CNA

There's still a number of other posts I want to read and respond to and will soon. George has been offering up a great little intro for me and am enjoying what I'm hearing.

Even if you are not familiar with Henry Mancini by name, some of his tunes have become so embedded in American culture as to be instantly recognizable and well-liked even by people who don't consider themselves to be jazz fans. Mancini did more during his heyday to popularize jazz in America than any other person. His "Pink Panther Theme" is probably the best example. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Ghs I've definitely heard of him and have heard "some" of his work but would have never taken such an interest in him as to pursue his music until now and what you initially showed me so thank you for the introduction and now sparking my interest to pursue his work. As for Pinkie, yes, most definitely. But I'm not one to watch much TV and haven't for many many years. There are shows that I watch but it is extremely limited in the amount of time I spend in front of the TV so I'm not familiar with the "classics" or what people call the "classics" or many other movies. This may account for Ninth making a comment a while back as to my misquoting someone.....LMAO Have heard that phrase used but don't know the exact details or the person who said it but it got the point across. LOL I'm a bit quirky obviously.

This is an excellent score; I recall liking it when I first saw the movie in Hollywood. (I also thought the movie was well done for a genre film.) The late Roy Childs was a huge fan of movie scores; he often played some of his favorites for me while we were living in the same Hollywood apartment building during the early 1970s. One of his favorite movie composers was Erich Korngold, who wrote the score for Errol Flynn's "The Adventures of Robin Hood," as well as for many other classic movies. Roy was a serious movie fanatic, and some of the films he liked were not what you might expect from a high-powered intellectual. For example, he was crazy about Bruce Lee films, especially "Enter the Dragon." I recall that he tried to drag Barbara Branden to see this movie, but I don't know if he succeeded. Perhaps Barbara recalls his efforts. One of my all-time favorite scores is the music that Miklos Rozsa wrote for "El Cid" (1961). Here is the love theme: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esle00Apbic&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esle00Apbic&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esle00Apbic&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Ghs With such beauty to my ears now on this thread, I could sit here for hours and being completely submersed in it!!!!

OMG, that was awesome!!!!!! A definite fave of mine and honestly couldn't help but get a little groove on with it too while listening to it!!! Superb!!!!! A score by Henry Mancini could make even a mediocre movie memorable. A good example is "Two For the Road" (from the forgettable movie with the same name), one of the most beautiful ballads ever written. Some time ago I uploaded one of my favorite versions of this tune to YouTube. It is by the pianist George Shearing. Although Shearing was not a great vocalist, his voice and style are perfectly suited to this number. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>In my earlier musician days, I worshiped two composers: Henry Mancini and Duke Ellington. While a junior in high school, I actually had a one-on-one conversation with Ellington that lasted three hours. It's an interesting story, and I'll tell it sometime. It began after a famous and very drunk tenor sax player in Ellington's band, Paul Gonslaves, put some heavy moves on my mother after the last set of a nightclub performance in Tuscon, and Ellington came over to apologize.... Talk about an unforgettable memory! Ghs Another beauty and tugs at the heart strings. New fan over here!!!! Nothing like introductions!!! Thank you. Reminds me of something I've always wanted to take up and will eventually and that's Ball Room dancing, Latin, Tango, Salsa, etc. Girlie thing perhaps. I've always enjoyed dancing but have never taken it to anything serious but have thought about it and will eventually. I know it's something I would be very good at, love how graceful and the sensuality of it is. At a Christmas party quite a number of years ago, I was asked to dance and ended up dancing with a Latina girl, had a lot of fun and playing around and she showed me how to dance the Salsa and I picked it up very quickly, amongst other dancing that was going on. I have to admit it was a lot of fun!!!!! Hmmm....once things cool down on the homefront, only a week left for me I think until June 1st!!!!!!!!! and being home free so to speak and then perhaps another month or two after June 1st, it will be all good and may look into it then!!!!!!!! I've wanted to do it for a long time and many places where I am!!!!! As for your story, what an experience and would be interesting definitely!!!

OMG, that was awesome!!!!!! A definite fave of mine and honestly couldn't help but get a little groove on with it too while listening to it!!! Superb!!!!! Music has always been a passion of mine as well. Grew up around it because of my father being in a band, touring, etc., from when I was a kid. Exposed to a lot no doubt and have many great memories from those days!!! And had the opportunity at that party the other weekend to see so many of them again which was amazing in and of itself!!!!! Good times, no doubt!!!! I enjoy most all genres but more drawn to classic rock and roll. It was what I was raised on and music always playing in the house or my dad practicing his guitar which he is quite skilled at to say the least or going with them to watch them practice!!!!! Music is still this way now for me and will always be a major focal point in my life!!!

