Dawn Krause correctly answered the Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question:

Q: Christopher D. Bennett bowls on Monday nights. What is the name of his bowling team?

A: Patio Pros.

Proust Quote

“Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them.”

Confessions Question

For what fault have you most toleration?

2009 Answer

Proust Questionnaire Number Sixteen

I have thought about this question for a small amount of time now and I’m pretty sure that my answer isn’t the same as in 2009. Mostly because I haven’t had to deal with that fault very much in 2010. Although I’m not sure I dealt with it much in 2009 for that matter.

The best I can do is just start writing. See what spills out of my brain. Then you will be responsible for scooping it up off the floor and we will call it an answer.

It is easy to list the faults of others that bug me to no end. I can’t stand laziness. I can’t stand ignorance. I can’t stand dishonesty. I can’t stand tardiness. I can’t stand boringness. I can’t stand cliches. I can’t stand unoriginality. I can’t stand neediness. Worst of all, I can’t stand bad taste. I would probably be willing to hang out with somebody that was lazy, as long as they listened to good music and watched good movies. Somebody that reads bad literature and watches reality television has a longs ways to go in being a proper human being in my eyes.

If I was more of a magnanimous person, I would hate my own faults. I don’t hate my faults.

There are three really good reasons for why I don’t hate my own faults.

1. My faults make me who I am. They might make me who I am as much as my good qualities make me who I am. Maybe even more so. Humans are are a cynical bunch and they usually see the bad in people before they see the good in people. I’m not sure if this is instinctual or a defense mechanism that allows humans to reject other humans before they are rejected, but I see it happen on a daily basis.

“I mean, could you really imagine me hanging out with somebody like her… she thinks Desperate Housewives is cerebral television!”

Think about it. How often do you hear gossip (another fault I hate) about other people?

“I heard that Joe was completely faithful to his wife last night. Plus, while he wasn’t canoodling with some hussy in a cheap hotel,  he helped his children with their homework. Then he shoveled his elderly neighbor lady’s sidewalk. She didn’t even ask him.”

2. I have perfectly good excuses for my faults. I eat too much. Yeah, but that is because I’m living life and I have so many people in my life that are such good cooks that it would be a crime to let their good cooking go to waste.

I don’t exercise enough. Yea, but I just don’t have the time. I’m going to shaft on a friend because I need to go spend an hour in the weight room? I know I could lose some fat, but at the same time I worry about becoming one of those guys that is too ripped. I see them at the gym (when I go) and they don’t look like happy people. It is possible. I have a real quick learning curve. I might do a set of squats one night and wake up the next morning looking like Lou Ferrigno.  Nobody wants that.

I spend too much money on movies and music. Do you seriously think that is a concept?

I buy books and never read them. Well, they should have been written better.

I’m an elitist. That is a flat out lie. Just because my standards make it look like you don’t have standards doesn’t make me an elitist. It means you need to try harder.

I don’t write enough.  Yeah, I’ve also never killed a man in Reno just to watch him die. There are only so many hours in a day and I waste about 6 of them sleeping.

You can justify anything. Yeah…. and?

3. Having faults gives me places to improve and allows me to connect with other people that possess similar faults on a base level.

I think the best way for me to answer this question (since it is the Christmas season) is to answer the question which cardinal sin is the easiest for me to understand.

Lust?

Excessive sexual thoughts.  I’m not sure what would be defined as excessive. However, I don’t really have much toleration for rapists or people who touch little children.

Sloth?

Failure to use one’s gifts. I’m sure there are people that would accuse me of this sin, but truthfully I’m not as talented as you think. (Also why Pride isn’t a big problem for me.) I really hate laziness. I enjoy having a good time. In fact, I enjoy having a great time. However, there is also a time for work and I can’t stand the lazy guy on the crew.  I think you will note that many of my friends are hard workers. Yeah, there is Willy. The truth is he only cultivates an image of laziness. Nobody is lazy that runs 100 miles a week. Sorry Salmon.

Pride?

