right on.

this guy beautifully sums up my number one complaint about so many of my fellow "believers" and how their words and actions have the opposite effect of what was originally intended. it should be a wake up call to all of us to get back to the basics of Christianity- and that is simply to LOVE others because He first loved us.

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209

a classic.

today i stumbled across this juicy morsel of prime literature that i had posted on my myspace about 3 years ago.  after deleting the dozens of friend requests and inbox messages that had accumulated over the last few months of forgetting that i even had a myspace account, i decided to post this little beauty because it brought back very fond memories and made me laugh out loud that that was actually my life at one point in time. oh how things change. but i miss it.

so i couldn' t sleep in past 10:30 this morning and its my first day to not have to wake up before 9 in 5 days. dont get me wrong. i tried to.  but ultimately, i was just laying there, squeezing my eyelids closed and not really enjoying it. so i got up. i guess thats a good thing because i used to be able to sleep all day if i wanted to. im a sleeping fiend. well, i used to be. 

but the glory of being a carhop at sonic has broken me of this.  (this is the point where you all get jealous).  yes, my summer job (as it has remained for the last 3 years), is none other than your local American drive-in: SONIC.  now dont get me wrong, i love my job. and i make more money than your mom doing it. but recently, our a/c has been out. and in case you havent noticed, its hotter than hades outside. yes, summer was reluctant to arrive the first week after school, when i had nothing to do but relax and enjoy my life, and the temperatures remained at sub-60's. i guess the sun gods were just waiting for me to begin my fate as a food deliverer (which entails me being outside 70% of the time standing beside cars as they blow hot exhaust on me while people take their precious time finding the EXACT change) and then of course returning to the grilles and air conditionless madness inside.

but dont get me wrong, i DO love my job. i love receiving zip-lock bags full of pennies as payment.  i love being proposed to by my manager who sexually harrasses me on a daily basis (no need to worry, its all fun and games). i love sitting on the patio during my break with jon, the 60 year-old cook, telling me about his days of cliff-jumping in the navy back in '76. i love the goofy smile that emerges on people's face when i hand them a delectable dessert. i love being hit on by 40 year-old construction workers and the occasional mullet-clad lesbian. i love getting a $2 tip for a $0.50 drink. i love accidentally answering my cell phone with "welcome to sonic..." because i say it on instinct now.  i love wearing an oversized polo that allows for no air-flow and a matching visor. i love being one of the "best" carhops. i love when i unexpectedly serve someone from my past, whether they recognize me or not. i love when my friends come to visit me even though i usually dont get to stop and talk. i love being yelled at because a cook forgot to put bacon on a sonic bacon cheeseburger. i love working with people who take their job WAY too seriously and have made carhopping a career. i love seeing the interesting things lurking in people's backseats as i stand and wait for them to sign their credit card bill. i love going home every day covered in icecream and sweat, wanting to do nothing but shower. but most of all, i love coming to work each day not knowing what kind of insanity i will encounter.
and that is why i sit here, on a sunday morning (the only day of the week i will never work) and actually kinda miss the place.

but for now, i must make my day off productive as well. i think i will go for a run, then maybe a swim in the pool, then church of course. and later i may just stop by good ol' sonic. you know, so i can "check the schedule" ;).  

and this would be me as a zombie carhop for halloween '06.  and yes, i wore roller skates.

amateurs.

i just want to put something out there that has been burdening me since the moment i graduated college and then realized that i was solely responsible for supporting myself (a very scary thought). when you choose a career path that does not require you to mold young minds, hold a political office, or have an extra D & R before your name, you pretty much enter into a world of uncertainty and chance. now i like to consider myself to be more of the adventurous type. yeah, i like to take risks, challenge myself, take the road less traveled...or at least that's what i have been trying to tell myself ever since i did not choose one of the aforementioned careers and instead went with something i enjoy as a career. what i am now plagued with is the notion of whether or not choosing a career based on personal satisfaction is ultimately more beneficial than choosing one that ensures stability and perhaps even a decent paycheck.

