The Weekend in Western North Carolina

Well, I'm back! My sister and I had a lovely time with our grandparents!

Both there and back, we flew from Seattle to Chicago/O'Hare, and from there to Charlotte, NC, finally arriving in Asheville, NC. Strangely enough, somebody I knew was on the plane to Chicago, so that was unexpected! We had Quizno's in Chicago, and since the flight from Charlotte to Asheville was so short, they were charging 2 dollars for any drink whatsoever! Crazy times! I remember flying as a kid, and back then on long flights they'd give everyone little food trays. Not now! Holy Cow!

Even though we were really tired when we got to our grandparents house, my sister and I stayed up for at least three hours in our room, talking and laughing. It had been a long time since we've had a sleepover, and smothering my mouth was all I could do stop from making too much noise! Oh, we had a great time! Our first day we worked a lot on a "12 Days of Christmas" quilt puzzle, that was very challenging. But a good part of the day was spent at the "Epic" movie theater, seeing Disney's "Bolt" in 3D. Oh My Goodness! I was crying from the very first scene, it was so cute! Bolt had stand-up ears, just like my blue heeler, Spiffy. And when he pounced on that squeaky carrot... I just lost it. (Linda, I haven't seen that episode of Lassie you mentioned, but there were violins in this one too... along with some soaring French horns. :) My goodness, gracious, I'm going to invest in this one! Very nice indeed! I had lots of tear stains on my face! Was this thing Pixar? I didn't see their name on it anywhere.

My aunt and uncle also live around the same area of Asheville, and they were on a little vacation for most of the time we were there, so we took care of their black lab "Gus". He's a tall and slender black lab, who had legs made out of rubber! He bounces four feet in the air when you come to get him out of his pen! He's so funny! The house they own is on a very little lake, so there are ducks every night (one night there were 20!) and often there were deer on the lawn. Once we saw 5, and another time we saw a faun, still with it's spots! So we had to make lots of trips to their house to pick up or drop off the dog, but it was fun to drive around the beautiful countryside all the time. The first two days we were there, it was brilliant sunshine outside.

On Thanksgiving day itself, we finished the puzzle! I think it was 1,000 pieces, with a lot of repeated patterns as well! But of course, this day we went to the Biltmore Estate for Thanksgiving dinner at the Deerpark Restaurant on the Estate grounds. We arrived 2 o'clock and didn't leave until 4 or 4:30. The restaurant is in a converted carriage house, it's narrow halls lined with glass windows, both on the grounds, and on the small courtyard in the middle. It was buffet style, but what a buffet! I had freshly mixed Caesar salad, a cold chicken pasta salad, strawberries, pineapple, melon, grapes, fresh bread, spicy green beans, catfish cakes baked with nuts, juicy turkey and heaps of jumbo shrimp cocktail! My goodness! I was full! But then there was tea and desert... I had a delicious vanilla cheesecake and scoop of ice creme. A Thanksgiving to remember, for sure! When we got back home, after picking up Gus, we watched that Jimmy Stewart movie that we had never seen before, "The Shopworn Angel" from 1938. It was pretty different from the other ones he made, but I enjoyed it all the same.

After waking up from a nightmare (whew!) and after breakfast and after dropping off Gus, (whew!) , we went for a short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at my request. We brought a boxed lunch of beef sausage and cheese sandwiches, along with snacks like raisins and string cheese and sliced apple. It felt like a camping lunch from Tuscarora (the resort my grandparents ran in northern Minnesota for 25 years) and I enjoyed it very much. The Blue Ridge is run by the National Parks, and a few miles up the trail from the highway, is a visitor's center and folk art center that we visited. I found a couple of patches! and in the art portion, I bought a little fish made out of decorated metal... both things that fit well in my various, strange collections. :) The parkway was closed 8 miles up from the center, but we drove all of them anyway, and I was able to take a few pictures as well. That night we picked up my aunt and uncle from the regional airport (there are 4 or 5 gates) and drove them home to the delight of their long, lost doggie.