I just had a brief email conversation this week on Pride and why it is considered the Great Sin. There was a small amount of debate on whether Pride was really all that bad.  My answer is “YES”! Pride is the desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self. I absolutely cannot stand the “one-upper”.  “Yeah, that is good pizza, but back in MaComb…” I don’t mind confident people, but people that are so arrogant that they can’t acknowledge the greatness of the other people lucky enough to share their air, can bugger off this mortal coil.

Envy?

To resent that another person has something that your are lacking. This is a more understandable sin for me. I don’t struggle with it personally, but I can understand how somebody can look at me and feel that somehow they were shorted. They didn’t get my deep reservoirs of talent or incredible good looks. In fact, (due to my incredible humility) I try not to shove my greatness in the face of other people. We are all lesser creatures in some regard.

Anger?

Inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. I know quite a few people that have anger management issues. While I understand that there are proper times to be seething with rage: the ref blew a call and cost Iowa State a game, Congress won’t pass a bill to provide health care for 9/11 First Responders, somebody touched your Godzilla without asking (begging for) permission… But there are other times in life where you find yourself surrounded by cops because a friend called a ticket nazi a “soulless mother fudger” and you are given two choices “let it go or go to jail”.  These are situations created by Anger that I don’t find it so easy to tolerate.

Greed?

Excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. I’m not too keen on this one either. I have a long standing hatred of rich people. Probably why I know so few of them. I guess that leaves…

Gluttony

The over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. I have no choice to be most forgiving and tolerant of this one. I’m American.

Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question

Since most people are probably already neck deep into Christmas activities, I’ll make this one extremely easy and I’ll accept up to 4 different answers. I’ll give extra credit for anybody that can come up with all 4 acceptable answers.

What is Christopher D. Bennett’s favorite movie?

Jason Baier correctly answered the Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question:

Q: What brand of camera does Christopher D. Bennett

A: Sony. I also would have accepted Minolta with a lengthy explanation of how Sony bought out Minolta. If anybody would have listed Sony, Minolta and Holga, well there wouldn’t be words for how I would feel about such a person.

Proust Quote

“Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.”

Confessions Question

The military event I admire the most:

My 2009 Answer

Proust Questionnaire Number Sixteen

This answer won’t make me popular.

I’m actually quite surprised by this question being selected. I’m not really big into the military. I don’t even have much of a family history of military service. My Grandpa Bennett was too young to serve in WWI. He was too old to serve in WWII. My Grandpa Paris served in WWII. Stateside. As a cook. Even though he was entitled to a full military funeral:  The folding of the flag and the Three Volley Salute and the playing of Taps. None of these things were done at my Grandpa’s funeral. This still burns some members of my family. I bring it up not to tear old wounds, but to show how military isn’t a big part of my family’s existence.

The one member of my family that had extensive combat and military experience was my Uncle Dean. He served in Vietnam and he was exposed to toxic chemicals that slowly ravaged his health and finally extinguished his life.

I don’t even have many friends that have military experience. Even one of those few friends had a terrible experience in the military. Ending with his bunkmate committing suicide.

Even when it comes to war movies, my favorites are decidedly anti-war: Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Hotel Rwanda, Three Kings, Schindler’s List.

I’m not anti-military, but I also don’t get all jonesed up about the military.  I understand that its existence is a necessary evil, but at the same time our military is way too large. Do you realize that if you take the actual numbers, over 50 cents of every tax dollar spent goes to support the military? You’ll see figures that put it at 20 cents, but those numbers misrepresent how Social Security (among other things) is funded.

All things considered, I would rather 50 cents out of my tax dollar be spent on helping sick children. Helping sick old people. Helping sick middle-aged people.

Maybe a dime or so could go to keeping the military industrial complex welfare machine alive. Many of our technological advances have come through military research after all.

I understand that we need a military. We need it to press our (read Corporate America) economic interests in the world. It is also used on some level to protect us from the evil forces of today. Although if you told me after the Cold War ended that a few years later we would be engaged in a seemingly neverending War on Terror, I would have said, “Shut your mouth George Orwell!”

While I am very pleased with the recent retraction of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and I admire the heck out of Iowan and Medal of Honor winner Sal Guinta, the military event that occurred in 2010 that I most admire was the ending of military operations in Iraq.

