journeys of a restless mind

blue

It's 6am, do you know where your camera is (3)?

It's 6am, do you know where your camera is (2)?

It's 6am, do you know where your camera is?

behold the power of Julie Taymor's "Magic Flute" on PBS

Me: Hijo, bring your Legos back into the bedroom and play with them there.

Hijo: But, Mom! I want to stay out here and watch the opera.

friday iPod random ten

1.  Pull Up the People ~ M.I.A.
2.  Man out of Time ~ Elvis Costello
3.  Obalue ~ Ruben Blades
4.  The Tears of a Clown ~ Smokey Robinson
5.  I Want You Back ~ The Jackson 5
6.  Raiz De Sueños ~ Ruben Blades
7.  I'm In Trouble Again ~ The BoDeans
8.  You Haven't Done Nothing ~ Stevie Wonder
9.  Guateque Campesino ~ Conjunto Campesino
10. Love ~ Abby Lincoln

My Nikon D80 arrived yesterday. It is the most valuable thing I own. It's literally worth more than my car. It's figuratively worth much more than that.

Writing is something that I do, that I've always done. It gives me pleasure and satisfaction, and from time to time a little money.  Shooting fotos transforms me; it renders me transparent.

A few hours writing makes me feel proud of myself, like I've accomplished something. A few hours taking pictures makes me feel at home in the world.

No, I don't need an expensive tool in order to do that.  I've been shooting with hand-me-down cameras for as long as I've been writing this blog (five-and-a-half years). I've taken some nice fotos. But having a beautiful instrument to play instead of just an adequate one is something beyond words.

good riddance july

July's been a hell of a rollercoaster ride. Started with the death of my grandmother on the first. The next week I learn that my beloved supervisor and mentor is leaving. Then the marvelous intensity of the Writers' Conference, followed by the upheaval and sadness at work left in the wake of supervisor's departure. Hijo's childcare situation this summer has been a crazy-ass quilt of something different each week, which means a different drop-off and pick-up schedule and no chance to get into any sort of routine or rhythm. Had another story published and well-received in the local paper, and accepted an assignment for another (had to ask for my first deadline extension, too - aack!). Got a small gift from the estate of my grandmother which has allowed me to finally purchase a digital SLR, which makes me insanely happy - yet how awful to benefit from the death of a loved one.

Here's to a new moon and a new month. Hope this one is slightly less eventful.