15/365 Traces of old friends
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
We're still finding cat hairs on our clothes -- even things that we've acquired since we had to say goodbye to our kitties. Case in point, the orange-ish hairs I've found on the new black fleece jacket I got for Christmas.
He's gone, but still with us, in ways.
We miss him.
My brain continues to place expectation in strange places when I'm walking around the house.
14/365 One Cent
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Playing with the loupe magnifier; taken with 15x magnification with the macro setting enabled on the camera.
I'm definitely finding it difficult to get decent lighting and have been noticing that focusing is very sensitive to offset and angle between the lens and the loupe.
Not much else to report. Went to PT for my ankle this morning. Work is busy. It's cold. Just taking a few photos and doing a few little sketches because there isn't much time or opportunity to do much else.
That's pretty much it. See ya tomorrow.
13/365 Encased
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Was hoping to play with the loupe today or at least get a picture of the icicles outside the office, but I caught a glimpse of the shrub underneath our broken downspout, covered with snow and a thick coating of ice, so there you go.
Good thing, too, since the icicles I wanted to capture had fallen under their own weight last night and I didn't physically leave the building (not even for lunch) until well after dark. Oh well. I'm a little worried that these ice and snow pictures are going to get old real soon, but they'll do for now.
12/365 Loupe, there it is!
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
So my loupe magnifier showed up in the mail today, so I'm looking forward to playing with my macro photography. I got the idea to order one after admiring the macro photos taken my tanakawho, who explains how she gets her amazing images with simple a point-and-shoot and a selection of loupes.
Good thing, too, since I got out of the office late tonight and all of my photos of the icicles outside the building looked like crap.
Journal, Week 2
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Still trying to capture some element from the day, although starting to doodle a little bit on the side as well. Did some sketching elsewhere, and will probably integrate some of Leah's cool suggestions for adding other stuff into the journal.
9/365 Swing Night
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
First night back dancing after the ankle injury. Not too bad with preemptive ibuprofin and icing after I got home.
8/365 Icy Step
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Still got another dusting of snow/freezing rain last night, coating the steps (and walk and car) with another layer of ice.
7/365 Slushy
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Snow, freezing rain and ice pellets last night followed by freezing rain throughout the day leads to one slushy mess.
I shoveled the walks and driveway this afternoon (and cleared off the car) because I was worried that it would freeze tonight and be even more of a pain to deal with tomorrow morning, but I often stop and wonder whether I'm doin' it wrong.
Although I've been here for almost 20 years, I'm not from around here originally. Was I supposed to just let it melt? It *was* raining after all, and I didn't really see anybody else bothering. Although it's hard to gauge from the neighbors who drive buhgiant trucks that just drive over the mess.
Murphy's (and TallAsianDude's) Law would suggest that if I didn't shovel, it would freeze tomorrow and the mailman, and half the neighbors would slip on the resulting ice and sue my sorry ass.
Sometimes, it's better to be safe (if a little foolish) than sorry.
6/365 Spiral lights
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
[Photo taken playing with motion and a slightly longer exposure]
We put up Christmas lights in the living room tonight.
Yes, on January 6th. (We found the lights in the attic last week, and thought it would be a nice touch for a going-away party this weekend.)
The SOOTTAD actually wanted to put up some lights outside too (lights that we bought just before Christmas). She says that outside holiday lights should be up for the whole winter. I'm not adamantly against it, but I'm feeling a bit too lazy to want to deal with it, and thankfully, she was ok with dropping the idea after she was reminded that we don't have an outside outlet.
CED2009: the day planner
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
So this is part of my plan to keep up with my drawing for this challenge -- a small dayplanner calendar. It addresses a bunch of things that I found to be difficult the first time I tried to do one of these art every day things.
Because I can carry it around with me, I always have something that I can draw in. I also like having a record of things all in one place. I understand that some of the fun of this challenge (and of exploring creativity) can be to find new and unusual places to create art -- business cards, notebooks, napkins... you name it. (And other ways of thinking about what is art and what it is to be creative.) And I need to stop worrying about how things will turn out, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to draw on stuff that I know will be thrown away. But when I drew in different sketchbooks and journals, it felt less like a consolidated project, which somehow didn't feel as satisfying to me. I should probably just get over it. I think I will. But I think I'll do that in addition to the calendar.
Anyway, the calendar also a physical object that reminds me that I want to be drawing. I'm hoping that it will help get me into the right headspace to draw. And the smaller space and lines makes me worry less about drawing something "worthwhile." I'm hoping it'll let me play a bit.
