oh Lord! stuck in lodi again...

so, i did it. i spent a good chunk of the weekend with my camera and i got some great shots. i'll post 'em next time i write. tonight's photo though, is my tribute to back-to-school. it's entitled: 'even the dog's ready for school to start.'

this weekend's highlights though...watching my dad do handsprings and thomas hawk noticing my photos. i mean, the whole weekend was pretty darn good...just those couple of things really stood out :)

k. i'm gonna go watch sons of anarchy...after being told, repeatedly, over time, how badly i need to watch this show, i finally turned it on. it's amazing. yes. everyone was right. it took me just over a week to watch the entire first season and now i'm three episode into season two.

oh. and the photo below is a realization; it was taken this weekend. remember a couple posts ago how i was ranting about being such a recluse? well yeah...one look at this photo and all i saw was the female equivalent of some mountain man, hermit guy; i just don't have a beard--cuz that'd be weird. i just have a lot of crazy, unkept, unbrushed, hair. maybe it's time for a trim...

sigh.

okay. back to SOA. i think i need a motorcycle... hmmm, in which case, the hair works.

it's better than sock and sandals...maybe

so, i like my new job. i like working in a school...i can't wait to get excited about holiday breaks and summer vacation again. i like that i pulled in my first, new, volunteer today and was so happy...as was she. she has a daughter starting kindergarten and it took those first day jitters away from both of them, as now the kindergartener knows she'll get to see mom at school, and mom knows she'll get to check in throughout the day. i like that i don't have a cube, but an office, with a window. those two factors, single-handedly, took that boxed in, negative feeling away--i'm not even slightly worried about it anymore. i like that i re-arranged things today to make it more me and i'm slowly filling my walls with art to make my space brighter. (thanks to the help of my kid on this one...) i like that the jeans i had issues buttoning three weeks ago are now perfectly comfortable. i like that next week, when school starts, i can get my kid on and off the bus everyday and i like that i have one day off during the week to simply have as mine. i like that i'll be teaching art on my off days and i like that i am planning to offer mini photo sessions this fall...just in time for holiday photos.

i don't like that my facebook keeps having my past status updates popping up, reminding my what i was rambling on about on this day in 2009. i mean, i do, kinda...but it's about the last thing my brain needs lately. i don't like that it still feels like summer, i, am ready for fall. i don't like that a week has went by without me working on a single photo project. (i plan to change that this weekend...) and i don't like that i was told by an eight year old that socks and high heels look stupid together. because they don't. they look fine. as long as they match. and the socks aren't bulging out, over the shoes. and they're not plain, white, hanes. and they're not dirty. i tried to convince her of this but she just sat there, giving me 'that look'. then i tried to explain that it looks way better than my how my bright pink nail polish looks next to my red shoes. she still didn't buy it so i grounded her. i mean, she's not my kid, but she pretty much lives at my house 1/4 of the week, most of the time...and i changed her diapers, so i figured that was a good idea. she didn't like that... (*see picture above for illustration*)

funiture and alter ego's

uhm. i'm out of free furniture from the side of the road now...

i really, really like my new bench though :)
(in case ya couldn't tell, the above photos are of the bench--start to finish.)

oh! and look at the new shelves i have in my office. i was so excited about this, i almost cried.


hmmm. that's all i have to say tonight, i guess. i thought i had more...but i haven't seen this episode of star trek yet and i keep getting distracted.

oh. did you see lady gaga at the vma's last night? well, neither did i, as i don't have anything more than a couple channels, which i never watch anyway (star trek's on netflix). anyway, when i saw her online this morning, i saw that she showed up as jo calderone--the alter-ego that i posted a pic of the other day. seriously...love it, even in real life, not just photos. she's just wonderful...all around. also, i think i like adele now. i mean, i did, kinda, before, but so did everyone else...now i think i might actually like her, much like, well, okay, everyone else. remember when garth brooks was chris gaines? that seemed weirder to me than gaga for some reason. i mean seeing garth brooks in eye makeup was just odd...it seems more normal to see gaga as jo.

i fogot how to open the door, maybe?

so, all the above photos are old...but, i've been really creatively crazy feeling (i KNOW the seasons are getting close to changing when i get like this...the change into fall is absolutely the hardest...my favorite type of year. anything for inspiration, anyone who can give that to me, anything that can assist...i love it all.) so yeah, i sat down at my computer last night and realized that i suck and have nothing new to edit; so, out came the hard drive and yeah, been focused on the sky heavy photos lately, hence the above collection.

also, last night, it was pointed out to me that i'm a recluse. and i hadn't thought about it fully, but yeah. i'm incredibly reclusive lately...okay, more than lately, like for a year now, and then some. i try to look at in terms of what i've accomplished in that time, not where i haven't gone or who i haven't hung out with. i mean, the volunteer opportunities, the jobs, the learning w/my photography, right?? it's been two years since i went out dancing and near likewise with the bar/karaoke/social scene. i only go out if i can't be home because there's a guys night happening...and in that case i just drive over to my bff's house and crash there. i go to my cabin too and occasionally, i go thrifting, alone. i don't even throw parties anymore, because it's too many people--though i did make an appearance at my bff's house party a couple weeks ago. that was fun. good times. but, because i forgot how to talk to people, i got really drunk and rambled on all night to a tattoo'd chick who's as odd as me. she's actually pretty much all i talked to. it was also pointed out to me, through a different part of the same conversation, that the only real confidence i have is within what my lens captures. hmmm. not surprising really, i had just never really thought about it before.

