It's been awhile... sorry...

So, it's been awhile since I posted. Since then:

a. Nothing much in my life has changed. My life is depressingly monotonous and the ONLY thing keeping me going is knowing that I'm saving money to move to Santa Fe to pursue my dream. And I love my dream. And I love Santa Fe. So that's 'enough.'

b. I found out that Kendrick (my BUDDY) will NOT be waiting for me in Santa Fe as I'd hoped. Such is life...

c. I made a great friend (Scotty) who I love and adore. I also re-love CLAIRE, one of my good friends who has made a big comeback in my life recently. And I shared the most beautiful night ever (the night of the big snowstorm) with both of them last weekend, along with our friend Colleen... all of them were GREAT sports about a 3am impromptu snowstorm photo shoot in the park, and I got this great (albeit POSED) shot of Scott and Claire...


You can check out more shots from the night, including some shit shots from the bar before the shoot and the snowball fight randomly following the shoot at:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/klenz1024/snowstorm/

Well, it's quarter after six in the morning and I'm still up. Being nocturnal does not sit well with me. I either can't sleep, can't wake up, or can't tell if I'm asleep or awake (the scariest of all.) For years I have been dying to know how it would feel to master 'lucid dreaming,' AKA being able to consciously control your dreams. Ok... I figured it out. It sucks. I'm dying to go back to SLEEP and AWAKE with no grey area but it doesn't look likely. All I know right now is that I need to be AWAKE for work. Besides that - I'm out. And the kicker is that I'm almost AFRAID to go to sleep because it usually ends up in a restless half asleep/half awakeness that sucks more than just being awake and tired.

I have a ski trip next week, leaving the day after Christmas and returning the 29th... hopefully that time back on a NORMAL schedule will help re-align my sleep patterns, and I'm hoping to be back to a routine come the new year. Unfortunately, 'closing' at work is the only way to make the money I need, but after closing I can't fall asleep until 5am (at the earliest). Maybe my new promotion at work will mean more hours in the day so that I can stop closing so much. At least, I sure am hoping it will....

I hope that everyone has a phenomenal holiday and a safe and FUN New Years... I'll be working this New Years Eve... I'm gonna miss my 'last' New Year's with my friends but the money is too promising to pass up. If anyone needs plans for the night, gimme a call... God knows I would appreciate the company that night!

etc

If you understand this sign, and are at least slightly amused, then you've made it onto the 'potential husband' short list.



God, I LOVE panda bears. This picture makes my life complete.

Moon ring

So after work tonight (I got out at 3am) my friend Josh was scraping the ice off of my car for me when I looked up and noticed that the FULL moon in the sky had a huge glowing ring around it. It was terribly cool! When I got home I (of course) froze my ass off trying to get a good picture of it. Without a tripod. Because I STILL don't have a tripod! So please forgive the high amount of noise (high ISO + drastic curves adjustments) and slight motion blur from hand shake.

The first picture shows the whole ring...



And the second one shows it in perspective... this one was taken from the walkway in front of my house...



I looked it up on the Interweb and found this:

A Ring Around The Moon

The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.

Less typical are the halos that may be produced by different angles in the crystals. They can create halos with an angle of 46 degrees

This guy hit the nail on the head...

... when he made THIS list.

Although I'm convinced that Scott Stapp (from CREED) and Chad Kroeger (from NICKELBACK) should have been tied for first.

Also, someone needs to buy me this shirt for Christmas...

Kalen, Lauren, and Anneli

So Kalen, his wife Lauren and their daughter Anneli came home for a visit this week. They've been out of Michigan for at least three years, and they don't make it home very often, so it was great to see them. They got in last Saturday, and they head back to Philly tomorrow (aka later today).

Kalen was supposed to have this huge fancy private party at a jazz club downtown, but after spending the first two days of his time home in the ER, he just wasn't feeling up to it. He finally regained some energy and we hung out for a bit on Wednesday night. Thursday night he had the 'rescheduled' birthday party and most of his friends got dressed up anyway, even though we were staying in town. Not me... it takes a miracle to get me dressed up! We started the night at Doyles and then moved to 336 Main to close it out. It was a blast!

