When I was back in Wyoming, there were a few fires. They always make for great pictures and beautiful sunsets. When I was 12, the Yellowstone fires were going on. We would see what appeared to be rain clouds invade the town; only instead they would rain ash and soot. It felt very surrealistic. In the pic is a smaller effect of what I experienced 21 years ago.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Funky Bee
Having some fun with the macro filter and photoshop. Thanks to the Orris on the doctoring, I mean processing of this picture.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Creepy the Spider
I went bike riding today and found this guy. Actually these spiders all over the countryside in Korea. Pretty fat little suckers. He or she was camped out around a florescent light in a pedestrian tunnel. Looks like a good location judging by the spider's size. I love it when animal use our technology to their advantage.
I didn't use the macro lens on the one. I was content to stand back and just use the zoom on this guy. I don't really have a fear of spiders, just a healthy respect for them.
I didn't use the macro lens on the one. I was content to stand back and just use the zoom on this guy. I don't really have a fear of spiders, just a healthy respect for them.
Blogger and I have been battling it out lately. I've been trying to post videos of children being attacked by chickens (what else would I be doing with my time?) but youtube is not allowing. I've found a new way to post videos, so I would now like to introduce Kid Attacked by Chicken with accompanying text. Text is a few weeks dated.
Kid Attacked by Chicken (or I Feel His Pain)
Kid Attacked by Chicken (or I Feel His Pain)
It’s a rainy Saturday and I’m occupying myself by watching videos of people getting chased by chickens on Youtube. Don’t ask me how it came to this. I wanted to check my e-mail and that started me on the path that eventually led me to watch chickens extracting revenge on the human race. God bless the internet.
I mention this because I was once chased down by a chicken. Chickens are not nice creatures, especially roosters. They have no sense of humor at all. When I was four, I was at my grandma’s house out in the pasture (I guess my grandparents had put me out there to graze or something). I was watching the neighbor’s rooster who was standing atop a fence post doing his “cock-a-doodle-do” thing, and doing it quite proudly. I decided to imitate him and so flapped my arms in a chicken-like fashion and belted out, “cock-a-doodle-do!” The rooster immediately snapped his head in my direction. Pure hatred was in his eyes as he jumped off his perch and flew in my direction. I didn’t think roosters could fly. That’s how angry this rooster was, he flew even though he shouldn’t be able to. I quickly turned and began running toward the house. I didn’t get very far, as the rooster landed on my shoulders knocking me face down in the pasture. He stood on my back and pecked mercilessly at the back of my head. I thought farms were supposed to be peaceful places.
My grandma heard my muffled wails and looked out the back window to see my arms and legs flailing with what appeared to be an animated feather duster sprouting from the back of my head. She came to my rescue, bearing a broom, and chased the rooster off. As tough as that rooster was, he was no match for grandma. I was relatively unharmed. I have a small spot on the back of my head that doesn’t grow hair. That may or may not be the result of the chicken attack (I like to think it is). The psychological scars are much deeper. I get edgy around farms and I give chickens, and pretty much all fowl, a wide berth whenever I encounter them. It’s kind of like farmtime post-tramatic stress disorder.
I like to think that I’m good with animals, but that’s a lie. I’m really no better with animal than anyone else and I’m probably a little worse. I’m allergic to about half the animal kingdom. I’ve been attacked by lots of things. Dogs came after me mercilessly when I paperboy, I can’t ride a horse to save my life. About the closest I get to any sort of animal connection is dating a girl named Kat. Go figure. Still, some day I would like to get a cat or a dog (preferably a cat and a dog) when housing size becomes adequate. I’d still like to try and become one of those animal people. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the rooster race though. It’s only been twenty-nine years since that fateful attack that left me horribly scarred.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Water on Web
Kat got me a super-macro lens for my birthday. I'm still trying to get used to the thing. It tends to wash out the colors and saturation, but dear God, the detail. I love the detail.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Bad Ass Teacher
Last week we had to say good bye to another one of our own. No longer content to be a bad ass in Korea, Nick will now return to Canada to be a bad ass in his own country. He will be missed by teachers and students a like.
