otohPhoto: Reunion

Who the hell are all these old people?

And could I really have gone to high school with them?

otohPhoto: Halloween

This was me at a Halloween party Saturday night. I was just going for a generic hippie look [and sort of a flashback to how I looked in high school, but that's for another day], but a couple people told me I looked like Howard Stern.

And, mustering all my self-control, I did NOT tell anyone this story that night:

I was test-driving a new car recently. In an effort to improve safety, certain features — like making phone calls and tuning radio stations — are now voice-activated. So as I tooled along I said, “Classic Rock,” and some Led Zeppelin started playing on the radio.

“Country,” I said. Kenny Chesney.

“No. REAL country” Johnny Cash. Oh yeah.

“Light jazz,” I ventured. Diana Krall. Cool.

Just then someone cut right in front of me. “Idiot!” I shouted. And the radio tuned in Howard Stern….

Yeah, you can tell the same joke and substitute Rush Limbaugh, Tucker Carlson, etc.

otohPhoto: Back to School Buttons

I posted this photo last year just before classes resumed. I like to wear this button when returning from a break and I had it on Monday — the first day back for students.

It has been harder to find buttons the last few years (since the local head shop and record store both went out of business). A few weeks ago I was in a Walmart (don’t ask) and saw BUTTONS! They were in sets of seven buttons for $1.97. Singe buttons would usually run $1.00 or $1.50 each. I looked over the selection and saw several that I would wear. “Look,” I said, “I found a gold mine.” I ended up buying four sets that include such gems as:

Forever I walk among the ignorant

It’s been lovely — but I have to scream now

Take my advice — I’m not using it

Ever stop to think — and forget to start again?

Never miss a good chance to shut up

Not the brightest crayon in the box now are we?

Never underestimate the stupidity of boys in large groups

otohPhoto: Strolling on the Beach

So… back during the first week of July (such a distant, faded memory now…) I got to spend some time at the beach. I watched the sunset almost every night and took way more photos of them than is in any way sensible. [Blame it on going digital] And on this night as I stood near the water’s edge some girl comes strolling along. And suddenly I realized, “Hey, THAT’s a pretty cool shot.” So I shot. [Right place, right time, crime of opportunity?]

And now that I’m getting back into the daily grind of a new school year, I want to drift away….

otohPhoto: Sparkly

This was on the beach before the fireworks last night. [I don't know who the girl is, but since she's unidentifiable I'm not likely to get in trouble for not having a signed release....] I was playing around with manual exposure settings. This was f5.6 for 2 seconds.

I think my favorite shot of the night is this one though. This was f8 for 1 second.

I hope everyone in the USA and Canada enjoyed their respective holidays!

Old Family Photo

Revealing a lot of personal details is not just indiscreet, it may be embarrassing. So instead, here’s an old photo that one of my sisters recently ran across and emailed to me. This is me, my siblings, our mother, and her mother at Grandmom’s 75th birthday.

.

Because, how could this possibly be embarrassing? You can stop laughing now. Really. Get up off the floor….

[Edit: Okay. I'm standing behind the chair. I also feel compelled to explain that, while it was fashionable at the time for men to get perms, my hair is really that curly. I just wear it a lot shorter these days. And I have no idea what was happening off to the side -- it would be a pretty good guess that one of my uncles was doing something stupid distracting us....]

otohPhoto: MySpace

I’ve been helping the drama department with set construction. We just finished a production of Godspell. I’ll have photos of that up soon. (There are already some photos of the construction posted. If you care about such things you can mosey over to the the new BooneDrama site.) This weekend I’ll be helping to chaperone as some of the kids go to the Florida Thespian Festival. I also helped at the Regionals a couple months ago when we we got these T-shirts. I had to modify mine:

I’m much more comfortable behind the scenes just as I am more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it….

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otohPhoto: Baby PUGture

We are at the end of the 3rd quarter of the school year. I’m swamped with grading projects and such. But a colleague presents evidence to refute my claim that I do NOT have too much time on my hands.

This particular colleague has a dog (a pug) that she says hates her. Loves everyone else in the world. Hates her. She made the mistake of telling told us that she had a dream during her pregnancy that her baby came out as a pug. She delivered last week and emailed us baby pictures. Which I um… modified and sent back like this:

Don’t look too closely — it’s not a very neat job. I still maintain that I don’t have too much time….

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otohPhoto: PIGture This

We’re just a few days into the Year of the Pig on the Chinese calendar. Happy New Year!

Hmmm… about that resemblance to Steinbeck……

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otohPhoto: Favorite HNT 2006

My partcipation in HNT has been sporadic and erratic this year. But OS asked for our favorite pic from the last year for our post today and I can do that. This one is a montage of several previous shots and, while it ain’t pretty, it encompasses a lot of memories. I can understand why it might not be your favorite, but it remains one of mine.

Apparently, I’m a cubist….

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