Things are a little dull today... probably because I'm not doing anything exciting. This feeling of ennui caused by unexciting technological cleanup and laundry makes me wonder... what is the origin of bored out of my tree?

I can't think of any explanation other than it might relate to some sort of tactic employed by logging companies to get rid of protesters who take up residence in a majestic redwood (or other tree) in order to save it from the chopping block. Such an event would surely have caused a big media frenzy and the reporters would have swarmed to the usually forgotten wildnerness. When asked by the reporters what the company planned to do about the tree huggers the PR officer might have said, "We'll just wait until she get so bored that she has to leave the tree." And when the tree hugger finally left the lofty perch with the birds the next day's headline might have read... Tree Hugger Bored Out of Her Tree. It might have quickly become a popular term, being bandied between buddies in boardrooms and lazy acquaintances in lunchrooms across the continent.

Now for some boring computer talk... This morning I woke up with computers on the brain. When I purchased my laptop I sacrificed hard drive space for a super screen. At the time a superior display was more affordable than an increased hard drive. However, as a result I am often working with very little free space on my computer. My first external hard drive decided to commit suicide at a very early age (only a few months after I had purchased it) so for quite some time I was without additional storage that would free up my measly 40GB laptop hard drive. I was also a little lazy and foolish and did not invest in a more powerful disk defragmenter. So the number of fragmented files continued to pile up and the performance of my computer has suffered.

Today I am trying to rectify that situation and I'm trying out Disk Defragmenter 10 (Professional Edition). It was a bit frightening at first to see the red sea of fragmented files... but I'm hoping that given time this program will improve the performance of my machine so I do not ecounter such sluggishness when editing my photos.

fingers crossed... it's been a time consuming task this spring computer cleansing and repair.

Unrelated to technology, I'm playing a sort of waiting game with other aspects of my life. It's rather frustrating since all I can do is wait. It's kind of like a chess game and you're waiting for the other player to make the next move. You can strategize for certain moves, but you're unsure as to what move they might make. But we can't force things to happen when we want them to. I may like to think that I'm all-knowing, but I'm certainly not all-powerful.

About two weeks ago I was here... however, I am currently in a town thriving on oil money. This morning I am keeping my eyes open for any stray H2s that might feel the need to frighten pedestrians. It is Friday after all, and I'd like to start off my weekend on a good foot (actually I'd like all of my limbs as well as the ability to walk). I have to finish editing some of my Edmonton photos for a contest, shoot my medium format film and continue to struggle with the general organization of my life. Hey, sounds like fun.

While in Edmonton I acquired some new music from the beau. I've been slowly going through the songs, some which I've heard before... some which I have not. Tonight I was rather amused that this song came on at the same time I posted this photo.

Faith has a good side still everyone she ever loved they all turned bad
Constance his own way of breathing and you know
You couldn't will him to survive
Couldn't will him if you if you tried, and there's a concrete sky
Falling from the trees again and you know now why
It's not coming round too soon
It's harder than a heartbreak too

I've seen your good side but I still don't know just what it is
That you might want
See you've got your own way of moving
And you know you could save me
Save your soul, I'll save some of you
Save my soul, feel like I'm falling fell like I'm falling
And there's a concrete sky
Falling from the trees again and you know now why
It's not coming round too soon, it's harder than a heartbreak too
It's tough enough what love will do

So much time gets lost in my mind
But I know now what I must rely on
It's a sound and forgetting, ain't the worst thing
I've been out walking don't do too much talking
Wouldn't take too much time, wouldn't take all your time
Cos it's as precious as mine Save my soul, I'll save some for you
Save my soul feel like I'm falling feel like I'm falling
And there's a concrete sky
Falling from the trees again and you know now why
It's not coming round too soon, it's harder than a heartbreak too
It's tough enough what love will do
And you're as precious as mine
And you're as precious as mine.
--
Beth Orton

It was the right dose of melancholy to complement my current mood.

Twice now I've nearly been run over by an H2... the same one. I've been a block away from school, waiting to cross at the lights... and when the light turned green I turned to make sure that no vehicles were going to try to sneak past me and turn right. Just as I stepped from the curb to cross the street this ugly beige hummer came barreling from behind and cut in front of me and turning across two lanes. I was most disgusted and so was the woman crossing from the opposite side of the street. When we met in the middle of the street she said to me, "What a crazy psycho." I couldn't agree more.