I really like your photos. You have a good eye for nature ;) I empathize with you there. I have this habit of trying to get things done right the first time. I abhor rough drafts...lol. Earlier in this thread, I linked my story summary. I was trying to come up with music lyrics and all of a sudden, ideas came streaming in and I scrapped it in favor of novel I don't actively sit down and try to come up with stories. Some little thing is usually the catalyst for the brainstorming that ensues. I might just pen a few of my ideas here. In light of O'ism, I've wanted to rethink them all. One of the reasons I hadn't really sat down to go all out on these stories is that I was missing philosophy as the foundation for them all. Phil, I ride my bike to work most days...10-min ride there so I get a daily workout. Coming home, I get a great view of Diamond Head. I really hate that haha! ~ Shane I really would like to see you put some of your ideas onto paper and written down and posted onto OL and for you to start dabbling in it. It seems like you have some great ideas for stories!!!! Constructive criticism if there is any is always a good thing because it will help you improve and refine it even more. I know a lot of people don't like constructive criticism because they take it as an attack on them and they percieve it as a threat but always keep an open mind when you are wanting to improve. I don't like to be criticized either but I am always open to constructive criticsm from others. Although I am very very very very stubborn and wanting to learn on my own and perfecting whatever I am working on, if I am a newbie, I welcome it. They can help but it's my job to make it better, to either accept their criticsm and take it into consideration or reject it because it's not my style and I'm wanting to find MY STYLE rather than emulating someone else's style. My photography is a good example. I very much enjoyed the critiscm from the more seasoned photographers and their criticizing my work. It always made me want to improve and get better, to learn, etc. I'm this way anyway but it does help and I know you know this. But of course, compliments are always always welcome even if mixed in with that criticsm. Hmmm..I wonder if I can misspell the word criticism more.....LOL Ah, screw it. LOL Time to get back to some work. More later

Phil, I keep being drawn to this passage of yours that I put in bold. I love the joy you took in your knowing and utilizing efficiency, ingenuity, and making your life that much easier rather than being caught up in the rat race!!!!! This efficiency, ingenuity, overcoming obstacles and standing out from the rest and how much pride you took in it, how much by doing this made you so happy and gave you such a tremendous RUSH!!!!! Always the way it should be !!!!!! and I really like this passage of yours!!!! :) :)

Wow, hon, that was seriously long winded. ;) I'm seriously impressed but not surprised in the least bit by your remembering so many of your teachers' names and others in your life. There are a number of areas in what you wrote. But I am most curious do you have any more specific adventures with details that I can revel in, how it made you feel, what you observed and your perception of it, and my being able to relive part of your life as if I was there with you?

Shane, Charles can do some very very serious output. I can also do some very serious output with my own writing, but man, he can also do it as well and can be quite impressive. He is amazing. I'm astounded that he remembers so many teachers' names. I have always been horrendous with names but great with remembering faces, etc. I'm very visual and to an extent photographic memory. I "think" in pictures and replaying it in my head and can go into tremendous amounts of detail because it's like "watching" a movie, remembering almost verbatim what was said, etc. I remember people's names in some circumstances and they are the ones that have made some sort of impact on my life or someone that I got into it with. You're probably going to laugh at this one. In college, I had or should say have a great friend who now lives in Florida though and so far away from me but that's okay. I've always gotten along better with those that were older than me. She had 25 years on me and I love her dearly. I saw this woman almost everday for 3 years before I remembered her name. D'oh. Arlene Rubenstein!!!!! Once we became better and better friends, I didn't want to offend her and ask her what her name was because I had forgotten it. Yikes. But you know, that changed. For those here on OL, I see your names in black and white when I read so it reinforces who everyone is. LOL As for the scarred fallen for a brief moment comrade in my high school days, I don't think it would have scarred him but perhaps. I know after it was done he approached me in the hallway and said, "We're still friends; right?" I said, "Of course." We were more acquaintances than anything else but hung out on ocassion in junior high. Plus his liking me that way didn't help much either. LOL But do have other stories though that even I have to laugh at and scaring people off and no doubt made them taken inventory of themselves. Where I lived in Signal Hill a number of years ago and Steve's son's girlfriend had come over. Sweet but very naive girl, very young. Someone had come over that was friend's with her boyfriend and this friend she did not like in the least bit. She gave me a bit of a run down on him real quick and how he was. Unearned cocky arrogant asshole, disrespectful. After talking with her a bit in the kitchen and his sitting in the living room on the couch, I told her let's go in there and watch this. My "evil" little plan went into effect and putting him into his place. We both walked into the room and sat down on the couch. He was directly across from me and I said nothing, just observed him for a while, getting a bit more of an understanding of how he operates, what he says and body language, etc., and how to approach him hehehehehe, she started to talk to him a bit. I only had her information of what she told me and then what little observations I had of him for that time sitting in front of him to go on so better for me to watch him more closely to get a better idea. Once she got him talking, I then started in on the convo. Nonchalantly and being friendly but knowing full well what I was about to do to him. *evil laugh here* After all was said and done, he ultimately said, "How do you know all this stuff about me. I don't even know you," he took off out the front door and never came back again. LMAO ooooo, freaky, freaky. LOL Nah, been around these types more than my share and know how they operate and did quite a number on him....definitely scared him though. Even the girl that was there and playing along with me, she was like, wow, how did you know all that about him. We both had a great laugh with it though!!!!! I did something kinda sorta similar (different circumstances) with a guy that was very similar, gorgeous man but soooo disrespectful to women. It was my first job and I was working at Subway so long ago. He would come in for lunch or dinner and of course all the girls in the shop would drool over him and he knew it. It bugged me that he treated women so nastily and that we were inferior to him in all respects and that we were deserving of so little. I couldn't resist and bursting his bubble one night and do have to admit took great satisfaction in doing what I did to him. Even the girls that I worked with were surprised in that there was full blown in your face rejection on so many levels when he tried it with me and had to rub it in even more. He avoided me as much as he could thereafter. Oh, wow, also have an English professer in college that I did the same thing to, Mr. Burris. Different circumstances but similar in that he was a woman hater, extremely controlling. Oh, I gotta tell this story but later and needing to remember it all and what happened and getting it down. After finally getting into the other English professor's class, even she came up to me and said, "I am so glad you did what you did. He had it coming." Everyone was terrified to speak up to him because he was so well respected in that college. So many of women at that school and was the hot topic and what happened with him out in the hallway when we got into it. Interesting enough though, he quit his position about 6 months later and a lot of the students and teachers believed it was because of what happened out in the hallway between us.

