Forgiveness

So, I guess since I’ve already typed the word Forgiveness in the Title field I’ll have to write about forgiveness…since I’ve already typed the Title field and all…and I would look pretty silly if I wrote about something else.  And then, I want to write about forgiveness because I have to ask it of my readers, since I haven’t written for a bunch of weeks.

There are several definitions of forgive at dictionary.com.  You can look at them if you want by clicking here.  But here is the important one (paraphrased):

4. to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one’s blogger.

I thought that one was particularly apropos – especially after I modified it.  And I didn’t even need Photoshop.

I guess you may be more inclined to forgive me if I gave you a good excuse for not writing.  But isn’t that an oxymoron?  “Good Excuse”? I’m pretty sure my dad used to tell me that I was “making excuses” if I did the wrong thing and he was yelling at me.  And I’m pretty sure I did that to @BaristaBro and @Peggerspregers when they were younger as well.  So, therefore, if it’s an excuse it can’t be good, right?

So, what I’m going to do is give you a few reasons why I haven’t written.  The first and least likely to elicit forgiveness: I didn’t feel like thinking that hard.  Yep, I said it, it’s too much work.   Another reason: I’ve been watching the show Lost from the very beginning on Hulu. Yeah, I got hooked on Lost.  It gets pretty confusing at times, with the visions, dreams, flashbacks, flashforwards, dreams of flashbacks, visions of flashforwards, good guys, bad guys, good bad guys, bad good guys, good guys that were bad guys that are now good guys going bad….well, you get the picture.  But it’s a pretty good show.  And we don’t have cable or satellite TV (why should we, Hulu is free and has everything on it – disclaimer: I am not now nor have I ever been affiliated with Hulu.com ) and we can stream our shows to the 60″ projector with the xBox 360.

OK.  Those have just been excuses.  The real reason I haven’t blogged: I’ve been editing the final draft of Digital Conspiracy for my friend Patrick.  It’s almost ready folks and I think it’s gonna be a winner.  Chapter One has my character, Chance, rock climbing on 400 foot high Looking Glass Rock (you can see it in the image at the top of the page.)  And yes, I’ve actually done that on several occasions.  It’s been a few years (sadly, probably 10 or so.)  But it’s still one of my favorite places in the world.

But I guess, as usual, I have digressed (I just love that word.) In all seriocity (how’s that word? Sounds real, doesn’t it?) I have to say, forgiveness is not really for the benefit of the one being forgiven.  Forgiveness benefits the one doing the forgiving.  That’s why refusing to forgive someone of something actually hurts you, not them.

So I’ll wrap this with one of my favorite verses about forgiveness.

“ If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Romans 12:20

Don’t you just love it?  Forgiving your enemies is like heaping coals of fire on their heads!  Mwahaha!  That’s so much better than telling them you’ll never forgive them.  Better for you, too!

Oh, yeah.  One more thing.  Forgiveness, like Love, is a decision, not a feeling or emotion.  Decide to forgive and keep deciding to forgive and your feelings will follow along like a little puppy dog.

So, forgive me for not blogging.  I’ll try to do better.  Oops!  I’ll do better. (“Try not, do or do not. There is no try.” ~Yoda~)

Coffee, coffee, coffee, capucheeeeeeno! ~Greg – Dante’s Peak~

To Shoot Or Not To Shoot

That is the question.

A camera! a camera! my kingdom for a camera!

With a nod to Shakespeare, Hamlet and King Richard III.

Wow!  That makes it sound like I read Shakespeare, doesn’t it?  Well, they may have forced me to read Hamlet in college…  Or maybe I just saw Mel Gibson one time, I don’t recall.

But that is how I feel sometimes.  I want to shoot pictures, but I never seem to have my camera when I see something shoot-worthy.  And when I do have my camera, it’s annoying trying to keep up with because it’s like a big rock.  A rock with a strap…and a case, which actually makes it easier to carry than just a rock.  But you get the idea.  I think my friend Chris (@pbchris62) has the right idea.  He goes driving purposely to take pics.  That way he’s sure to have his camera when he sees something to shoot.  He must close his eyes the rest of the time.

Yellowstone Prong - Graveyard Fields NC

I guess my love of shooting things goes back to my teen years.  I wanted to produce a slide show of the creation story, complete with self-performed music and narration. I was shooting real slides.  I used Kodachrome for you old school photographers out there (that name would make a great song wouldn’t it.)  Hey, it was before Photoshop, PowerPoint, digital photography – even dirt, if you ask my kids.  I never actually finished it (I seem to have to say that way too much), but I did shoot a LOT of landscape shots with an eye for keeping man-made objects out of the frame.  Of course, living in the mountains of Western North Carolina made it pretty easy.

Back in the day, I had this awesome Minolta SLR with a bunch of lenses and accessories.  I would shoot just about anything.  But not weddings.  I wouldn’t shoot weddings, because my shutter was so loud it sounded like I slammed a vault door shut.  You know, one of those movie vault doors that are really deep and loud and continue reverberating for what seems to be hours? Just imagine the silence of the wedding vows pierced by KA-CHOONK-choonk-choonk-choonk (how’s that for onomatopoeia?  How’s that for sounding well-educated?)  Everyone turns and stares at me as I try to disappear (anyone who has seen me, knows that I am unlikely to disappear.)  “Oh, I’m sorry, I just threw my camera through the wall.”  It didn’t end well.  That was my last wedding attempt.

Saluda River - Possum Kingdom SC

I primarily shot candids (they weren’t candid after the first shot), landscapes and nature.  I tried shooting wildlife, but that daggum Minolta gave me away every time.  But it had awesome lenses and I loved it so when it was time to buy a digital, I looked for a Minolta.  In retrospect, I prefer Nikon, but since photography was only one of my several  hobbies, I couldn’t justify the additional expense.  I ended up with the Minolta DiMage 5 that I’ve had for years now.  I like it, but, since I decided not to rant in this blog, I won’t to go on and on about the focus issue and the cost of getting it checked out (and not necessarily repaired.)

But anyway, I still shoot candids (ask some of the folks that I’ve surprised over the years), but I prefer landscapes.   The shot of Looking Glass Rock at the top of this page is a portion of a panoramic that I shot a couple years ago.  The Saluda River to the right was a cold January morning with fog hanging over the river.  One of those times when I saw a great shot and actually had my camera with me.  And the shot of Yellowstone Prong, was a backpacking trip that I actually carried the DiMage along (a lot less trouble than my old Minolta.)  Someone once said  “I’m not responsible for the beauty, only the recording of it.”

Well, I don’t shoot as much anymore because of the aforementioned focus issue (very annoying), so if any of my readers wants to give me a Nikon D90, that would be OK.   I still carry around a small Fujitsu point and shoot, but it’s just not the same.

So, the coffee maker just made the gurgling sound that I love so much so I’m outta here!