Today I went over to Kalen's mother's house to visit Kalen, Lauren, and Anneli... also Kalen's little brother Justin and his mom, Alecia. Oh, and 'Bear,' Kalen and Lauren's 200+ pound Mastiff. I hadn't seen Anneli since Maria and I visited them in Philly for her first birthday in December. She's grown so much! Plus, both of her parents are super geniuses, so she's incredibly intelligent. I mean, she's not even two yet and she's making complete sentences. It's almost creepy, she's like a REALLY tiny first grader. Mostly she's just cute as all get out - she's got the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen.

Anyway, here's some pics from the last couple of days.

Kalen, all dressed up, being 100% swanky with his cigarette holder.

Kalen and Lauren dance to "At Last" at 336 Main.



The group at 336. From L to R it's ME, Gyorke, Dave, Kalen, Stacy, Jeffree, Lauren and Amanda.

Kalen in the garage, asking me politely not to take his picture.

Anneli making her 'cry face.'



She wanted us to measure her, but didn't understand that she had to stand up straight...


After knocking down the bricks... one of MANY times this happened.



My 'niece' and her huge beautiful eyes.

Dios mio! Hay una hacha en mi cabeza!

Ahhh... Engrish T-shirts... how I miss thee...

Please let me run into these guys in a bar. Just once. PLEASE...

just some funniness

truth

some pics from the summer

I was clearing off my SD card from my old 'kaput' digital point-n-shoot so that I could stick in my NEW fancy point-n-shoot... and here's some GEMS I found from this summer in Santa Fe.

Now THAT'S a big lens! Jealous, boys?



The Sunday that Travis and Donnor 'accidentally' showed up in matching outfits.



Trisha and I. Not sure WHERE, but I'm wearing black so it must have been a Friday night.

There's a couple more but my wireless is fading in and out, so... another time, then?

tooo funny

Chris recites T-Pain

ouchie...

so i was an idiot tonight and instead of going home after a few drinks i decided to stick around and help my coworkers clean up a BIG mess after a BIG fight.

and i ended up cutting my hand right GOOD in the process...

i had three beers in me and i wasn't on the clock, so goooooodbye worker's comp...

mom says i need stitches (sorry to wake you up so late, ma)

i say stitches are for nancies, and lucky mofos with insurance....

so i'm gonna take ONE MORE pain killer and try this 'sleep' thing again, wish me luck...

i'm back

...from the land of no-interweb and i should be posting more regularly now.

Tonight was a good night, I made great money and had a lot of awesome customers, including my little bro who's in town for the weekend. Also, my good friend Kalen is coming into town tomorrow for a week to celebrate his birthday and I can't wait to see him, his wife Lauren, and their little girl Anneli!

I think they're making me a trainer at work, which is awesome. I do that job daily anyway, really, at least now it'll be official and I'll make a better hourly wage (no more $0 paychecks!)

Oh, and I got a new point-and-shoot digi camera that I'm loving and a new Epson photo printer. Bitchin.

Lastly, I'm getting old. I've been noticing what appear to be the beginnings of WRINKLES and i'm plucking out at least one grey hair a day. SUCKS. What's even more lovely is that I still have problems with acne. So I have zits like a teenager and wrinkles like an old lady.

That's. Just. Awesome.

Ok, it's past 5am and I need to hit the sack. Check ya later.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Just a little rant, directed to restaurant customers... (cause i had a rough night)

a. If you get a discount on food because of a promotion (for example, half off drinks, dollar burgers *ahem*, etc.) then you need to be wary of that when you tip your server. Just because the food cost YOU less, it didn't mean less work for your server. In fact, promotions usually mean the server is busier in general, and that his/her total sales are considerably lower. Take that into account. If you got two softs drinks at $2 a piece and two $1 burgers, your tab is only $6. That doesn't mean you should tip 15-20% of SIX DOLLARS. At full price those burgers were $8 each and your tab should have been $20.

b. Servers DO NOT (for the most part) get paid hourly. The restaurant or bar has to pay us something so that they have something to take the taxes on our tips out of. Odds are that your server will never see that $2.65/hour they're being paid. Taxes eat it all.

c. 15% is the new MINIMUM. MINIMUM, folks. Good service deserves 20%. Deal with it. It's easy, take the total, slide the decimal one number to the left, and double it. Do not go with the 'tax times three' rule because a lot of alcoholic beverages are not taxed. You could drink all night and not pay a dollar in tax.

