curiosity without the cat

yesterday was a productive day for us here are arrt pirates. we went out and took pictures at lakeview cemetery then we went and spent waaaaay too much on books at the barnes & noble in the village. on the up side of spending too much there, i now have a calendar for next year and, for once, it's not after the first of the year! plus its a really good waterhouse one. <3 waterhouse.

as for the cemetery, well, that was fun! we plan on going back sometime to get pictures earlier in the day and at different times of year. the cemetery was much bigger than i thought it would be, but it was worth the 2 hours of wandering about - we still didn't really see it all after that much time. most of the other people there were going to see the lee's graves (bruce and brandon that is) and so we kinda had the run of the place without worrying that someone would randomly walk into a shot.

in one part of the cemetery, there was an older man tossing out food for a murder of crows. we were wondering why some guy was standing there tossing stuff at the crows when we crested a hill and first saw him and heard the birds. and, as we got closer, we could tell he was feeding them. we tried to get them to cooperate with us, but they wouldn't. they knew we were trying to get cool shots of them on the gravestones, so they kept watching us and then being like "nope, sorry, you lose" and flying off. as we reached the old man feeding them, he was picking up bits off of the pavement. he stood up and gave us a kinda look, not really pained or anything, but kinda neutrally long-suffering (can anyone really look that way?) and said basically "someone's gotta feed the crows." i can't remember now if that was exactly it, but, in essence, that's what he said. as we walked off, we debated why he was doing it. was he a caretaker? was he just some guy who likes to feed birds in cemeteries? does he just like crows a whole lot? was he paid to come in and feed them regularly? in the end, we decided that, whatever the real reason is, it would be totally awesome if he were feeding them simply to keep the proper ambiance in the cemetery. after all, a cemetery isn't complete without at least a few crows hopping about.

i think she put it best yesterday when staysea said that it would be interesting to see how different we see the place even though we're there at the same time taking pictures of the same things. in the end, i have 5 rolls of film plus a 6th in my camera from the trip. i'm not sure how much staysea has, but she has a few as well. soon as we have them all developed, we'll throw up each of our own impressions of the cemetery.

Half a Glass

"Cold," you say, and hand the glass to me. I open my chest and place it where my heart should be.


Another week of ups and downs. I guess that is life, huh? The boy and I are over... is this a glass half full or half empty thing? A bit of both I would think. I just ordered myself a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI. I'm quite sure this is a half full thing as my parents are paying for it as my Christmas and next Birthday presents. Work is going okay. My new job is kinda making me wonder if I made the right choice in that regard. I haven't been able to really concentrate at either job lately though. I really want to move out of my apartment. My landlord is never going to fix my door. I want to stop going to a laundromat. I need more room for my art stuff. But do I really want to move right now? I haven't been here a year yet and I just kinda got it so I like it. I haven't been sleeping well for quite some time now and I think it is really getting to me. I keep trying new ways to keep awake during the day and actually fall asleep at night. But nothing really is working for either. My favorite holiday is coming up (Halloween) but I don't have the spirit this year. No decorations have come out this year and I don't really have an idea for a costume yet. I doubt I'll do anything anyway as it is on a Wednesday between hanging for a show and the actual show. At least that project is going pretty well. I gave up on finding one thing for it but it is almost done and I like where it is going. I have been painting a lot this week which is a good thing. It is like therapy for me which it seems like I need right now. I need something to happen that will make me sleep well and get me out of this funk. I I I.... I know this blog is self-centered and kind of a downer but that's what is in my head right now. But I think of all you too and hope you are well.

that time of year...

so it's that wonderful time of year when the leaves are falling and the rain is making everyone run for cover at odd moments and the days are beautiful and blustery...and what does that mean? it means that it's the perfect time of year for taking photos of cemeteries!

i believe that this year i shall have to actually visit at least one cemetery as i have not in quite a few years. i used to go all the time back in high school to the pioneer cemetery by where i lived. so, to celebrate a little right now, i'm going to share a few pictures from there!

this is one of my favorites.

i've no clue where those crazy lines came from...

taking a different perspective.

so there you have them! i know that they're all sunny and cheery, but it was may and i had my first slides roll and was on a mission from my photography teacher...(yes, these are old. they're from 99!!)

i think i'll go this weekend and take some at lake view cemetery up by volunteer park...anyone wanna join in? you're welcome to!

Human Trampoline

...There is a girl in West Seattle,
Who calls herself the human trampoline,
And sometimes when I'm falling flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Whoa so this is what she means... (edited Graceland lyrics by Paul Simon).

Okay... so I've had one of those weeks where it feels like I've been riding a roller coaster. I have been really tired all week for one thing and I have had a lot of stuff going on in my head. I also had all these climbing and up moments like the boy spending the night, my show going fairly well and discovering a great new band last night. But I also had some descending and down moments as well like being late for work and getting lectured about it, my phone not working and locking my keys in my car. By last night I wanted to just curl up with a bottle of whiskey and hide on my couch. In fact I went straight to the liquor store after work and ended up buying a bottle of vodka as well as a bottle of Jameson.

Some more details on some of the good stuff as I don't want to talk about the bad stuff right now:

My show on Thursday was pretty good. I had worked both jobs that day and drove down to Renton to see the boy for a bit but still managed to make it to Gallery Ok by 6pm. A lot of people showed up actually. Some friends I see a bit but also some I haven't seen for awhile which was cool. I didn't sell anything but got some good responses as well as some constructive criticism. And did some artistic networking.

And last night my friend Brian said I should come out to the Rim (instead of drinking myself stupid at home). And I'm glad I did because the band that was playing was incredible. They are called "The Consul" and they are kinda hard to describe but maybe punked-up jazz would fit them. There are only 3 of them and they don't have a singer but holy cow they rock. All their stuff is like at least 10 mins long. Anyway I bought a CD and got them all to sign it. I totally recommend you checking them out.