duet

My dad had the piano open and the kitten was trying to get the pieces that moved when he played the keys. I could have gotten a much better picture if I wasn't too lazy to put the flash on...

books i have read (and not liked)

I thought Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice, would be really interesting. For a few chapters it was, but then it just dragged. Nothing really happened, and then when it did happen I wasn't always sure what was going on. And the big mystery of the book is: Who is this kid really? Which, if you already know, isn't much of an intriguing mystery.

I've never read another Anne Rice book, so I'm not sure if this is her regular writing style or if she was just trying really hard to capture the narrative of an 8-year old boy, but it didn't really work for me. It felt kind of cheesy. The premise was interesting (8-year old Jesus slowly learns who he really is while accidentally performing miracles and traveling with his family from Egypt back to Nazareth) and for a while it made me think about how much happened in his life that we have no clue about, but that was about it. For me.


So I finally read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I thought it was pretty entertaining -- its strongest aspect is probably the short chapters because I'd think, "ok just one more chapter" -- but when I got to the part with the Teabag guy at the end, I felt like I had wasted my time. Too many twists, too many little tiny complicated bits that wrapped up too well, and just too generic somehow. Sure, the whole "conspiracy theory" is interesting, and the book moves well, but...

I just thought it was dumb.

I can see how other people would like it, but it just wasn't for me. Maybe if it had ended differently. Or had better dialogue. Or didn't wrap up quite so perfectly. Or was just a bit more believable.

But apparently that's just me.

4 years

This is what I was doing four years ago from today.

It's still working out pretty well.

*photo by Shel Secunda 2002

thanksgiving

Another picture taken during the same Thanksgiving break for the
same class assignment. Our Connecticut house. Birthday balloons
in the background. My uncle, grandpa, a family friend, and my dad
singing one of the old hymns from the songbook. I had no idea it
would turn out to be one of my favorite pictures.

thanksgiving 1998

I took this picture during my sophomore year of college for a photography class. I decided to document "My Family." This photo was always a little bit extra special because it was one of the last pictures taken of my grandpa before his first stroke.

Preston

This weekend I took pictures of my friend's kids
at the Arboretum. (A friend I've had since I was
born...literally.) This picture makes me laugh; it's
so typical of kids having their portraits done.

for the weekend

Here are my pictures from my trip to Mexico. I tried to narrow it down significantly, but I couldn't get it under 245. So...have fun. Slideshow is the fastest way to look at them, but if you go to the individual pictures I put descriptions if you want to know what's going on.

Oh and I should warn you they're not very great...much closer to your standard generic vacation pictures than what I usually do. It was just that kind of a trip. Most are taken with my point-and-shoot with a screen that I couldn't see in the sunlight. So don't try to critique them or anything; I know they're not great. And I'm in quite a few of them, which is highly unusual.

what if and if only

I left home a few minutes early today. Because of this I stopped to get gas. Because of this I was stopped by a train. Because of this I got stuck at the end of a large group of cars. Because of this I turned east early and took a slightly different way to work. Because of this I was behind the car that hit the kitten that came out of nowhere.

I can still see the whole thing very freshly in my mind. He was orange. My only comfort was that he was left in the middle of the lane so the cars went over him instead of driving over him. And that when I went back to see if he was ok, he looked very peaceful. If he was a stray--which I assume he was, since he darted out from below the High Five mess--he may have been saved from a long, hard life on the streets.

But...

It is one thing to see death.

It is quite another to witness it.

books i have read (and liked)

While I was on vacation I read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I thought the movie was pretty good, so I figured the book would be better. And, of course, it was. Good story, well-written, and pretty closely-adapted to movie form. All good. I felt a little deceived when I read the postscript, but otherwise enjoyed it thoroughly.

Next I read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and I wished I'd read it before the other one because I couldn't stand to put it down. It was sad, tragic, fascinating, beautiful, even funny at times...everything you could ask for in a book. Set in the 1960s, it's about a missionary family in the Congo and is narrated by the mother and four daughters who each have a distinctive voice and perspective on events. I thought it was the best book I'd read in a long time. Highly recommended. Three thumbs up.

back to the beach

Well I thought I was done with the vacation pictures but I found
another one I liked. Pretty generic, I know, but I still liked it.

return trip

It was so sad to fly back to texas from mexico...

the clouds were cool though.

wave

I was playing with my little camera (canon A80) in the waves and
I like this one. Just guessed, pointed, shot, and got this. This is one
that loses a lot of color when it's saved to the web though.

sunrise at the pool

This is one of the pools at the place I stayed in Mexico. I
(accidentally) underexposed the shot, but I think it turned
out pretty neat. Makes the pool look all dark and stuff.

cecily

I took pictures for my friend's sister & kids today. I'm not
good with kids and the light was bad, but I like this one. She
was thrilled to have the camera on her.