A portrait of the artist as a young man.

Ok, so it's just a picture of me. I was happy that I finally figured out a way to shoot a picture of myself with a manual focus lens. You focus on a wall, pull the focus back just a tad, hit the 12-second timer, and book it. Here's another.

Random short update

I just realized that I miss my dad's Spotmatic... It has been out of commision since the light meter went again. Oh well. I'll have to figure out how to replace the battery. (What to replace it with- it was a mercury battery, and so is no longer available.)

In other news, the Winthrop Ramblers boys soccer team just won their first game this season... perhaps their first in a few years. (My Paraguayan friends should appreciate that...)

Ok, I need to go to bed now. Later, everyone!

Day 954

Well, the news of the day is that I got my driver's permit. It's not the only news, but it's the news I'm at liberty to release at the moment. Now, what that has to do with 954 days isn't obvious to most of my friends... in fact, Michelle is the only one who will probably have any idea what happened 954 days ago who wasn't immediately impacted by it.
954 days ago, a very close friend of mine all but disappeared from my life:
954 days ago, Lee Carter died in a car accident... and I still run into moments when I forget she's gone for the moment. In fact, I'd probably have thought of telling her I finally got my permit... except that I had already been telling people about my test, and I went past her name in my contact list. Ah well, there's bound to be time to catch up in Heaven.

I guess the point of that was... I avoided getting my permit because I had a sudden respect for vehicles that had never really struck home with me. It also made me a little distrustful of small cars, but that's a story for another day... and perhaps another location.

Well, that's enough for tonight. It's nearly midnight, and my bed needs clearing before I can try to get some sleep. If there's an application to be made... it'll have to be made later.

De-rusting the camera:

Well, like I said, my camera has been residing in its bag for a long time, and I've started pulling it out. I've also started processing pictures... so here are some recent ones:Some leaves by our church
Just playing with Depth Of Field... it's water on a car. but it looks cool.
A lovely sunrise... I'll have to get up earlier more often.
The smoke-stack of the Carlton Mill building.

A quick update

For those who are wondering what I've done with the past two days since my last post: notice the redesign. (Actually, the day after, I helped my friend Michelle redo hers, then I decided to do my own. I must say, I didn't know we shared a like for "light grunge" styling.)
Other than that, I've been slightly envious of the Canon 7D, which is an SLR that shoots 1080p HD video... Roughly the same as the 5D Mark ii. I'll be sticking with our Sony camcorder for the meanwhile, but if my videography takes off, that might be my new digital best friend. (The short in the link hasn't got much of a plotline, and no dialogue, but it shows what the 5D can do. Click here to see the video.)
And... I got new strings on both the guitars I use. Vast improvement.

I just remembered, my camera has been back in action... Updates and shots soon, ok?

Sorry for the lack of spiritual content or thought provoking material, but I posted this before my evening devotions. When I get this new schedule down, I'll try posting early morning after morning devotions... But first I need to be getting up early enough to do them!

Hey

Well, hopefully I have some new visitors from Facebook, since I deactivated my account there. If so... thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment, will ya? I hardly get those.

Here's basically the reason I am doing this, in part. I spend too much time on the computer talking to friends. It might be texting my best friend, or chatting with my friends in Paraguay, New Zealand, Singapore and Pennsylvania... who are an amazing support for me often. A lot of stuff has been making me think twice about the way I've been living my life- so this isn't a big block of text, here's a list:

• My physical health- I work on the computer now, and my major recreational activities are photography and guitar... both of which take a lot of work from my wrists... and I work with my fingers. All in all, I spend time on the computer at work, then I spend time on the computer at play, then I spend time on the computer flexing my creative muscles... in all, that means I'm spending well over 40 hours a week on the computer, and I need to get more done in less time. I'm also going to be making sure I exercise with some of the time I'm no longer on my computer.
  
• My personal life:
  1. My friends from far away- I have a friend in Paraguay whose parents put her on a "digital detox"... I remember my parents threatening those, and I always seemed to stay just on this side of that line. I need to spend more time in the real world with my friends.
  2. My parents- Like I said, my parents have threatened to put me on a digital detox, and now that I work on the computer, that's not happening. But... God has been convicting me- I have been very slyly rude and disrespectful of their wishes. I'm going to be apologizing to them for that shortly... part of that is in my gradual adoption of Facebook and Instant Messaging in the first place- neither of which do they fully approve.
  3. My really close friends- I've noticed that after 6 years of really helping me stay on track (she would rat on my for using Facebook or IM), a very dear friend of mine has started being more permissive of my deviance. Shannon, I've got to apologize for that straight out... thank you for calling my bluff so many times, I owe you big time.
• My music- no, this isn't the same thing as my health... I've been spending a ton of time on the computer, and so while I could theoretically find stuff to write about there, I don't... it's just the way I happen to work. I really need to be back in the real world, manning a pen and paper to get my feelings out.
• My best friend- she's so important and influential in this that she deserves her own spot. Michelle informed me today of something that struck me with enough conviction that I probably was basically useless to the conversation afterward. She had been praying, and has decided to set her heart aside as God's for a year, and consequently to not pursue a relationship with a guy for a year. Yes, I was suddenly dismayed, but it wasn't because my best friend (an amazing and beautiful young lady) was suddenly "unavailable"... it was how available she was to God... and how unavailable I have been. That was what it took for me to finally start calling stuff off- and if it takes more, I'll give more up.
• My siblings- my little brother came into my room one day, and wouldn't leave... which was rather aggravating, and although he employed a lot of false logic and rhetoric... there was one point on which he was right, and it wasn't exclusive to him. I don't spend that much time with my family... and, thinking about it... that is a strong sign that I won't be spending enough time with my future wife, and I won't spend the time I ought to with our future kids. It doesn't really matter which sibling you refer to- chances are I have brushed them off, and ignored them when I oughtn't have.
• My God- He's the ultimate reason for all this. All the other things aside, the biggest reason for me to decide this time is clutter, and to eliminate it... is that my relationship with God has been sliding from burner to burner on its way towards the back, and it's time for me to start pulling it back to the front and center. The biggest change with all this time that I'm freeing up: it will allow me to get to bed earlier and get up earlier... giving me margin on both sides of the day for prayer and study and immersing myself in God's Word.
  

So, all told, I suspect you'll be hearing less from me, but the less you hear will be a better overall deal. I also have to free up more time to take care of my dog, but... that's peanuts compared to the other stuff.

It's 10pm, I should be wrapping up by now, but today is the first day... I'll run late today, and start working towards time tomorrow.

Funny, never thought about that...

For those reading the note on Facebook, remember, I have a blog over here... notes are just because most people don't read my blog. Big whoop. And... that is what I never thought about. I set up notes on Facebook to copy my posts, and then I utterly forgot about it until I started titling this post.

For those that wonder what I'm up to, it's still summed up in three words: work and music. Oh, and at present, drinking a cappuccino and about to eat lunch. Then work. And, of course, after work, music. Lather, rinse, repeat... ok, so I probably won't have the cappuccino tomorrow. Photography has taken a back burner... I haven't processed any pictures of consequence since my trip to Vermont. (Except for one I sent to a few friends for a laugh... of me with spiked hair. If that one leaks, somebody's good as dead. I'm not sure who yet, but they will be.)