There’s a lot that’s happened to us over the last while. By “us,” I mean humans. By “while,” I’m referring to the last 100,000 years.
Read More “Black is the Best Color – A Photographic Argument.”
Your Weakness Is Your Greatest Tool
This woman saved lives by embracing the one thing she was ashamed of.
Back In The Day
Yesterday, I got a chance to revisit my childhood. It was an… altered experience.
Went up to Crossroad Village, in Flint, Michigan. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s kind of like Greenfield Village (a city of historical reenactments) set in the mid to late 1800’s. This time of year is specifically interesting there because they break period-character a bit and deck the entire place up in quite a lot of Christmas lights.
When I was a wee lad, it was just crazy to go to a village in the middle of nowhere and see people who still live just like they had 100 years prior. I would take the train ride out into the country and wave to Santa, who would have, of course, been kind enough to grace us, and only us, with his presence as we rode the tracks, listening to the most traditional, old-timey of Christmas carols (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer).
Now the illusion is a bit lost on me, but that’s not to say the experience is not enjoyable – far from it. In my current mentality of “if there’s something I can learn, you best be sure I’m gonna learn it,” the magic of the holiday spirit has been replaced by super-fascinating historical facts. As an example: The train you can ride (on the Huckleberry Railroad) is actually a real-life coal-burning engine from the late 1800s, pulling a dozen cars from the same period. This, of course, is quite an accomplishment, since people have had to maintain the machines in working and aesthetic order for over a century.
A little side fact: Reindeer are ticklish… let me explain. In the spirit of all things festive, a reindeer had been brought in from a local farm for photo opportunities. As you enter the barn, there is a sign near the entrance instructing you not to touch the reindeer as it is “too ticklish” to them. Being a reasonable adult, I deduced that the comment was a friendly, whimsical way of keeping children from taking an antler to the face. Of course, if I were to wait for the impressionable youth to leave I could have an adult conversation with the reindeer’s handler and explain that I would very much like to pet the reindeer and that I would not do something stupid like hang my coat on it. She informed me the sign wasn’t actually a joke and demonstrated by VERY VERY LIGHTLY petting the reindeer. If the reindeer could have spoken it would have said something akin to, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get away from me.” In conclusion, reindeer do not like to be petted.
While the antique train and the reindeer with personal space issues were fascinating, the clear winners of my trip were the historical actors. It wasn’t so much the convincing illusion (they didn’t wear Wolverine work boots back then) but the nerdy factoids these folks had in their heads. I got to see a 100-year old typesetting machine printing a news article, found out that frontier towns sprang up based explicitly on the vicinity to the blacksmith, and learned how to use a straight razor (which I was just recently gifted).
And, OF COURSE, there were some pretty nifty photo opportunities. Here are a few of my favorites.
– Jon
Get the Delorean Ready
I try to be introspective on a regular basis. While I spend a respectable amount of time reviewing failures and successes I’ve had, it feels like I still critique outside situations more than I critique myself.
A few minutes ago Adam’s Facebook told me I need to go read his new post. You should really read it, too. Cash Cat is the bomb.
On a related note I have (sort of) a photographic memory – which would make sense. When I tend to look back on prior experiences (even when something just happens that makes me think of previous endeavors) I have hardly an issue with bringing up a memory that directly pertains to my current situation. Well, that’s not really true either.
More than consciously sorting through a lifetime of experiences, my brain takes the wheel and makes the decision about what’s important. I guess it’s relate-able to a Google search. When someone says “spill” my brain does a little sorting and settles on the time I left a clear glass of clear gelatin in the fridge. Then it broke.
Side note: when cool liquid gelatin and shattered clear glass come in contact with the shelves of a fridge – that’s well below the solidification temperature of gelatin – it’s a bad thing.
But anyway… It’s sort of like my cerebellum processes a query, brings up the first page of results, and auto-picks what it feels is the most relevant. My mouth sort of blurts out whatever it’s told.
So HERE’S where the photo stuff comes into play.
I would like to know what else I know, but don’t know I know it because my brain tells me I know other things. Make sense? Essentially, I want to think about a certain topic and (instead of settling on the first search result) dig a little deeper to see what else I can dredge up.
As a result, I’ll craft a picture or pictureS around whatever prior experience or previously learned knowledge I come up with.
Sound good? Well, I need some help. See – I can’t just think up a phrase or situation out of thin air. My current situation (a laptop, white wall, air conditioner and a foot that fell asleep) are filling my dome with stimulus that will invariably lead to a certain thought.
So I need you to bring up topics or ideas. They don’t even have to make sense. Licorice puppies wearing glasses on Everest would be just fine, but now that I thought about it, the thought process won’t be unique. You understand.
Fill my brain, people!
– Jon
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