There are other posts I still would like to read and reply to but I'm way tired, worked all day and throughout most of the night and wanted to reply before going to bed BUT wooohooo have kinda sorta a day off today so hopefully will have a bit more time to reply to the other posts. I see Charles has posted and I look forward to reading his very much!!! I re-read my last post to Phil and it's kinda all over the place. Sorry you guys and it possibly being tortuous for you all to get through. Oi There's some repetitive shit but I'm not going to mess with it again. I gotta go to sleep badly. Burning the candle at both ends.

Interesting, Phil. So many that are into heavy debating and getting panties all tied up in a knot. In the 10th grade, myself and this other guy got into it if you will in the middle of class -- for the life of me, I can't remember what all was said but it revolved around the US going into another country, oil, gas prices here, shortages, etc., and he was supportive of our not becoming involved even though it would hurt us and we all would suffer to some degree here in the US and would be reminiscent of the crap in the 70s. For the life of me, I can't remember exactly what was said or what specific event it revolved around. It was something that was brought up by the teacher to get the students' views on it and he was very vociferous with it and he irritated the hell out of me. No one else in the class had voiced an opinion, assuming didn't care or whatever or just not smart enough to possess a view of it. This guy and myself had been friends in junior high so when my irritation became too much I spoke up (my always being so vocal anyway at least then and still this way to an extent now but only if you tick me off and my bitch side will come out and will be brutal and will put the person in their place, not often that this happens though) But when this went down in 10th grade and my irritation, there wasn't this little tiny, timidm fragile little flower voice. Very much in your face and no backing down with raised voice. He attempted to defend his view and I'd shut him down every time and bringing up the consequences of our not becoming involved and a repeat of past events and how it would affect us and how we would suffer. One of the other students had said something and tried to cut it short because it was getting heated and the teacher said no, I want to hear this, keep it going. The bell rang to go to the next class and we still continued at it and continued to shut him down. I have to admit it was nice to see him begin to cower and his realizing he chose the wrong person to battle with. The teacher just stared at me. After all was said and done, the teacher and many of the students had said that I needed to join the debate team. The teacher pushed it hard but nah, no interest. It's not my job to convince others that they are wrong and that I am right. Or I perhaps may be wrong. BUT if I am wrong, it is MY JOB to fix it based on my own further thinking, firsthand knowledge, experience and understanding because it is MY error and it is not their job to convince me otherwise. I'm extremely stubborn this way, I want to figure it out on my own through my own understanding, thinking, experience, firsthand knowledge, etc., thereby it truly becomes MY OWN KNOWLEDGE and not that of another's. For me, no need to get my panties all tied up in a bunch and angry and upset and early heart attack or whatever or allowing others to push my buttons. I've been through enough drama and arguments and shouting matches if you will and my fighting for what was right for me when I was younger and all the shit I went through to get to where I am now ....been there done that with so much DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA when I was a kid....nope, I like my peace and quiet now and sitting back and relaxing and enjoying what I've found!!! pursuing my interests, my happiness, my money and all the other goodies!!!!!! LOL ;) Of course, there are those that really enjoy this aspect and no problems here. Whatever floats yer boat!!! For me, doesn't float my boat at all. After everything that I have been through and this point in my life, peace and quiet is what I am after!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't get me wrong, there can be disagreements, etc., etc., with those that I am friends with but it's not pursued and I recognize very quickly as do they I think when there is not much to keep pursuing other than we can agree to disagree type thing. ;) Or I'll put a stop to it before it gets to that point. I'm here for fun and entertainment and no more drama and getting my panties all tied up in a bunch and why I stay to threads that interest me where I can have some laughs and fun and ENTERTAINMENT in whatever form!!!!!! LOL Have you picked up your interests though in mathematics, etc., that you lost an interest in but that in private???? Aw!!!! it sounds like you started to pursue which you truly enjoyed the most??!! Not much to say here other than :) :) I wonder if I can throw in another smiley? What the hell, might as well ;) You are most correct and totally agree in that you don't always have to have credentials and/or degrees to be well paid or to set new ground or to be a great man or great woman. I know many many men and women as well that don't have degrees or haven't finished high school that are absolutely phenomenal. There are a number of these people that lurk or on OL now that are this way and they know who they are. I had a neighbor a long time ago and ultiamtely turned into friends. Haven't spoken to him in quite a while though. His not familiar with O'ism at all but pretty much is in hiding if you will. He's an inventor. As I got to know him better, he let me in on his little secret and took me down into his little area of his house where he creates his passions and loves. So many inventions of his that would do absolute wonders for everyone. I asked him why he hadn't pursued it, patents, etc., and started to make money off of it and to my surprise, he said, "Why should I? It will only be taken from me. These are mine." This response surprised me considering the circumstances but also brought a smile to my face because I understood him perfectly and his whys. He took me through each invention hanging from his walls, laying on his work bench, pulled some out of the drawers. I'd pick something up and ask him, "What is this and what does it do?" His face would light up with enthusiasm and would start explaining what it was for. Despite his inventions and tremendous amount of potential, he works menial jobs, enough to survive and that's it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this and his choices. Of course, there are those that would look down on this, but hey, to each their own!!!!!! There are truly so many men and women out there that are John Galts or Howard Roarks?? and these individuals not being familiar with O'ism or who Ayn Rand is and carry these values or came to these values beforehand and without ever knowing who Ayn was. I haven't read the Fountainhead or any other books from Ayn Rand and her fiction novels aside from Atlas but I think the other person that I am familiar with as I have read it here on OL is that of Howard Roark?? I think it is. These men and women are truly out there. I've known a few, my neighbor being one of them and quite honestly it's truly interesting to think about when it comes to Ayn Rand and what she wrote about.

