The Blog Formerly Known as An Orange County Sitcom

Proud to be an American

 

Photographs by Thing 1.

Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems

Thing 1 got a new t-shirt:

And I wrote haiku in honor of it:

Emo kids take note
Shakespeare hates your poetry
Try haiku instead

OK, after I wrote this I realized it might be misunderstood.  Haiku IS poetry, so to say try haiku “instead” might be read that it’s instead of poetry – which doesn’t make sense.  What I mean is try haiku instead of angst-ridden poems such as this one by Walter Landor:

“Why do our joys depart
For cares to seize the heart?
I know not.  Nature says
Obey and man obeys.
I see and know not why
Thorns live and roses die.”

And that’s the only thing I remember from 12th grade AP English Lit.

No offense intended to any emo readers of my blog.  I am a former emo – I was emo before anybody knew what emo was – so I totally understand and I am there for you, KWIM?

Thing 1 thinks she's The Pioneer Woman

Thing 1 takes lots of photos with her point-and-shoot, and also, when allowed, with the big-fancy-Nikon-that-I-hardly-ever-use.  She has what GWH calls "a good eye."  She also knows how to use Photoshop (unlike her mother).

She puts clever captions and comments with them, too.  Here's here photostream for your enjoyment.

Reflect

For Wordless Wednesday .

International Man of Mystery

We visited the International Spy Museum on our trip to Washington where we learned all about, well, International Spies. Afterward we headed for some afternoon refreshment at a nearby Starbucks.  Suddenly Thing 1 whispered, "There's a spy!"  Sure enough, we looked out the window and saw a suspicious looking fellow wearing a hat and trenchcoat.  (never mind that every businessman in DC on our trip was wearing a trenchcoat, and about 10% of them had hats...)  This fellow had an inconspicuous-looking briefcase/computer bag which looked perfect for handing off to his contact.  Obviously his contact would surreptitiously hand him the identical bag filled with money, while the spy hands off state secrets.

Thing 1 decided to snap a photo of him for evidence at the trial.  Her first attempt was through the window.

Oops.  Hard to see who else is coming.
So she slipped outside with the camera to get a better picture, although with greater risk of discovery.
Here's her SOOC shot:

She did quite a bit of work on Photoshop.  She cropped, increased saturation, used hard light with opacity at 72%, reduced noise.  If you understand all that, you know more than I do.  Here's her final pic:

I think it's a very dramatic art-deco sort of look.  I have no idea exactly what art-deco means, but I know it when I see it.  Ditto for beaux-art.  Every building we saw in DC was beaux-art, ha ha.  It drove my family nuts.

Fine Art Friday

Thing 2 is taking art lessons; here are his most recent works:

This is what we did for St Patty's Day

(random golfer dude in the picture)

Artificial Cloning

Tripod + Photoshop =

In the cockpit

For Wordless Wednesday.

Happy Birthday, Thing 2

Last night I tucked Baby Boy in to bed, and told him:  "Enjoy your last night as Baby Boy...tomorrow you'll be 12 and all grown up."

He wrinkled his nose at me.  "Mom, you said that last year."