i don't know what to do about any of the above found knowledge...nor do i care about it that much. i mean, it's not anything i'm gonna try to do anything about...maybe i'll go out one of these days, or something, but that's about it. fall isn't gonna help this situation though. with my new job, i will have every thursday, day off (i teach one afternoon class), so, maybe i'll make it a point to do something, anything, that day...instead of what i had been planning--talk shows and licorice. (okay. talk shows and licorice once a month, maybe...)

bet your saturday night is cooler...

so, uhm...i was driving by the above scene and i actually ran back home for my camera. i mean, i guess, this is normal? to have children, care-freely, playing right next to a military machine that's primarily used for destroying things and killing people? then again, i spose one might argue that the reason those children get to play freely is because of the men who, at one time, drove that tank? or, maybe that's the point...to make the kiddo's feel comfortable around war machines so someday, they'll be comfortable driving them? who knows. the whole thing was odd but that's cool...because, honestly, i'm probably the only one who saw anything in this scene anyway; and well, knowing me, i've already way overthought it, but that's okay, i'm fine with my overthinkyness. (shush. it's a real thing.)

seriously though...they probably stuck it there cuz it was the only place that had any room--and putting it in front of the tank would have been totally weird and wrong. ya know, simplest answer and what not...

oh. so get this...last night, i watched my first woody allen flick and all i can say is that i think i'm in love. i saw a 'newer' movie, murder mystery in manhattan, and it was awesome. well, all except the dreams that followed. i kept dreaming about my typewriter, and that i was writing, and that it wouldn't work right and whenever i typed, the letters got stuck and then, when they did hit the paper, the ink was too light to see. it was so frustrating. i blame woody allen...though it coulda been the tater tots and tabasco i ate too...who knows for sure...

okay. back to spray painting furniture from the side of the road and listening to garrison keilor. (yup. my title is in complete reference to that sentence.) ((oh! check out what i did in my office...it was a Mondrian inspired project that actually ended up looking pretty cool when i finished. the photos are all oldies from my grandma and are from '79-'83. the frames were given to me, in case i wanted them, from my guy's aunt...she was gonna toss 'em, otherwise. i threw them in the garage so they could go out in the trash next week, but then, i got inspired. they turned out to be perfect.))

i love her as him

okay. just an observation...but my work just keeps getting darker. wonder what the deal with that is? like, if you look at my stuff from awhile ago, my emphasis was on color, brightness and contrast...now, now it's on, well...dark vs. light (as opposed to simply contrasting/complimentary colors), drama, muted color tones and i feel like my stuff is getting quieter and more subdued rather than being so loud. i wonder if there are art shrinks? like...someone who reads you through art? or, if, this progression is just normal growth. i'm guessing normal growth. because, well, obviously i'm totally normal. not crazy. at all.

eh. who cares.

here's what really matters.

i know you've been dying to know what i watched after 9-5 last night, and if i ate potato chips.

well...here's the scoop. i watched...wait for it...gulliver's travels! yup. i did! well...i only got to the part where sam is on the island of giants and on the table dancing before i fell asleep, but, i will finish it. tonight. hopefully.

and as for the chips. no. sadly, i did not consume any of that deliciousness. it was too late and my butt is already too big. tonight, i plan to eat brocolli and onions for dinner again, but this time, i'm gonna add soy chicken and maybe, if i'm feeling crazy, some cheese too. i know. calm down there...cheese is pushin' it...but, i'm feeling like living on the edge a bit tonight.

oh! speaking of on the edge...did you see the photo for lady gaga's latest song?? oh. i did. and wow. i'll post it in a sec... (though i don't know why i just wrote that because to you, it won't matter, you'll have seen it the moment you started reading this huge mess.) ((and the song is called 'you and i'...which has nothing to do with being on the edge. except her last song was 'on the edge of glory' which made me think in that weird chain. also...if you give a mouse a cookie, or moose a muffin, or pig a pancake, or cat a cupcake or somethin' like that...)) the video that goes with it is also incredible...well, i think so, because it's totally weird. the cornfield part is the best when she's the boy and girl. sigh. love it.

okay. going now. gonna go create an amazing dinner...or somethin' like that...

hip chips

(i <3 this city :) )

well, it's saturday night and i'm hangin' out, in bed, with a big, stinky, dog, watching a 31 year old movie and eating a mix of broccoli, onions and salt.

hmmm...ya know...sometimes, i think i'm so hip...but then, reality hits and well, i'm a huge square; a lot like a cheez-it. except, i'm not cool enough to be orange; i'm more like a potato chip colored cheez-it.

the broccoli concoction is really good btw; and the movie, 9-5, is awesome. i seriously want to be dolly ca. 1980 and i SO want her wardrobe from this flick. the dog just left though...but really, i can't say i blame her. my food stinks and this movie doesn't have any animals to entertain her.

wonder what i should watch after this??



i want potato chips.