A MESSAGE TO MY AUDIENCE...

A MESSAGE TO MY AUDIENCE...

November 11, 2012-

With a little embarrassment I have to make a confession-I have been up to my old tricks, that is, procrastinating and  not sticking with something I say I'm going to do.  I started out on this journey with every intention to plan each activity for the year and make my entries on the blog immediately after, as you all know this has not happened.  As a result of this I am going to have to stretch out my year of fun and frivolity and extend into my 51st year.  At first I was going to just hang it up and forget the project, it's only been with encouragement from my friends (you know who you are) that I have made a renewed commitment to finish, no excuses!  I will adjust my list, blog about the adventures that I have done/taken so far and continue on...onward and upward!   So read on and share with me your comments and thoughts. 

 Thanks for all your support!

Photographer Paranoia

I'm not sure if I'm unique to this or if other people suffer so much from fear of critics.  What does "constructive criticism" really mean?  One definition is "criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions," now I'm not sure but I've not experienced that on a regular basis, ok, very rarely.  It seems most of my critics are only one thing...critical.  OK, maybe thats only my perception but it's what I know.  I started taking pictures a couple of years ago, attended  several classes and bought books, reference books, picture books, etc.  I have taken 1000's of pics, most of them junk, some so horrible I didn't even need to transfer off my camera before hitting the delete button; but some of them I thought to be fairly artistic, at least the lighting was OK (you could only get the joke of that if you take pictures on manual settings).  There are several things I learned about photography; rule of 3rd's, ISO, shutter speed, cameras are heavy, you need a tripod to take pics at night or macro shots, it's no fun to take your camera to shoot when your with someone who does not have similar intentions (a lot of sighing ensues), did I mention cameras are heavy?  So, as a part of the "getting over my fear of criticism" I  decided I would enter a photo contest-I carefully scanned the tons of pics I had taken to date and settled on one I thought was the best, the lighting was good, the composition was fairly good, the subject was beautiful and really, who couldn't pass up a pic of 2 beautiful dogs?

So I searched the web and found a site that offers weekly photo contests based on an assigned subject--dogs, how could I go wrong.  I carefully uploaded my  pic, filled out the entrance form, and then it was time to hit "enter".  I waited patiently for my e-mail that would inform me if I had won anything, honorable mention would have satisfied me.  Well, it wasn't to be.  I got a big Thanks for entering our contest, please log on to view the winners of the "Best of Dogs" photo contest.  Apparently they (whoever "they" are) had no idea what to look for in a pic...ha!!  What I have learned from this experience-leave the critics to judge the professionals, as for me...I will continue to study my books, play around with my camera to learn it's settings, and take time with my good friend Tina to explore the outdoors, and spend time together talking about life and take pictures, good or bad it's always a good time!!    

p.s. if you have any thoughts on the pic please let me know :) 

Vietnam-officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam

 I have a couple of types of food to try on my list-Vietnamese being one of them.  The country of Vietnam intrigues me for several different reasons but mostly because my brother served in the Navy during the Vietnam war and partly because my sisters ex-fiance was killed there during the conflict.  I remember growing up and the days that the numbers were chosen for the draft, it was just a matter of time before they called my brothers and so he enlisted in the Navy in hopes of staying relatively safe.  He was on the USS Blueridge and was a part of the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975-an end to the American occupation of Vietnam and the beginning of the VietCong regime of the beautiful country.  

I have a very dear friend at work who is Vietnamese and so what do smart people do?  They consult with people who are experts...and so I asked my friend Mai to go with me for lunch-she suggested Super Pho located in Salem.  As expected the food was wonderful, very tasty and fresh.  It really helped to have a person with experience because the menu is quite confusing.  I had a wonderful dish of lettuce, rice noodles, pork, shrimp all garnished with cilantro and a wonderful sauce.  One other treat was a taro and coconut boba-or bubble tea:

Bubble tea, also known as pearl milk tea, boba milk tea, or boba is a tea-based drink invented in tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan, during the 1980s.^[1] Most bubble tea recipes contain a tea base mixed with fruit or milk. Ice-blended versions are usually mixed with fruit or syrup, resulting in a slushy consistency. Most bubble teas come with small chewy tapioca balls (粉圓, fěnyuán), commonly called "pearls" (珍珠, zhēnzhū) or "boba" (波霸, bōbà).^[2]
There are many variants of the drinks, and many kinds of types are used and ingredients added. The most popular bubble drinks are bubble milk tea with tapioca and bubble milk green tea with tapioca.




The food was wonderful but the company was the best...Thanks Mai!!

Mai-Friend Extraordinaire