Thank you, sweetie!!! I too like the idea because it humanizes with whom we all interact to whatever degree here on OL rather than just black and white words on a screen. There is a human being on the other end!!!!! I am in anticipation of hearing or should say reading your stories, either adventures or tragedies with a ray of light that lead you to who you are today. We all have these. I know I do for sure but I am who I am today because of these tragedies and what I learned from them and ultimately turning these to my favor and making it work for me rather than against me. Choosing that of life or death....for a very long time have always chosen the first and making it work for me rather than against me. No matter how bad things seem to be at that time, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel....never giving up and pushing forward with fierce determination to get through it, knowing that this isn't my or your constant state and that you fight it tooth and nail no matter what. Hell no!!!!! The best revenge if you will is that of success and your achievement and showing them that you will not allow them to affect you the way they want you to be affected or for them to destroy you and they will NEVER get the best of you. You're too strong for it, too much of a fighter.

Yes, exercise helps keep the mind sharp and thinking. There's many different forms on how people learn and problem solving. I do my best thinking and learning when I am actively moving. I remember in college and studying human anatomy and thinking it through and if I had a block if you will, all I would do is get up and start pacing the floors or walking around the house while reading my anatomy books or what have you. Also I do this when thinking about other areas that I may find complex and difficult to figure out. I'll do some step aerobics and will get so deep in thought and thinking about the problem that by the time I am done I've figured it out and understand it. If I am struggling with this aspect of it and trying to solve the problem either what I am reading or another issue that I am thinking about, I will do the same and staying active and sometimes "thinking" out loud and verbalizing it. By the time I am done, problem solved. I know it sounds strange but it works. There's medical terms for these different forms of how people learn, understand, etc., and unfortunately the terminology is escaping me now because it's been so long. They're finally doing research into this aspect of it and how exercise keeps your mental faculties sharp, thinking, problem solving, etc. It's been around a long long time but never any serious research into it until somewhat recently. Here is a quick article I just pulled up to give you an idea. I can go to the journal of medicine and look for the specific article but here is a bit of it. Improve Brain Function -- exercise Remember, I am the medical junkie over here and is a major passion of mine. There's things I know about medicine that I've been aware of for a long time (some right underneath their noses and so simple) but "they" haven't quite gotten it yet or haven't begun research into it.

