2 months later...

Two months later...

I've finished my first B&W photo class, and I am so hooked. I actually feel bad about my color photography, because there is nothing going on there at all. At the end of the session, we mounted the photos we wanted to show to the rest of the class, and then during the final class we showed them in a little mini-show type of thing. It went really well. I had too many. Of course, this means that what I have done is now mounted to mat board, and its too much of a pain to scan them to share... so in the future, I'll be scanning my work BEFORE I mount it :) If anyone is still bothering to check this here nearly abandoned blog, you can check back periodically in the next few weeks and I will try to scan & post as i complete things...thus avoiding a big backlog. hopefully.

At any rate, the showing went well, and I was invited back to show the night class (more advanced) what I had been doing. Paul (instructor) didn't tell them I was a newbie - when they found out, they were surprised. I felt a little awkward, but I was glad that I went. I now have a lot more ideas...

So...work...is still going. I tried to quit on Wednesday, actually, but was talked out of it with the promise of the company being more sensitive to my scheduling needs. So hopefully, there will be fewer trips down to the office (100 miles, roundtrip). I might try and take every other week off. something like that. but I simply need more studio time. and house time. and dog time. So maybe if I work from home, it'll be easier to get house & dog stuff done. I hope to be spending 3 full days a week either shooting or in the darkroom. I'm doing 2 days a week easily now, and a little extra time would be nice.

Its funny. this year may actually be my 'golden year'. Things just seem to be lining up. We've paid off all of our bad debt (cars & mortgage = good debt). Work is fullfilling for both of us. We have friends. I'm being validated big time with my photography, and in general, we're just plain happy.

and its very odd to be happy. for once. just plain happy. at least for me. The problems that i have (and i still complain, only not as much) are really good problems, and don't deserve to be complained about. I can't help but realize how lucky and happy we are every day.

and, thusly, beware the undertoad. Are you familiar with the undertoad? its that uneasy feeling lurking around in the background. that 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' feeling.

In the past week and a half, I've had a set of 3 deaths - a friend of mine (from texas, rather suddenly), a friend's father was seriously ill and then his aunt passed away, and another friend lost her father. i firmly believe in the set of 3, so I hope thats all there is for now.

but yet that undertoad lurks. its there. and it makes me uneasy. beware the undertoad.