On Saturday, (wow, that was just yesterday!) my aunt came over in the morning, and her and my grandma and my sister and I did a few crafts. We made decorative paper boxes and made Christmas bracelets and beaded winter pins. Grandpa declined. LOL After a little bit of just plain visiting, my aunt went home and then we all met for dinner at a great little (authentic) Mexican restaurant called "Papas and Beer". Now for any of you that know Spanish, that should be "Papas and Cervesa" (potatoes and beer), but to each his own, I suppose. I had shrimp enchiladas and Mexican rice and refried beans... it was a much lighter Mexican than I usually have, and it was very nice. But after that we headed off to The Flatrock Playhouse for a Christmas play called "Dear Santa". We sat in the 2nd row (just like the two other plays I've seen this year... :), and enjoyed ourselves heartily. The rest of them had seen this play a few years ago, but everyone besides my sister didn't quite remember how it ended, so we were mostly all in the same boat. The one character we all loved the most was an elf named "Bolzidar", who used lots of common phrases, but got them messed up. "She's a stone's throw away." "What?" "She's a castaway." Or... "I'm playing the Devil's Avocado." Or... "I'll bet your bottom." (dollar- LOL) and on and on! I should have written them all down! But the whopper at the end... Santa's assistant had described Santa earlier on to this guy as "The Great Wheel" and "The big cheese". So when Santa was leaving, the elf told him in hilarious earnestness, "Goodbye you great big wheel of cheese!" It was a great, feel-good holiday play that taught us about the Christmas spirit and making and being friends and understanding parent's scolding, among other things. Very cute and very well done! Some of my favorite regulars were in it, Michael Edwards (who played Ben Franklin in 1776) played Santa Claus and Scott Treadway (from various plays, like Leading Ladies) played a great character (a sleigh salesman from Detroit) named Lou Flapdoodle. What a hoot!

In the past, I've seen 1776 there, Leading Ladies (and I Love You... on the same trip), along with a few others that don't have photo albums, like "Beauty and the Beast", "There Goes the Bride" and a few others.

This morning we left really early (like 5:40 Eastern - yikes!), and had a long layover in Charlotte where we had bagels and watched most of "The Emperor's Club". I saw my first snow of the year in that tottlin' town, where they sprayed the wings with some defroster. I slept quite a bit on the plane, but also did a little fanfiction writing. Grace and Victor! Whoowho! We'll see how it goes - I love the story, but I hope I do it justice.

Jp

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! North Carolina is beautiful! I'm having a lovely time with my grandparents! But I only have a second to check email / write this while we're working on a puzzle. :)

Cheers!

Jp

The boy scouts might have been right!

Not to disagree with Doug, because I know that seeing Betty is incredible by itself, but the sun came up right as I left Jazzercise this morning... Lord God! What glorious colors!

The light purple clouds were brilliant fuchsia underneath, capping a bright yellow sky, covering the dark line of the mountains with the tall shapes of firs strikingly interrupting my view of the horizon. Mount Rainier, covered with snow, stood out huge and blindingly white... and I continued down the road to work. My goodness, would I like to just sit around and look and photograph!

Jp

Printing and Things

Well, I overslept, but that was fine by me! I woke up precisely at 9:25, when I had wanted to leave around 9:30, so I ended up getting to campus a little after 10. I started by developing assignment 6 - it turned out alright, even though it didn't rewind correctly. I only lost 3 pictures by opening up the back... this happened once before this quarter... and I was saved by creating a darkroom in the bathroom and rolling it up by hand and putting it in the little plastic film case that rolls come in.

There were lots of people in the lab today, so many so that I had to use one of the newer machines that I was afraid of trying... and it turns out that they are easier to use! You only have to adjust knobs for getting the filter instead of actually putting a filter in on the older machines. Better late than never, I suppose. I ended up making prints from my last two assignments, as was my intention today. So generally speaking, everything went swimmingly.

I forgot to mention on Friday, that I watched Kit Kittredge from Netflix with my parents. I enjoyed it very much; it was cute, but not in a bad way. I really enjoy stories from the depression era anyway :) My parents said they liked it too. (Thanks, Linda, for the suggestion)

Today after lunch, the family were busy watching Kung Fu Panda, which I have already seen, so I nestled myself away in my room and watched Road to Morocco, for the very first time (Thank you Mike!) and I just loved it! The opening from TCM made me nostalgic for AMC... Well, the one we knew so many years ago. And for Bob Dorian as well... nobody can announce an old movie (or a TV show) like good old Bob! Bing and Bob (Hope, not Dorian) were so funny! My gosh! I can't believe I haven't seen these before!