Drivers, please be aware that pedestrians have right of way... especially when the walk sign is on. Wait a few seconds for us to cross instead of trying to kill us. Value our lives more than a speedy drive to work.

I might have linked to this site before, but here it is again. FUH2

It's a Thursday that feels like a Friday and I have a headache. Today is a day for throwing caution to the wind and being a little crazy. But my imagination escapes me this morning and I can't think of anything crazy to do. Instead I'm feeling quite practical and normal.

what a pity.

listening to Lhasa's "Anywhere on this road"

You've travelled this long
You just have to go on
Don't even look back to see
How far you've come
Though your body is bending
Under the load
There is nowhere to stop
Anywhere on this road

Two years ago I was in Victoria.

Now I'm here but I keep moving. It's helpful to think that I haven't stopped here.

It was an activity filled day at work today. I spent much of it outside as the school participated in Earth Day (a bit late) and the classes that I work with had their P.E. sessions outside. I walked home a little tired with a headache, but I felt like I had accomplished something today and that brightened my mood a bit.

In other news:

My long distance relationsip continues... most happily I might add. The beau will be coming to visit next month and in June I will be off to another city to meet up with the beau and his family. And then summer will be here, just like that.

While I was in Edmonton I picked up some medium format film from the sale bin at McBain. I'm hoping to try some of it out this weekend with my father's assistance. My technical photography skills are a little weak so before I take any pictures I will be re-reading my Understanding Exposure book. I might try out a roll or two and then shoot some portraits on the May long weekend when the beau and chum of all chums come to visit. Then I can send the rolls back with the boys to be processed in the city.

Today for some reason at work I got into a conversation about my last summer job. I didn't leave my position on a postive note (not my choice) but thinking back about the work I was doing made me laugh. I was sent to places and had to talk about and sell things that were totally out of character for me. But at least it all provided me with a good story or two.

I had an odd dream last night where I was in some museum in Vancouver, but it was more like a military compound and I was trying to escape. I climbed up some odd shelf and ended up on top of the building with no way to get down. And then my old history teacher camer along and he climbed up to where I was and we had a long conversation about life. Like most of my dreams it doesn't make sense. I'm left feeling a little out of sorts today, a little disappointed of where I am in life right now. One could say I'm feeling a little inadequate. I'm hoping that the feeling won't last long. The weather is too nice to waste on an off mood.

building with no name

I have an addiction to photography. It's become quite obvious to me. I have this desire to take my camera with me everywhere... and perhaps if I had someplace to put it during the day at work that was more secure I might... just so I could have my camera handy while I walked to and from work.

Last summer while I was in Victoria for school I had my camera with me everyday. It was such a wonderful place to shoot as there was lots of activity and interesting places that were new to me, despite my having lived there before. Victoria has such a picturesque quality to it... with old buildings and few highrises to impede the light. It's so different than FSJ which consists of bland housing developments of derelict structures that sometimes can have their own beautiful qualities.

However, I don't quite have the right equipment for architectural photography. I need a much wider angle lens... something of higher quality than the kit lens that came with my camera... something that can handle the scope of large buildings. I have such a lens of my deranged dream list of course.

but I'm off to start my Monday.

April really is disappearing at a rate faster than I could have anticipated. I find that all very comforting as I am looking forward to the end of June immensely.

I have a few things planned for the summer, one of which includes assembling my portfolio... for no other reason than just to have a portfolio to show off at dinner parties.

Yesterday, in addition to finding old notebooks I found a pile of letters written to me during high school. It was a rather amsuing and enlightening process to go through them now, six years later, and recall the events that led to heartbreak and misunderstanding.

It may seem callous of me to laugh at some of the stuff that was written to me in a time of pain... but it's just so damn amusing... especially when I read lines like "a Raffaella out of touch is better than a Raffaella out of reach." Reading these letters I was reminded why I enjoy studying Communication... for each letter really made it clear to me how easy it is for us to perceive totally different messages in what people might say verbally or what they might communicate non-verbally. I'm really glad I kept these letters. What is past is past, but it has brought me to where I am today... and I enjoy the mental exercise of reviewing how I initally responded to those situations and how I respond to similar situations now.

a little retrospective thinking is good for the soul every now and again.

It was inevitable that April would be rainy. I'm a little disappointed by the gloom because it just makes it harder to be here. My Easter break in Edmonton was fantastic. A. had the entire time off so we ended up spending more time together than we did over the entirety of my Spring Break visit.

