Thankful

Since today is Thanksgiving I thought my latest assignment from Video Techniques class would fit right in. We were tasked with illustrating, through video, something that was very important to us, something we could not live without. Basically, something for which we are thankful.

I have a lot to be thankful for, most importantly my family and friends.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hopefully you find something you can be thankful for:

all photos by me, except the earth. I don't have a tripod that reaches that high. ;)

Shi's A Heartbreaker

I am now taking a video techniques class at school and below is my first assignment. We had to make a 30 or 60 second commercial. I chose my favorite perfume, Shi, by Alfred Sung.

Yes, the bottle is half empty. I said it was my favorite, didn't I? Sadly, I somehow left it at the park and when my actress and I went back the next day to get more shots, it was gone. If I smell it on anyone there in the future, I'll know at least it found a happy home. 

The song in the commercial is The Golden Age by Beck from probably one of my favorite albums of his, Sea Change.

Pictures From A Sunday Evening

 

Photos taken at Lions Bridge on the James River in Newport News, VA. 

Pretty Way To End The Day

What a nice day. This is how it began when I posted at 8 am today: 

And below is how it ended, in the same exact spot, 12 hours later at 8 pm tonight:

Of course, I used a real camera for the night shot. No way my cell phone picture would suffice. Question to anyone who is astronomically inclined. What is that bright star or planet below the moon?
UPDATE: I've heard it on good authority that the star just below the moon is Jupiter, and tonight is actually the Harvest Moon. Lucky Me! 

Pretty Way To Start The Day

Usually I don't turn around to look at the sunrise as I'm walking out to my car each morning, but today the light was kind of magical. So, I turned around to find this.  Do they sell this kind of lighting at Ikea?

Tre Moon

La Bella Luna

photo taken Saturday, August 21, 2010

Memory Lane

I've been feeling nostalgic lately, looking at old pictures and talking to old school mates on facebook. It's been fun. I thought I'd lost a lot of memories but then you talk to old pals to find that each of you has certain memories, which in turn, fills in a lot of blanks and knocks old memories loose from deep down in the caves. 

I was looking at my yearbook from junior year and just had to post this awesome note from a friend, Hung Bui. We were in government class together, if I remember correctly, and he just sums my high-school-self up perfectly: 

For those who can't see the picture, or read his writing:

"To a reject from Little House on the Praire. Keep up the good work. I hope you learn your lesson after you keep hitting me. Have a wonderful summer. Don't work too hard. Have fun dreaming about Sting. Maybe one day you might be his wife. You never know! See you in the fall. Then we will be seniors. (Boy that will be great). '88' Hung Bui"

Funny story about Hung. Well, at least I think it's funny and something worth writing down in case it ever actually does slip my memory. Hung sat in front of me in class and one time he turned around and had blue ink allll over his mouth and tongue. Seems he liked to eat pens or something. Anyway, it cracked me up so much. Thank goodness he was a good sport. He had a great sense of humor and we were always joking around and busting on each other. [wonders if that dates me to say "busting on"]. So, forever after that, Hung was affectionately known to me as "Tongue Bluey". Get it? Hung Bui (prounounced boo-ee). Of course, I'd probably get sent to the principal's office if I said that now.  I'd like to see what I wrote to him in his yearbook. I'm pretty positive that's how I referred to him in it.

Oh, and here's the reason for the "reject from Little House on the Praire" comment: 

My sister made this dress for me. It had a tiny little flower pattern. I loved it and wore it all the time. I had a few of them, too. And of course, there is the awesome trench coat to complete the ensemble. Another reason I identified with Ally Sheedy's character in "The Breakfast Club". Which reminds me, August 6th was the anniversary of the death of John Hughes, my teen savior. RIP sir.

One Last Time

I just wanted to show you the winning photo from my city's photowalk in Yorktown, Virginia. You can click the picture to go to the photowalk site to see the rest of the entries from our city.

photo by Kristina Johnson

And here is the excellent entry of my photowalk mate, Miss Poo:

Another friend of mine, 3,000 miles away, participated in the walk at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, California. Here's his lovely shot:

As of this posting, his walk leader hadn't chosen a winner yet, so he's still got a chance! Sorry, strike that. I just went back and saw that his leader has now picked someone else as winner. boo.

See ya'll next year!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my (losing) entry was the cyclist. Ah well, better luck next year.

I'm A Vicarious Winner!!

Remember that photowalk I went on? The decisions are in. The walk leaders have made their choices and I am a winner.....vicariously! My SISTER, who participated in the Leesburg, Virginia walk, won for her city!! And I feel like a winner, too!