Thank you very much, Phil. I've had many many offers to sell my work, have been published, etc. But I'm very protective of it for obvious reasons. I have tons of other shots but just haven't had much time to go through them. 99 percent are on my external hard drive. With the whole ordeal with my son, I had to put it on the back burner. I miss it desparately but that's okay. I'll pick it up again soon, not sure when but soon. A lot of these pictures I'm posting are shots taken years ago and still improving. When all of the stuff started to go down, I was beginning to dabble in street photography and photo journalism. I was at the train station and almost got arrested and only got a few shots off. The whole 9/11 thing really screwed things up, especially for photographers. There's so many ideas in my head that I want to play with but limited because of not being able to have access to my desired locations. I showed this shot to Mike about a week ago. I was just beginning to play with photo journalism and street photography (3rd day out on the streets of LA and learning and experimenting) and this is one of the few shots I got at the train station and it turned in to being one that I really really like. I love the lighting. This man was asleep with all the hustle and bustle around him. There was a bum sitting right behind him and asleep as well so adjusted the settings on the cam to completely blacken this area of the photograph out so it wouldn't distract from the main subject and that is the man slumped in his seat asleep. The lighting there also I just couldn't pass up. God, I do miss it so much!!!! Soon enough!!! Oh, my GOD, you almost set the neighborhood on fire?? DAYAMMM. We never did that. Wow, Phil. Thinking you were invincible. ;)

I hope your mom is doing as well as expected and sorry to hear. Not an easy time I am sure. Oh, most DEFINITELY time to pick it up again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it brings you joy and happiness and definitely healthy for you, also should help with mental faculties and thinking, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :)

Oh, yeah, I've seen those kids up close and personal. My son CHRIS!!!!! Rambunctious like you wouldn't believe. He's calming down quite a bit though as he's getting older. I was the same way. Always on the go and exploring anything and everything and for the most part still this way.....curiosity and experiencing things firsthand is a wonderful thing!!!!! Also can't forget, gotta love the spirit and sense of life that all kids have, their love of life and enjoying it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;) Yep. Where I grew up, there were many abandoned houses, some in complete disarray, dilapidated but being kids that we were we had to go see and explore and play. Sometimes got into trouble though. I have one very vivid memory of myself and my sister and a bunch of other kids went over to this house that was on many acres, completely destroyed, not well kept, etc. We were playing in the tree house and swinging from the rope that lead to the ground from the tree house itself. It broke and my sister went crashing to the ground and to our surprise crashed and broke the wood that was covered up with dirt and got lodged in what obviously was underground tunnel ways. It was an interesting house no doubt. Unfortunately, the broken wood and nails tore into her thigh and impailed her leg something fierce. We tried to get her loose and couldn't so I went hauling ass home, running so fast tripping and falling a number of times, got bit twice by spiders, one rather large (I don't like spiders in the least bit because I've been bitten pretty badly in the past) but it didn't phase me at all and kept running to get my dad. We got her out but she ended up in the emergency repairing the damage done to her leg. Not a happy girl at all. Needless to say, we only went to that house maybe 2 or 3 times thereafter. But have so many stories of great adventures for us when we were kids and still have some pretty great adventures and experiences. My most recent comical one and a lot of fun was out in Yellowstone!!!!! Some funny funny stuff going on there. LOL hehehehe, my son is the same but that with science books. Get him to chill out for a bit, hand him a science book and he's glued to it. A bomb could go off outside and wouldn't phase him at all. Or if I interrupt him and his time, he'll get a bit irritated with me. He's such a cutie. Love him dearly. Teachers make all the difference. Mr. Peralta was my science teacher in high school. We got a long really well. Out of my entire schooling through high school, he is the only one that inspired me and I thoroughly enjoyed his class. He was a great teacher. He knew the potential was there with me and did what he could to bring it out and he did!!!! But unfortunately, many other forces working against it, home, friends, myself, and some other things I was going through at that time, etc. Something had happened that I won't talk about here but I went running from his classroom down the hall (totally surreal) and he came running after me. I went into the girls bathroom and his telling me, "Please come out, I know there's something wrong, I can see it on your face, please come out," and my telling him, "No, leave me alone." Anyway....funny because I was thinking a few years back about going back to that highschool and giving him a visit!!!!! Yes, please do write more!!!

Thank you very much, Shane. I have similar but more interesting shots at the Dunes in Death Valley done with a Fish Eye lens and Tilt Shift lens. Some way trippy effects with a Tilt Shift, gives the impression of being miniaturized. Way contrast to your favorite time of year. When I was last out there and took the one shot I'll post, it was about 120 degrees out. Death Valley is so well worth it and to deal with the heat and other hazards from wild life. So many opps there and can't wait to go back again. Hmmm....I don't think I have one on that other site with the Tilt Shift but may have one with a Fish Eye. Where I am at we don't get the four seasons if you will. But as much as I have travelled in the last 3 or 4 years, it makes where I live a bit drab but beauty still abounds in the most unusual of places!! I'm always very critical of anything that I produce and how it can be improved or not entirely happy with the results and wanting to learn and get better with it. This shot below was processed in Lightroom, new software I was trying out. A bit saturated and one hell of a bitch calming the pinkish hues down. Everything I did to no avail. But much better at it now and processing the images from RAW format. The thing I like about this shot though is that I was maybe only two feet away from this bush if that. The Fish Eye is an extreme wide angle lens that gives 'curvature' to your shots, depending on how you hold the cam. I was kneeling down in front of it and kept getting my knees in the shot on the left and right side of the picture LOL Unfortunately the watermark is still on the shot, doubled, because I got soooooo tired of people taking my work. I have the original but would have to dig it off of an external hard drive and would take me forever to find I am sure. So will post it anyway with the double watermark over it. Distracting but you may like it. You may like Lie To Me. I tried reading Koontz once and just couldn't get through it. Read a lot of Stephen King though when I was way way young. Your idea for your book does sound quite interesting. Have you written anything at all, just for yourself, that you may want to consider posting here on OL? Or maybe you have already? I browse OL often and read but really taking the time to go through the site I don't do often. I will usually just scan real quick, looking for something that may perhaps interest me and then move on to the next.