The war began in March of 2003. During its peak, there were 165,000 American soldiers in Iraq. About 4,400 American soldiers died in Iraq. We will never know for sure, but it is estimated that 100,000 Iraqis were killed. Don’t just skim past that number. Where I come from (a little place I like to call Christianity), a human life isn’t less valuable because it isn’t American. Or Muslim for that matter.

I make this a separate sentence because I want to make it clear that I don’t consider the waste of life to be anywhere near on par with the waste of money, but as I write this the war on Iraq has cost this nation $747,323,475,195 and made us not even the slightest bit safer.With lack of Wall Street regulation and mind-blowing levels of corporate greed as contributing factors; our economy has been a casualty of this war.

With the ending of military operations in Iraq, there are less than 50,000 American troops left.

I know that is still a huge number and I know that we aren’t going anywhere. Just like how we are still in Germany, Japan and Korea. However it is a movement in the right direction. A movement to hopefully returning the United States back to being a nation of peace. A move back to being the “city upon a hill.” Yep, that is Jesus talk.

Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question

Christopher D. Bennett bowls on Monday nights. What is the name of his bowling team?

Leave your answer in the “Comments” section of this journal entry.

Jesse Howard correctly answered the Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question:

Q: Currently, what is Christopher D. Bennett’s favorite band?

A: The Swell Season.

Proust Quote

“If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.”

Confessions Question

What is your present state of mind?

Proust Questionnaire Number Sixteen

I’m going to take this question to mean what am I thinking about right now.  So this will be an incredibly short answer.

I’m thinking that I need to talk about boobs less on Twitter.

I’m thinking that I had an awesome weekend. Great food. Great company. Then great company, but I missed out on the great food. Then more great food.  More great company. Then more great food. More great company.

But mostly, I’m thinking about my yearly viewing of It’s A Wonderful Life.  This is causing me to wonder if the world would be a better place if I had never been born.

Don’t take this as me being depressed or sad.  Definitely don’t post any comments or send me any messages reassuring me that the world is a better place because I’m in it. Definitely nothing with examples of how I somehow improved your life and prevented you from being a crack whore, petty thief or NASCAR fan.  I’m not fishing. Keep that stuff to yourself. Admire me from a distance, if you will.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I will never post anything in this forum or in a social networking environment of the “woe-is-me” variety. I don’t play the game where I beg for other people’s pity. I keep my own counsel. I don’t pity farm.

It is simply an honest intellectual question that I am thinking about right now.  Do the positives I have brought to this world outweigh the negatives that I have brought to this world?  More importantly, what can I do to increase the balance in favor of this being a better world for my being in it?

Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question

What brand of camera does Christopher D. Bennett use?

Here are a few broad announcements.

1. Love my photography?  Ever wonder what it would like if you were in it?  Here is your chance! I’m doing portrait photography as a fundraiser for the youth group at my church tomorrow night.  So come down to the First United Methodist Church of Boone, Iowa from 5-8 pm and get your picture taken.  The rate?  $25 – cheap.  What do you get?  A couple of digital pictures of you and/or your loved ones next to the First United Methodist Church of Boone’s Christmas Tree.  It is a pretty sweet tree. On top of that every last penny of your 25 smackers goes to the Youth Group to help finance their mission trip to Kansas City next Summer.  A mission trip that I may or may not be chaperoning.  I’d guess “may not” at this point, but we’ll see.  No appointment is necessary.  Any questions, you most likely have my number or email address.

2. The 2011 Calendar. Every year I post something about not being sure if there will be a calendar next year.  Every year it is usually a lie.  Not this year.  After steady growth for the last few years, there is a chance that the calendar will not be published this year.  The guy that printed the calendars the last couple of years is refusing to print the calendars this year because I didn’t pay him for the calendars last year.  The fact that I asked for a bill at least 5 times and never received one is apparently irrelevant to the gent, so I have to come up with a new plan.  It is possible that I won’t come up with that plan. But one thing that is a certainty is that the run of calendars this year will be significantly less than the last couple of years.  So if you don’t get a calendar for next year, it is because of market fluctuations and what-have-you, the calendar just isn’t economically viable to be printed in as large of numbers as the last few years. If nothing else, my crew will be happier for the cut in workload.