d. Waiting tables is hard work. Seriously. When servers/bartenders get off of work they are sticky, smelly, covered in god-knows-what, sore, and tired. Please don't make their lives harder by doing stupid shit at your table. You may think it's funny to pour all the sugar packets into a little pile in the middle of the table and then drip your beer into the middle, making a sticky little beer volcano. That's fine... just clean it up before you leave! It's not okay to let your children smash the 15 packets of crackers we gave you (for free) into the carpet. It's not okay to tear your beverage napkin into eight thousand pieces and scatter it all over the table and floor. Unless you are a monkey. In which case, what are you doing out at restaurant anyway?

e. Finally, if you get inebriated enough to start ordering rounds of shots for you, your friends, and the table of hots chicks next to you, that's YOUR FAULT. When you get the tab and it's more than you expected, that's YOUR FAULT. Don't take it out on your server with a shitty tip. They had to deal with your drunk asses all night.

f. Next time you're trying to figure out what to tip your server, think about it. Did you wait tables sometime in the past? Do you know anyone who has, or currently does? Do you want to be remembered as an awesome customer or a shitty tipper? Because, TRUST ME, servers and bartenders remember how you tipped. If you plan on returning to any establishment, there is a chance that you'll get the same server. And do you want them to be motivated to treat you well, or do you want them to write you off the second you walk in because they know they're not making money off you anyway? Of course, a good server would still give you 'acceptable' service, but don't expect any 'above and beyonds.'

(inhales.... exhales....)

Thank you.

It's okay... we'll get you another one... don't cry...

drunks... sigh...

So here's an amusing story from tonight:

At the bar where I work, the staff has to wear either a shirt with the bar logo on it or (on game days) we can wear sports shirts. Today Michigan State played Ohio State, the #1 ranked team. Now, MSU doesn't have the best record, and frankly, we don't EXPECT them to win. Which is why it's so much fun to be a SPARTAN, because when they DO win, it's awesome. And everyone likes rooting for the underdog!

So today I wore a Spartan t-shirt to work. MSU played at 3:30, U of M played at night.

Some drunk U of M fan (they don't need to be drunk to be arrogant assholes, it just makes them louder and stupider) started screaming at me in the middle of the U of M game, from at least 15 feet away:

"OOOooooh! A STATE fan! THAT MUST SUCK! You guys got your ASSES kicked today! OHIO STATE BEAT YOUR ASSES! HOW EMBARRASSING!" etc etc etc

At which point I walked over to him and replied, in a calm and collected tone of voice only loud enough for him and his friends to hear:

"Actually, the final score was 17-24. Which means that we got in SEVENTEEN points against the number one team. No, we didn't win, but we put up a good fight. What's really embarrassing is walking around like your team is made of Gods season after season, and then losing to a double A team. At home."

His buddies couldn't stop laughing, and it turns out one of them was a Spartan, too, 'cause he left me his phone number with a note that said that he owed me a drink for putting his buddy in line.

It felt good, I'm not gonna lie.

I can't wait for November 3rd. GO SPARTANS! (Oh, and GO APPALACHIAN STATE!)

the week, in review

So it's been a long, painfully boring week. On Sunday I woke up at the asscrack of dawn to drive out to Chelsea to do some family portraits. Altogether it was uneventful, the kids (2 year olds) did NOT want to cooperate - but that's usual for that age kid. It just further cemented my conviction that I do NOT want to do children's portraits for a living, ever.

But, again, cute little girl...




I basically worked all week... well, at least Sunday through Wednesday. All nights... all either closing or last cut. They're loooong shifts, too - at least for restaurant shifts. If I close it's about 9 total hours I'm running around. But I'm making very good money, and I'm finally back on my feet financially and I'm even able to be saving money, which is awesome. I suppose the fact that I have no social life whatsoever isn't hurting the situation either.

Yesterday I stayed home all day and worked on the shoot and some promotional things I've been getting going. At least I had the 2am visit from the cops to liven up the day a bit (see last post.)

Today I slept in a bit, got some laundry and cleaning down, and then went to my gramma's to visit her and Uncle Murphy. Just so you know, Uncle Murphy is my gramma's Shitzu puppy. He's about the cutest dog in the world... as you can see. After that I went shopping at local thrift stores for pieces for my Halloween costume. Continuing my 'pop-culture heroes of the 1980s' theme from last year I'm going as PUNKY BREWSTER. Easier said than done, but if I can pull of Rainbow Brite then I can do this. I got a couple of pieces that'll work, including two pairs of differently colored Converse hi-top All Stars (ol' school chucks!) Then Amy and I met at her parent's house in Dearborn and went shopping (I bought new jeans for work) and ate/drank at Chili's.