For the rest of the evening, I took care of cleaning up the kitchen from our various meals today... while pretty much everyone else watched the premiere of the new 24 episode... yuck. I lasted about 2.4 minutes before I had to stop watching.

Jp

Shmatterday

Got up early this morning, but not on purpose. When I woke up, I thought that I was late for work. It took me a minute to realize I wasn't late for anything, but was supposed to be sleeping in... huh! So I got up anyway, and did a little cleaning before I took a shower. When I was done with that everyone had woken up, so I ate breakfast with them before I took off to go to the U for some photo printing.

What I didn't realize until I walked up to the door of the lab, was that today it opened two hours later for a snafu they had with the water this weekend. They reminded us in class, I just forgot about it. So to kill time (and enjoy myself), I went into the Burke Museum of Natural History (on campus) for 20 minutes or so, and then I drove down to the Museum of History and Industry that's right across the ship canal from Husky Stadium. Mom says that I was there once as a little kid, but I had no recollection of that. It was a great one!

Printing went rather well; I finished prints from assignment 4 and made a contact sheet of the negatives from assignment 5. Assignment 6 is officially in the can, so tomorrow I'll develop that and print from 5 & 6 and then that's all there is to do. Good thing! Because with no labs next weekend, I only have the first week of December to finish up! Holy cow! It's almost December!

I'm going to be leaving to go see my grandparents on Tuesday for Thanksgiving, and I won't have any opportunity to blog or chat while I'm there... :( But I'll make sure to update on Sunday the 30th, when I get back.

Jp

You could call me happy

Last night in the dark room, I only had time to develop my roll of film from assignment 5, but it was good to get it out of the way. My teacher was pleased with my 3 prints too! And he only gave a suggestion for one of them.

Last night my sister was well interested in watching "The Majestic" (the only movie I love that has Jim Carey in it - The Truman Show is good, but I like "Majestic" way better) because she's a fan of Martin Landau. And I remembered how much I like it, with all of its small-town scenes. It's set in 1953, during the Hollywood blacklisting. There are several very touching scenes - and an extra movie built in! Very well done, even though what happens in the end is historically inaccurate. Definitely worth watching!

So, today while browsing on Facebook, I checked out my Remember WENN group and found that Christopher J. Byrnes had not only joined it, but had also posted a trivia question on it merely two days ago!!!!

You could say that I am what some people refer to as "happy" - LOL!

Jp

Simple Notes

Tuesday's photography class was different because Carla was sick. David covered for her so we really just had a conversation about photography, about the direction of it and the diversity of the forms of it. This was supplemented by 3 presentations, and we left after about an hour and a quarter of class time.

I found a few more awesome patches on eBay... I can already tell what one of my new year's resolutions will be... maybe limiting myself to one online purchase per month or something... LOL! I found a nice Disney World one, an Asheville North Carolina one, one from Nashville, one from Gettysburg that I considered getting when I was there and didn't... and a few others. One that made me laugh (but was too expensive) was this:




Wednesday night, my teacher had an exhibition of 20 of his pictures at a church in Bellevue. They were his first venture into photoshop after decades of working with photography. He didn't do any combination printing, but did dodge and burn a little :) It was a great show! The theme of the show was "Off the Wall", photos of interesting walls or surfaces from all over the world, most of them being murals. I stayed an hour and got to talk to him quite a bit.

By the time I left, the evening traffic had subsided, so it only took me about 20 minutes to get home. Becky then came by for a few WENN's, and we delighted ourselves to "From the Pen". It always knocks me over when Eugenia meets "Victor" and when the reflecting ball drops from out of nowhere... not to mention everything else. LOL!!!!

Jp

Hello Monday!

Well, I tried getting out of bed for a workout, but I laid back down instead. It was stretching it a little to expect myself to pop up ready for Jazzercise after such a weekend. Whew! In fact, I turned off my next alarm and rested for "just a minute more..." and woke up 30 minutes before I should have been to work. Good thing I'm only 15 minutes from work! But with all the running around I've been doing instead of resting, I ended up with the beginnings of a runny nose today. Silly, silly girl!

So, at noontime, with all the brilliant sunshine outside, I went and filled up my new roll of film with this week's first assignment, which is abstraction; taking close-ups of shadows and shapes. The frame for our dining tent on the deck made lots of nice shadows for shots. One down, one to go! The next assignment is take a picture that makes a statement about some issue that I care about. I have a couple of ideas, but I'm not too sure about them.

