Picture Book “Readers”

Several weeks ago one of my coworkers surprised me—in a good way.  That surprise came as I answered his question on what my plans were for that weekend.  They revolved around visiting Jason.  The purpose of the visit was to update the design of JuicyK, fix a few glitches, and watch some World Cup action in between.  He then asked, semi-stated, “You haven’t written on there in a while, huh?”

“Ha, wow.  No, I haven’t.  Thanks for noticing, man.”  Normally our exchanges vary between degrees of immaturity most always including a variation of “fart-face”, “shut-up”, or “bite me”, but that conversation was different.  He actually noticed something very important to me, and it made me smile.

A few weeks later you could find us in the same spot as our initial conversation, sitting side by side at the computers staring at our respective mitochondrial tests.  Because I knew he took the time to at least visit my site, I made it a point to let him know that I had posted something the day before.  He took a break from analyzing genetic sequences to check it out.  He finished reading about my exchange with The Malaysian and said, “Ha.  That’s funny, but you need to make the posts longer.”

“Well, Crappery (another nickname for The Malaysian) doesn’t like to read.  He says I should make them shorter, and I told him I would try to put up a picture.”

To keep everyone happy (myself included) I’m going to make an attempt to assuage preferences for both, visual and verbal, types of posts.  So, this is me keeping my word to Zachary (The Malaysian’s American name) with a picture I took of a ladybug near Brays Bayou.

On that day the grass was crawling with variations of fire-colored bodies but was too dense for a clear macro shot.  Instead of digging through the grass I picked up this stick for a better angle right before she prepared to fly away.  It ended up being one of my favorites out of about 500 shots taken throughout the afternoon.  Hope you like it, Poopery Shmoopery (alternative nickname for The Malaysian derived from “Crappery”).

For those that would rather read than look, a more verbally focused post should be up within the next few days.  Get excited!

105 Days

Spans between posts stretching over three months are not exactly conducive to keeping up a weblog.  Sorry about that.

Inspiration’s been there, but the ability to harness, communicate, and transform it into something concrete hasn’t been.  I’d compare the feeling to striking a match, letting it burn down to the end, and dropping it to the ground never to be typed, posted, or heard from again.  Blame it on boredom, work, or whatever million other distractions life can throw in your way, but sometimes those million other things lead you right back to where you should be—in front of a computer clicking “Publish”.

It’s good to be back.

Manic Macro Music Monday-ish

“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’…into the fuuuture,” popped into my head before I even started typing.  Steve Miller’s chorus from “Fly Like an Eagle” embodies my feelings about all the different things I want to accomplish but end up postponing due to lack of time, one of which is posting at least a few blog entries per week.  My solution—themed days.  Does anyone have a suggestion for a quick weekly post?

Thoughts thus far include:  Music/Movie Monday, Sketch Saturday, Song Sunday, Macro (photo) Monday.

I asked a guy at work for any ideas after giving some examples.  His first question was, “Do they have to have the same letter?”  No, they don’t, but I do want it to be at least semi-catchy and to the point.

Postings for the next few days will contain all of the above suggestions, because trying to fit them into one entry would be way too long.  We’ll start with music.  My first pick is one of those songs that’s great for belting it all out—complete with dramatics, air instruments, and some awesome dance moves.  Plus, I love it from way back when MTV actually played music videos.

Without further ado, “HEY MOM! CAN WE GET SOME MEATLOAF?” Yes, you can.

The “-ish”:  If you’re confused about why this is being posted today despite having “Monday” in the title, it’s because I began typing on Monday and it took me until today to actually finish it.  That’s just the way it goes with two jobs and too many personal project to count, man.