My trip went a little like this...

I arrived Wednesday evening and was picked up by W. at the airport. Our timing was almost perfect as he pulled up to the parking meter just as I was getting my luggage from the carousel, however I was a little late exiting from the terminal building and I was not able to stop him from inserting significant coinage into the meter. Oh well, I was properly punished by nearly tripping over my suitcase as I ran to the car (it jarred a bit going off the curb and hit my knobby little ankle). From the airport we took off for the city, venting about our respective work... the highs, the lows... the median, means, and quotients. We played catch up over shaved ice at the Dream Tea House (most delicious, but the kiwi was a little strong) and then W. dropped me off but only after he was faced with the challenge of manouevering his automobile in the parking lot of A.'s building. The remainder of Wednesday was pretty low key... I indulged in more catch up with A.'s roomie and was introduced to the world of "How to Deal", the game show hosted by Boston Pizza's own Howie Mandel. The premise of the game was explained with a whole set of monkeys and boxes, but I don't really care for the whole game show scene (with the exception of Jeopardy which I enjoy quite a bit) so I opted out from watching the show until it concluded.

On Thursday A. and I took to the streets, as it was brilliant and sunny outside and he had an appointment at the university with his little orientation goslings. We only walked part way as we were late leaving the house... so after passing by the bum who had taken up residence under the bridge near the Legislature, we ran through the tunnels that led to the Grandin LRT station... me clutching my camera bag and purse so that the contents would not smash against my hip thereby injuring me both physically (bruised hip) and emotionally (damaged camera). Luckily there were no harmful results from the mad dash to catch the train. After A.'s meetup with his little goslings, we wandered around campus... me, armed with my camera to go for an unofficial tour and indulge my attempts at architectural photography. I often forget that A. has spent many years as a guide for new students on campus, and at times I would catch myself wondering for a second or two why he was so ready with little interesting facts about this building or mural when I asked about it. He was quite handy to have around... in fact many of W.'s (and A.'s) chums would be fairly handy to have around when touring campus since at one time or another they were all goslings that turned into geese. We went for lunch at R.A.T.T (Room at the Top...bad food, but we went for the view) and then wandered to the LRT station to head to W.'s. I was wondering where the hell W. was at this point... since I was expecting his call, but I wasn't really thinking earlier and thanks to multiple email addresses and my neglecting to turn on my cellphone... well let's just say that wires were crossed and it was all my fault that poor W. was left hanging on a thread not knowing if I was alive or dead. (Darling, I'm sorry... please forgive me.) We hung out for awhile and later headed to one of the nearby pubs... but it being "game night" and all, the pubs were jam packed and like Mary and Joseph (and the donkey since there were three of us) we could not find any room. On A.'s suggestion we headed to a place called Martini's... and settled in for some wine and the closest we could get to pub fare. It was a grand old time. W. could tell you what type of wine we had, for I don't recall... although I do mean to start writing down what wine I have consumed (not to see if I am an alcoholic, merely to make note of the vino that I like and the vino that I do not). We met up with A. (another one)... and periodically I leapt out of my seat when Edmonton scored a goal (not from excitement but from shock since I wasn't really watching the game at all). We ended the night at W.'s apartment with my A. demonstrating his fine balance and black belt kicks. But by then I was tired and needed to sleep so A. and I walked the few blocks back to the apartment, passing by Jesus with his arms outstretched in the light.

On Friday my chum of all chums took off for Vegas to meet up with his delightful family (read more about that here and see pics here) so I was left to my own devices. I cried for three hours because he was gone.

Of course I'm bending the truth a little bit. I only cried for two hours...

But on Friday A. and I went to the Princess Theatre (really the Princess 2, as we were in the downstairs cinema) and saw Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story... but we were a little late not that arriving on time would have helped since it was an unusual film. We walked along Whyte Ave and made our way through the throngs of people to Dadeo's, which is quite a fun little restaurant with 50s style decor and Cajun style cooking. We sat upfront by the window and I got to watch all the style mavens (both male and female) strut past with their oversize sunglasses. After lunch we strolled back to the apartment, stopping in to pick up some films, which we watched later that evening. Our choices were destined to be bad... since we tried to go for more lighthearted fare. Prime with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep seemed to last forever, and The Weatherman with Nicolas Coppola/Cage just didn't hit the bullseye with us (hardy har har... little archery humour for ya).