3. Tomorrow marks the beginning of December.  The beginning of December marks the beginning of my descent into self-absorption.  The time when I look back at the year and answer the Proust Questionnaire.  The difference between this year and last year is that I’m giving my loyal droogs (you people that are reading these words) a chance to pick what questions I answer.  I will start the questionnaire tomorrow.  At the bottom of the questionnaire answer will be a trivia question about Yours Truly.  The first person to correctly answer the question in the comments section of this website will get to pick the next questionnaire question I answer. The trivia questions will be difficult and very specific, but I have faith that somebody out there knows me at least a little bit.

Every 100 or so posts, I like to make a list of the most popular pictures on this blog.

Here is the list of the 10 most popular photos in the Artistic Gallery.

1. Outburst of the Soul


2. Self-Portrait


3. Jen Relaxing Between Sets


4. Grizzly McAlpine


5. Rebecca – Senior Pictures


5. UnHingd Publicity Photo


7. Abandoned Piano – McCallsburg


7. Obama


7. Obama


Campanile Self-Portrait


7. Alexis – US 30 Flood

The 10 Most Popular Pictures in the Snapshots Gallery

1. Jesse and I with the World’s Largest Cheeto


2. Jesse eats a Bob’s Dog


3. Jesse and I at the Surf Ballroom


4. Jesse Kissing the Blarney Stone in Emmetsburg


5. Shannon reading map in Backbone


5. Jesse and I in Clinton


5. Jesse in the Surf Ballroom


5. Jen and Shannon making a deal at a Bonne Finken Concert


5. Cousin Amy, Sara and Jen at a Bonne Finken Concert


5. Sara and Jen at a Bonne Finken Concert


Robert checking out the view in Balltown

If you want to see how this list has changed since the last time I posted it follow this link:

I will check this out again in another 100 Journal Entries.

One other thing…

If you would like a Username and Password for either of the galleries, send me an email with what you would like your username and password to be, and I will get you set up.

Having an account to the Galleries allows you to Rate, Favorite and Comment on Pictures. Plus, it allows you access to the “Secret” Albums.

Last week’s theme really fired the imagination of some contributors as multiple people submitted multiple images for PAINTING WITH LIGHT.

Mike Vest A


Mike Vest B


Christopher D. Bennett


Carla Stensland A


Carla Stensland B


Dawn Krause A


Dawn Krause B


Justin Whitaker

Dawn Weekly Poem

Painting with Light

Oh the ache
and cold of the dark
A searing pain
has left it’s mark

Gloomy days with
impending doom
Lead us toward our
eventual tomb

Wait for the light
to paint the sky
Raise my spirits
and hopes to fly

Cradle my heart
in His warm hands
With promise of
happier lands

The Random Generator has been randomizing and it has spit out this week’s theme:

To answer the inevitable question- “No, you can’t take my picture for this theme.”

Housekeeping Note

Thanks to the 10 or so people that “Like”d the Photography 139 Journal. However, I am removing that feature because of hierarchy issues. However, you will still have the ability to like individual posts. So if you like this post and have a Facebook account, feel free to “Like” away.

Many of you know that I mostly avoid Facebook. I go on there once a week. On Monday nights.

Many of you also know that I have a Twitter account. I have a Twitter Account for two reasons.

1. You can’t be this self-absorbed without having a Twitter Account. Doesn’t the world need to know what I’m thinking about “diesel powered blame generators” and can the world function without whatever cryptic 140 character messages I post on my Twitter page?

2. Twitter is the best way to follow products, bands and sports teams.

Because Social Networking is all the rage right now and will be for the foreseeable future, I have decided to integrate Twitter and Facebook into my website.

If you actually go to the Journal Section of the website, you can read my latest Tweets on the left hand side of the page.

If you actually go to the Journal section of the website AND you have a Facebook account, you can “Like” this website. You will also find this little bit of social networking magic on the left hand side of the page.

If you are logged into Facebook and “Like” this website, it will show up on your profile page that you indeed do “Like” this website.

This is a grand experiment, so it might not last.