The 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is so carefully done to match the book! I don't think I've ever watched something so close to the author's intent! Anyway, hearing the language and customs of manners from Jane Austen novels always makes me wish society acted with a little more grace. Truly, it would be refreshing (one can only dream). And I also feel slightly humbled when I am shocked back into the way we speak today. I only wish my vocabulary would be stronger than it is.

What a pity! I suppose I should read more!
Does anyone have some extra time and patience that they could lend me? LOL

Jp

Running Around Again

Ah, being on campus at the end of the day,
The light blues of the sky are changing to grey.
As I walk down the sidewalk with the smell of the trees,
I savor the sunset shining through all the leaves.

The weather is colder than earlier this fall,
But my sweatshirt is sufficient in spite of it all.
I can't but sigh with longing for the light just to stay,
Ah, being on campus at the end of the day!

Jp

I was feeling a little poetic as I left the U this afternoon, after arriving at 10AM for some photo printing, and then swinging by "Lower Campus" to play with the Alumni band for the women's basketball opener. Printing went very well - I completed what I needed to for class this week, which was fine art prints from our first 3 assignments. The game started at 2pm and went until 4. The women fared much better than the football team did yesterday; they only lost by 6 points instead of 20. It was a fun gig though. I was the only Mellophone, and I sat next to a very nice baritone player. We kept the crowd rocking for quite a while.

So here I am at home. Tonight we're going to be watching the first installment of Pride & Prejudice, the 1995 miniseries. And then, I will probably crash. LOL

J

Crazy Day

Well, today was crazy, but not yesterday. Friday after work I came home and did some sewing. First I fixed my co-worker's leather coat that was tearing at the pocket, then I sewed 17 new patches on my closet curtain. Gosh, that was a lot! But now my curtain is really cool to look at! I collect patches from places that I've visited, sort of as a way to remember them. And I've always loved patches for some reason. I didn't get hungry until late at night, so I went out to Red Robin with my sister and had a good time.

Today, however, I got out of bed running. My sister had a wonderful idea to have some friends of hers bring their little girls out to Carnation for some riding. They had three girls, so everyone got to ride! They all really enjoyed it, so it was a perfect morning! When I got home around 2:30, I took off for Seattle to pick up some more film and photo paper from the camera store and then went to the U for the beginning of the football game.

So at 4 or so, the Alumni Band started on our circuit, playing for fans for a couple hours (my chops are shot). It was weird to do all of this with it pitch dark outside. We were done by 6:20 or so, and I made my way to hang out with the Varsity band Mellos... and Natalie... which was very fun! I haven't seen her for lots of weeks. I was able to get there in time to participate in all the Mello pre-game rituals - running in an oval and slapping hands while singing the Alma Mater (with choreography) - LOL - and it was worth it to go just for that. I really didn't care about the football game, but I did stay through the first two drives down the field. When I left about a half-hour after kickoff, the Huskies had just tied the score on a lucky turnover. As of right now, they're losing. So what's new?

Jp

Workaday World

So many Usage Change Requests today I could scream! November 26 is "End of the Year" here at work, so everyone is trying to close out their contract numbers before then.

However, going home for lunch today was very nice, since the sun is finally shining after a couple weeks of solid rain. I don't know if I'll be able to go riding this weekend, because the Tolt River, between here and Carnation, is flooding and some roads are closed. According to today's Seattle Times, there's a state of emergency in three counties of western Washington. (from the site, click on the gallery link - "Why did the salmon cross the road?")

Speaking about the end of the year and November, most of our pretty leaves are gone already! There are a few reds and yellows scattered here and there, but most of it is all gone! Tonight I'm going to post a tribute to Fall on my picture blog. [except, now it's too late and I forgot how to log into my other blog... another time - 11:40PM]

Jp

Bon Appetite

I feel like this week has been slowly crawling by. Maybe because the stuff at work is mind-numbingly boring, or maybe because I didn't have class to rush off to last night. Anyway, it's only Wednesday and I still have another 9 hour workday until Friday can be brought. But tomorrow night I do have class to rush off to, so perhaps that will speed it up. The weekend is sure to fly by, since I have to go to Seattle on both Saturday (for the last home game) and Sunday (for a different band gig).

