Mystic Invasion

Time is passing by whether I want it to or not.

Lately, I haven't been doing too much work as far as photography and related stuff is concerned. I lent out my spare camera and so now don't have one to carry around with me, and my SLR is sitting at home getting little to no use - too much school work.

So, in the meantime, I've been doing more stuff with silly digital manips.

But there's a backstory.

Sunday the 11th was OutFest in Philadelphia - National Coming Out Day. It was a lot of fun, although I had to leave early. I've never been surrounded by more gays, and it was awesome. I got a button and a bumper sticker ^_^

But as we were trying to find the Gayborhood (roughly 12th and Spruce) we got a bit lost. So, from Market East, we wound up at Suburban Station and the area surrounding City Hall. For all the 13 years I've lived here, I don't know the city itself well enough to say exactly where we were, but I do know we circumnavigated City Hall (twice).

My camera was in Photojournalism mode - as point-and-shoot as an SLR can get. I set it to no-flash mode and that was it. I got some good shots of the festival itself (wish I took more) but also got some interesting shots of the city itself. I need to go back, just because I didn't quite have enough time for actual photography of the city. I do have some good ones, but only like...3.

So, back to what I mentioned about digital manips.


"Mystic Invasion" - you tell me. I don't quite know what was going through my head when I edited in some kind of planetary supernova...


...then made it BW...


...and infrared.

Not sure what exactly to do with that.

Um...

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I'm Jimmy and I can't blog for my life :)

The Mind Dynamic, College, and Cars

This is a rather long post because I have to make up for simply not being able to make consistent updates lately. After working 18 hours this past weekend I feel as though I just never left school (as I work at school). Anyway, rewind to last Friday the 2nd.

My exhibit is totally set up! :)

It took awhile, but I got 11 of my photos printed (at Costco) and framed (by me) and hung at the café. It's great. If I could remember AA batteries (or my D60) one of these days I'll post photos of the setup. I do have a car...sometimes. When next I can get over there, I'll be hanging some more 8x10s up and photographing the exhibit itself. Below is the poster for my exhibit; click it for the full size.



The exhibit will actually be there for several months, I hope. :) I can print nearly unlimited 8x10s on laser paper (great quality) and, time allowing, frame them as well. That all depends on demand. I'll be rotating the photos out and hopefully selling some. If you are in the Philadelphia area or know a photography appreciator who is, please come check it out. The prints are for sale. Details are in the guestbook (the image below is the cover). E-mailing is the best way to reach me.



The café is located at 1 West Avenue, Wayne Pennsylvania. It is across the street from the SEPTA R5 Wayne station and the Great American Pub. The café closes at 3 PM weekdays except Friday, when it's open 'til 11. They're great people; I know them and that's how I got this all set up. Food's good and so's the coffee...

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Dickinson college visited my school yesterday. It was great. The meeting turned into a one-on-one conversation between the admissions representative and me. I love the school. I gave her a flyer for my exhibit and a copy of the school paper (I wrote the front page article) to add to the "portfolio" I'm building with the school. I've all but finished my essays, filled out 90% of the Common App online, and only need to submit my essay to Pitt and supplement to Haverford to be done with this whole college thing! Yippee...

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Also, as part of an ongoing story, I still do not have a car. No one will e-mail me back. If you know someone who's selling an 80's-era Mercedes diesel let me know. If you even know someone who has one, let me know. Mercedes is ideal, but I can do Volvo if necessary. My price range is not relevant because of my somewhat narrow stipulations (at least, compared to most first-time buyers). The car needs to at least run...and have working windows. There's a pet peeve of mine. At any rate, I really want an old diesel sedan/wagon and I guess I'll have to explain THAT one in the future...

The Law

It is improper for the law of the government or other local legislative authority to interfere in the affairs of two consenting persons, or to regulate the actions of one person, except when those actions cause unnecessary or avoidable harm or damage to another person or group of persons.

Note - 9/11, Forums, and School

In this brief note, I'd like to ask that we all remember the shocking attacks on American soil that occurred eight years ago today. In light of the events following the attacks on the World Trade Center (and ongoing the last eight years), I believe we all ought to realize there are some things around which we should gather, as a nation, and stand united against those who oppose us and what we stand for.

I was nine years old at the time of the attack, and remember sitting in my fourth grade class early in the morning when my teacher came into the room, sat down on a chair in front of our desks, and asked us if we knew what it meant when something was "hijacked." I believe there was a strong element of the "loss of innocence" in that moment, the same kind of concept William Golding emulated in Lord of the Flies and JD Salinger in Catcher in the Rye. I remember watching footage of people jumping out of buildings, reruns of planes hitting the towers, and an endless stream of people going through the debris. For several days afterward, that's what was on the news, and although my memory of it is hazy, I know it happened and I know the effect it had on my nine-year-old self.

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Changing gears quite a bit, my forums are back up and running. I closed them back in late May because no one was posting (which in retrospect was a silly way to try and make people post more). I'd like it very much if people new and old were to go and post there. I don't really know what kind of discussion ought to be had there, on the whole, but there are sections for political debate, music discussion, and general chat. Read this post to get the whole story on the re-starting of my forums.

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School started again, I love it, and I'm thrilled with my schedule. Some rare days I don't have class until noon and other days I'm done with classes at 1:30. I set up my computer in the multimedia lab and have my workstation all set up - awesome. There are a bunch of iMacs in there (24 of them) and they've all got the full student-licensed version of CS3...they have Final Cut too, so I'll see what I can and can't do with that.

Anyway, that's the blog-note. In the near future, I can't promise any new images (at least not anything dramatic). Sorry. If I upload anything, it'll be from awhile ago and I'll have just edited it in my free time, most likely.

-J.B