Costume

My entry for Photo Friday...

Bloggy Friends

When I first started my blog, I had no idea about the friends I would make. Who makes friends on the internet? Who tells them their real names? Or gives away addresses? Or phone numbers. There are so many crazy people out there!

I was shocked when I actually had a visitor. And when I got a comment from a stranger, I almost had a heart attack.

Little by little, I got to know people. Some were shy, and some were not. Little by little, I made bloggy friends.


That anyone would ever read my ramblings is always surprising.

As I blogged, I also found some fabulous blogs. I read them daily. I genuinely care about the bloggers. If they don't publish a post when I expect them to, I worry. If they are sick, I worry. If they are happy, I am thrilled. I may not know their real name but I care about them! I think of them as my friends.

We exchange emails. We call each other. We give each other a shoulder to lean on. We make each other laugh. Or cry. We are a part of each other's life.

My every day is so much better because they are a part of my life.

So my bloggy-best-friend Jodi gave me this award. I was so amazed.

Thank you my friend! You are my bestest bloggy friend!




Another award I got is from Betty. Her hubby has a very cool blog and I am truly honored. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting my blog, reading my silly stuff and ramblings. Thank you for commenting. I love, love, love your comments.

To be honest, awards scare me. I feel overwhelmed. My zodiac sign is Cancer (crab) so I tend to retreat in my shell. And I never know who to give them out to. Either folks don't want them or have already received the same award.

Please don't give me any awards anymore. Your visiting my blog and commenting are awards enough for me.

I know that there were rules that I had to follow but this is a really long post so I'll do that another time.

Know that if you are on my blog roll, I think of you as a friend and love your blog.

Consider yourself awarded with these awards. It is your call if you want to accept them or not.

Love you my bloggy friends!

Bored

I am bored
I am bored.
I am bored.
I am bored.
I am bored.

Here is the definition of boredom on Wikipedia:

Boredom is an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the activities surrounding them. The first record of the word boredom is in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, written in 1852,^[1] in which it appears six times, although the expression to be a bore had been used in the sense of "to be tiresome or dull" since 1768.^[2]

My problem is that I have too many exciting things that I want to do. But my time is committed to something else.

But man am I bored!

Can you please send me some jokes? Or anything? Where is everyone?

Hello!

Hello!

Icy

Baby Baby!

Now I know why they call this a lens baby. A baby is a baby. Requires a ton of knowledge, practice, hard work, and patience. And it does not come with a decent manual. Nor are there any guarantees off success.

I have to say that working with Lensbaby has been more challenging that what I anticipated. I might even be way in over my head on this one. But that's a good thing. I'll keep practicing and get better at it.

If the photos you see here are not great, it is because I am learning about my lenses. Not because lensbaby is bad.

Having said that, I wish that they would have better manuals. Sure they are cute but where is the beef? There is absolutely no information about mounting the lens. It took me a while to snap it on.

Then there is this weird looking contraption that comes with it. What the heck is it? More on that later....

I am lucky to have a photographer friend Carol who can answer these questions for me. Lensbaby certainly assumes that you have some knowledge and experience with cameras. So get more experience or keep a friend handy.

Here is another photo of the same flower.


I have to say that I took a whole bunch of photos that were completely black or white. Manual settings require a ton of knowledge so I knew I was going to fail in the beginning.

I am not afraid of failure. Failure has taught me more important lessons than success. So I hope to learn more and play more. Failure will pave the path to my success.

But this does remind me of the good old days when I was raising babies at home.

Why won't you do what I ask you to do?
Why won't someone tell me what I am supposed to do?
Why does this not come with a decent manual?
What if I drop it?
Mom!!!!! Help Please!!!!!

Wine Opera: Part 12

The Good Daughter Arrives

At High Noon, the Good Daughter went to visit the Purple Cowboy.

She had love in her heart and was wearing a pink dress with Polka Dot.

Her plan was Risque. But she wanted to surprise the Purple Cowboy.

Her heart was full of Hope.

She wanted to give her heart and soul to the Purple Cowboy. And she no longer wanted to stay a Virgin.

But when she arrived at the Purple Cowboy’s house her hopes crashed. The Purple Cowboy was with The Other woman.

To be continued next Monday...

Congratulations!

It's a lensbaby! I cracked up when I saw the manual.

After waiting, and waiting, and waiting for forever, I finally got it. I almost kissed the UPS guy. I was so happy to get it.