However, I am also adding a feature to the bottom of each blog post that will allow you to “Like” individual posts.

If you subscribe to this post via email or RSS Feed, you will have to go to the actual website to engage in this function.

Because I didn’t want to go to straight posts without and photography, here is a random picture of a dragonfly:

When I originally was planning my vacation I had set aside this day to make a road trip. I didn’t know where I wanted to go for sure, but I knew that a trip to Wilton and their old timey ice cream parlor was definitely on the list.

I had spent some time with a fellow computer miner and member of the Broken Furnace Support Group Micky in discussing places near Wilton. I had given some thought to visiting a mint shop in Deep River. A really big frying pan in Brandon. I was also thinking about visiting Muscatine to see the Button Factory Museum and the Button Factory Restaurant that was highly endorsed by Micky.

However, after spending an extra day in Minnesota and driving close to 800 miles in those 3 days, plus spending only about 30 minutes of waking time at home on Thursday I decided to just become reacquainted with my buddy the Clockwork Couch.

I vowed not to leave my house until Friday Night Supper Club.

For the most part, I made good on my vow. I sat on my couch and caught up An Artist’s Notebook. I sent Jen a text message wishing her a “Happy Ultrasound Day”. I texted Jill some frog pictures from a Personal Photo Project that will get published in about 3 weeks.

But mostly I tried to reduce myself to a vegetative state while watching movies. It must have worked, because the only movie I can remember watching for sure is Unforgiven. I realize now that I should have made it a western day. Backing it up with The Ox-Bow Incident, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

However, I was only able to sit and do nothing for so long. So I contacted Mercury AKA The Salmon AKA The Dance Machine AKA The Ex-Lone Wolf AKA Willy to see if I could photograph him running.

A deal was brokered and I followed him around McHose Park (in a car) while he ran. I will publish those pictures in 5 weeks, but I will publish some of the other pictures I got while hanging around the best city park in the state.

You should be warned that one of these pictures is brutally frank in its portrayal of the biological function of sex. I suppose that it could be described as pornographic.

Ye be warned!

After our trip to McHose I went home and cleaned up for FNSC. While I was getting ready I got a text from Jen.

“Happy ultra sound day! Everything looks perfect! Don’t know if it is a boy or a girl… It’ll be a surprise.”

That was awesome news!

With news like that it was time to go and cap off a pretty lazy day with a great FNSC.

I haven’t been as active blogging lately. There are several reasons for this absence.

1. I have been spending most of my free time organizing the basement.  When I completed this project I moved on to the upstairs.  I am on the verge of being quite downsized.  Hopefully this project will be completed next Wednesday.  Or at least, I hope that the only room that I will have left to organize and downsize will be the office after next Wednesday.  There is always a fair chance that I will just give up on the office and declare it a permanent disaster area.  We’ll see how the other two rooms go.
2. When I haven’t been organizing, eliminating and donating I have been moving furniture around. True this doesn’t take much physical time, but it is emotionally draining.
3. I have been working on a personal facial hair project.  For one 36 hour period, I wasn’t intelligent enough to put a noun against a verb in a meaningful way.
4. The last couple of Friday Night Supper Clubs have been emotionally draining.  The night we viewed Free Walking at Jay’s apartment was a visceral experience.  What a great movie!  Then the Jucy Lucy replication Friday Night Supper Club was an overt failure that ended with My Great Shame.  It took me several days to recover from that shame.  At least Dawn got to become an auxiliary member of FNSC.  She allegedly doesn’t even mind that it is a “Boys Club”.  I will believe her when she makes a return appearance. Plus Trivia Night.  Well, I can’t even begin to discuss how emotionally draining Trivia Night ended up being.  Plus Trivia Night fell in that 36 hour period where I was a moron. However, Team Stache (Geri D., Willy, Jay, Jesse, Shannon, Papa Smurf and his wife) was an undeniable powerhouse.  I only wish I had pictures to share so that you could relive the experience.
5. The cleaning crew (Jill) for my Oscars Watch had to work at her “real job” and got stuck in Minnesota.  Therefore I had to do my own cleaning.  The bed maker (Sara) also got stuck working her “real job” so I had to make my own bed.  I tried to get that out with a straight face.  Sara had to work, so I just shut my bedroom door and pretended that the room was how it was supposed to be.  My kitchen crew (Jen and Derrick, well mostly Derrick) came through with flying colors though.  Still, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I should add that my neighbor joined the Watch and listening to his plan to get his life back together by finding a girlfriend so that he can have some self-esteem.  Well, that was psychologically draining.
6. Perhaps the most important reason why I haven’t taken keyboard in hand and banged out some words is because during the move from one blogging entity to a different blogging entity, I decided to completely recategorize my blog. I started this process with well over 770 journal entries to review. Through this process I eliminated several journal entries.  Things that I didn’t need any longer. Like videos that no longer existed or calls to donate to a “charity” that would lie and claim that your donation was tax deductible.  I even broke down categories by people and I left the number of blog entries by the category.  A quick glance down the left side of this blog will tell you who I seem to write about the most.  Are you surprised that Jay is number 1?

