A year ago—six months ago even—I didnʼt know what the heck a “Business Consultant” was. Now I are one. And I still donʼt know what it is…

[Gaaked this time from tesla_aldrich.]

"The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.
5) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

Very nice party this evening. Much good music. Many, many good people. My heartfelt thanks to minnehaha K., tesla_aldrich, 7ivy7, and guppiecat who, if I'm not mistaken, made it possible and made it happen and stuff. Thanks also to everybody else who contributed by playing or singing or just being there.

I was very interested in the discussion many of you had about the manipulated photo in my post Curiouser and Curiouser even though I was unable at the time to join in the discussion. (As my regular readers know, my ability to wrangle written words … it comes and it goes.)

Iʼve now gone back and added my 2¢ to that discussion. In addition, Iʼm posting this image here for the benefit of those who opined that it would have been better if I hadnʼt cleared the effect layer from over the modelʼs face. Now that youʼve seen what it looked like before I removed it, itʼs not impossible that youʼll continue to hold that opinion, but I really didnʼt like it. So I removed it. I suppose instead of completely eliminating it I might have tried to reduce the effect over the face or come up with an alternative or something, but just removing it seemed like the best option to me at the time. Anyway, feel free to check out what Iʼve added to the discussion (or not—Iʼm not fussy). I expect Iʼll have more posts and more photos to offer in the near future.

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I recently rediscovered my “portfolio” (which is actually no more a portfolio than my card is a “business card”—itʼs actually an old Samsonite briefcase with three 100-sheet photo-paper boxes full of 8x10 prints I used to haul around with me and show to friends, acquaintances, potential models, and anybody else I could get to sit still long enough to look at it) in a corner behind some boxes. I decided it was about time I started scanning some of the prints Iʼd been toting with me all these years, so I did. This is one of the first of those scans.

It demonstrates the power and utility of using a film camera. You see, back then I stored my film in individual plasticine sleeves, each designed to hold one 6-frame strip of 35mm film. However, I had developed the habit of storing a whole roll of film in each rather than taking the more prudent option of the one-for-one approach. This was partly because the sleeves werenʼt cheap, and perhaps more because if I wanted a sufficient number of sleeves to individually hold all my negatives Iʼd have to get around to going to Century Camera to buy more and getting-around-to-it has never been one of my strong suits.

In any case, the only reason this image even exists is that one fine day I was sitting at the enlarger making some prints. I selected the sleeve these shots were in and slid the film out and—honest-to-G*d-I wouldnʼt-lie-about-this—the two strips of film containing the two shots from which this print was made came out of the sleeve together. I looked down and saw this image. I took the two strips of film, put them in the enlarger together, and made this print.

Lah dee dah, lah dee dah.

So here it is. Hope you like it.

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I suppose I should say somehthing, eh? But I'm feeling paticularly inept and wordless at the moment, so I shan't. Or can't. Or something. Anyway, here's the photo.

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I donʼt know. Probably nothing very special. I kinda like it at the moment, though, so I figured I'd post it.

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…and put myself to bed. I'm feeling remarkably unhappy at the moment. Unusually unhappy. And from a guy who's unhappy all too often, that's saying something. Hope y'all are feeling much better than I.

Hmmm. Next time you see me, please give me a hug. I'll think about that now and it'll help me feel better. Thanks!

(I honestly don't know where I'd be without my friends. G*d bless you all.)

I think that ultimately this one is going to turn out to be too strange even for me. But I nevertheless want to ponder it a while. What do you think?

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It occurs to me that once a man has a vasectomy he can never (again) be guilty of onanism…

I expect Iʼll be out of commission, or perhaps simply unable to sit at a computer, for the next couple of days, so I figured Iʼd post this one now. As always, hope yʼall like it.

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This is all Iʼve got at the moment. There will be more, however.

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From back in ʼ02—just now getting around to the post-processing. I guess maybe the recent addition to my meds is really helping…

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So, like, I have these two separate albums on ImageEvent for my photos from AppleCon 2008: one lives in the Experimental & Artistic folder and the other in the Science Fiction Conventions folder. The basic difference between them is whether they were taken under the influence of my new-found freedom from concern about blur and/or focus or whether they were of a more conventional (heh) nature.

Based on that criterion, this image lives the the former folder even though I think itʼs really just a fairly nice representation of … hm … Hospitality in Action at the convention. That is, while blurry, itʼs not out there on the cutting edge of “experimental.” However, in any case, be that as it may, for better or for worse, one way or the other, here it is, for your consideration and for your viewing pleasure.

AppleCon 2008

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P.S. Iʼve been reading and enjoying your comments and I really intend to respond directly to them (otherwise this whole exercise becomes “all serve and no volley,” which I find to be a whole lot less fun), but it appears my wee little brain is at the moment resisting my attempts to throw the switch over to “respond mode.” Oh fudge. Iʼll get there yet, you betcha.

Okay, yah, I know. Itʼs kind of … you know … touristy. But I rather like it in its own simple way. What can I say?

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Donʼt know that I have all that much else to say right now. So Iʼll just shut up and post.

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Whups! Late for work—gotta go. Later, eh?

Am feeling better today, so itʼll be off to work in a few minutes. But I thought Iʼd stop and post this before I left. Hope yʼall like it!

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AppleCon 2008

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(Still sick and will stay home from work again today. *sigh* At least I know for sure now that I wasnʼt faking it yesterday…)