Here's her winning photo:

(click on picture above to go to her city's walk page.) 

Do you want to know what the best part of this win is? Do you know why I, too, feel like a winner? It is the fact that this picture was taken with a Canon Elph. A little point-and-shoot camera! She beat all the big guns! Just goes to show, and they even stated this in past years on the photowalk site; "Gear is good, vision is better."

Congratulations, Deeroo!! 

Summer Time Blues... and Greens, and Reds, and Yellows

What's been happening...here and there and everywhere.

July 3rd: Yorktown has a market every Saturday morning...

Mom shopping for preserves...

I think this boy was intrigued by the sunflower. He was staring at it for quite a while.

Yorktown is part of the Historic Triangle here on the Peninsula, which also includes Jamestown and Williamsburg.  All three being places you should add to your "to do" list.

July 4th: hmmm. It seems I don't have those pictures on my computer or on my camera. I must have left them dumped on my parents's computer. We'll get those at a later date. Trust me,though, we had fun.

July 11th:  STING!!! Mom and I saw Sting play with members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Northern Virginia and it was amazing.

It's no secret that I've been mad at that man for many years now. He first broke my heart when The Police broke up. I knew at the tender age of 15 that he would never be alone what The Police were together. I still followed him, though. I did love him, you know. Really, I did. Have you ever seen "Lost in Translation"? In a nutshell, "The film centers on an aging actor (Bill Murray) and a recent college-graduate (Scarlett Johansson) who develop a unique closeness after a chance meeting in a grand Tokyo hotel."  That movie was like Sofia Coppola pulled it from my fantasy world. With me and Sting in the lead, of course. Hey. Don't knock it. It could still happen.

Anyway, the show was fantastic and I had my second semi-sort of run with the man himself. I'll fill you in on the first one at a later date. (I know. I often say I will fill you in at a later date, but I really mean it this time.)

Mom and I got to the (I really hate these corporate venues) Jiffy Lube Amphitheatre, in Bristow, Virginia, around 5pm and did a drive through the place to see where we could park. The nice attendant was going to let us park in the closest spot and he told us to be sure to be back by 6pm. After a required stop at WAWA, we made our way back and got a tasty parking spot. We're sitting there finishing up our WAWA hoagies and are just hanging out when this guy rides by on a bike and I say to myself, "Hey, that guy looks like....

....HEY! THAT'S STING!"

I thought I put my camera on video mode after I shot this picture, only to find out after he was out of view that I had actually turned the camera off. See what you do to me, Sting? It's just not right. Ah well. It was certainly a memorable moment for Mom and I.

Then, this young kid road by and I told mom, "I bet he's in the orchestra".


So, now we're in our seats and raring to go after our Sting viewing.

Nothing like the sun...

We sat for an hour holding sheets of paper up to block out that sun.

Then, it was time...

Highlights for me? Sting playing the Theremin on Moon Over Bourboun Street! The theremin is the instrument you hear in all those old spooky movies and it was a perfect addition here.

Then, there is this young lady, Jo Lawry. She was Sting's amazing back-up singer. Though, I'd give her more credit than that. She has a beautiful voice. Look her up.

Remember that kid on the bike I said was probably in the orchestra? I'm pretty sure that's him playing the french horn here. Top row, middle. What do you think?

Bad jumbrotron picture. You probably had to be there.

It was a great night and Sting has partially redeemed himself to me. Though, now that I see him solo again, I get the feeling that he was not giving his all on the Police reunion tour. What a brat.

My Name's Not "Sweetie"!

Have you ever had an obviously younger person call you "sweetie" or "honey" or "hon"? Or maybe even "doll", "dear" and worse yet, "babe"? I think you know what I'm talking about. You are in your favorite restaurant and your young server comes up to you and says, "What can I get for you today, Hon?"  Or, you are inquiring on a purchase at the counter of your favorite store and the clerk says, "Let me check on that for you, sweetie." I don't know about the rest of the world, but this happens to me on a weekly, if not daily basis. And it's not just because I have such a youthful complexion. I've been out with my 75 year old mother where she is addressed in the same manner! It just blows my mind. I don't even really like it when someone older than me addresses me in this way, but when someone is clearly younger than me or even of similar age? NOT ACCEPTABLE! In fact, I've taken to making a joke of it to the offender in hopes of waking them up! Unless otherwise indicated, please call me "ma'am" or by my proper title, "Ms. Foobella".* 

My question to you is, do you dislike this as much as I do? Or, are you even possibly a habitual, albeit well-meaning, offender yourself? Well, this is my public service announcement on one of my greatest pet peeves.