A surprising side effect of my reading is that I think I might have regressed as a writer.  I fear that I might have peaked and it is all downhill from here on out.  Some of my writings in the not so distant past were clever, witty and dare I say it – brilliant.  I fear if I was ever going to write a play for ACTORS that was going to revolutionize costumed (believe me I have tried – Geri D. will not let me put an all-nude play on her stage) drama in a meaningful way, I have missed my chance.  Rather than eloquently crafting phrases, I now rely on cheap tricks (like my over reliance on parenthetical statements that makes me want to punch myself in the face almost as surely as if I had moustache) and broad allusions.  I have surely descended into hack-hood.  See, that isn’t even a real word.  It isn’t like the old days when I used to invent words that are sure to be the next surefire hits in our lexicon.  I can’t come up with a word so I throw out a dash and postfix and then I merrily go on my way.

It didn’t used to be like this.  (I just don’t mean that I used to not end sentences with prepositions.)  I used to be growing as a writer.  For example, when I was in the 4th Grade I wrote the worst creative writing stories ever!! They were based loosely on a pet rabbit that most likely died due to my neglect.  Only I stole some ideas from a few cartoons and movies that I enjoyed and out of my pencil and on to some poor dead tree came writing that was so dizzingly bad that it makes me want to vomit when I read just a few short passages:

When Fluffy found him he took him to Leo the Lion. Leo took care of him. Pucky told Leo his life story. Then he told Fluffy what Jack, Jill and Joan said. Fluffy said “I better get going” then he left. He hid in Raspberry Forest and said “By the power of Carrot Castle! I HAVE THE POWER!” Then he said, ”Up, up and away and he flew off to find Joan, Jack and Jill. When he found them he landed and said, “Pucky sent me.” Superfluff said.  “Let’s get that wimpy rabbit!” Superfluff picked them up and twirled them until they gave up and promised to stop picking on Pucky. Then he went after Swampfrog. When he was fighting Swampfrog he said a few words he shouldn’t of. When he returned he taught Pucky karate. When he stepped into the pond, Jack, Jill, Joan and Swampfrog were waiting for him but Pucky beat them up in 15 fish winks. Now everybody calls him The Karate Duck.

Fortunately I can still say that I’m a better writer than I was when I put that horrible drivel to paper. But I did slightly improve by high school:

Eric reached deep into his soul, past the candy wrappers and half-eaten bagels, to the insult department. Through the corridor with doors marked with signs that read “whites”, “blondes”, “Scott Kendall” and “dogs”.  He opened the door that read: “The Mother of All Insults”.

The glowing light almost blinded him. The brilliant shiny box in the room was his destination. He opened the box and was greeted with a cloud of rolling smoke. He reached into the box and grabbed a piece of paper. Eric read the paper and he knew he had his death blow!

Back in reality Eric stared at the landing party and said… and I quote… “Huh, freaks of nature!”

He was puzzled when this didn’t break their morale. They were laughing at him. This was the Mother-of-All-Insults and they were laughing at HIM!

Chris looked at Eric and broke into another 5 minutes of laughter. Chris controlled himself and said, “You sir are our inferior. You call us freaks in an attempt to manipulate reality. We have evolved into a place of superiority over you!”