Wow. I was wondering about Adam as well and noticing his absence here on OL and also wondered if he had passed. I spoke to him briefly about some of my own stuff going on with my son and what happened to him at school. He offered some really great suggestions. These are some very very serious charges against him. I truly hope that what is alleged is not true but doesn't look good on what I've read. Wow. Hopefully he'll be able to find competent enough counsel to defend him if he's innocent.

I don't read many novels. Well, at least not anymore. You made mention of thriller/horror. Have you ever read a book called Lie To Me? A friend of mine asked me to read it a number of years ago and so I did. It's not a book for everyone and can be rather graphic and disturbing but it is a thriller/horror/suspensful. Hard to predict the outcome as is so common in these types of books. Lie To Me -- David Martin I remember Hawaii pretty clearly. Beautiful there!!!! Although so young at the time, there are tons of pix and the sunsets and sunrises are gorgeous!! I do have a Facebook account but don't use it often. There's only a few pics up on FB though, not many. It took me a bit to reduce these, remove the watermark which identifies me on the internet and uploading to a site that I don't care if it is found but I'm hesitant to post the shots connected to the other site for very good reason obviously. The latter site is the one that I will eventually be working out of and want this site to remain anonymous for now for obvious reasons. This is the shot from San Onofre. I was originally out there doing long exposure shots but as the sun kept going down and this beautiful reddish orange hue that enveloped everything, I quickly changed lenses, switched the shutter speed but not enough so the ocean is a bit blurred in the foreground from a longer than normal exposure but won't ever forget the night being out there. I don't mind going with people shooting but times I absolutely love being out there by myself and everything is left behind except me and my cam!!! This is the typical shot and so common from Yosemite. But when there, you can't help but greatly admire the beauty!! It's kinda funny because on this trip I slipped into that damn river while taking a few shots. I need hazard pay is what it is. LOL But well worth it. Saved my cam though but not good at 10 degrees out soaking wet, 6 am, and no change of clothing other than a men's pair of pants in my car from the person that I was with. hehehehe, that was a sight and a half and thankfully no other photographers were out there at the time when I changed next to the river. LOL That's a given of course!!!! For me, I use them all the time, in the morning taking a shower and/or getting ready for work, during the day and the beautiful scent that fills the house, at night, etc.

I will miss Chris, as I believe we all will. He was a chirpy delightful presence here on OL. Now he is gone... What sad news... What sad, sad news... Michael Oh, my God, this is terrible news and truly heartbreaking. He was such a sweet and caring man. I haven't been to facebook in a little while but would always see his postings and will miss them tremendously and will miss him. My deepest condolences to his family.

Totally understand. I'm not going anywhere! Always patient and not pushy and demanding for a reply right this second. LOL At your leisure and timing for you! ;) I have more than my share of "floating" threads/posts that I've never gotten back around to for various reasons and/or have chosen not to continue with it.