What brought this about?  Recently, as I work in the medical field, I had to complete a computer-based learning class on Age Sensitivity that touches on this most heinous etiquette no-no along with more interesting information on ageism. Though this mostly applies to providing service to the elderly within the medical field, I found it very enlightening and wanted to share it with you. Heck! I've found I, too, have made some of the same mistakes listed below, and now consider myself  "schooled".

Disclaimer: I am NOT implying that all individuals who use these greetings are ageist. As you will see if you read on, it clearly states that most people think they are "showing that they care and that they are being nice" when using such greetings, which, in itself, is commendable, but ultimately I believe, misguided.

Read on:

Ageism is prejudice or discrimination against a particular age group and especially the elderly. - Webster.com

… And it continues to be one of the most prevalent forms of prejudice in our society.

Think about it…

• Do you change the way you talk to someone who seems much older than you?
• How do you view people who seem older than you?

A New York Times article described this NEGATIVE type of communication as “elderspeak”.

What is elderspeak?

Elderspeak is an inappropriate way of speaking to older adults, using baby talk or ‘dumbing’ down the conversation. This type of communication is most commonly used when assumed that the older person probably can’t hear or understand what is being said.

The following are “Don’ts” in communicating with older adults:

• Don’t address the older adult as “Dear”, “Cutie”, “Honey”, or “Sweetie”.
• Don’t address an older person by their first name or referring to a woman or man clearly in their 80’s as “Young man or Young lady”.
• Don’t refer to their careers or interests as “What did you used to be?” or “Who were you?”
• Don’t ask, “How are we feeling today?”
• Don’t speak very slowly or in a loud voice.
• Don’t congratulate simple actions like taking a pill or answer questions correctly with “Good girl!” or “Good boy!”

Most people using elderspeak feel as if they are showing that they care and that they are being nice. What they are doing is giving messages to the older adult that they are incompetent.

Elderspeak is a belittling form of address that leads to a negative image of aging leading to decreased self-esteem, depression and may lead to dependent behaviors.

Studies have shown that older people who were exposed to negative images of aging also performed worse on memory and balance tests and showed a higher level of stress.

“Do’s” in communicating with older adults:

• Use formal greetings unless given the permission to be informal: Example: “How are you today, Mrs. Gooding?”
• Take time to listen.
• Sit at eye level and show interest.
• Be calm and pleasant.
• Arrange for privacy.
• Allow the older adult to set the pace and control the conversation.
• If you have trouble understanding, ask the person to repeat what they just said.

“A society’s quality and durability can best be measured by the respect and care given to its elder citizens” – John F. Kennedy

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If I can help ONE person out there to stop from ever again calling their elders by these cutesy greetings, or committing any other faux-pas listed above, then I will have done my job.

*real name not given in order to protect the innocent...or not so innocent. And my blogging buddies, of course, can just call me "foo". =)

Wet 'n' Wild

I have a bit of catching up to do on posting work from drawing class but I just wanted to get this one posted right now.

I love, love, love working with ink and we learned a new technique last week. I really wish our teacher showed us this technique last semester because I would have used it in my final project.

It's called "wet in wet" and you first wet the area you are working on with a paint brush loaded with water. Then you dip the brush in the tiniest amount of ink and dab it into the wet paper and watch as the paper sucks it up and spreads it across the wetted surface. It's the coolest thing ever and easily my favorite of all our assignments.

The still life above is the second one I did. The first one I did is still at school. We get to display them in a showcase in the hallway for a couple of weeks. This one is my favorite, though. We each had to pick our own subjects to drawn and after I picked the rose I had second thoughts. But now I'm glad I did. I love it. I'm not even done with it but wanted to show you. I have to add more of a shadow to the right of the little cup.

I also wanted to show you a very cool example of the process. Our teacher sent this video she found on youtube. He's using some kind of water bottle, but it's the same basic technique:

Let It Snow

After my soggy bottom adventures at the end of the week, I woke up Saturday to the heavy snow the weatherman had been promising all week. I didn't leave the house the entire weekend and finally, on Sunday evening, I decided to venture out in the snow. I really wanted a cup of joe from Aromas and also to see the City Center fountain in the snow.

I wish I had my camera out when a young couple were doing donuts on the road, probably in their parents' car.

I almost fell on the ice only about a dozen times, soooo, that was a well earned cup of coffee, let me tell you.

Don't worry, I drank it in the warmth of the coffee shop.

Release Me

2009 in pictures