“Liar! I’m not listening to you!” Eric screamed.

“Scott. Who-o-o-o-o-o is this m-m-m-an?” Captain Punjab whimpered.

As you can tell, I have clearly progressed from the terrible wretch that wrote those words. I just hope that I am not regressing to that level again!

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL: http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

(500) Days of Winter

This picture is an homage to one of my favorite scenes from my favorite movie of 2009 – (500) Days of Summer.

Derrick posed for this picture when he was forced to vacate his abode for Girls Night on foggy Saturday night in January.

As it turns out, there wasn’t a blog on Thursday, so here is the love letter from Thursday’s Writer’s Almanac.

There are many prevailing popular perceptions of Emperor Napoleon of France — most of which began as British propaganda. While his name doesn’t often conjure images of a sweet hopeless romantic who pined for an older woman, the letters he wrote to his beloved Josephine reveal as much. In December 1795, he wrote to her:

“I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! … You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours. Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.”

Napoleon and Josephine were married in 1796; he was 26 and she was 32, a widow. He wrote to her from all across Europe, when he was out waging military campaigns. The year they married he wrote to her:

“I have not spent a day without loving you; I have not spent a night without embracing you; I have not so much as drunk one cup of tea without cursing the pride and ambition which force me to remain apart from the moving spirit of my life. In the midst of my duties, whether I am at the head of my army or inspecting the camps, my beloved Josephine stands alone in my heart, occupies my mind, fills my thoughts. If I am moving away from you with the speed of the Rhone torrent, it is only that I may see you again more quickly. If I rise to work in the middle of the night, it is because this may hasten by a matter of days the arrival of my sweet love. … I ask of you neither eternal love, nor fidelity, but simply … truth, unlimited honesty. The day you say ‘I love you less,’ will mark the end of my love and the last day of my life. If my heart were base enough to love without being loved in return I would tear it to pieces. Josephine! Josephine! Remember what I have sometimes said to you: Nature has endowed me with a virile and decisive character. It has built ours out of lace and gossamer. Have you ceased to love me? Forgive me, love of my life, my soul is racked by conflicting forces.

My heart, obsessed by you, is full of fears which prostrate me with misery … I am distressed not to be calling you by name. I shall wait for you to write it. Farewell! Ah! If you love me less you can never have loved me. In that case I shall truly be pitiable.

Bonaparte

P.S. — The war this year has changed beyond recognition. I have had meat, bread, and fodder distributed; my armed cavalry will soon be on the march. My soldiers are showing inexpressible confidence in me; you alone are a source of chagrin to me; you alone are the joy and torment of my life.”

And from Friday:

Zelda Fitzgerald, née Sayre, was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great muse and more. He modeled many of his characters after her, and he even included lines in his books that were from letters that Zelda had written him.

The two went on their first date on her 18th birthday. Her family was wary of him, and she wouldn’t marry him until his first novel was actually published. Zelda was still 18 when she wrote this letter to Scott in the spring of 1919:

“Sweetheart,
Please, please don’t be so depressed — We’ll be married soon, and then these lonesome nights will be over forever — Maybe you won’t understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it’s hardest to write — and you always know when I make myself — Just the ache of it all — and I can’t tell you.

How can you think deliberately of life without me — If you should die — O Darling — darling Scott — It’d be like going blind. I know I would, too, — I’d have no purpose in life — just a pretty — decoration. Don’t you think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered — and I was delivered to you — to be worn — I want you to wear me, like a watch-charm or a buttonhole bouquet — to the world. And then, when we’re alone, I want to help — to know that you can’t do anything without me.

One week after This Side of Paradise appeared in print, Zelda and Scott got married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. They became known as the quintessential Jazz Age couple: beautiful, flashy, with money, and often drunk in public. The year they married, Zelda wrote to Scott:

“I look down the tracks and see you coming — and out of every haze & mist your darling rumpled trouser are hurrying to me — Without you, dearest dearest, I couldn’t see or hear or feel or think — or live — I love you so and I’m never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night. It’s like begging for mercy of a storm or killing Beauty or growing old, without you.

Lover, Lover, Darling — Your Wife”