Christmas has come and gone...

Yes, dear readers...The tiny hoof prints have melted off the roof, the stockings have been tucked away for next year, and I have only New Years Day to muscle through. Honestly, I love Christmas, and always have, but believe that giving should happen all year 'round, not just this month. That's my rant for the day.

In the world of photography I have some interesting news. Nothing earth-shaking, just that I have decided to 'go retro' as well as keep the digital medium in my life. In this light I searched for a few days on eBay for some older cameras and I found them. One was a Kodak Instamatic from the 1970s ($6.00 incl p/h) and the other was an Agfa Silette, built around 1953 or so. The former many of you will remember as the first true point-and-shoot unit with the 120 cartridge film. That is a sticky fact actually, since the film is not made anymore. The Internet is a big place, however and I found the film and the means to have it developed. The Frugal Photographer is the place to go for hard to find stuff, and they have the connections to develop your older film stocks. Yes, the prices are a bit high, but for a project like this, it is worth it. Their website is fun to check out, too.

The Agfa Silette ($45.00 incl s/h) is another fun one, and not your average P-A-S. This baby actually makes you work for the shot and limits your range of possibilities. First off, it only really shoots either 60 or 100 ISO film well. Anything else may be too fast. Then you are made to actually look at the light and gauge the f-Stop, either with a light meter or by guessing, and adjust the limited range (between 2.8 and 16). Then you have to adjust the shutter speed (B to 1/200sec), and then figure out how far you are away form the subject (3 ft to infinity). All of these functions are on the lens. I love it. I found some b/w100 ISO at B&H Photo and have loaded it, by hand. There are no batteries in this baby. All the winding up/down is by hand. How fun will this be!

In other news, I am getting ready to take off for the summer (Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia) and have purchased my tickets and made some hotel reservations. I am excited to do this trip, again. The Bosnian part will be an adventure certainly, since I am working there. It's nice to cease being a tourist once in a while, yet still remain an outsider. I also celebrated 5 years sober the other night at my home group. It was truly a humbling moment for me. I couldn't have dome it without all of you! I'll post pictures of the marbles later.

So thanks all...I'm off to run errands. Remember...Fill the frame, stretch the depth-of-field, create the tension...Travel off the map of your world.


Johnnyboy

To the city and back again...

I visited my father and his wife the other day in The Big City. I was mentally, spiritually, and emotionally prepared. It was a very nice 24 hours with them. The weather was good, the food was edible, the conversations were civil, and I didn't rankle when they engaged in their personal obsession about weight gain/loss, exercise, etc...This is an example,
Pop: So, do you have a scale?
Me: Nope.
Pop: You mean you don't weigh yourself?
Me: Nope.

'Nuff said about his obsessive compulsive attitude towards weight, weight gain, and working out.

We exchanged gifts, and then I left Friday on the train back home. It was good to be home. The Big City was pretty crazy.

Our Christmas tree is up and mom and I will decorate it tomorrow. I have photographic news, and other stuff too, but I am suddenly feeling the non-blogging bug. So much to say and no words to describe it.

"Grey's Anatomy" is driving me crazy. I have just finished Season 3. I have been told by some actual hospital pros that the scenarios are not far off the mark. Let's just hope they wash their hands.

I am starting "Dexter" tonight. If you don't know it's the show with Michael C. Hall of "6 Feet Under" fame playing a forensics expert who becomes a serial killer. It's supposed to be gruesome and funny, if those two words can be combined.

I'm off to dinner with friends and then a meeting. La-di-da...I need coffee...


Johnnyboy

A new room, a new link, and dinner with mom...

I heard some poor advice on some TV show the other night...'If a man lives with his mother, run...'. I think this is unfair to those of us who have given up our careers to live with our elderly parents in their time of need. I just thought I'd get that out.

I'm making dinner tonight. We are having grilled lamb chops from a local farmer who we let hunt on our land. In return he gives us lamb, ground beef, etc...all free-range, free of drugs, etc...Tasty stuff. Just to clarify, he hunts deer, not sheep and cattle. Along with that I am roasting acorn squash and serving some salad on the side.

Here is my hotel room in Plitvice (Pleet-veets-say)National Park in Croatia, on the Bosnian border. It is a lovely place, somewhat high altitude rain forest, with a series of tiered lakes that are this crazy aquamarine color due to natural mineral content. Google the name and you'll find out the history or go here to the UNESCO list and find out for yourself--Fascinating (sometimes tragic) and wrapped in history and current events.

It rained almost the entire time I was there in June and it was pretty cool at night, around 50*F. The fun thing was that I had driven that day from Split, on the coast, where it was 85*F and dry to this wet, cold, drizzly green place. I was alone in the hotel except for a large group of Japanese tourists on a bus who stayed inside. I had the park almost all to myself!

I have added a new link at the bottom..It's to a fellow blogger and professional librarian. She was (is) part of the DocPhoWrkshp I have been attending. Check out her blog. Lots to see and do there.


Johnnyboy

Cold and windy...