I have 17.25 years in (yes, I count the months!) and plan on retiring in 3 years or so. I'll find out if I make MSgt next week. Retirement takes what they call high three, essentially the average of your last 3 years before retiring. It's been a great ride but there are other roads I wish to travel for myself. ~ Shane I gotcha. I'm not familiar enough with this aspect. Counting the days down, uh?!?! I know you're anticipating to begin writing. What path do you anticipate taking? Do you have any goals set for when you do finally retire? Small goals? that lead up to your main goal and your personal success and achievement? You live in Hawaii? OMG, photographers dream for me to be surrounded with so much lush beauty!!! I lived in Hawaii for a brief time when I was very young. Where exactly are you? The main island? Funny but I've actually had thoughts of moving to Alaska just for a brief time though. With photography, I was always the last person to be given the camera to take pictures. Yikes. Now though, everyone hands me the camera. LOL Over this last weekend and at that party, a friend there handed over their 7D to me to take pictures. Wow, I have to admit it made me miss my 5D Mark II and the detail caught, how crisp the images are and the quality. It's been so long. Not being familiar with the 7D camera, it took me a while to figure it out and still didn't figure it out in the brief time I had it but I ended up being more interested in other aspects rather than being the documenter so to speak. But Hedley, an old timer there, helped refresh my memory a bit as much as he could which didn't help much though because he doesn't deal with the cams that I am used to. He has a Hasselblad, amazing camera. As the party continued and my having fun with the camera along with my frustrations with it, he came up to me drunk and said, "What's up with the camera, man; you figuring it out yet?" I responded with a giggle and said, "Well, I'm trying." He said, "Did you reading the fucking RTFIs, man?" I said, "What the hell are the RTFIs," assuming it was a term in photography from the old times. He said, "Read The Fucking Instructions" and started to laugh and walk away. I started to laugh and told him, "I don't have the fucking RTFIs, man." LMAO But Wow, I would have a hayday in Hawaii and all the photo opps!!!!! The sunsets and sunrises have to be spectacular!!!!!!! I have a shot taken down in San Onofre by the nuclear power plant that was completely surreal and felt as if I was on another planet when taking the shot. As the sun started to set, the entire beach, water, etc., had this red hue to it. It was absolutely amazing. In looking through the view finder, I found my heart rate increasing and what I was seeing through it that I had to take the cam down from my face just to see it without viewing it through the cam. Beautiful and I think is one of my fave shots from that trip!!!!!! How long have you lived in Hawaii? So much for keeping the thread on track but it seems we're the only two interested in talking and getting to know those on OL so thank you, Shane!!! I guess I'll throw in another passion of mine and that is candles. I played around with it for a while and making my own which is fun but no doubt a passion for them. I love the lighting it creates, the soft glow, the ambience. Have never liked harsh lighting. I don't quite know where this passion came from. Do know it started very young though. Burnt my dresser down when I was maybe 10 or 11. My guinea pigs at that time, poor things (you know me and my animal thing) were freaking out when the dresser went up in flames. But their freaking out warned everyone in the house that some crazy ass shit was going on in my room. :)

I currently have two associates: Electronic Technologies & Instructor of Technology and Military Sciences. I plan on getting a bachelors in the first, and then possibly a masters in humanities (a base foundation for writing through studies in philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc.) If I get another gig in instructing next year, I might try for a bachelors in teaching. I absolutely loved that job. Since you've spent so much time in the Air Force, and I may be misunderstanding because of so many posts up to this point, do you have the intentions of leaving the Air Force? If you've been in for so long, I would think you would have the intentions of staying in until retirement. Unless, you are close to retiring anyway which I don't think because I've looked at your profile and you're the same age I am or close to it. But then again???? That would be a kickass job. I'm sure it would come with a lot of emotional baggage to see what depths some humans will go to, but knowing that you had a hand in putting them away for good...that would be the balance. Yeah, no doubt. I've read some of this in regards to different serial killers (Richard Ramirez did some way out there wow freaky things) and eek and yikes as to what some of these people did and do. It's extremely disturbing to say the least. It's an interesting area for me. But when it comes down to it and actually pursuing it, I'm not sure how I would be able to do some of it. Of course, you get to know the killer themselves but you also become involved with the victim to an extent. If I was to pursue any given area of my interests thought, it would be in medicine and perhaps seismology above all other interests. Of course, Photography!!! I had a similar occurrence, although in a different manner. Shane: I have to say that your experience would have left me shaken for days! Most definitely. But amazing everything that pursued thereafter!!! There's much more to the story and what was talked about that night. It's no doubt a trip.