Last night I occupied myself by making a couple pumpkin pies for the family. I had to go to Safeway to pick up one of the cans of pumpkin, and it turned out to be $1.99 for just one 15 oz. can! Holy cow! But it was just one, so I got it (while the crust was chilling) and then mixed up the two batches when I got home. The one can we had from the pantry turned out to be expired as of June 2008, but mom shrugged that off as irrelevant for canned pumpkin. And it tasted great for desert after the leftovers we had for dinner tonight. Thanksgiving usually heralds the coming of pumpkin pie at my house, but as my sister and I are going to North Carolina for the holiday, I wanted to have some still.

At work today, the company had a turkey dinner served for lunch. It was potluck style, with employees bringing side dishes, salads, drinks and TONS of deserts. There is always so much food... I had the turkey with gravy and stuffing, a roll of rye bread, three different salads, a pesto pasta, a little bit of tasty Brussel sprouts (baked with oil and herbs - YUM!), strawberries, fruit salad, and only a tiny bite of my boss's chocolate cheesecake, a fudge cake and a tiny slice of apple pie to finish it off. And because I knew all this was scheduled for today, I made myself go to Jazzercise this morning, even though I stayed up way too late again.

Jp

Happy Birthday Washington State

119 years old on Veteran's Day for us and Remembrance Day for Britain and France.

I had forgotten about Washington's anniversary until I saw this site from Linda's blog...

Embarrassed! But thank you Linda - those are some pretty darn cool pictures from the turn of the century.

Jp

Try it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbEzJY8CWtA

Okay, for a moment, imagine that Jonathan Freeman is singing this song in a different story altogether... say in the beginning of "Who's Scott Sherwood" for instance... and tell me what you think. Substituting "Scottie" for "Ali" works wonders. This is what was on TV when I walked in the door on Sunday, so I'm not as crazy as one may think... hopefully. It's just that I had very insane parody running through my head and it nearly knocked me on the floor with laughter. Maybe you had to be there... I dunno.

Jp

Jafar - R. Pruitt (they do have the same voice after all)
Ali/Aladdin - Scott
Jasmine - Betty
The Sultan - Victor
Iago - Ms. Cosgrave
Abu - Maple
Genie - Mackie? I can hear him saying the genie's lines at least...
Flying Carpet - Mr. Foley
Cave of Wonders - Hilary? LOL
The guy who dies in the cave in the beginning - Jeff
The Narrator - also could be Mackie, maybe Eugenia

Mr. Eldridge and Gertie are kind of left out... but there are plenty of minor characters.

Happy Birthday USMC

233 years old: The Continental Congress approved a resolution calling for two battalions of Continental Marines on November 10, 1775.

Jp

Sunday, Busy Sunday

After waking up with my alarm around 8:30, I went straight to the U district after filling up with some gas for $2.34 a gallon. Lab hours in the dark room started at 10 AM, so I got a little bite to eat at QFC before I headed up to campus.

I parked for free - thank you Sundays! - and got to the photo room right when the technician arrived. There were four other students who were there as well, so I wasn't alone! I was pretty nervous about processing my film, because so many other people were having trouble. So far, I had only done part of the process with three others about three weeks ago... but it turned out just fine. (Whew!) Developing took around an hour, and while the negatives were drying, I started on printing photos. I ended up spending 5 and 1/4 hours there, printing 3 contact sheets and 8 photos. So, I'm all caught up with my class, and I'm feeling pretty good because I really liked at least a couple of my photos. I am running out of photo paper though, so I will probably go back to Glazer's Camera next weekend or something.

I was just wiped out when I got back home. Goodness gracious! So to keep from not being able to get up from our couch, I took the dog on a leisurely walk around the neighborhood and then went downstairs with my sister to work on WENNish things in our little library. I decided on how I want my website to look like, although I have no idea if I'll be able to do something with rolling pictures... eeeeek. It would be cool though. Instead of generic links to places, I want to have buttons to push which would send you to the page described thereon. I'm also not very sure about copyrights on pictures... if I get them off the Internet, can I just say where I got them and call it good? Hmm.

My good friend then came over to continue our journey through the wonderful, wonderful world of WENN... with The Importance of Being Betty, Another Mrs. Singer, Nothing Up My Sleeve and A Star in Stripes Forever. Next time: FROM THE PEN OF GERTRUDE REECE. LOL! I just watched it the other day and I can't wait to watch it again.

Well, time for another week.

