Adieu (Part II)

Ohio River/50 MM/natural lighting/manual exposure/manual focus/shot in monochrome/4.5.13

I was entranced by the lighting surrounding this trash bag. It made me think: some people would see a trash bag that was snagged on a tree and perhaps keep walking. When I saw it, my eye immediately (and involuntarily) converted it to monochrome/black and white. This happens a lot. I think it’s because I grew up watching the Twilight Zone in B&W -which I love- and Alfred Hitchcock, but also, a good many shows were still in black and white in the 70’s. I found myself studying shadows and highlights, lighting, tonal ranges, the way shadows moved- cinematic perspectives and such. When I look out at the world, shadows, lines, and geometric patterns are the first things I see, and then I see people. I don’t think that’s an entirely bad thing. Art never leaves me, and it never sleeps.

I’ve decided that I’m going to use my blog as an incentive for getting schoolwork done. I’m an excellent student, and only a few points away from the Dean’s list. (I’m already a Phi Theta Kappa member for life, having been inducted at Ivy Tech Community College when I was a med. student 20 years ago. Four A’s and one B- that crap wasn’t easy!) But I’ve been so distracted by rogue family members and their perpetual witch-hunt, the dissolution of a seven year “life partner” union (not quite a marriage but close enough), an exhausting car accident, having to drop classes and readjust after the accident, moving, you name it- I’ve been through it in the past few months and it’s taken a toll on me. I haven’t allowed any of those circumstances to devour me or harden me indefinitely. But I have allowed them to distract me and have put off my school work until it’s now hanging in the balance.

My blog is not my top priority and several times per year I’ll do a systematic “soul cleanse”. I go away from all people, social networks (which I don’t do much of anyway- on purpose) and shut everything down and be very still. I take a personal inventory and reprioritize. I question my motives for everything. I believe the answers to these silent questions can only be found in exile- to some degree- even if for a few weeks.

But that’s not the case this time. I’m so far behind in my schoolwork, so I am going to exercise Operant Conditioning and a self-controlled reward system. My blog will be my incentive, and unless I catch up (and fast); I won’t be allowed to post. Anything.

My blog is a form of bleeding out. If a person doesn’t get out all of the garbage in a positive, healthy way, it will absolutely come out in a destructive way. And people get hurt that way. So, posting to my blog is definitely important to me; it keeps my “pen” sharp as well. But always, I blog for myself. I never feel like I’m “addressing an audience” when I write- I’ve been keeping a journal my whole life. I invite others to read it however, because I think we all give and take from one another in life: one man’s trash is another’s treasure, as the saying goes. One person may read something and roll his or her eyes in disgust, and another may wipe a tear away. It’s all subjective.

A temporary “blog-exile” will force me to kick my studies into high gear, because it’ll redirect most of my energy, time, attention, and focus to my schoolwork. I will be away for several weeks no doubt. That said, I’ll continue to support my fellow friends, artists, bloggers, writers, and acquaintances at WordPress, Redbubble, and Soaphoto (the 3 sites that I frequent) in art work, posts, emails, and other works.

Today, I have a 13 page questionnaire to complete (after having read 50 pages in Health Psychology) and then I’ll be summarizing the results, which will be another 8 or 9 page assignment, and I also have 40 pages to read in Earth Science (Metamorphism) a lab exercise to complete and an exam afterwards. After that, I must read two chapters in Public Speaking and complete a 13 question assignment- each question requires a full paragraph discussion.

And then there’s the many (many) pre-calculus problems, as in, hundreds of them and let’s not forget all of the formulas, e.g., distance formula, midpoint and slope-intercept forms,etc. That’s a bunch of joy waiting to happen.

Yep- I’ll return when I’ve caught up.

Adieu.
xo