Sunday, January 07, 2007

First up... Puppies!

Of the three topics posed in the comments section...

Welcome home, Sally! Maybe you and Gaby could make a trip to AC Moore or Michael's for a clay kit to preserve her tiny paw print. Although the contrast won't be as dramatic when Sally's full grown since she's a tiny breed, she won't be this tiny for long.

Second,
Degrassi fans, talk amongst yourselves. Tanii, Becky, and Gwen, this is, um, Becky, Gwen and Tanii. Although Gwen only really watches it with me since her house got rid of cable, I've been known to tape it, make up a silly quiz about the episode and Gwen returns them to me. We're sad. But funny! I have a shameful addiction to this show. Tanii, are you watching Degrassi: The Next Generation, or are you referring to the Old School versions? (Which are occasionally on late at night.)

Finally, Michelle's question...

"Why do some people know what they're supposed to do with their lives, inherently, and others feel like they are going to spend their entire existence trying to figure out what they want to do with their life, and a part of them will always feel empty...?"

Well... Uhh... Look! It's a tub of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream! Mmmm, ice cream fills the emptiness.

No, seriously, I want to try to say something profound and sincere. So... For me, a lot of little signs and coincidences led me to photojournalism. I always liked cameras.



This photo was taken when I was 2. I'm very intently studying a real camera, and that's my sister Amanda playing with a toy. When I was in sixth grade, I had an excellent elementary school principal who started a "photo club." I learned how to do tray processing, the old school black and white developing method, and it was like magic, watching the images rise to the surface under the red lights. I took a photo class my freshman year of high school, with more tray processing, and I loved that, too. I had the fantastic opportunity to travel a LOT when I was young, and I loved capturing everything with my camera.

The very first person I ever photographed for a Page 1 photo was Kurt Vonnegut. He was a guest speaker at SU. He said that those who seek their true calling in life should think about what they loved best when they were 10 years old, that you don't really change that much. At age 10, you're independent enough to have complex opinions and choose your own activities, but you're not yet bogged down by thoughts of what you "should" be doing. (He also said he liked mailing letters because he felt like he was feeding a big blue bullfrog when he dropped them in the mailbox.)

When I was 10 and in my elementary school's "photo club," I loved riding my bike down to the park and around the East Pete Pool, photographing the jungle gym equipment and the streams that run through the Sportsmen's Club. I stuck to bike trail and parks and places I knew well, where I often played, but I liked going around by myself and shooting them. I would do all these things with my camera that were different, like holding my polarizing sunglasses in front of the lens. (I now know that professional polarizing filters cost anywhere from $9.95 to $ 1,259.95, but I just thought it "looked cool" at the time.)

If the question is, WHY do some chosen (for lack of a better word) people know what their calling is, and others seem destined to wonder, and wait, and feel empty.... I dunno. I think that's up there with wondering why some people fall in love at age 16 and marry their high school sweethearts, and others endure heartbreak, betrayal and finally get it right when they're 85 and meet their soul mate in a nursing home. Fate? Destiny? Karma from a last life? God's plan? Whatever you believe, I guess.

But from a practical standapoint... I guess the best answer I can come up with for HOW I inherently knew what I wanted to do with my life is this: I do a grown up version of the things I liked best when I was 10.

As for the Julia's query about whether or not Michelle's question was for herself, or Julia or all of us... Let's see. Julia lives in San Francisco with a background in advertising. She is an excellent swing dancer. Michelle is newly married to a great guy, living in Seattle, and teaches special education. If you were living in either of those cities, what would your dream job be?

6 comments:

Becky said...

Ooh, Degrassi! Did you watch the new episode this weekend? Talk about great! I can't believe what a jerk Craig is. Well, I can, but most of the time I prefer not to think about it. His actions at the end of this episode are unforgivable.

And what's with this new passive-agressive Liberty? I can understand why she's so upset, but that's no reason to muck with JT's life, right? That whole scene with Mia at The Dot was totally not cool.

Anonymous said...

I watch both. With my february money (living on a budget sucks) I am going to buy the entire original series. Its on amazon for 70 bucks.
And Craig is a total arse...blaming his coke addiction on Manny. That poor girl, she's been obessed with Craig sice year one and he's done nothing but screw her over. tsk tsk.

I missed the whole Liberty/JT pregnancy story line -but i have that season coming in the mail tomorrow so I can get caught up. But from what I can gather she's just having all those regret feelings about giving up her baby.

when I get all the dvd's in we should have a Degrassi marathon.

Anonymous said...

I am so pathetically behind on this show... how is Liberty even old enough to be pregnant? I also truly hope that she has some sort of addiction issue, because if she were sleeping with JT (who is also 10 years old in my mind) when sober, I would be really scared.

Chunky Photojournalist Barbie said...

Nope, she and JT were totally sober, ages approx. 16. They used a King Sized condomn and it fell off. They decided they were going to live together and try to make it all work and keep the baby. JT got a job at a pharmacy, because he could still go to school during the day and get good discounts on diapers.

Then Sean's evil friend (the one who gave Emma gonorrhea) convinced JT to steal oxycotin from the pharmacy. He only wanted to do it once, but the dealer he supplied wanted him to keep stealing. JT freaked out and took all the oxycotin himself in a misguided suicide attempt.

Liberty decided she didn't want to play house with a drug dealer, that the fatherhood thing was too much pressure since it was driving JT to suicide attempts, and the best thing to do would be giving the baby up for adoption. Now JT is dating a teen mother who kept her baby, and seeming more than happy to help out with HER kid.

Sorry, Becky. :) I say, "You go, Liberty! Dump that pitcher of soda all over him!"

Chunky Photojournalist Barbie said...

Actually, I think the soda dumping was in another episode. You meant the backstabby thing. Never mind.

Becky said...

For what it's worth, Liberty and her parents pretty much decided on adoption; JT didn't really have anything to do with it. I think he would have preferred to keep it. He was trying to do the right thing, break away from the drug-dealing, etc. Besides, we all know JT is great with kids...are we forgetting his cable show for the little ones?

I understand Liberty is unhappy and may be experiencing some regret about giving up her baby for adoption. It's my opinion that if she was mature enough to make a decision in the best interest of her child, she ought to be mature enough not to take it out on JT when he had nothing to do with it.

I love that we're having this discussion in the comments section.

P.S. Who's looking forward to Craig's nosebleed this week? I certainly am!