Under the Sea....

So...we're watching The Little Mermaid right now (haven't seen it for years but it's one of MANY movies that I can recite - verbatim.  Thanks, Emily).  This movie is fitting because this afternoon, Mara and I made a trip down to the Newport Aquarium.  Although I enjoy visiting, it is just a little disappointing.  I mean, we've been to aquariums all over the United States, and while Newport's is pretty cool, it seems kind of small and filled with only alligators and sharks.  That sounds kind of petty, doesn't it.

Maybe I'm just crabby because I wasn't able to get very many good photos.  Pooh.  I really only wanted to visit there to obtain more video clips, especially the jellyfish.  That was a bust, too.  I was able to get a large amount of video of the ray sharks, sharks and stingrays.  They were all quite fascinating, as always.

I can usually get some nice shots of the penguins, too, but nobody in the tank seemed to be up to swimming.  The people standing right in front of the tank didn't help my disposition very much, either.  I actually ask one of the trashy moms to sit down. (I am permitted to make this statement as Mara and I were trapped in between her and her poor son while she was cussing him out in one of the tunnels.  Nice, mom.  Remember, you are a product of your environment.)

Well, without further ado, here are some "okay" photos of the fishies and gators.

Enjoy.

Better Late than Never....

Hey...since I decided to start collecting new video clips of my fascinating daily life, I am now also carrying my little Kodak point and shoot camera.  

And yes...it IS lighter in the car...

I shot a couple of different scenarios I came across the past 2 days (Mara helped).  Last night, I decided to look through all of photos on already on the camera.  Duh, why didn't I think of this before?  It's not like I do this on a daily basis (sarcasm here).  There were almost 2 years of photos on the card!  It was only about 50 photos, but how sad is that? 

Well, for here on out I promise I will be more diligent in the handling of my Art.  (Geez...I should never have to declare that - ever.)

I have to admit, though, the quality of the photos cannot hold a candle to Chuck's, but if I use the camera more often, I may become more proficient - or at least be able to qualify the camera's shortcomings - and work them into my artistic intentions.

"Adapt and Overcome"

I REALLY cannot tolerate the jerk who used to say that to me....but I'll appropriate it anyway.

Well...here are the results of my findings.  I imported the photos into Lightroom and processed them (only a smidge).  I wanted to be aware of what the camera is capable of producing (without any software help). 

It's a whole 2 years - and weird array - of my bizarre, eccentric BUT hilarious life.

Enjoy.

Yikes!! Jeremy Saunders took this - without my consent.  ;)

My mom's watercolors.

Checking out the B&W feature.

Chi-town!!

Mara - in Chicago.

I'm part vampire - the drive to work...

More of the commute.

Dexter!!

Emily's Birthday cake (sadly I can't remember what year - she's old anyway so it's kinda moot).  Dexter has John Cena in the Kill Room!!!

Loch Norse - NKU - early morning shoot in Chris Smith's class.

Fireworks at Old Coney - I think this was the first year of the Light Up the Night competition.

My gorgeous - gigantic! - Christmas tree.  Last year.  This year I added lights.

Construction at McLane's.
 

Early morning on the AA Hwy.

Classic Bug.  We had several, years ago.  The BEST car I ever owned - hands down.

Mara - at the movies I assume.

KISS Pez!!!  What's not to love here??

Definite randomness...

I'm weird.

And To All a Goodnight....

Well...what a way to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Night.  Sitting in my car, in the dark, in the freezing cold, wasting gas, guarding an empty building.  What more could a girl ask for?

Bor-ing.

At least I got to watch some pretty good movies while sitting here.  I'm watching Skyfall right now.  Love me some Bond.  Especially love me some Hottie McHotterson Daniel Craig.  MmmHmm...

 
Sitting here, in the dark silence, things start to stand out.  It's easier to notice little nuances of the surrounding night.  We're very close to a runway so there is airplane noise almost constant but tonight, since it's a holiday, it has been down to a minimum.  So, when I heard a very loud rumble (over my very loud action movie), I looked up to see a ginormous cargo plane aborting its landing at close to the last minute.  Holy. Crap.  It was awesome and scary at the same time!  I always think about the possibility of a plane exploding (I know, what's WRONG with me??) either on take-off or landing and how far the stuff would shoot towards our building - and if I could get my camera out in time.  I'm a sick puppy.

After the airplane incident, I was watching the massive amount of trucks leaving McLane's (didn't they even get ONE day off??) in my rearview mirror, when I saw a freaking coyote crossing the street.  Again!  I hear them all of the time out here.  Creepy!  Then, a truck driver decides to get here 4 hours early and pulls up trying to get me to let him park on the property.  The bad (scary) part was that instead of him just rolling down his window to chat, he hopped down out of his truck.  I was out of my car, on the North end of the building, alone (thanks Bob!).  I finally convinced him that he had to leave and come back at 7:30am.

The wind has been kicking up street-salt dust devils, which is pretty cool.  Last year (or maybe the year before - I dunno), I decided to start collecting some video with Chuck Norris (my camera).  I made a pretty cool short for one of my college classes and wanted to gather together random stuff for about a year and see what I could make with it.  That project - as with a lot of my others - kinda got lost in the shuffle.  Don't get me wrong, I have a bunch of stuff accumulated but I want a large array from which to select.  I also have to be careful because I have a horrible tendency to take photos while I'm driving.  (I'm trying to wean myself from this.)  The problem here is that some of the best video prospects I see are while I am in the car.  I need a chauffeur to cart me around town and I can shoot out the back windows.  I still have a favorite spot down on the AA Hwy where you turn to get on I-275 West.  There is a ton of broken glass there and when I go around the corner at night, it twinkles in the light like a million stars.  I've been thinking that I'll start carrying my little point-and-shoot and make videos with it.  It's so much lighter than Chuck and I can hold it one-handed...no driving with the elbows.  :)

Well, on Christmas Day, Mara, Pappy, Jason and I went to the picture shows.  Mara saw Saving Mr. Banks, Jason saw 47 Ronin and Pappy and I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Our movie was really cute and visually STUNNING.  The cinematography was fantastic.  I was ready to hop on a plane for Iceland - now!  We went for Chinese after the shows, keeping with our new (and awesome) Christmas tradition.  The only thing that sucked about the day was the Emily and Chauncey couldn't come up with us.  They'll be here Sunday, so not all is lost.

Well, my car is peeing....

and I started writing this post - TWICE - on the app on my phone - which crashed - TWICE - so I came home and completed it on a more reliable source.  I had to edit my photos to load anyway, which means my head exploding at 4am was all for naught.

Wow...this just rambled on and on.  Hmm...mental diarrhea?