freaked him out.

We lived in suburbia, which meant to go anywhere I had to bum a ride.  Mom would take me back and forth to work, but for anything else I was on my own.  Fortunately most of my friends had cars so it worked out ... for awhile.

There came a period of time though, maybe a couple or three months, when nobody wanted me to get in their vehicle.  Why? Because it seems that every vehicle I got into was involved in an accident.  The first one I was out on a double date with a couple I worked with and we got clobbered coming out of the drive in.  No one got hurt, thankfully no one got hurt in ANY of the accidents.

Then another friend was driving a carload of us somewhere and he got hit in the rear quarter panel and that swung us around sideways into another car on the other rear quarter panel ... the trunk end of that car was maybe three feet wide when it was over.

Then another friend door got bashed in in the school parking lot

I was late for school one day because even the school bus got hit on the way to school.

It seems like there were others too, but to be honest I just don't remember.

Then came a day my boyfriend wanted to go out after work.  I'd worn my uniform into work so I told him he'd have to go to my house and pick up a change of clothes for me and then called my Mom so she'd have them ready for him.  He brought them up to me but was acting kind of strange so I asked him what was up.

He say's "I'm not sure I want you to get in my car".   By this time it was a standing joke  about how I was a car accident magnet.  I was all like "WTF?  You're the one that asked me out".   Well, on his way to my house to get my clothes he'd gotten hit too.  I wasn't even IN the car but somehow, it was my fault anyways ... go figure.

Of course we went out despite of my 'magnetism' and nothing more happened, but there for a while I felt like Typhoid Mary.  I was sure glad when that bit of weirdness was over.

Have any twisted stories of your own you'd like to share?  Leave a comment, or if you want to post it on your own blog link us up in the comment section and we'll come visit.  Weird Wednesday ... because odd things happen to all of us sometimes.

Gatekeeper

thematic-photographic-116-still-life   follow the link to see more still life examples.

This is a big step outside of the box for me.  I don't DO "studio" or even indoors as a general rule.  Nature and natural lighting, that's where my heart is at.  But I do experiment occasionally and this is one such shot.  I might be tempted to try a few more but I'm having computer issues that I'm going to have to address here immediately, so I may not get back to post till later in the week.

In other news my favorite karaoke deejays got a new gig last week.  So Friday I had to go check it out.  Stuck with songs that were easy on my vocal chords.  Little redneck joint with BIG heart.  The owner is the sweetest little lady and says HEY! to absolutely everyone that walks through that door.  A big loud WHOMPING hey! that will startle the bejeebers out of you if you're not expecting it.

I saw THE. BEST. POOL. PLAYER. EVAH.  I don't say that lightly.  Nobody could beat this guy, he was awesome.  I told him so, too and he made a date with my hat for the next night.  I went back last night too, just like I said I would, but my hat got stood up.  No big surprise there, I swear these South Carolina fellas just have no taste.  Still had a good time, though it was a much quieter night than Friday.  Shot pool myself and found I'm really rusty, but it was fun all the same.

And now I'm going to have to wrestle with my computer.  See you sooner or later depending on who wins.

Flutterbys

Okay, here are the pictures that were my reward for finally making it outside on the Equinox.  I hope I have them small enough because the up loader still refuses to work for me.  The orange ones are a Gulf Fritillary (thanks Laura, I learned that from you) and the yellow ones a Swallowtail both of which were kind enough to pose for me.
















In the Bradford Pear Tree out front "Rocky" here was demonstrating what the first day of fall was all about.





 I swear he was hanging by his TOES,  I tried to get his feet in there so you could see but he wasn't that cooperative.  Of course, standing there quietly and snapping pictures exhausted me and I needed a nap when I came inside but it was so worth it.

It's Alive

Fall has arrived and I'm human again, well at least as close to human as this old crow gets these days LOL.

I swear, I can't even tell you how long its been since a cold kicked my butt that badly.  It felt exactly like a bad case of bronchitis except I didn't bark like a seal.  Still can't breathe too deeply without going into coughing spasms BUT I can think for short periods of time, okay, very short but what's so unusual about that huh?

I got to catch up on my blog reading but posting isn't going as well.  This stupid image uploader still isn't working right.  My computer isn't either for that matter.  I have pictures on my camera I wanted to share but they will have to wait.  Soon I will have to reformat this turkey and I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Sorry about the short post.  I just wanted to let y'all know I am still alive and kickin'.  I be back with substance soon.

Cardinal T and Special K

Thematic Photographic 115 

This weeks theme is Letters and Numbers.  I laughed when I saw it because I have a folder in My Pictures folder called Alphabet Soup that is just for pictures of things that look like letters (yes, I'm weird like that).  This is the most recent of those shots.  I was going to share some others too, but the image loader is not working for me the last two or three days and I don't have them hosted else where at the moment. 

I may come back and add more later if I can get the image upload tool to work ... or not. It is what it is, whatever.  At any rate this shot is a twofer.  A red letter T and the wings  make a K laying up on its side.  If you'd like to see more interpretations of Letters and Numbers you can check them out at Written Ink

Go Ask Alice

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell them a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call

Call Alice
When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low                                

Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"

Remember what the dormouse said:
Feed your head
Feed your head
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

One of my favorite songs to sing when I go out to do karaoke on Fridays.  I can pretty well hit it too.  I have a problem with the high note in the last line … unless I do a shot of tequila first ;)

I have a blast playing rock star.  It used to scare me to death to get up in front of people, but I got over it.  Karaoke isn’t so much about ‘how good you are’ as it is ‘how much fun you have’ doing it.  Nobody cares that I‘m not Grace Slick.  What matters to them is that you chose a song they think rocks and they sing along too. 