Saturday... the weather turned sour, but A. had arranged to rent a car so we could go for a photoshoot in areas of the city that were not speedily accessible by public transit and/or foot. However, due to the poor weather we did not take much in the way of pictures. We did however brunch it at Cafe Select (marvelous, as per usual... which I can say since I have brunched there before) since "Best Eggs Benedict in the City" Barb & Ernies had a lineup out the door. We drove around quite a bit... as A. was searching for this book store that used to be next to a yarn store (since I am in search of a good Edmonton yarn store), but much to our dismay the yarn store was no longer there and the book store was not open. Realizing that the weather was crap we decided to forgo extensive shooting and instead tried our luck inside the vacated Sidetrack Cafe. It was rather amusing as inside was a fellow in a suit, top hat, and cane dancing to this really annoying song "Meet Me at the Wrecking Ball" while his friend videotaped the poorly choreographed routine of stomp and cane toss. A. and I wandered with our respective Canons inside the bare building, but called it quits when our hands started to get too cold. We then stopped in at a few furniture stores on what I will refer to as "Furniture Alley" since most places only sold particle board crap. That night we tried out a new restaurant called "il Portico" and I was wowed by the pan seared scallop appetizer and the simple, but delicious panna cotta dessert. A.'s tiramisu was also excellent. The ambience was quite nice although A. and I were the most dressed up couple in the entire restaurant. However, I must add... it was rather amusing to me to note that A. could have easily been a server as he was dressed entirely in black. I think in the future he will have to avoid that particular wardrobe combination when we eat out.

The weather on Sunday was also quite gross as it involved snow. I was not impressed, but A. and I had no plans to leave the apartment other than to go to the grocey store. That night we decided to continue with our trend of eating well, but our eyes were much bigger than our appetites and we prepared steaks that were far too large for our bellies to handle. We didn't help matters much by tempting ourselves with some dessert crepes. But that is what Sunday was about... food and my general review of the photos I'd taken the day before.

Monday... more walking and photos. The sun was out, although is was a wee bit windy. A. and I were shooting with a purpose... a contest that was looking for photos that demonstrated city services interacting positively with the environment. I have to admit that I was a bit strapped for ideas, so we took a lot of shots of public transit and the city trails system. I have found that I shoot a lot without reviewing right away on my LCD screen (which is good), but I had neglected change the white balance for my first set of shots and they all came out with a blue tinge as they were balanced for incandescent light. I was not impressed... it is fixable... but I'd prefer that I didn't have to fix that sort of thing in post. When we crossed the bridge A. and I stopped in at the High Level Diner for a light lunch and then walked the few short blocks to the university where we caught the bus that would take us to Goldbar Park and the water treatment facility. The park was quite nice and reminded me a bit of parkhopping with Tonio in Victoria. However, A. tells me that if the wind is blowing the wrong way that the picturesque quality of the park is ruined by the foul smell of sewer. How delightful... I will be sure to check the wind if we are to visit again sometime in the summer. I took quite a few more pictures and then we jumped back on the bus for the return trip. I was expecting W. to return from his Vegas trip that evening... but I noticed he had called while we were in transit when A. and I stopped in at the grocery store. And just like that I dropped everything and rushed to see my chum of all chums and hear of his Vegas adventures. Well actually, it was more like A. and I stood in line at the cashier and then dropped off the groceries and then walked to W.'s where we were entertained with an impromptu slideshow of Vegas opulence and a quick preview fo what is sure to become his best magic trick ever. That evening A. and I had a late supper, this time some savoury crepes - the contents being our attempt at the delicious appetizer we had at il Portico. It turned out quite well I think... My sweet chef makes a very good wine reduction, something which he scoffs at since he aspires to be the Iron Chef that reigns supreme.

I was scheduled to depart Tuesday afternoon. A. had yet another day off of work and we had to pick up his Easter basket box from his parental units... so once again we went for a walk, this time down Jasper in search of the post office, a Royal Bank branch, and lunch. We ate at the Wok Box (or Noodle Box, I don't remember which) and made delightful commentary about the family sitting out on the patio. We returned to the apartment, consumed some lovely chocholate and then spent a couple hours discussing space and design. Then I had to leave... but luckily we only had to walk a couple blocks to Canterra Suites Hotel where I caught the shuttle and left the lovely city for a lesser one.

and that was my trip... see pictoral evidence here.