See, told you my life was boring!

Just a LITTLE embarassing...

So, it's 3am. It's not surprising that I'm still up... I have a nocturnal schedule now due to my new job at the bar. What IS surprising, however, is that my doorbell just rang. And rang again.

Thoughts running through my mind at the time include:
"Some idiot drunk has the wrong house."
"Someone died and my cell is off." (It wasn't)
and, most appropriately:
"WHAT THE FUCK?"

Yeah, it was the cops.

They wanted to make sure that everything was alright... Apparently someone had noticed that we had a car running in our driveway with the doors open for a long period of time. Upon further inspection, I found my dad's old-ass Saturn chugging away in the driveway, two driver's side doors wide open, interior lights on.

(Thought at that point: "I hope Josh didn't take this call")

This was at 2:30am. My dad came home at 9pm. That damn car was idling in the driveway, doors open INVITING someone to drive off with it, for over FIVE HOURS. He had left around 8pm to go buy some mat board for me to cut mats for some prints, and when he came back he had gotten out of the car, opened up the back door, and unloaded the bulky boards. He planned on immediately returning to the car to pull it into the garage, but must have gotten sidetracked.

Things I learned from this incident:
a. Early model Saturns must be great cars! If I left my car idling for more than five minutes it'd overheat beyond recognition, let alone for five HOURS.
b. My dad is a doofus. I don't use the word doofus, but I can't think of anything better to describe him right now. He's a genius, actually, but MAN can he be a doofus.
c. I must live in one hell of a safe neighborhood, huh?

So that's about it. I just thought I'd share my funny story with y'all.

Things are relentlessly monotonous around here. I sleep until about noon daily, wake up, shower, get gorgeous (helps with tips), run errands, and go to work at 5pm. Get off work between midnight and 3am, deposit my tips in the ATM, go home, wind down, fall asleep... I'm making good money but the hours are hard to get used to.

'til next time...

Things I'm feeling right now...

-I'm pissed off at the Democrats that pulled out of the Michigan Primaries just to make a point about us bumping up the date. No one said that Iowa and New Hampshire had the Monopoly on early primaries. Just to spite you, I'm not gonna vote for any of your asses, ever. Which is fine with me, 'cause I was planning on voting for Hillary all along. Much like my green party days, it's all about principle... at least it's all about principle now that we don't have worry about a Bush in office.

-I love www.xkcd.com. Maybe you gotta be a nerd like me to get/enjoy it, but I don't care.

-HEY! I quit my 'day job.' I'm officially a freelancer now. 100%. Fuck hourly employment. (OK - I still work at a bar to pay the bills, but at least I'm my OWN photographer now.)

-Sinus infections suck. Ass.

-I MISS KURT.

-I'm bummed about turning down the job in Santa Fe. God KNOWS I wanna go down there in January. I just chose the mature/smart option over the impulsive/fun option. First time for that. Feels funny.

-My ears hurt and my arms go numb when I sleep.

-My car died. But Josh Bonno is in a ZOMBIE MUSICAL. Unrelated, yes. But I love whiskey. Also, unrelated.

Why I love THE BOYS...

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a fan of the boys. I've always found it easy to relate to guys, and it comes as no surprise that most of my friends are guys. Including my best friend. Guys are simple. They're easy to call. They like what they like, and when it's around, they're happy. When it's not, they're not. Whether it be family, a girl, sports, a hobby, or their career. Easy. Simple. Low drama. I love guys.

I mean, I'm a girl. I still like to feel vulnerable. I still love having doors opened for me, and flowers bought for me, and sensitive things said to me. But in the end, I just wanna grab a cold beer, and throw in some whiskey... just let me just SIT and hang out. We can wax intellectual, or we can just watch the game. Maybe we can talk all deep-like about life and hopes and dreams, but probably we'll just talk about random bullshit.

So, to all the boys in my life: thank you! Thanks for easy, laid back nights. Thanks for assuming nothing about me, and not pressuring me but still being there when I REALLY need it. Thanks for protecting me when 'other guys' don't seem to have any respect. Thanks for being good solid human beings. I love my boys...

That's why, when my friend Eric posted this, I immediately loved it.