I've noticed I've already turned it into something of a journal, recounting something that happened or something I did during the day. Hopefully I won't fall into a pattern and feel obligated to keep it up, although it's kind of fun to treat it that way right now.
So... so far, so good. Although I realize that the first few days have been easy -- a holiday, only one work day, and a weekend. I haven't had to balance this with my usual juggernaut of other activities. When everything else kicks in, that's where the real challenge will start. Hopefully it will be the break from the chaos rather than a burden or chore that's taking away from other things that I want to be doing.
5/365 Freezing Rain
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Fortunately, the ice was already melting when I left the house this morning, so there was no scraping required. I did, however, almost slip and fall on my ass on the way out of the house.
4/365 Starry Cookies
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Yep, another picture of food. Good thing I could break the pattern yesterday, or I'd feel an increasing pressure to make this 365 days of photos of food.
3/365 Sketchy Wiring
3.1/365 New light fixture
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
Hey.
So you may have noticed all the posts recently with the weird titles. It's probably obvious, but I kinda decided to try this whole "Project 365" thing that's been bouncing around the interwebs -- basically, take a photo a day for a whole year. Anyway, I'm going to try to take pictures every day and plan on posting a daily photo. As some of you may have already noticed, there will be some fudging of posting dates, mainly because I've got some latent OCD and want the posting date to match the photo date. But really, it'll be just the posting date. We'll see how THAT goes.
But wait, there's more!
Just to relive my overachieving college days, I'm also going to try to do some drawing every day. (which will maybe evolve into some bigger creative projects) A few years ago, I participated in a thing called Art Every Day Month that was started by my friend Leah. She's gone on to inspire a great many people to express their creativity and now has started a creative every day challenge. Basically, do something creative every day, and recognize the creativity in the things you are doing.
I suppose I'd already have my bases covered taking daily photos, so I'd get credit or something without having to do the extra work... but the whole point is that I want to work on my drawing, so... I guess there you go.
It feels like I'm making New Year's Resolutions, and I guess I sort of am, even though me and Resolutions parted ways a long time ago... and I was happier for it. But 2008 really went sour towards the end there, and it's still left a bad taste in my mouth. (To start with, I'm still broken, and the lack of activity isn't helping.) Anyway, it seemed like a good thing to give myself some goals, keep myself occupied, focus my energy... and maybe some good will come of it.
We'll see how it goes.
And maybe I'll try running another marathon in the fall.
[still to come... 2008 year in review.]
0/365 New Year's Dump-off
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
[20090102.10:07] An explanation forthcoming; right now, gotta get to the office.
[yes, this has been backdated]
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
We said goodbye to Stimpy a week ago today. We miss him. I keep noticing the moments when I expect something* and then realize that the something won't be there.
The Ex and I got him from the MSPCA in the fall of 1992. I think they said they found him in Downtown Crossing, back when I didn't know where Downtown Crossing was. We couldn't imagine why anybody would have abandoned such an awesome kitty cat, but he was so friendly and socialable that it seemed improbable for him to have been a feral stray. They didn't know how old he was, but he seemed about the same as our other cat, Pix, who was adopted from neighbors, whose birthday was supposedly March 17th, so we just pretended they had the same birthday. The Ex was a big fan of the Ren and Stimpy show by John Kricfalusi and thus bequeathed him with the name of the lead kitty character.
[Baloo arrived the following year, adopted from an intern at work. When the Ex and I split up, I kept "the kids." Pix passed away in 2003. We had to say goodbye to Baloo in January 2007.]
Stimpy was the first and only cat I've ever had who would get under the covers in bed with you. He would also suck on your shirt when he did the kneading paws thing, which was cute, but kind of gross what with the waking up in the morning with a bunch of wet cat-spit spots all over your shirt. He outgrew the kneading and sucking, but not the under-cover snuggling. And over-cover snuggling.
He also liked to climb up onto your shoulder, and in recent years, to lick your head. He came down to meet you when you got home from work or from a trip. ("Mreow!" = "Where WERE you guys?! I missed you, and hey, FEED ME!") The SOOTTAD would tell me that she knew when I was almost home because he'd perk up just before she'd hear the car pull up. He'd cry if you didn't let him into the bathroom when you were in the shower. He was kind of an affection slut, which we found endearing.