Baseball
Pictured are Warren and Tristan (father and son). It looks like they are at a JC Penny's photo studio standing in front of a cheesy background, but we were actually at the game.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Worried
I have a love- hate relationship with the police. I should feel secure when these guys are around but I can't help but feel that I'm doing something wrong. At least there was more than enough security at this game.
World Cup Stadium
The North vs. the South. The game ended tied at 0-0. That seems appropriate enough.
Neigbors
The swastika is actually the Buddhists. Notice how it goes backwards? This place is across from my apartment and houses a church and a Buddhist temple. Proof we can all get along.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Lucky Number 13
Lucky us--today is Friday the 13th. Last year at the hagwon (private English academy) we read an article in one of my classes about why the number thirteen is considered unlucky. No one really knows how the superstition got started but the book hypothesized that there were 13 people at the last supper right before Jesus died, so that's why christians consider it unlucky. There's also a Norse legend about how twelve gods were invited to some sort of dinner party (I had no idea that gods had dinner parties) but thirteen of them showed up so one of the gods, Baldr, had to be killed. I guess they're really strict about the head count at Norse dinner parties.
Anywhoo-- we had the kids write an essay summarizing why the number thirteen is unlucky. I was greatly discouraged to realize that the kids really didn't really understand the whole lesson when half the children turned in papers about how the Norse god Baldr killed Jesus. I received essays that would have given the pope and aneurysm. It was a little odd giving the kids a mini-history lesson later on, telling them that Jesus was not in fact killed by an ancient Norse god.
The number thirteen is not unluck here. No, the number four has that spot. In Korean the number four sounds like the Chinese word for death so four is sometimes represented with a big F instead. That'll keep death at bay. The color red is supposed to be unlucky as well. The kids informed me that if you write someone's name in red ink that the person will die. I had to inform them at this point that everyone dies. The must think I'm extremely wise knowing what I do about Jesus and death. I'll admit that in moments of extreme frustration I've been known to write certain students' names in red ink over and over again. I don't believe in the superstition, not even the slightest..........still.
Lucky us--today is Friday the 13th. Last year at the hagwon (private English academy) we read an article in one of my classes about why the number thirteen is considered unlucky. No one really knows how the superstition got started but the book hypothesized that there were 13 people at the last supper right before Jesus died, so that's why christians consider it unlucky. There's also a Norse legend about how twelve gods were invited to some sort of dinner party (I had no idea that gods had dinner parties) but thirteen of them showed up so one of the gods, Baldr, had to be killed. I guess they're really strict about the head count at Norse dinner parties.
Anywhoo-- we had the kids write an essay summarizing why the number thirteen is unlucky. I was greatly discouraged to realize that the kids really didn't really understand the whole lesson when half the children turned in papers about how the Norse god Baldr killed Jesus. I received essays that would have given the pope and aneurysm. It was a little odd giving the kids a mini-history lesson later on, telling them that Jesus was not in fact killed by an ancient Norse god.
The number thirteen is not unluck here. No, the number four has that spot. In Korean the number four sounds like the Chinese word for death so four is sometimes represented with a big F instead. That'll keep death at bay. The color red is supposed to be unlucky as well. The kids informed me that if you write someone's name in red ink that the person will die. I had to inform them at this point that everyone dies. The must think I'm extremely wise knowing what I do about Jesus and death. I'll admit that in moments of extreme frustration I've been known to write certain students' names in red ink over and over again. I don't believe in the superstition, not even the slightest..........still.
Sparklers
Here's everyone having fun with sparklers, or at least as much fun as I will let them have. I told them to move the sparklers around but to try to keep their bodies as still as possible so I could get my epic pic. Sometimes I can be a camera Nazi. Maybe I should just let people have fun and take a picture of that.
Mmmm...Koreans
We ended up in Busan during the sand festival, meaning there were lots of sand sculptures and even more people.
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