Comparison

Grocery shopping is a lot like driving, only with better visibility, better maneuverability, and the traffic jams don't last as long.

One would also be safe to assume that there are less fatalities, I would imagine.

Rain

Whoever first said that the world smells fresh and sweet after it rains must have been recovering from a head cold, or should have had their head examined. When it rains around here, it smells as if something died last week.

Any thoughts?

Can anyone tell me where and how I can take pictures of my books that has a white background, is either outside or in a window, is in a "context that make sense", has something interesting behind it, has something personal about it, shows the entire book, is zoomed in on detail, and is the same for each book so that people can recognize my work from the picture; all for the first picture of each listing?

That's what I need to do to incorporate all the tips I've been given for my photography. Now, I know my photos still need work, but just who's advice should I follow? I find it fascinating to look at the shops of people who give me tips, and about half the time I find that the people who told me, my pictures stink, need a lot of work on their own pictures. (Of course, I've told other people they need work on their pictures, but I always started by saying I knew my own weren't perfect. That makes everything OK, doesn't it?)

My own inclination is to ignore everyone (personally, my favorite way of handling conflicting advise). Instead, I'm going to try to copy one of my customers techniques, (who is a photographer, by the way) who never made any derogatory comments on my pictures, even though she actually knew how to take better pictures, because I love these photos: Rachael's blog.

But of course, these are large photos. I need to be able to capture someones attention in a 1"x1" square, out of 3,000 other 1"x"1 squares. $55-$150 worth of attention.

I also need a good camera to work with. Mine's broken, so I have to use Mom's lousy one.. Actually, she has a very good camera, that was very expensive when it first came out. But, a very good, complicated camera becomes a very bad, very useless camera in the hands of a user who won't take the time to read the manual to figure out how it works. I have so far discovered (by randomly trying buttons, {the same way I play video games} )that the only way to get a clear picture of white pages with writing on them in in-direct lighting is to put it on the movie setting. (Why does it take pictures on the movie setting? Haven't the slightest idea.)

After reading this post, one would probably get the impression that I'm electronically challenged. Let me enlighten you, if that is your belief. I can learn anything (within reason, I'm no "geek") if I have someone show me, or if I care enough to spend hours and hours on end figuring it out on my own. I also love on-line tutorials (how I figured out how to post links on this blog when the "cheat" link button isn't working, and how to apply the background, and what-not), and look for them whenever possible. Then you don't have to expose your ignorance to anyone.

As Stymie said: "Uh,uh. I won't show my ig-nor-ance to noooo-body!"

Running

The only thing worse than running, is running on a hot day.

The only thing worse than running on a hot day, is running uphill on a hot day.

Blogging and Letters

I think I've got to try a new approach to blogging. Well, not new, really, it's how I started out, but lost somewhere along the way. Reading over my recent posts, I've found there is a lot to be desired, and while that's partly from being busy, and not putting the same amount of time into it, it's also from forgetting that I'm writing to people, not just a computer screen.

I started blogging to keep in touch with people, without having to write letters about every insignificant detail that comes up, most of which I feel aren't worth $0.44 to hear. I also prefer blogging over letters because people don't feel obliged to read a blog every time there is a new post like they do when they receive a letter, (at least, I always feel guilty when ignoring emails - never ignored a letter:) so they only read when they feel like hearing from you, and are therefore more likely to enjoy the post, even if it's only a monologue about a person's preference of blogging over letter-writing.

Not that I don't enjoy letter writing; I still am thrilled when ever I receive something in the mail, (no doubt I will get over this when I start getting bills), and still have several pen-pals.


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In My Defense...

Recently, when telling someone *who shall remain nameless* what my blog address was, they remarked "Wow. How original." I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell them, and anyone else thinking the same thing, this.

I announced more than 6 months ago that I wanted to start a blog, but couldn't think of a good name, and I would be most obliged if anyone could think of an interesting one for me. Since I wasn't supplied with one single, solitary idea, I had to fend for myself. And since I wasn't sure what I was going to be writing about, I chose as you see.

(Hopefully anyone reading this will understand why I wrote it: I am not the least bit upset!! I just wanted to make my position quite clear, and say, that since you must have so many spectacular ideas, maybe next time you'll share some with me!)