Mountain Menagerie: Bound, Shimmy, Slither

July 14, 2006 | Filed Under fantastic weekend, get outta here, photo, seen | Leave a Comment

For the Fourth of July weekend, a bunch of us drove up to Schmike’s parent’s lakehouse in the mountains. On the way up, we saw a deer bounding across the road and then into a meadow! It was one of those rare moments when, instead of catching a fleeting glimpse of a wild animal, we actually got to watch it for a little while. I mean, it was still pretty fleeting, but it was at least 15 or 20 seconds. It was pretty.Then, about five minutes later, as we were making our way up the mountain, a driver coming hte opposite direction waved at us to stop. He said, “If y’all want to see something reallly cool, stop at the top of this hill and look to your right - there’s a baby black bear climbing a tree right there! But be careful, ’cause you know where there’s a baby…” and we said, in unison, “There’s a Mama!”Sure enough, as we crested the rise, we saw it, right at eye-level. While we were checking it out though, a car full of Uncle-Sam-hat-wearing 4th of July-ers was trying to get by us, and the road was so narrow that we had to just keep on trucking. So in the span of five minutes in the wild country we had seen a deer and a bear. Naturally, my camera was in my bag in the trunk at the time.Once we arrived at the lakehouse, there was much drinking and eating and singing songs and dancing dances and swimming and eating and shooting off of fireworks. I did take a few pictures of these things. Then on the way back, we saw a snake in the road. (camera was in the trunk.)

Good Friday was Wonderful

April 16, 2006 | Filed Under fantastic weekend, friends, music, photo | Leave a Comment

Ian, Bill, Puma and I hosted a cookout in honor of the arrival of springtime this past friday, and The Wonderful decided to seize the opportunity to put on our first-ever show. We figured it would be a low key thing, with just our friends, so we wouldn’t be too nervous.While Ian manned the grill, we set up our gear in the backyard on that weird concrete thing that might have been a chimney foundation or a firepit at one time. We borrowed Puma’s friend Mark’s PA speakers, set up some good ol’ tiki torches, and strategically placed a milk-crate of noisemakers on a blanket in front of the “stage” to allow for audience participation. Once everything was in place, we attempted a semi-successful sound check, then got busy on some beer and burgers.Soon, magic-hour (eight o’clock,) was upon us, and we started our set. It went surprisingly well, especially considering the fact that Zach didn’t have a monitor and later said that he couldn’t really hear anything we were doing. Evidently, though, no one really noticed. Or at least they were polite and said they didn’t. Either way, we had a good time playing, and I don’t think we effed up very much or very often, and afterwards a few people told me that they liked it, so overall, I’m gonna go ahead and call it a win.After we played, Puma and Jin got up and did a few impromptu numbers, and they sounded great. I had just been wishing (while playing) that I could be in the audience to see and hear what it was like, and then sure enough I got my chance. While they were doing their thing, I have to say that I was really enjoying the moment - still a little dusky but getting dark, a cold beer in hand, friends around, and spring/summer just beginning.That is to say, it was nice. Thanks to all y’all who made it out, and for those who didn’t, we’ll hopefully be scheduling more shows soon. I know we already have one possibly in the works - a house show on saturday the 29th - that we’ll hopefully confirm or deny shortly.the collector’s item of the night - a genuine setlist, on a post-it, from The Wonderful’s first live performance ever.extra special bonus - a genuine grocery list I had in my pocket which i must admit, had me a little worried for a second when we were about to start playing.Here are a few photos from the evening.update 4/19: the show on the 29th will not be happening - but we’re putting other things in motion. things like magic spells.

Pink Laser Beams

January 10, 2006 | Filed Under d'etre, fantastic weekend, mysterious, photo | 2 Comments

I was awake at dawn this morning, (believe it or not), and happened to snap these photos from my backyard.

It’s always nice when a natural process like a sunrise converges with an artificial (perhaps sinister?) technology like airplane trails and you end up with something this unexpectedly beautiful.

Imagine What Your Life Would Be Like Without Selachophobia and Fear of Sharks

December 29, 2005 | Filed Under fantastic weekend, friends, funny haha | 2 Comments

1: selachophobia: a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of sharks , despite the understanding by the phobic individual and reassurance by others that there is no danger. 2: selachophobia: a strong fear of, dislike of, or aversion to sharks.