Jp

(note: no disrespect is intended regarding U2's amazing protest song)

What I've Been Up To

Well, it is difficult trying to come up with interesting titles for these things...

My sister wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I went riding alone. Last time I tried taking Roo out into the woods alone he started bucking like there was no tomorrow... he's sort of attached to Molly and gets worried if they are separated. So when I took him out to pick his feet before I tacked him up, he started flipping out. I just spoke softly until he settled down (and his front legs stopped shaking) and was able to do everything with relative ease. I even gave him a bite of hay between the 2nd and 3rd foot for being so good. We didn't go far, but he was still pretty jumpy. He did a lot of half prancing/ half trotting when I wanted him to walk (it was pretty slippery out because of all the rain we've had here lately) and when I wanted him to go on instead of turning to the right to go back to the pasture, he did a little, tiny hoppy bucking, but that was nothing compared to the rollercoaster I rode a while ago when I lost my stirrups and figured out how to hang on with my thighs. There's nothing like a good buck for learning how to hang on. :) After that happened, I don't really fear anything about riding. The experience helped me out a lot with self-confidence in more ways than just riding. But that was then, this is now...

We had a nice 1/2 hour ride or so, and then I went back to hearth and home. My sister was watching M.A.S.H. on TV, so I sat down with her. Afterwards, Dad took her and I and my Mom out to Denny's where I had a lovely western burger. Very yummy. Back again at home, we watched the last half of the new "Freaky Friday" (and loved Dina Spybey - always will - Dad said something like 'Hey! Isn't that whats-her-name from Remember WENN?') LOL! Very fun times. And then I went and worked on putting recent pictures in appropriate folders on my laptop (it was getting out of control again) and when I came back out they were watching "A Shot in the Dark". I sat down and watched too, but after it was over, I fell asleep on the couch. I remember Mom putting a blanket on me and and asking if I wanted a certain light off or on... well then I woke up at 7:15 this morning... still in my jeans and sweatshirt. Also very fun!

Today I spent way too much time working on Betty's character profile/walk-through. Uh..I know it's kinda silly, but it is a ton of fun to go through and think about everything important that happened. I don't know if anyone will ever read it (or if I will ever finish! LOL), but it's fun to write. I'm also thinking about what I want the website to look like, and I hope I can come up with a good hosting site and everything else that's involved. Hmm...

But after I tore myself away from that... around the "Close Quarters" - "FBI" time frame, I picked up my camera and finished all my class assignments because there was some nice light outside. It really was nice today after it stopped raining. The assignment from this week was still life, using blacks and whites only in order to understand the camera's meter. I set up scenes with some of the many toy horses we have around here and I think it looked pretty good.

Tonight I have a party to go to for my uncle's birthday. We're leaving here around 6:30, but I should return by 9 PM at the latest. We'll see!

Jp

nothing but work, work, work...

Right now I'm sipping a little Earl Grey, biting off a little bit more of one of my mom's candy cane cookies, reviewing a Manufacturing Order and feeling pretty darn comfortable in a quiet, warm (for once!) building that is sheltering me from the cold, constant rain outside.

I actually went to Jazzercise this morning, as I did on Wednesday this week as well... Two days a week! Gosh! What's happening to my home life? (Smothered Laughter!) Or more appropriately, my sleep-in time!

Jp

Photos!

Hey! Those photo enlargers actually work pretty well!

I printed my first photo last night at class, one of the pics of my mom from my portrait assignment. On the first try (on the test strip), the photos wouldn't develop and we were all wondering why... until we realized that the developer was used up. So on my test strip, I got this extremely faint print of my mom that faded off into nothing on the edges, sort of like an old, old photo. So I kept it anyway, because it looks sort of dreamy. I'll try to scan it in sometime so I don't have to write a 1,000 words about it... :) Anyway, after the developer got changed I got a pretty good print. But I also found out that the actual negative was a taken a little bit out of focus. Good thing I tend to like soft prints!

I'm a pretty dorky person. I felt "cool" walking around with my olive green, 1940's, army reproduction Musette bag on which I had stenciled the letters "US" to make it look more authentic. :) I use it for all my photo gear that I bring to class... Oh, and the tuna sandwich I bought at the business school cafe before class wasn't quite as good as it tasted last Tuesday. Oh well. Maybe I'll try something new next time.

Traffic was absolutely awful last night! I think it might have been the rain, but seriously, why can't people not freak out about the weather? They would all die if they tried to drive in China.

