What a day!

Well, I am sitting here at work just waiting to leave and go to work again. I don't really have much to do, so I thought I would make a new post. Today is a crazy day. I went to school from 9-11 and then went to Taco Amigo from 12-2:30 and right now I am here at Convergys (from 2:30-5:45) and in a few minutes I am headed to Taco again from 6:00 until about 8:00 or 9:00 and then back to Convergys from 9:00 - 12:00 or so... Yep. It is a great day filled with work. Shouldn't I be on a date on a Friday night? Nope. Apparently not. But, some great news is I just got a huge tax return and I also got a $100 gift card from my work. I figure my roommates and I will go to dinner at a restaurant of our choice. We always talk about going somewhere expensive, and now we get to. Yay! I am so excited!

I always like to have a photo with my posts, so this is one I found in my emails (since I don't have any photos at work). It is one of my many done-in-a-mirror self portraits.

Remember, Remember...

- Remember to have fun
- Remember to work hard
- Remember you are loved
- Remember to be grateful
- Remember to be yourself
- Remember to serve others
- Remember to do your best
- Remember to laugh every day
- Remember to believe in yourself
- Remember to make good friends
- Remember to enjoy what you have
- Remember all you have been blessed with
- Remember to develop and share your talents
- Remember who you are and what you stand for
- Remember to love other people and let them know
- Remember to be optimistic (especially when things get hard)
- Remember to do unto others as they would have done unto themselves
- Remember to try a little harder, to be a little better, to stand a little taller
- Remember the people who have helped you get where you are right now
- Remember to stop every once in a while and enjoy the beauty all around you
- Remember you control your life and your perspective will make it good or bad
- Remember life will be much easier and more enjoyable if you forgive other people

Healing Chant... by Mary Dawn

Mary Dawn came over to visit teach Breezy. After she was done we all talked. She signed my cast and did a healing chant so my arm will heal quickly. What did this healing change consist of you may ask? Watch the video below...

The Curse of a Hard Cast: A Blessing in Disguise

Well, on Tuesday this week I went to the doctor for a follow up on my broken arm. The fracture was hardly visible from the X-ray, but he said it would still take about 4-5 weeks to heal. Last week the PA said there was a chance I wouldn't need a hard cast, that I would be able to just keep the splint. After looking at the X-rays, Dr. Hafen asked how active I was. I wasn't really sure what he meant by that, so then he asked if I wanted to snowboard again this year. I said yes. I guess that means I am active because he said he would cast my arm.

So I now have a beautiful blue cast which is obnoxious, but at least my arm will heal and I don't have to worry too much about it right? So while it is a curse, for reasons which I will assume most of you can figure out, it is also a blessing at times.

You might be wondering how this bulky, non-waterproof thing can be a blessing, so let me explain. Having a cast makes it difficult to type/write, so at work if I don't get as many emails done as I usually do they understand (I still usually get about the same amount, or at least more than most other people... funny how that works...). I have a good excuse if my hair is messy because it is hard to do my hair with a broken arm. I constantly remind Breezy how cool she is (her name is huge on the top of my cast :). People feel bad for me and just about everyone has told me that if I need anything I can call them... this could be greatly used to my advantage...

Probably the best thing for me about the hard cast is I can't take it off. That may seem obvious, but it is a great blessing for me. As many of you know, last year when I sprained my wrist I probably didn't wear the brace or have it wrapped long enough for it to heal completely. Sometimes it still hurts if I do too much with it. So, the advantage of the hard cast is I don't have an option of taking it off. Even if it doesn't hurt (which it doesn't and hasn't since last Wednesday) I can't take the cast off so it still stays put and has plenty of time to heal.

So there you have the benefits of my cast, truly a blessing in disguise.

Photography Thoughts

So I was sitting at my desk (doing something important I’m sure) and I was looking at the pictures that were on my screensaver. I started thinking about photography. I was thinking about the types of pictures I take. I have a lot of pictures of friends and family but most are not posed and different than your typical photo. Then I started to think about what I love to take pictures of.

I love photographing people, but not in a studio or formal setting (like at Kiddie Kandids… which I found out pretty quick). I like taking pictures of people, and just pictures in general, that tell a story or capture their personality. I avoid typical picture of people in front of buildings or with something they like. While those are sometimes essential and they can be done creatively or tell a story, I like taking photos that show the details and tell the story with little or no written/verbal explanation needed.

The other day I also realized that I don’t like having other people take pictures for me. While it is good to have pictures of myself so people know I am alive and remember what I look like, I sometimes get frustrated because usually these pictures end up being snapshots and typical. I know that may sound really vain and somewhat rude, but some days I wish I had a second me that could take pictures of me. However, I realize that I can get picky when it comes to photos and I really do appreciate the people who are willing to take photos of me.

It makes sense to talk about capturing people’s personality and emotion with photos, but it may sound weird that I try to do the same thing with places, buildings, and nature. Maybe it’s not so much that I try to capture personality as much as I try to tell a story with the picture. I try to avoid the typical “postcard” picture, but rather take a photo that would make a great postcard because it really captures the mood or feeling of the place. I try to get photos at angles or of different details that most people don’t notice.

That is what I really love about photography though is that it is so versatile. I can take typical photos, or as my favorite photography title indicates, extraordinary photos. I have started to look at the world in terms of a photograph. I cannot tell you how many times I look at something and then analyze it and try to determine how I would photograph it or what I would try to capture in a photo. I have seen so many gorgeous sunsets and sunrises that are very unique and I always wish I had my camera with me. But, whenever I think that I start looking at it as if I was going to take a photo and then I enjoy the beauty of it so much more.

One of my favorite photography quotes is:

“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon

This is so true! While I feel like it is good and somewhat essential to have photos of myself, I feel like all of my photos have a part of me in them. A lot of my personality comes out in my photographs. The subjects of my photos, the angles I use, how I place things in the photo, what stands out the most, and the focus of the photo all tell something about me, or by piecing them all together you would be able to see what is important to me and what I love.

So there you have a few of my thoughts and feelings about photography. Basically that is just a taste of what really goes on in my head when I think about photography, but maybe more will come out later…

“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” ~Ansel Adams