Photography

My Brain Doesn’t Like Me (NaBloPoMo Day 21)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and in case I forget to make a post tomorrow, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today (at least those of you in the States… I actually do have a couple of friends who pop in now and then to read this). I do have a post planned for tomorrow, for Treva actually. I’d mentioned when I started doing this post-a-day-for-thirty-days, that I had an idea or two, one of those ideas being my views on racism. She IM’d me a few days back asking when it was coming. So Treva, I promise, if I remember to post tomorrow, I will post about my views.

Before talking about what I really was going to talk about, I want to direct everyone’s attention to my Quick Bits over there. I want you to check out the link to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. And no, I’m not going to link it here, go over there you lazy bastards and click!

Today is going to be about my brain and the things it does to keep itself occupied while I’m asleep. See, I’m doing a new production right now, a reading of A Christmas Carol. Basically what that means is there are 6 of us on stage, actually reading from the script. We’ll be dressed in costume, but have minimal props and addressing the audience directly.

The other thing taking up a lot of my time is, naturally, work. I’ve been stressing over the creation of several different secure forms for these banks. Lots of little things I have to remember to include, and naturally I missed a bunch the first time (or two) around. Because of security measures taken as the result of an audit, I’m not allowed access to the production servers, nor the secure sever. Basically, I can create the forms, and make sure they look OK, but for full functionality, I have to send them to my boss and she has to upload them and tell me all the mistakes I made. Which, quite frankly, is a sucky way to develop.

But back to the brain playing while I’m sleeping. This morning, probably about 3 a.m. or so, I woke myself up. I woke up because I was talking. I was reciting lines of the script for a Christmas Carol. But they were formatted in the aforementioned Secure Forms. So, instead of Last Name [input box], First Name [input box], the were lines like Scrooge [Scrooge's Line], Cratchit [Cratchit's Line]. And that’s how I was reading the lines, talking in my sleep. And this isn’t the first time work has intruded. When I was managing the pizza restaurant, I was working very long hours (70-80 hour weeks). At one point in the middle of the night, I sat straight up in bed, and yelled to my wife “CHEESE! I NEED MORE CHEESE!”

I quit shortly after that.

So that’s how my brain occupies itself; merges two aspects of my daily life into one, and messes with me. Lovely.

Photo trip to D.C.

Friday night, before turning out the light at around 12:30 A.M., I thought to myself: OK, if I really want to get into D.C. and take some photo’s of the memorials, I need to be there as early as possible to catch the sunrise, and avoid any possible crowds. That means getting up by about 5-5:30. Ugh.

As it was the weekend, and I was going to be later than planned, I decided not to set the alarm, and see what would happen. I have a great body clock, and when I tell myself to wake up at a certain time, I can usually come pretty damn close.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:05. Nice.

So, being awake, I got dressed, grabbed my camera and tripod (crappy tripod, I’m going to have a to add one to my B&H Wish List *shameless plug* ), and drove on into D.C. I snapped between 75 and 100 photos, and I think I got a few nice ones. I’ll be doing post-processing this week sometime, and hopefully will be able to share some here shortly.

Oh, and sweet. I just won an iTunes Free Song from my morning Diet Pepsi. Guess Monday could be worse.

Patience…patience…

Naturally, after getting my camera last Sunday, I’ve gotten all of 30 minutes to play with it. Classes, soccer practices, homework…all conspiring to keep me from enjoying my new toy. Tonight will be no different, as I have class at 7. Enough time to get home, eat dinner, help kids with homework if needed, and then get my stuff and go to class.

Oh well. Tomorrow night and then Friday and the weekend should be free. Don’t expect any shots posted anytime soon though. It’s going to take me some time to get used to the camera and I plan on visiting some various photography forums and posting pics there to get some criticism about the pictures.

Some quick photo links for those that care:

Photosig – Good galleries and a forum
Fred Miranda – Excellent forum and reviews
Digital Photography Review – Great Resource and Review Site
Rob Galbraith – Just found this site, but it looks good