Here's my visited countries map...




I've visited 5 countries (Canada, United States, Trinidad & Tobago (which you can't seem to see on this map), Germany (Frankfurt airport), and Italy) which equals a whopping 2% of the world.

create your own visited countries map

Today while cleaning my room I came across a collection of notebooks that contained some random musings from the past few years. One such notebook (with Tintin and Snowy on the cover no less) featured a page of my observations written during a long stop over in Vancouver International airport. Reading what I had written quickly made me recall that particular stopover in Vancouver. I think I was on my way home from a training session in Kelowna and I had to wait many hours between my flight from Kelowna to Vancouver and my flight from Vancouver to Fort St. John.

Here it is for the archives...

How Best to Describe the Experience of Waiting

You sit and seats fill up next to you. Periodically annoucements come up over the loudspeaker and the bustle of activity increases as flight times comes and go.

Sit watch and experience the crowd.

Obscure characters weave their way through the crowd. Entertainers needing to move, needing to find an audience.

Snippets of conversations from loud cell phones... furtive glances between strangers... cramped muscles from uncomfortable seating... stretching for the experienced travellers... the eerie beeps of the airline courtesy cart... such is the experience of waiting.

Wander throughout the crowd with your juggling balls. Leave your bags unattended to prove a point that you trust. Try desperately to pass the time.

Oh the ever so painful wait. Forced to sit until the designated flight time. No friendly faces with which to converse. Nothing to occupy my mind... hours left.

Guess who has big hair today!

I'm really pushing for the weather to improve. It was just a wee bit chilly this morning, but I decided that it was time for the short pants to come out of the closet. But now I look at the weather forecast and it says to expect precipitation (snow and or rain) on Wednesday and Thursday. However, inside I'm laughing because I will be away starting tomorrow in a city that will hopefully have fairer conditions.


I'm usually pleased with any trip away from the north, but my destination of late has been doubly precious because I have been able to visit with a bevy of beautiful folks whom I love and adore. I am most eager in anticipation of my trip out tomorrow evening. Sunshine is expected for all of the days... so I think I will finally be able to take my camera out on a mini expedition in the city. Perhaps there will be some flora and fauna that I can take photos of.

However, I must go and pack. 

aye... I've been trying to sort out something for the past couple months and I keep on facing one setback after another. It's become very frustrating and I'm starting to think that I've been cursed. Maybe due to some freak run in with a fortune teller, my life is forever destined to be boring in most respects except for the health related sagas that I must endure. I suppose it gives me some sort of party conversation.

speaking of party talk... totally unrelated to my previous little emotional leak there... Why it is that small male children sometimes think it is okay to urinate on a garbage can in the school yard? I ran into this little problem today at work... and I have to admit it was kind of funny, mostly because the small male children in question were still so tiny and innocent looking. I did not witness the event so I had to ask the children if it was true that they did something inappropriate... and they looked to the ground in shame and said yes. And off we went to the principal's office... me feeling relieved that I wasn't being argued with and the children in tears because they knew that their mothers would not be pleased.

oh what a world we live in...

It's amazing how much time one can spend just idly looking at interesting things on the internet (by which of course I mean flickr and other photography related things). I'm off to the city for the weekend, and I really looking forward for a chance to have new locations to shoot. Sure there are plenty of places around this area to take photographs of, but it's hard to be inspired in this location when I am by myself. I tried the other afternoon when I was walking home from work, but the pictures were hardly satisfying. Much of what I loved about taking pictures was going with someone who enjoyed the experience as much as me. So much of my early photography was not a solitary experience and it still feels odd to be crouched down taking a picture of some rusty hatch without someone kneeling in front of a broken and dirty bucket a few feet away. Maybe I'm just tired of this little city...

I'm looking forward to the summer during which I will be dedicated to taking many photographs. And perhaps I will actually push myself to shoot in RAW, which for some reason I have not tried yet despite it being on my list of things to do before really thinking about getting a new camera body. I have started to shoot in manual a lot more and I have been playing with white balance a little bit... but my knowledge of colour spaces is still pretty minimal (for shame). I need to buckle down and be a more serious hobbyist.

aye... many thoughts swirling in this head this morning. Nevertheless, I must be off to my legitimate work.

oh how embarassing and frustrating it can be to be incapable of communicating with my relatives. My aunt from Italy just called... and I could understand just bits and pieces of what she was saying, but I couldn't even construct anything remotely resembling a sentence. My mind was trying to translate from English to French and then to Italian. I realized this once I started answering her with oui instead of si.