I love music in all its many forms, but I’m partial to old school Rock-n-Roll …most especially 60’s and 70’s rock.  Yeah, I’m showing my age but damn we had some good tunes!

How about you?  Leave a comment and share some of your favorites with us.

Twilight Zone

I had a post all prepared and came in to publish and Blogger has decided to be difficult and refuses to let my post pictures and it's one of those things that just wouldn't be the same without the visuals.  So I'll have to save that for later.

What I think is ... that Blogger doesn't believe I CAN post without pictures.  HA!  I'll show them.  While most things can be enhanced with visual aids, they aren't as necessary sometimes as they are others.  I'm as capable as the next guy of sputtering verbal diarrhea - or in this case written - but I'm not going to go there.  Let me just leave you with this thought.


Crazy Horse once said,
"One day I will leave this world and Dream myself to Reality."

A few years later Albert Einstein said,
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."


It appears, at first glance, that they thought very differently about this subject, but as far as I'm concerned they were both saying the same thing.


"There IS no such thing as reality ... there is only perception" - me ... Mustang Sally


Picture THAT Blogger ;)

Peace

Thematic Photographic 114 - Reflective

This was taken in Washington DC while I was waiting at a bus stop.

I was blog hopping this week and came across this recent BON winner Written Ink.  Carmi believes in random acts of kindness and that he can help make the world a better place with his words.  I happen to agree with him.  Its a very cool site, you should check it out.

He does a photographic theme every week, and I'm going to participate because it sounds like fun.

Ch-ch-change

Okay now that the vacation pictures (the fun stuff) are over it’s time to get back to normal.  The thing is my normal life … sucks.  Well not entirely, it’s just certain aspects of it.  And those particular aspects are rather huge, the biggest of which would be income, or rather, the lack thereof.

My unemployment ran out a while back.  The manufacturing industry here, as well as the construction industry did a complete nosedive when the economy tanked.  I had a couple of backup plans, but they fell through.  I can’t even get gas stations and convenience stores to call me.  So here I sit, broke and not happy about it.

I’m actually one of the lucky ones.  I’m not homeless.  I have Sis and Mommo, and they make sure I have a roof over my head and food to eat.  My car was paid off before my income was gone, so I do have the means to get to a job should an opportunity present itself.  I play taxi and help take care of my friend that has cancer (and no vehicle) and she’s managed to keep the insurance up on my car.  I’m aware of how much worse my situation could be and I’m very grateful that it isn’t.

I do know that if I’m unhappy with my life it is up to me to change it.  I’m tired of depending on someone else for my livelihood.  I have talents, and it’s time I started using them in a way that pays off.  For some time I’ve felt that I should try to do something that allows me to write.  Whether that should be articles or books I’m not sure, and I haven’t got a clue where to begin to get into that field.  But while I’m figuring it out I’m checking into trying to make money somehow, someway with my computer.

I’m not the only one in this boat.  I’m thinking maybe another blog.  One about making money online … one with advertising, optimizing, and search engine ratings.  I could try different systems out, blog about them, rate them.   Surely there must be an interest out there for that kind of thing.  I’m sure it’s already being done … but not by me.  I have a unique perspective, if I did it right I think I could draw a following.  I might not get rich, but some dollars are better than no dollars.  I’ll bet it’s worth a shot.

I’ve been letting everything that’s gone wrong suck the life from me, drain my motivation.  I need to do something productive.  I’m open to suggestions if any of y’all have any ideas.

Peace,
Sally

Along the St. John River

Okay, yeah … I’ve been lax about posting.  While getting my vacation pictures ready for this blog I got all caught up in the processing portion of photography.  You see, I like to take pictures, LOTS of pictures, but I’m not so good about actually processing them.  I have hundreds … perhaps even thousands … of photographs stored in my computer (and ONLY in my computer).

The thing is, I need to reformat said computer.  Before I can do that however, I have to sort, file, process and BACK UP those photographs. Yes, I know I should have been doing that all along but (I think I mentioned this before) I tend to procrastinate,  AND I’m easily distrac … oh look, a squirrel!

Uh huh, yeah, it’s like that.  So how about I quit boring you with excuses and just show you the pictures eh?

The last day of vacation my Dad took us out in his boat along the St. John river for some wildlife shots of things I normally don’t have the opportunity to capture.  It rained off and on, but just lightly and was interspersed with bright sunny skies.  Mostly we saw birds, but there was one notable exception you’ll find down thread.

Egrets fascinate me, all white and pure and graceful.  I don’t generally have much luck photographing them because all that white flashes out in the bright sunlight. 

Osprey aka Fish Hawk.  They crack me up with their bug eyes to the front “I’m looking at YOU” face.

I think this is an Ahinga.  Dad says they don’t have the oils in their feathers like ducks and geese.  They dive deep for fish and when they finish hunting they are waterlogged and have to dry their feathers before they can fly.

Look what was hiding in the Lily pads when we came around a bend.  He was well camouflaged and a bit bashful about getting his picture taken.  Although we have ‘gators here in South Carolina, I’ve only once found a baby in the wild to capture a shot of.

And finally …

Herons!  I’ve never gotten close enough to any of the many species of heron to get a shot.  Not even close enough to know if that’s what I was seeing, so this was a treat for me.

And that concludes our river tour for today.  Please make sure your tray is in the upright position and remain seated until we come to a complete stop, and thank you for reading Functional Kaos. We will now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Peace,
Sally