allow me to digress the the real point of this particular blog entry; one that i hope enlightens and awakens what seems to be a somewhat oblivious audience. i am in the creative field- design/photography to be more definitive. this is an area that has exploded in the last decade or so as better cameras and software have emerged and become available to consumers of every skill level. this is a good and bad, very bad, thing. good for all you young mothers wanting to capture every moment of your child's new life, and good for all you college students searching for moments to document and post on the latest social networking site. but lets get real for a second because this phenomenon is potentially fatal to all of us who have set out to make a living creating beautiful images. to all of you who have hired a friend who somewhat knows how to operate a camera to shoot your wedding; to those who think picnik is a great editing tool; to all of you out there who happened to get lucky and take one decent picture and think 'hey i could do this for a living!'- please, please stop replacing what could be beautiful, skillfully planned, quality images with poor attempts at recreating the former. i look at some of the stuff put out there and just cringe that most people are not knowledgeable enough to realize the lack of work or skill that actually went into the making of it- and because of this, they buy into it. this is where the true craftsmanship and knowledge get overlooked because people are ignorant enough to put out such crap. there is a reason good photography is expensive- and WORTH the INVESTMENT. photography is the only mechanism for freezing the moments in time worth revisiting each time we glance at a photo. it is the only thing that will last from your wedding (other than your vows let's hope) and one of the few things that can allow emotions and special moments to become permanent and tangible objects.

i am not claiming to be a perfect or even fully qualified photographer- but i have the ability and inspiration to do the job right and do it well. i am still learning and growing, but i think that is what every great artist constantly seeks to do in order to perfect their art. take it or leave it, but at least understand this- i do not attempt to give medical, political or educational advice because i am not under the false impression that i know what im talking about in regards to such subjects. in the same way, give us photographers a fighting chance and invest in our know-how. and your smile will resurface each time you gaze at that perfectly captured moment later on down the road.

*p.s. i almost contradict myself with the accompanying photo which was taken with my webcam and edited in 5 mins. but not quite.

i went to europe.

there is no feasible way i could even begin to summarize my spring journey across the pond. so i will not even attempt to. instead, i will provide you with a few photos i took while on the trip and a brief description of the 10 flight, 4 country, 3 person adventure.

1. Hungary/Budapest- we stayed with Adam's Hungarian family and enjoyed a day visit to the capital's parliament building, castle, city centre, etc, and then enjoyed a night out on the town, of course.

2. London/England- it was cool, but not the highlight of the trip for any of us. maybe if we had stayed for longer than 24 hours...

3. England/Oxford/Newcastle- i envy the students that get to attend school in such a diverse and wonderful city. oxford is a real treasure. we also stayed on a farm that was over 300 years old, house and all. sheep everywhere. heaven.

4. Scotland/Edinburgh/Highlands/Isle of Skye- edinburgh is officially one of my all-time favorite places. beautiful city and history- words are insufficient. scottish highlands also = GORGEOUS. i may move there. really.
(also had a day/night stay on the isle of skye- beautifully beautiful beauty there, for REAL.)

5. IRELAND/Galway/Dublin- lifelong goal fulfilled. ireland truly lives up to all raves about its beauty. spent several days traveling the coastline of the Galway countryside- the REAL ireland. we then spent a day/night in dublin...much too short of a visit, plans to return inevitable.

trash shoot.

here are a couple highlights from my most recent photo shoot. my fellow red-headed friend rachael was gracious enough to brave the cold and dive in a dumpster for this one. dont worry, i only tortured her for 30 mins...this time. expect some more fun shoots once the weather becomes bearable!

brrrr.

alert! alert! in case you haven't seen us on the news, kentucky has been hit HARD by a ice/snow storm. so here i sit in a starbucks using the free wi-fi, not because i dont have power (like most of our city) but because i am accompanying a friend who is the victim of the power outage and in need of some www action. but despite all the damage that it has brought, this storm has afforded me some priceless moments which i could not have experienced otherwise. for instance, i had the joy of shoveling my entire driveway, being launched in the air after stepping on a deadly patch of ice, and (!) missing a day of work. two out of three aint bad i suppose... here are some pics and a video of the glorious catastrophe that is actually really beautiful. the ice-covered trees and white blanket over everything makes for a fantastical winter wonderland. but im ready for some heat.