Phil: Yes, it does remind me of happy days with her. She was a trippy lady and fun to be around. I was very close with both of my grandmothers, especially my dad's mom towards the end. Some absolutely amazing profound shit going on with the latter and still to this day BLOWS me away. Wow is all I can say. Her death was a huge turning point in my life in regards to my father and family. I'll never forget that day. EVER Although revealing, it was also some freaky freaky stuff. Even my dad and the others at the funeral parlor said that I literally turned ghost white, it took my breath away, looking down at her in the casket and what I saw and what it meant to me and my father. WOW. I remember taking a step back and being absolutely floored and my sister coming up to me and placing her hand on my chest wanting to feel my heart beating and she said, "I need to make sure you're alive, you look exactly like her." This had many meanings to it because everyone had noticed. But primary was that it confirmed that my father truly was my father. There had always been doubt and something that was made fun of for the longest time, jokingly, no biggie. It didn't matter if he was my biological father. He was the man that was in my life as a child and that was that. Everyone at the parlor had already seen my grandmother in the casket and there were so many whispers throughout the room. Some had approached me and started to talk to me, in a round about way telling me not to go over to the casket. My dad was going to say something but ultimately chose not to. I remember finally walking up and I could see my dad off to the side watching me because he knew already what I was to see. I got to the casket and looked down and literally took my breath away. It was ME in the casket. I looked exactly like her. It was hard to tell for so many years because she was a heavy set woman but cancer stripped her down to being very very thin. I'm a pretty petite person. My heaviest was about 140 or so but not heavy heavy. I'm 5 foot 7. I'm 125 now and about the same weight I was when I saw her in the casket. Seeing her there, our facial structure, lips, everything was the fucking same, forehead, spacial set between the eyes, nose. I remember taking a step back and thinking to myself, "My god, my father is truly my father. This is the last thing that my grandmother did for me and that was to show me that I am truly hers." I looked over at my dad and he was in tears. And then my uncle whom I hadn't seen in 20 years showed up unexpectedly and came up to me where I was sitting next to my father at the very front of the room and he addressed me as my sister (my sister and dad are the same in so many ways but always the doubt with me) My uncle on my mom's side saw my grandmother in the casket and he then addressed me as though I was my sister so this was even more of a blow to me and absorbing all that happened. After it was over, I left. They were going to go after me. It was so much for me and my entire family to take in and what happened at the parlor. But my dad and stepmom stopped everyone and my dad said, "Let her go. She's been through a lot today and needs to absorb it all and to think." I wandered in the country pouring down rain that night for many many hours, thinking about everything. When I finally came back to the hotel soaking wet, I went into the room where my dad and stepmom were and sat at the edge of the bed and a long very profound convo took place between myself and my dad. Some amazing stuff. Honestly, makes me teary eyed now thinking about it. Such a huge tragedy but so many beautiful things came from it. There's so much more to this story but there it is. I don't think I have ever seen this toy, but perhaps as it triggers a vague memory of such a gorilla. LOL It's funny because when I was very very young I used to read Judy Bloom books. Books for growing girls if you will. There was a book of hers - don't remember the name now - but there was a technique that the characters would do and that was to put your hands together in front of you with your elbows out and pressing your hands together to work the muscles in the chest and then you chant "We must, we must, we must increase our bust." LOL We all did it. I think I may have done it way too much. LMAO Oh, god, that's just soooo funny to me and makes smile and laugh now. Talk about a bit of an emotional roller coaster with this posting from what happened with my grandma and getting teary eyed writing about it and remembering it to now and then laughing and smiling because of the chant we all girls did because of that book!!!!! *sighing* Amazing life, no doubt.

I enlisted back in '93. I had been accepted twice to University of Nebraska Lincoln to their English program. Full-time jobs were nowhere to be found, and because of a paperwork error I was unable to get a loan to go there. My dreams were dashed. And so, into the Air Force I went. The work I do for the Air Force is communications, troubleshooting specifically. I started in tactical comm, then moved to long-haul voice and data circuits, and thankfully landed in networking. I've been doing that since '97 and haven't looked back. I've built deployed networks and did a four-year stint as an instructor teaching protocol analysis (very geeky stuff...especially when you can read data packets in hex!). For the past couple years, I've been the computer guy for my directorate, so now I'm somewhat computer savvy. I came into this job so that I'd have a marketable trade that I could always lean on. In 3 or so years, I'll retire and try to find work or make my own. Somewhere in there, I'll set down roots and get to writing. Interesting subject about forensics! I love those types of shows. Dr. G is the bomb and I appreciate her all the more since she is a human troubleshooter ~ Shane Wow, that sucks about the whole schooling deal but love the alternative. I thought very seriously when going into college about joining the reserves and getting my schooling paid that way but I ultimately decided not to. I'm not 100 percent sure of this but have you thought about furthering your "education" through the Air Force in the area that you specialize in? So when you do get out, you'll have that degree, etc. That's also something similar to one of the reasons I chose to be a court reporter -- what other areas can I go into with that education? To my surprise, there's quite a bit of opps that it opens up for me. My extensive law background opens up opps in the legal field if I choose to stop working as a court reporter. The medical background is the same and can take a detour into this area. English is extensive so can always work in this arena, editor, etc. Many different areas. I had an opp to work for the US Embassy I think in France but they were looking for someone that wasn't married at that time and without a kid. At that time it was offered to me, my situation fit both of those situations. Plus don't think I would do well being away from my son so much. I absolutely enjoy forensics very much, especially involving medicine!! The forensic aspect of it though for me in psychology deals with profiling -- which would be going over crime scene photos, being present at the crime scene, the evidence, how methodical they are, what they do and how it is done, what they take -- you basically get into the head of the seriel killer, you create the potential profile of exactly who you are looking for, possible age, career, flamboyant, charismatic, and social or withdrawn and isolated, their interests and where you may find them and so forth. It's just basically tracking them down -- giving the profile to authorities on where to begin and they take it from there but you still are involved with the case until the conclusion of it. A bit morbid aspect and if I should write about this but my fascination with these aspects is when serial killer Richard Ramirez back in the 80s was in my neighborhood, killed a lady down the street from us. Unsettling knowing that it could have been your house instead of hers. He killed another person and dumped her body behind the building where my mom had worked at that time. Everybody was on extreme edge like you wouldn't believe. That started my fascination with these types of people and what makes them tick and why.