A Peek Into My Mind

“And the beauty of the moonlight falling there,
falling as sleep falls in the innocent air.” -Wallace Stevens

“A good friend is a connection to life-
a tie to the past, a road to the future,
the key to sanity in a totally insane world.” ~Lois Wyse

happy place

This is where I went  on August 14, 2010.
How about you?

attar [at-er]
-noun
1.) a perfume or essential oil obtained from flowers or petals.
2.) also called rose oil.

I didn’t want to go for the obvious. Also, my original ideas were foiled because the subjects I wanted to use were unavailable. Again, I thought and thought throughout the day, but nothing. After a late nap, I woke with an idea, “What is the word of the day en Espanol?”

desconocer
-verbo
no saber. utiliza a menudo en estilo periodistico, cuando hay una falta de informacion precisa acerca de un evento.

Como el dia termino, lo que deberia fotografia era aun desconocido para mi.
Vamos a hablar Ingles.

If you don’t understand Spanish, the word of day means: not known. often used in journalistic style, when there is a lack of precise information about an event.

Mini project #2: complete. Slightly tweaked. But complete.

I’ve always wanted to take a picture like the one below. Whatever you guys do, please, please don’t tell my mom that I went by myself around 8:30p and stood above the freeway to do this. It was safe! There was a fence.

rhap∙so∙dize [rap-suh-dahyz]
-verb (used without object)
1.) to talk with extravagant enthusiasm.
2. to speak or write rhapsodies
-verb (used with object)
3.) to recite as a rhapsody.

It’s not always about being completely literal.
The end.

ko∙an [koh-ahn]
-noun
1.) a nonsensical or paradoxial question to a student for which an answer is demanded, the stress of meditation on the question often being illuminating.

This one was srsly (not seriously, but srsly) a doozy. Throughout the morning I thought of situation after situation. I put my head down and meditated on what I could do to express this very difficult word. After going over some moral/ethical issues, I talked to KB. I told him about the conundrum I was facing.

When i thought there would be no answer to this koan, it became clear to me. KB’s two words that provided the light and a path to my nonsensical problem: ALBUM COVER! So simple, so fun. So awesome!
This is what KB did, and what you guys can do too:
1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random… Read More… Read More” or click Wiki Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to “Random quotations” or click Random Quotes
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click 7 Days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

But to make this more “my own”, I changed a few things.
1 – I asked my cousin, Chrissie to help me out. Without her knowing of my exact plans, I asked her to choose a number between 1 and 256. This is the number of posts (as of yesterday) that my blog containted. She chose 5. My fifth blog entry/article on this blogsite was entitled “Hop Along”, a restaurant I visited while on my travels.

2 – I asked her to choose a number between 1 and 57. This is the number of sets (to date) I have on my Flickr account. Chrissie chose 45, which was my Holy Land: Day 1 set. The third photo in that set was of a boat that I saw across water while on our evening night tour in Dubai, UAE. (I smile because I can’t believe how blessed I was to have been able to travel there! Thanks mom!)

3 – I initially chose a “random quote” said by Indira Gandhi which last 4-5 words were, “there was less competition”, but decided to use the example from the Dictionary app that accompanied the word of the day. I I wrote the last 4 words down, but that’s all. Unfortunately, since the day has passed, the app doesn’t contain the example anymore.

4 – To make this really a “photo of the day”, I actually took a photo on Day 223 and placed it on the photo that was taken months ago! If you look at the words between the band name and the album name, you’ll see a little camera pendant I bought for myself.

Thanks KB! Again, you have saved the day in my ordinary world.
Chrissie! Thank you for being so “random”.

p.s. for anyone who thinks i used “koan” incorrectly, YOU try using it in a sentence!

Remember, friends: These are my interpretations of the words. Maybe they make sense, maybe they don’t. But like I said in the previous entry- sometimes the words that Dictionary.com chooses as their word of the day are… unconventional? I don’t know….

ab∙squat∙u∙late [ab-skwoch-uh-leyt]
-verb
1.) to flee; abscond

The first thing I do when a new day begins is check my iPhone and click on the Dictionary app. By doing this, I start to think about the word of the day, and as the day progresses I try to think up a story that I can express through a photo. But absquatulate?! Oh, boy… this one was a toughy. I wanna give some credit to my work pal, Vijay who, when I said, “How am I going to express someone fleeing from something?!” he said, “They can be in a forest where they flee boredom or work!”

I couldn’t find a forest quick enough, but by Vijay saying this, it made me look at the situation/word slightly differently. Instead of concentrating on someone moving quickly away from something, they can either stand still or just move slowly. The day started to end and I was really at my wits ends.

As I drove home, I saw the sun setting across the freeway. It gave me the idea to use it as my subject.  As soon as I walked into my house, I was greeted by our gerent and I went straight to the front window.

Abscond means to avoid capture and prosecution, but i’m only going to focus on the capturing part.

Each night the sun will absquatulate from the sky to avoid being captured by the moon.  In turn, each morning the moon will absquatulate from the sky to avoid being captured by sun (lets not focus on lunar and solar eclipses, ok?).

While I technically froze time and captured the sun before it disappeared, i could never physically capture it or hold it in place.

Day 222- i would have to say was a success! Day 223′s word is a doozy. Wish me luck! Eeps!

Why is chocolate called chocolate?
Why are things called things?
Who decided?
Who said “I’m going to call this THIS and that THAT and everyone’s going to do the same.”
Hmmm… I ponder.

It’s mini-project time again, friends!! I’m titling this project “5 Days, 5 Words”. How am I going to pick these words? Easy (sorta)! Everyday Dictionary.com has a “word of the day”.
I parenthesized “sorta” because dictionary.com gives unusual words. I’ve found it difficult to find interpretations or ways to express these words. These posts will show my interpretations of the words taken from my everyday, ordinary, boring life.

ge∙rent [jeer-uh nt]
- noun
1.) a ruler or manager

This is Puddles. Our doggy. Ate is his mom. The ruler of our house.
Rulers can do whatever they want and are waited on hand and foot, or in Puddles’ case, paw and paw!
“Take me to the bathroom!”
Actually, he says, “Can you please take me to the bathroom. I really need to go right now. I’ve been patiently holding it for a while now.”

“Feed me whatever you’re eating!”
Really, he says, “Can I please have some food? I’ll be very patient and wait quietly until you give me something. I’ll try not to drool, but I can’t make any promises. Please, will you give me food?”

“I’m going to bark as loud as I want and you can’t do anything about it!”
“HEY! You don’t belong here! Get away from this property!” He doubles as our guard dog.

“I’m just going to lay here and do nothing because I feel like it.”
“I’m just going to lay here and do nothing because I feel like it.” Hahah!

We absolultely love him!

When we come home he greets us. When we leave the house he walks us to the door and even goes to the window to make sure we’re leaving safely. He’s such a great dog.  It’s nice when he sleeps next to my bed!

When I took this picture, the gerent of our household was given a HUUGE bone to chomp on. Puddles took that bone and placed it on his towel. He’s very well mannered.

But don’t worry, Ate!! Mommy only let him eat the bone for a few minutes before she took it away.