Here is a photo I took using the lensbaby. I am still playing around with it and learning how to get the special effects. Watch this space for more photos.




Off to play now!

Church

A church in Mexico...

What's Cooking?

What's cooking my bloggie friends?

Is it as hard for you to settle into routine after holidays?

Has January been a crazy month work-wise?

Since almost everyone wants to eat healthy and exercise in January, how is that going?

What kinds of personal projects are you working on?

Are you having blog blah moments?

Are you driving someone crazy? I know I am. I am waiting very impatiently for my lensbabies and keep asking the hubby:

Is it there yet?
Is it there yet?
Is it there yet?
Is it there yet?

Granted I've been told that they will arrive on Friday but one can hope. Right?

I am itching to do another photo shoot. But it will have to wait at least until Sunday. Party on Friday, party on Saturday... It may seem like a glamorous life but all I want to do is go to some new place and take new photos.

So what's cooking in your world?

And how boring was American Idol yesterday?

Wordless Wednesday

The Pond by my house.

New Day

It is a new day today.

Our hearts are full of hope. We want to erase the mistakes of the past and move forward.

Who knew this day would come? I always thought that America would have a woman president before an African American or someone who was considered a minority.

And how proud I am that Obama is now our president? Extremely! Oh Wow!

I have friends and family all over the world. I was of tired of defending Bush and his policies. I cringed. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed.

But no more. We finally have a true leader who we can respect and look up to.

Sure Obama has inherited quiet a mess. But I have confidence that he will do the right thing. He is intelligent and has surrounded himself with some decent politicians.

There are no Cheneys on his team. The ones who give government contracts to their own companies for a little personal profit. And are always at undisclosed locations when tough questions are asked. They simply refuse to be held accountable for any of their actions.

In my mind, there is no doubt that the Bush/Cheney regime will go down in the history as the most corrupt one ever.

Obama has morals and wants what is best for this country. Not his wallet. He wants to get along with other countries and not bully them into submission.

He wants to do the right thing. For us. The citizens of the World.

Today is a new day for all of us. Let's build good relationships.

Today my heart is filled with hope.

Wine Opera: Part 11

Condesa Arrives

In the middle of the afternoon, the other Southern Sister, Condesa went to meet the Purple Cowboy.

She wore a Little Black Dress.

"You can’t love the Good Daughter! She is a Basket Case." Condesa gasped!

"She is so dumb that she doesn’t even know her A to Z."

"She is so dumb that she thinks 1+1=3."

"Go away! No one bad mouths the Good Daughter!" Yelled the Purple Cowboy.

But she didn’t. So he turned her into a Twisted Pig.

To be continued next Monday.

Globe

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Sunday!

I ordered lesbabies yesterday and am impatiently waiting for them. Thank you all for your advice!

Some serious photographers don't like lensbabies. They pooh pooh the idea. Here is how lensbabies work. Let's say you want to take a photo of an apple. Depending on how you manipulate the lens, in the photo, the apple will be crystal clear and everything else will be a little blurry.

I like that effect. But some serious photographers think that all photos must be fully focused at all times. They don't want to embrace the blur. They find these photos, and I quote here, "nauseating".

Oh well. That's probably the same reaction Picasso got from some of his reviewers before he became accepted as an artist. I mean it looks like he was just doodling. Right?

Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about their opinions. I enjoy photography as a hobby. I like to experiment. I like fully focused shots and blurry ones too. I simply do it for fun.

Since I write and post photos on my blog, I have a need for both. When I am writing about confusion, darkness, doubts etc. I like using blurry photos. Some of them are accidents and some planned.

Oh well.

I can't wait to get my lensbabies and start shooting. You'll have to judge whether you like them or not.

Silly Saturday

So Nicole wanted some silliness this Saturday and since I don't have any cute pets or kids handy, I had to get creative. I thought my entire blog was dedicated to silliness and thought of the most silly thing that I've done and there is a clear winner. So here goes...

The love affair of the Purple Cowboy and the Good Daughter...

Phase 1:



Phase 2:

Phase 3:

Of course more phases to come...

Stay tuned for more silliness...

Dilemma

I have a very interesting dilemma right now. May dilemmas like these come everyday to me and my loved ones.

I recently participated in some contest and the prize was a Flip Video. And I won. I was excited! Now I could tape clips of birdie (my bird) singing, dancing, taking a bath and just being plain mean to me.