She probably hung up the phone and thought, "what an idiot"... oh the shame.

This morning I finally managed to widen the body of my blog so that it can accomodate the medium size from Flickr. This is good news for me, because there are times when my photos from flickr cross over to my blog posts... and with certain photographs, the larger size really is better.

There's something about "novelty" cameras that really appeals to me. I only own one film camera these days (my tiny Olympus point and shoot which I never use) and I shoot entirely digital. Sometimes, when I'm playing around in Photoshop I'll try to mimic the effects of these toy cameras, just to add something a little extra to my photos.

However, I think I'd like to actually try out one of the many toy cameras that are out there. The Lomographic Society International has a really comprehensive store that sells a lot of cool products that I would love to experiment with if I only had the money. But hey... birthdays, special holidays, anniversaries will always come up every year.

For the time being I'll continue to use my marvelous digital camera which serves me well (although I would not hesitate to replace the body with that of a 5D if I could afford it)... and I think I might make the progression to shooting with my father's old medium format camera. That would be kind of fun.

From time to time I receive a random email through flickr from someone who has seen my stream and has liked it enough to feel inspired by the small body of work that I have posted there. It really is such a marvelous feeling to hear that... because so much of what I've been doing has been experimentation and learning for me.

I think it's okay to post an excerpt of the email I received.

:: Thanks

I don’t know how to say this any other way but your
photos touched me. It seems you’re not only great at what your doing but it also looks like you’re having fun as well, that’s the most important thing that you enjoy what ever you do. Well anyway I just wanted to say that your work is extremely engrossing. Along with others that I have seen I’m sure to be visiting flickr more often. So in other words thanks for being an inspiration.

I haven't had a chance to respond to this individual yet... but I will be soon.

anyhow, as some people are apt to say after receiving some semblance of praise... I'm glowing.

in other news, to add to my never ending chronicle of the weather, Spring has arrived. The sun has been out and it's been just beautiful. Pretty soon I'll be able to pull the skirts and flip flops out of retirement. I think everyone has appreciated the change in weather. Me especially, because Spring means that Summer is just around the corner.

I'm not really that interested in living in a box, but let's just say that the laws suddenly changed so that you were only allowed to live in boxy shaped homes that were pre-fabricated. If that were the case then I might consider living in one of these. I'm sure that they could be made to look a little less minimalist.

I've never been one to actually come up with any good April Fool's jokes. I lack creativity in such pranks perhaps. Or pranks on a designated day... I like to keep people on their toes. However this morning I was moderately amused to find that everyone one of my photos included in the interestingness stream had suddenly moved to the number one position.



Ha, ha... funny I thought. So I decided to see what the good ol folks at Flickr had done to celebrate this Poisson d'avril... and then my heart stopped... because it became clear to me that the cats had taken over. It was a frightening thought for me, and before my eyes flashed the life of my laptop, because it was not long ago that a crazed feline decided to wage war with my computer and attempted to murder the circuitry with a well calculated leap and flick of tail so as to knock over a glass of juice (placed far, far away from my first technological baby) and make it so my Enter key was non-functional for months and I would be so clouded by grief that I would not order a replacement keyboard for I thought it would be too great an expense, but turns out it was not. So, you ask... who had the last laugh? Why the cat of course.

I will receive no sympathy for this I fear... for not only have the night terrors stopped and I no longer fear that some alley cat is going to break into my room to suck out my breath... but the keyboard has been replaced and my Enter key is fully functional. Additionally, I'm now dating a cat whisperer... who must now be rejoicing in this new reign of the feline group.

Friday afternoon I was reminded why I do not plan on pursuing a teaching career... it's exhausting. I subbed in a notoriously rowdy and boisterous class in the afternoon, and despite them being well behaved I was absolutely pooped by the end of the day. How some teachers manage I'll never know. I think I like photography (my style of photography that is) because it seems to work well with my energy levels. Shooting the photos require short bursts of energy and editing is almost like meditation at times, because I can sit and quietly process photos with little bother from the outside world.

but I need to sleep. I was ready to go to bed at nine but I wanted to finish some more edits to post before bed.