But so long as the negative association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks: “Ahh, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself from getting in this kind of situation again? I know, I’ll attach terrible feelings to sharks, that way I’ll steer clear in future and so be safe.” Just like that selachophobia is born. Attaching emotions to situations is one of the primary ways that humans learn. Sometimes we just get the wiring wrong.The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad.

Apparently, Selachophobia can be financially draining, as well:

For anyone earning a living, the financial toll of this phobia is incalculable. Living with fear means you can never concentrate fully and give your best. Lost opportunities. Poor performance or grades. Promotions that pass you by. selachophobia will likely cost you tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your lifetime, let alone the cost to your health and quality of life.

Luckily, help has arrived.

haircut

December 3, 2005 | Filed Under d'etre, fantastic weekend, get outta here, photo | 1 Comment

New Orleans Now

December 2, 2005 | Filed Under fantastic weekend, get outta here, good lord, photo, politics, seen | Leave a Comment

Since I’ve been in Baton Rouge for over a week now, I figured it would be inexcusable for me to not visit New Orleans at least once. So the other day, I joined my cousin Lance, his wife Erin, and our Aunt Andree on a trip through the city. Lance is a firefighter, and was involved in the rescue efforts after the hurricane, so he was a perfect guide to show us around. He knew a lot about what happened where, and what has been and is being done to recover. We all took a lot of pictures, and I’ll be updating my flickr page with theirs when I get them. So far, you can at least check out my photos.One thing that struck me was the sensation that some areas were not as bad as I thought, even to the point of seeming completely normal, and then other areas were absolutely as bad as you can imagine. The change was often a matter of turning a corner or crossing a block. For example, the French Quarter, fortunately, is on pretty high ground, so those old, dilapidated restaurants, bars, and shops that have been built upon older buildings that were built upon even older buildings are all still standing and functional. The electricity there was restored pretty quickly, and there are street vendors, tourists, and jazz musicians on the corners. The only noticeable change in the Quarter is that it’s less crowded and there were a lot of hurricane katrina t-shirts for sale.The next thing you know, you’re practically in a third world country. As soon as you get out of the Quarter, there’s no electricity, so all the intersections have temporary stop signs set up. There are gigantic piles of trash and rubble lining the streets. Dishwashers, refrigerators, & washers and dryers are lined up, outside, broken. One fridge had a graffiti message spraypainted on the door: “Do Not Open!” There were literally hundreds of abandoned cars, suvs, and trucks. Doors and trunks were wide open and windows were broken. Most of them were covered with a grayish white film leftover from the floodwater.As we drove through the neighborhoods, we kept noticing the brown stain on garages, trees, and sides of houses where the waterline had been. Lance was especially aware of the fact that we were driving in places that were underwater a month and a half ago; he had seen the same neighborhoods from 6 to 10 feet higher in his boat, and he said everything seemed different from the “normal” angle.There are signs everywhere you look, many handmade, for practically any kind of service that people in this situation would need. One said: “Computer flooded? We can retrieve your files.” Another was for restoration of damaged photographs. Lots were advertising “home-gutting” and “de-molding”. It was surreal to know that this is basically the only economy in New Orleans right now.With the exception of the Quarter, just about all the “standard” businesses are closed, but we did find some nice suprises. Lance and Erin’s favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian joint was up and running, so we had a great lunch, and there were some entrepreneurial-minded folks who had bare bones tent shops: like the barber cutting hair in a closed Shell station parking lot. Those people are mainly catering to FEMA and Red Cross employees, though. Other than relief workers, there are not many people around; it really feels like a ghost town, especially in the neighborhoods, where block after block is basically uninhabitable.Now that the water is gone, there’s a sense that the urgency and the emergency is over. But it’s painfully obvious when you walk or drive around that the job of making New Orleans liveable, much less a nice place to be, is going to take a long, long, long-ass time. here’s the link to the flickr jive.

Halloween Times

November 2, 2005 | Filed Under fantastic weekend, friends, funny haha, photo | 1 Comment

When I told my dad I was Jesus for Halloween, he said, “Good thing it wasn’t rainin’… what with lightning, and all.” Here are some photos from two Halloween parties: Ria’s from from a few weeks ago, and the one at my place last weekend. If any other photographers (Petter?) have pictures from these or other recent costume extravaganzas (Lollie’s?) get ‘em to me and I’ll add to the set. shazam.Updated: Just added a bunch more photos to the set, thanks to Ben.