I'm feeling the stress of Christmas. This is sad, because this time of year, regardless of one's spiritual beliefs, seems to center around not feeling self-centered and stressful, yet here I am. In most ways I am little more than a time-keeper, insuring that packages are wrapped, packaged, and mailed off by this week sometime in time for everyone to receive their gifts? But the question is...If the gifts do not arrive by Christmas morning, is that a problem? Really, everyone in my family is older, stopped believing in Santa Claus decades ago, and for the most part doesn't want or need anything anyway. It's the holiday cheer we all need, and sometimes that gets pushed aside in favor of schedules, postage and handling, and issues of control and order.

It sounds like totalitarianism, or fascism, or something. So I'll try to relax and think of warmer, sunnier climes, like Greece, or Croatia...

During my travels I take pictures of the hotel rooms in which I have slept. I'll start posting some of them. The accompanying picture is of one of them, in Pula, Croatia, last spring--The Hotel Riviera.

Johnnyboy

Snow, snow, snow....

I am very happy that it has snowed. We need the stuff, really. It's actually a drought out there if you can believe it.

My final DocPho class is on Saturday, that means it is the last time that I have to wake up at 4:30am to make a 6:25am train to be in class by 10am...Exhausting, really. I am ready with my essay on finding a 'visual voice' as well as some new pictures. For some reason I got it into my head to continue the 'Christ' thing, a la crucifixion, Jerusalem, etc...This is from the same series, but has no connection to the group. I may not use it. It's called 'bookbag'.
Johnnyboy

Conventions, get-togethers, etc...

The 14th Annual SE European International AA Convention in Greece has officially been posted. I will be making my reservations soon, for a three-person room. I can always sell the beds. There is always overflow. The prices have not increased, which is nice because the almighty dollar is tanking. The dates, btw, are May 15-18 2008. The link is not up on the Int'l Events listing yet, but it will be.

I will also be attending the NERAASA (Northeast Regional AA Service Assembly) in New Jersey come February. Since I am my groups GSR and have just been appointed Alternate District Chairperson, I have to go. It will be fun because I am not going alone. It will be me and at least 4 other folks--the District 17 DCM, the other AltDCM, and our Treasurer.

I have been looking for a new eye in my photography. I have made some changes. I am using a 50mm lens, shooting only in b/w, and have switched off the auto focus. the last represents my final step towards full manual operations. Here is a picture I took yesterday. It's all about textures and time. I am calling this 'Stigmata'.

Johnnyboy

Finishing up...Feelin' Loopy....

My homework for the DocPhoWorkshop tomorrow is finished...

I have finished my Historiography class and have received an 'A' for that...

I have registered for next semester (12 credits)...

I am in the midst of watching '24 Season 6'--kinda lame, I know, but escapist...

I am digging the soundtrack from 'Grey's Anatomy'...

Mom is really doing well...

It's snowing outside, and it is very pretty...

Still sober...

..and I'm feeling pretty good about all of this stuff.


Johnnyboy

Humbling commitment...

I spoke tonight at a nearby treatment center. Cornerstone is a pretty hardcore place. It is pretty much the last hope for many people. Most of the residents are African-American, right off the streets. Old, young, male, female--they are all there. It must be a culture shock to be suddenly transplanted in the middle of Dutchess county with no street noise or lights, or any other urban aspect to cling to while they sober up. In some ways it was very intimidating, but that's good for me. It helps keep me sober by sharing my story with these folks, and in the end we are all the same, just a bunch of ex-junkies and alcoholics in recovery working on our programs and trying to live with our new sanities.

I sometimes feel out of place in facilities like these. My story doesn't include abject poverty, multiple trips to jails and rehabs, narcotics, racial prejudice, and so forth. It does include trying to fit in and doing anything to do so, feeling empty and alone, arrogant and terrified, helpless and hopeless, and crying for help with an empty voice. These are things we all can share.

They thanked me for sharing...shook my hand. All I could say was 'thank you'.

I left feeling grateful, sober, sane and humble.

Johnnyboy

Anniversary on the way...

This is my anniversary month. I cannot believe that five years have past since I finally got honest. So much has happened and I am not the man I was when I came in from the cold. School, travel, home life, friendship, fellowship, trust...All that stuff was a vague concern several years ago, yet like many of my type, I longed for it all. I have worked for it and earned it.

I read a good meditation earlier that reminded me that by coming into the Rooms, I have been allowed to live two lives. The life before sobriety was full of selfishness, pain, and darkness. This new adventure gives me the chance to alter my perceptions and move through the world without leaving a negative footprint. That's a funny way to see it, really, since a footprint is a 'negative' of the bottom of my foot.

I watched 'Evan Almighty' the other night. Cute, but not as good as 'Bruce..." I liked the bit, though, when God is telling Evan's wife that he doesn't give out things (in this case familial closeness) but rather puts humans in a position to achieve it themselves, whatever 'it' is...

Here's a question...How many movies can Steve Carell make in one year?

Johnnyboy