But then there was a curve ball. They called me and asked me if it would be OK if instead of the Flip they gave me a 150 dollars American Express Gift card. Flip costs about 129 dollars at Amazon and I could get a little extra stuff. Me being nice and accommodating, immediately said, "Sure. No problems. Sounds great."

So I went to the Amazon site and somehow started looking for camera lenses. And checked out the price of a lens I really want... Lensbabies. Sure enough I found one that was withing the 150 dollar range.

And now I don't know what to do. Buy Lensbabies or Flip? Flip I'll use once in a while. Lensbabies I'll use a lot. All my life. It will help me grow as a photographer.

Also, lensbabies was going to be part of my budget down the road. But I'd never buy Flip. I mean 3-4 videos and then what? But it is a nice to have thingie. I am not planning on posting a ton of videos on my blog. Lensbabies photos absolutely yes.

So what to do my friends? Do tell! Be practical? Be frivolous?

Flip or lensbabies?

Unsolicited Phone Calls

Yesterday I was trying to fix dinner frantically when my phone rang. I don't get very many phone calls on my blackberry so I dashed to answer it. And I got a machine saying this to me:

"Hello! This is a very important call. Please hold for the next available customer representative to answer your call. Do not hang up. This is a very important call."

So this pissed me off at so many levels.

• I am on the do not call list. Why are you calling me?

• I need to watch the American Idol in 2 minutes. Go away. I don't even talk to my loved ones during this time.
  

• If this was such an important call, why is a machine calling me? And then putting me on hold? Surely if it was important, a human being would call me. Ugh. I hate deception.

• What the heck does the word important mean? The word important is used so loosely that it has lost its significance. Important! Important! Important!!!! Since when does a machine decide what is important to ME. Surely the world should know that watching American Idol is more important than anything else. The earth could stop spinning but I must watch American Idol before I tackle that important issue.

• Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

So I did what any normal, caring, nice, decent person would do.

I hung up and turned off the ringer. And watched American Idol.

PS: Love the new judge! Wish Paula would drink some more before the show. Love drunk Paula! Simon is going to be in history for being the king of one liners. He is awesome! Randy has just become pathetic. He is so cruel to participants. He laughs at them and then tried to cover his face with a piece of paper. Not nice. Not classy. At least Simon shows a little respect and is direct. He's not passive aggressive. Randy is really annoying me.

Wordless Wednesday

Welcome Back!

First of all, Welcome back Jodi! We missed you. Wish you much happiness, health, and wealth.

Also a heartfelt welcome back to Ballerina Girl and Blogitse.

I recently got 2 Butterfly awards. One from Jodi and another from Nenni. Thank you so much!

It always amazes me that people read my blog and to get awards is always a huge shock. And I never know who to pass it on to. Because either they've already received the award or they are not into it. What to do?

Thank you so much for reading my blog and thank you for the awards!

Wine Opera: Part 10

Juno Arrives

In the middle of the night, one of the Southern Sisters, Juno arrived at the Purple Cowboy’s house.

“Hey Purple Cowboy! She whispered in his ear. “You need to Live a Little”

“Let’s get Naked”

“And do the Wrongo Dongo”

But the Purple Cowboy had love in his heart only for the Good Daughter. So he said, “Go away or you’ll regret it you Wingnut!”

But she didn’t. So he turned her into a Butterfly.

Simply Alex

So some random stuff today...

• Here is a photo of Alex that I shot. I had fun shooting it even though we shot for only about 20 minutes. I am working on a project called Artist and Muse and will submit 3 photos to a gallery. Hopefully, I will at least complete the process.
  

• Son2 came back from Los Angeles late Friday night. He went there for a debate tournament. And I am pleased to say that he survived his first earthquake! He called his brother at about 2:00 AM to tell him that. Then he proceeded to call all his friends about the earthquake. I found out in the morning and tried to surf the net for the news. It did not even make it to the news so it must have been a really small one. But for us Texans, it was a big freaking deal. We expect the ground we stand on to be... let's say... still? It don't shake in Texas. Why do people live in California?

• We went out for dinner last night to a wonderful Chinese Barbecue place. The food was delicious! It is one of those authentic Chinese places in China Town in Austin. Once you go there, you can never ever eat at the Chinese buffets. Obviously I took some photos so watch this space. I have to say that some food certainly looked different to me.
  

• Son2 ordered a coke and a water for drinks. Guess what he got? A glass with coke and water mixed in it. LOL. We were all laughing so hard!
  