LOL

Jp

Yesterday

I had an unusually interesting day at work yesterday... I had ordered up a box from our records management center like usual, but I couldn't find the lot I was looking for. There were supposed to be three lots for the one serial number (as described on the detail sheet) but only two of the numbers matched. The extra lot was from a totally different program, so I showed it to my coworkers... and it turns out that it was a majorly important lot that had been "lost" right before I started working here in 2006. The lot I couldn't find before, I found jammed in the back of the previous lot. Strange stuff going on there, whoa! Anyway, my boss was very happy with me.

As far as the election went, nothing really shocked me. The "death with dignity" initiative passed here (as it did in Oregon a few years ago)... I don't know how good of an idea that is... because it seemed to me that it didn't have enough safeguards regarding insurance companies. Who the heck is the electorate anyway, to decide such an issue like this? Shouldn't there be a debate by professional philosophers instead of asking random street people? I hope it does not get abused, because if it does, it will be legalized murder. I was a little surprised that the governor's race went the way it did though. I thought people would be tired of the incumbent, and that the race would be way closer than it was.

Jp

Election Night

While walking the dog around the neighborhood, I realized how I would sum up my political theory on this, our election night:


My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

My native country thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills,
My heart with rapture thrills like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees, sweet freedom's song.
Let mortal tongues awake, let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our father's God, to thee, Author of liberty, to thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light,
Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King.


Although, of course, this is set to the tune of 'God Save the King', written in 1744 by some English dude, (from what it says in my hymnal) the words here, written by Mr. Samuel Francis Smith in the mid-1800's resound for me today.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

Jp

[except for these other songs... (11/5/08)]

1913, Katherine Lee Bates:

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
(followed by 3 extremely idealistic verses)

1983, Lee Greenwood: (my year!!!)

I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas, from sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston, and New York to L.A.
There's pride in every American heart, and its time we stand and say.

1938, Irving Berlin: (which I especially love since Washington has mountains, prairies and oceans with white foam...)

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

God bless America, land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America, my home sweet home.

1944, Woody Guthrie:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
Saying this land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

:)

Class 'N Things

I was worried about the traffic when I left work, because the rain was coming down so hard and it was dark out, both factors that cause drivers in Seattle to go 25 miles under the speed limit. And when I got out on the road it started hailing. But when I went a couple miles down the freeway, all of a sudden everything stopped, and it was actually quite lovely out, with a light blue horizon under the billowing clouds above me. But by the time I got to the U, it was raining hard in Seattle, so I arrived to class absolutely drenched.

Well, about the test. It was not only the funniest one I've ever taken, but it was also probably one of the easiest. There were roughly 17 multiple choice questions and two short answer questions about our personal experience with the photographers we've covered and aspects of photography we've talked about. My favorite question that some people actually missed:

The "ghost" in this picture was caused by: (these are not exactly word for word)

A. Photography that could now capture spiritualism
B. The "ghost" coming into the frame for a second or two and leaving, or multiple negatives combined together
C. Carlaotypes and Fragerotypes

(The teacher's name is Carla Frager - and some people guessed that one! The lesson from the evening - know your teacher's name...[and remember that she's kinda silly...] LOL!)

It was great fun and class let out only after an hour. Many people were interested in watching the results of the election come creeping in. I think I'd settle for a nice dinner at home instead.

Jp

Like Night and Day

It was a little shocking to walk outside after work at the regular time yesterday and find it pitch black, when on Thursday last week, it was still sunlight. Amazing what one hour back (I had to think for a moment - darn that Scott! LOL) and a couple days can do to the sun.

Last night I did some reading and watching Mission:Impossible with my sister before I fell asleep in the chair and woke with a shooting pain in my neck and a right hand fast asleep from sleeping with my head leaning on my hand... (what the heck was I doing?)

Tonight is the first of two quizzes in my class. I think I'm going for Julia Margaret Cameron as my favorite photographer so far, but William Henry Jackson's work in the untamed West is almost as entrancing for me. We'll see how my short essay will go.

Jp

Bleak Light

I didn't even sleep in as long this morning as I did yesterday! And yet I stayed up later than the night before... lol. I suppose having two good sleeps in a row helps quite a bit.

But now it got to be 6pm, and it's pitch black outside! Here we go into the heart of fall, ever leading to Winter and December... yikes!