Early on, Stimpy was diagnosed with a heart condition which required daily medication which came in pill form: 1/4 pill, 3 times a day and a low dosage aspirin every other day. Annual echocardiograms. Several years later, the vet told me that the condition had stablized and I could stop pilling him, which was much appreciated by both the piller and pillee. He had told us he'd probably have a shortened lifespan, but he ended up out-living the other two kitties.
He didn't take the loss of his buddy well. It seemed like he'd wander around the house crying, trying to figure out where he was. Moving didn't help. He learned the new space alright, but sometimes he'd cry and it seemed like he couldn't remember where people were. And in the last year or so, he'd actually started to show his age. A big belly turned out to be a cystic liver (but still getting the job done), kidney function starting to deteriorate, lost agility, strength. But always affectionate, happy to see you, happy for attention. And for treats -- we kind of spoiled him after we moved.
The SOOTTAD and I said goodbye to our little buddy last Tuesday morning, December 23, 2008, two days before Christmas. He was almost 17, and he was a good kitty.
*
the something isn't him, but something ... about him, associated with him. It's the parts that the subconscious mind hasn't adjusted to.
Originally uploaded by tallasiandude.
First real snowstorm last night, not counting the appetizer of light snow and freezing rain on Wednesday.
We had hunkered down in the attic watching movies on TV when our doorbell rang. We couldn't figure out who would be at the door at 10PM during a winter storm; turned out to be two kids offering to shovel our walkway for 10 bucks. First time that's happened. Anyway, happy to pay it, but you'd hardly know there'd been any such youthful entrepreneurs working the neighborhood as it hasn't stopped snowing since. I ended up spending about 2 hours myself this afternoon going over the walks again as well as hitting the driveway, cleaning off the cars, and digging out the side path.
Shoveling isn't so bad though. Good to get outside. Had some tunes. And was treated to near perfect snowflakes landing on my jacket and gloves when I took breaks to catch my breath and let my fingers thaw out a little.
Still, December has been a rough month. I've actually been meaning to write up a November update, but I've been busy with various projects (work and personal) and twitter and Facebook have provided sufficient outlet for me to dump what's been on my mind that I haven't found the need to carve out some time to write here.
Anyway, December. First weekend of the month: a new client... that I don't think I'll be seeing again. Not a good fit, and frankly, a little creepy.
Went to a frisbee tournament in Vegas and badly sprained my ankle only a few points into the first game. (reconstructing events, apparently another player stepped on my foot as I was going up for a D) Sidelined me for the whole weekend. (and then some -- got X-rays yesterday to confirm no broken bones, but it's actually more sore now that I'm wrapping it as advised by the nurse practitioner, and still a bit swollen and purpley.) Vegas is not a good place for a leg injury; everything is convoluted, as well as huge and far apart. I also lost more money than I care to admit to the internet, and I lost my voice. (which seems to be the manifestation of some kind of cold, although I don't have any other symptoms besides the voice and some throat/sinus congestion.)
Back home, the cat seemed to manifest more old and low energy. Plus, cat pee all over the basement. The SOOTTAD thought that he just missed me while I was away, and I'm sure forgetting to remind her about scooping the litterbox didn't help. All peeing aside, his condition has seemed to take a noticeable turn for the worse in recent weeks. And much worse after my weekend away. We had conveniently already scheduled a vet appointment Thursday for his annual checkup, but it only confirmed the worst: renal failure as well as anemia. the vet doesn't expect him to last past next week. Not sure what else to say about that. IV treatments are an option, but not expected to help much. Plus we don't want to add any more trauma to the kitty seeing as how badly he was doing after the vet visit.
We're spoiling him rotten at the moment. Carrying him to the litterbox. Treats when he's up. Lots of snuggles if we can do it without disturbing him too much. [I swear that's the only reason why we got out of bed at noon today.]
It actually seems like a good thing that we dropped the ball on getting tickets out to CA since it means we can spend more time with him and doesn't make us have to rush any ... decisions ... that we don't want to go rushing into. He actually seems to be doing a bit better than he was doing the day after the vet visit, but he's still clearly not doing well.
So anyway, it's been a rough December so far. Ups and downs, but mostly downs. It's the volatility that is the indicator of problems, or at least that's how I understand it. And there are things that will probably make it that much worse, but hopeful the little things will help us get through it. At least the SOOTTAD and I are together this time around. As much as it'll suck, we'll get through it together.
And for the record, it's still snowing. We'll just try to think about the snowflakes.
