Unexpected can be good

No, I didn't expect that last bit either, it just appeared in a flash of inspiration. Poetry can be a fun exercise in words, although I rarely bother with a specific rhythm, it tends to feel more like work at that point. Days rarely go according to plan, this morning was a clear sky and bright sunshine, and then the clouds rolled in and dropped the occasional drop.

It was still peaceful in the Japanese Garden, but the camera did have to hide it's electrical self a bit. Living in this rather wet corner of the world, I need to remember to make sure the next one I get is weather resistant or sealed if that's affordable. The Garden is a great place to relax and slow down from the bustle of life. Going there fairly often, the scenery changes with the seasons, seeming familiar yet different on every visit. The other visitors vary also quite a bit.

Sunny days bring out larger numbers of course, both photographers and observers as well as new visitors seeing it all for the first time. The kids are usually seeing it for the first time because they rarely have come to appreciate it yet and are being dragged along.

Some parts are full of silence, some are full of water. There is green and red and yellow and white and the grays of the rocks and sand. It all swirls together and somehow is very calming. Highly recommended if one visits Portland, and if you have access to a place like it elsewhere, they are good for the soul in this crazy world we live in.

Sunshine with a Twist

Witty words sprawling across a bare page
Spreading light and sunshine to the mind's eye
Sassy words working without a real wage
Cheerfully provided with nary a lie

Opinions firm and directly aimed
Saying what must be realistically said
Sharper than dull words that merely flamed
Rebuking those that might have justly led

Racing out quickly from the safest lawn
Soaring freely and swiftly with new sight
Undervalued in the darkness of dawn
Becoming a new star in its own light

Sitting patiently in the dark black night
Waiting for the next burst of brilliant light

Opening Post

Hmm, the thing about serendipitious thoughts is that sometimes by the time you get to writing them down they are quite lost in the complicated pathways of the mind. Running through a bunch of hoops before writing them down certainly does not help.

In any case, this is a beginning, and more will come later. Movie reviews, bits of life, and thoughts on the state of the world. Once I get my photos sorted out and up on the web someplace there will likely be links to those as well.

One of the problems with liking to see movies in the theater is that the same trailers come with more than one movie, and if you happen to like a movie enough to see it more than once it's a sure thing to see the EXACT same set of trailers every time. See the same trailer enough times and it is possible to lose interest in seeing a movie that probably would be enjoyable. Less likely to happen with something you can't wait to see, but if it's marginal at all it's a big risk that obviously the marketing department did not bother to consider.

I probably should say a bit about me, since this is the beginning and you, the reader obviously don't know me yet. Question is, which bit to cover. Hmm. I do tech support via phone and web, and deal with all sorts of reasonable and unreasonable people. I've been doing it rather longer than I anticipated when I started, and I am getting rather tired of the unreasonable side of it, both from those seeking help and those nitpicky people we're providing the support for. Good customer service is good customer service, and when you market your product to people who are less than skilled, it takes longer to help them, and you have a choice between spending the time to help them and getting a reputation of a place with poor support. Ok, rant over.

I like writing, and haven't done enough of it recently, mostly due to the above unreasonable aspects draining creative energy at a horrendous rate, but I've been slowly jumpstarting the desire again, and it's becoming fun again. I've also finally started to wade through the technical aspects of photography to figure out why my nicely composed images were not turning out ok, and that has been a lot of fun also. The digital camera helped a lot with that. Having the freedom to just snap away and have many of them turn out ok automatically was a big improvement, but learning how to adjust the settings and choose different effects was even better.

As a side note, if you are using a digital camera with RAW file capability, use it. I didn't when I first got the camera, and there are a number of personally important images I'd love to have had the ability to clean up in the ways that format allows. Even if you don't have Photoshop or one of the other programs that allow easy manipulation of the RAW format, if you get one down the road it is amazing how much easier it is to fix certain things or interpret images in more than one way.

Anyway, enough for now, things to do and so forth.