Anyway, this morning I listened to a sermon on Christian kindness from a couple weeks ago with my sister, and messed around in my room, setting up where I'm going to sew the patches I got recently on my closet curtain. Mom and I then headed off to church and I got to drive the new family car, a Buick Rendezvous (that we affectionately named Frogs - the car has a French name :) At this point we're in a passage in 1 Thessalonians 5, and again, the message was very good. It was good to be back in church, since I hadn't been able to make it for quite a few weeks in a row.

After lunch with the family, which was breakfast... yum! I headed out to take some pictures for this week's assignment, which is half focused in "depth of field" and half in stopping & blurring motion. We're supposed to be creative, and it's hard for me to do that at the drop of a hat. I ended up liking the pictures I took for depth of field (we'll see how they turn out), but I'm a little unsure about how to be creative with motion/shutter speed. Eeeek.

So, Becky came over tonight after her work and we partook of the next disc of Remember WENN, including "Drama vs. Comedy", "Who's Scott Sherwood", "The New Actor" and "Two for the Price of One". Becky now fully understands my feelings for Mr. Sherwood. Holy Toledo! WSS makes me angry! And then I practically die when Betty hears Jonathan Arnold in the "New Actor". So romantic. (sigh) And then to realize that "Two for the Price of One" is dated by two separate instances... gosh! Too bad Mr. Holmes couldn't spread out the dating of his episodes a little more! Well, we know that one's in June 1941, for crying out loud. What about the others?!!!

I'm just lovin' watching these again! A bunch of the enjoyment is lost when listening to episodes... you miss all those looks and glances... the ones that make this show really outstanding. Okay, I suppose I should stop raving about a show that was canceled ten years ago... but I can't. :)

Jp

Rain, Rain, Where Have You Been?

Well, it rained on Friday, and it's pouring out right now. But we've had nice weather here for at least a week or so, so there's really nothing to complain about. It's pretty refreshing actually. Today there was also a nice breeze before it started raining again, so I had a lovely time going outside with Spiffy and enjoying the fresh, cool air on a walk around the neighborhood.

The rain on Friday was not hard, however, and my sister and I went riding as usual. When I got up in the saddle, I felt almost as comfortable as I am in my new car. She also commented that my mounting looks a lot smoother as well. After several months of riding every week or so, I'm glad that it's getting second nature. And Roo is feeling steadier and smoother too. We cantered again today, and the stride or gate, or whatever you call it, was so gentle compared to normal! It was a great time, even though we had to work on doing what I was telling him and not whatever Molly (Meggan's chestnut) happened to do. (Roo and Molly are inseparable friends) We did not stay out anywhere nearly as long as last week, but it was still great fun. We went out on the trail the old way, so nearly everything felt a little different this week. The green waterproof coat I bought at my company store worked very well for its intended purpose. :)

I few people in my group at work dressed up for Halloween, so I dressed up in my camouflage from rotc, complete with cover, LCE, jacket, brown t-shirt underneath and shined combat boots (they needed cleaning with all of the riding in the mud I've been doing these last few weeks). I won the impromptu award for "Attention to Detail". It was pretty fun. My boss dressed up like a cat, my coworker like Sandy from Grease, and others like "the man in the yellow hat" from Curious George, and Dorthy from WizofOz.

And with my military outfit, I learned about a few guys military service that I didn't know about before. It turns out one of the guys was one of the last eight Americans out of Vietnam. He was a navy man at the embassy, and was there only 2 or 3 hours before the Vietcong overran it! Holy cow! What a story to tell! Some people were confused about my nametape being my name. They asked if it was my dad's outfit or something, although it's a small/short size uniform that he'd never fit in, even back in the 80's :) So a lot of people found out that I did ROTC as well.

This morning I woke up at 10:25. It was well needed; I think my schedule during the week really wears me out. I'm finding myself so tired all the time! After cleaning up my desk and carefully checking over my credit card bill, I read a chapter from Starlight Barking, and was amused to find that everyone in the book was sleeping in as well! It's been really nice just staying home all day and taking care of things around the house. It's just my mom and sister and I, since my dad is off with a friend and my brother is off with his friends as well. So it has been relaxingly quiet.

I'm getting into a habit of talking about Fridays and Saturdays together, aren't I? I guess I pretty much stay off my computer on Fridays, just like I like to stay at home on Saturdays.

Jp