HOW TO BUILD A MAN

Begin with a boy.
Make him do a number of things with catapults, insects in jars.
Give him a pet or the freedom to run along the paths
of the forest.

Next make him a man.
This mainly means increase his size. Let him forget catapults.
Ensure he has his first loss -- that dog or his first love.
Invent something like a wife. Concern him with the daily bread,
choose him a newspaper for reading on the train.

Surprise him with the news.
Later, lay an infant in his arms. Let him look at the face, fear
for the fragile bones that make the skull.
Other than this equip him with very little.

If you fancy it allow him to imagine his significance.

A regular seat by the hearth, custody of the remote control,
now and then, some idea that what he says is true --
will be abided by. Let him also think you're taking his advice
(his half of conversation) don't imagine he's listening.

Lastly make him old.
This mainly means reduce his size. Let him forget
the ends of sentences, look past you with his milky eyes.
(He'll be recalling catapults and forest paths.)

In the end just let him go.
Carry his coffin

-- if you can shoulder it.

a.dunne

sad, sad, sad....

So I didn't get hired back at the workshops for the winter season. I'm really upset about it; even though I know it's not the end of the world... it feels like it right now.

This will get easier, this will get better.

Everything happens for a reason.

There's always summer.

And all that jazz.....

A semi-productive weekend before a CRAZY week.

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to do family portraits for my mother's friend, Marilee, and her husband and two kids. We went to McClumpha Park in Plymouth... it really was fun. I mean, not enough fun to make me wanna do family and kid's portraits for a living, but enough fun that I'm not going to kill myself if I do a few more of these before January.

The little girl, Alli, so absolutely adorable and she was a total ham for the camera, so I was able to get some really great shots of her.


As step one of my new plan to get myself out of total misery, I put in my two weeks notice at the portrait studio last week. My last day there will be next Wednesday. I also started my new job at Bar Louie today... I had orientation this afternoon and I start training tomorrow. Hopefully working there 30-35 hours a week (nights and weekends) and shooting during the day will make for a much happier Karen...

So, speaking of happier Karen... here's some things that make me happy right now.









From my favorite online comic at http://www.wkcd.com


This commercial is just funny. I think it's their faces.

Kevin Spacey doing Christopher Walken. Almost as funny as Jay Mohr's impressions, but I can't seem to find that online anywhere.



JULIE BLACKMON. I mean, of course I know and love her "Domestic Vacations" portfolio... It was awesome to see the prints at PhotoEye this past summer. But I'm even more in love with her "Mind Games" portfolio of square-format black and white images.... gorgeous...



I'm lovin' the design of this photographer's online portfolio. And this one's (the music can go.)






I was going to volunteer but it appears that there's already something in my mouth: Vomit.






'Nuff for tonight. Gotta get some sleep. I have to work two jobs tomorrow AND make it home in time for the SEASON PREMIERE OF THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM! Yay!

how 'bout a quickie, before dinner?

First post...

So after the wild success (ha ha!) of my Santa Fe blog, I figured I'd start up another one to follow my life from here on out. The truth is that I just really liked having a place to VENT... also I tend to come across some very cool links and random shit and I figured this would be an easy venue through which I could share them all with YOU, my loyal captive audience.

I suppose I can assume that anyone who would spend time reading this blog probably already knows me, but just in case:

I'm Karen. I'm a photographer, first and foremost. I also love music and nerdy shit like mathematics (I was a math-elete in HS) and quantum and string theories. I love sports, especially college/pro football, basketball and the DETROIT RED WINGS! Also, I'm a raging liberal (what some would call a 'bleeding heart' or a 'tree hugger.') I get uncomfortable watching people being humiliated, I love watching cats do silly cat things, I'm a traveler, and I am overly trusting of people and underly trusting of governments.

Ok, now you know me. We're like best buds, I'd say. Check back regularly for funny links and pictures, as well as updates on my boring ass life and rants and raves about the bullshit that seems to follow me from day to day.

Links for today:

Compare the US Constitution versus the Patriot Act. If this doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.

FUCK GAS.

You'll watch this at least twice. At the end, I was like, oooooohhhh!

Children see, Children do.



Other shit:


















Amen, brotha.

















Sad, but true.













Along the same lines...














Works EVERY TIME!



Ok, that's enough for the first post. Hope you enjoyed.

...actually, I couldn't care less.

-k