• My boys have a very close friend who they call their "white bro". They've been friend since kindergarten. He is always invited to all the vacations and football games. He came with us yesterday for dinner. I call him my "white son". The three of them are very very close. You know they are close because the first thing he will do when he sees them is punch Son2. In case you don't know, that's how guys show their affection.
  

• The boys leave tomorrow for college. It's taken a while but I've learned not to turn into a weeping/sobbing hysterically mess when they leave. They come back. They do.

• So what is going in in your world?
  

Love's Writ

I had mentioned that I was going to submit some photos to a gallery. The theme was "Love's Writ". I had a little trouble understanding the theme but had some help so I was able to do it. (Carol told me what it meant)

I needed 3 photographs and some words/content to go with it. So I selected some photos and came up with a plan for content.

The tough part was executing it. All I had to do was create the images and submit them. IF my photos got selected, there would be a whole laundry list of things to do like framing matting etc. I have no clue about these things. But Carol said that she would "help" me with it which essentially meant that I was dumping the work on her. At least that's how I felt.

I am so grateful to Carol for everything she has done but I was so not ready for this...

When I added words to one of my good photos, it ended up looking like a hallmark card. Not that there is anything wrong with it but it is not gallery material.

This is a local gallery. I don't want to submit cheesy stuff and be barred forever!

Mytho asked me to show him one of the images so I am posting it here. I love this photo. But adding words to it just makes it cheesy.

So the next project at the gallery is Artist and Muse. I think I will submit some photos for that. We'll see how it goes...

White

My photo entry for Photo Friday...


So I've been in a slump lately as far as writing goes. I've been asking myself if I really want to continue posting daily in January. Quantity or quality? It is tough to write every day and deliver decent content.

I've been doing pseudo things lately...

• Went for a fake walk... No one was wearing proper shoes so we walked around our building in our high heels and Carol would say, "if this was a real walk, we would go on that trail and then come out over there." We actually took the elevator between the floors. But it was nice to get out in the 75 degree weather.
• We did a brief photo shoot with Alex. It lasted about 20 minutes. You'll start seeing some photos of her soon. BTW, if you live in Europe, Alex appears in the Ford Fiesta commercial.
• I wanted to submit some photos to a local art gallery. But when I completed the assignment, my photos looked like cheesy, cheap posters. So I decided not to enter it. The next project they have is called "Artist and Muse". Which is why I am taking photos of Alex. We'll see how it goes.
• I am doing a good job of pretending to exercise and pretending to diet. Its quiet an art.

So that's it. Hope you folks are adjusting well to the start of new year. The boys go back to college on Monday. So until then, everything else can be on the back burner.

Untitled

Wordless Wednesday

Nuclear Physics

Today I feel compelled to write about Nuclear Physics.

You must think that I sit around all day drinking wine and taking photos of wine bottles. That I don't have any mental capacity to understand Nuclear Physics. But you are soooo wrong folks and I am about to prove it.

Pay attention to what I say because there will be a pop quiz after this.

So I know what you are thinking. What in the world does Nuclear Physics have to do with the photo of a man dancing with fire? Well... the answer will be completely clear to you after you complete your pop quiz.

OK. Here goes...

First of all, Nuclear is pronounced as new clear. Not noo cear. Or New Cue Er. Don't let powerful and important leaders of the world convince you otherwise. Those who know how to pronounce it laugh and them and will certainly not be reluctant to laugh at you. So know how to pronounce it.

I've heard a rumor that one of my cousins is a Nuclear Physicist and teaches at some ivy league college. Or does research or something like that. See how good my genes are? So what if I have a degree in English Literature? Studying Shakespeare is as important as studying physics.

Another nephew of mine is getting a PhD in math. Wait. He is not related to me by blood so I guess it doesn't count. But then surely he must have been influenced by my braininess. Why would you get a PhD in math?

So there you go. That's the proof I have about my braininess. Now everybody go to wikipedia and read up about Nuclear Physics. Thinking about this made my brain hurt and I must take a nap now.

PS: If I could get away with sitting around all day drinking wine and taking photos of wine bottles, I'd certainly do it.

Wine Opera: Part 9

The Southern Sisters

At dusk the Southern Sisters had a secret séance.

And prayed to Pinot Evil.

“Help us to get rid of the Good Daughter. None of the men in town even notice us. Not even Joe Blow.”

And Pinot Evil replied, “You must use some Sin Zin”

So they made a plan. An Evil plan.

But they knew it in their hearts that it would not be a CakeWalk.

To be continued next Monday.