Category: Photography


Moment

(This post is inspired by Reverb10)

“Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)”

While on vacation at Disney World in Florida, the wife and I decided to go see the Cirque Du Soleil show. We walked in, paid $97 for two bottles of water, and took our seats. The show began, a grand parade of chiseled bodies and extremely limber people, and it was magical. The music, the acrobatics, diabolo girls. It was absolutely incredible.

But then something else happened. As we walked out of the LaNouba theater into the busy Downtown Disney, we noticed the House of Blues had its ticket counter open. We made our way over, to see who was playing. It was only one of my favorite bands ever. The Flaming Lips.

We worked our way into the crowded room, already bumping shoulders with the other concert-goers, as we got as close to the stage as we could. The excitement in the room was palpable. People were all chatting, laughing, the din in the room was loud before anything even began.

As the opening act came out, the crowd only got louder, singing and swaying along with the sound, everyone pressing in on each other, always trying to be a little closer to the action. Every so often, the guys from Flaming Lips would show up on the wings of the stage, causing the crowed to erupt in cheers. The lights were bright, the crowd was loud and hot. The opening act finished, and the roadies came out to begin setting up the stage for The Flaming Lips.

Tension continued to mount, and more people kept streaming through the nearly bursting door. Pressing closer, hotter and hotter, louder and louder. It took probably 35 minutes for the crew to set the stage, but it felt like an eternity. I couldn’t wait. I had always heard about how amazing their shows were, but this would be my first experience at one of them. The whole experience was just a little surreal. I mean, how do you top Cirque du Soleil? But Cirque AND TFL in one night? And all on my birthday? It was incredible, to say the least.

The show began with Wayne Coyne in that giant bubble, rolling out over the crowd, music blaring and strobe lights flashing. He made his way back over to the stage, and off they went, just completely rocking the house for the next 2 hours. I have never been to a concert at which the crowd was so incredibly into the show. Costumes, and interaction, and screaming so loud I thought my ear drums were going to burst.

By the end of the night, I was tired, sweaty, and I wasn’t able to speak. But I was on top of the world. I just finished one of the most awesome nights of my life, and there was nothing that could bring me down.

In my overactive brain, I rarely find myself lost in the moment. But this night, I was able to let go. Let the music and the emotion of the crowd just wash over me, and I was there. I was alive. I was in the moment, and I was the moment. What an incredible feeling.

NYC Pictures!

Most of these are from the Aquarium, though some are from the MoMA. Honestly, I didn’t really get much into photographing on this trip. In any case, here! (All these are also on Flickr)

NYC Aquarium!
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Weird fish!

Seahorses!

Fur Seal!

Sea Lion Show! His name is Osbourne

Dancing!

Jumping!

Face!

Cyclone! This was a ride at Astroland, near Coney Island.

Kristen, on an escalator at the MoMA!

The Iris Exhibit! This was a HUGE 3-walled video with relaxing images and sounds, with a HUGE eye-shaped couch in the middle. You were invited to sit down, lie down, stretch out, sing, dance, whatever.

Same exhibit.

These are the pictures. I hope you enjoyed them. All in all, the trip was great, also, in the future, expect a post about restaurants, and the Honeymoon Day 6 post.

Thanksgiving

The last four days have gone by too quickly, filled with errands, food, more food, more errands, and best of all, some quality time with my fiancee.

I’ve never been terribly big on holiday decorating, but I’ve got to admit, I had a lot of fun putting up a tree, decorating it, and all that. Of course, it couldn’t really be as simple as all that. First of all, it isn’t a real tree. My mom was kind enough to give us an old fake tree she had, which was great, because that meant we didn’t have to buy anything. She even supplied most of the ornaments and lights and whatnot to go on it.

We put the tree together, and I strung the lights. We started to hang some ornaments, and that’s when everything just went horribly wrong. The tree is old, and its stand is plastic. One of the feet of the stand broke, and the tree began to topple, no axe required. I caught it, but not before a couple ornaments fell off, with their typical POP and resulting tinkle of thin glass exploding on the hardwood floor. We got a new stand, and reset the tree, with minimal damage done to the lights and the tree.

Well, there was some confusion in setting the bolts, and the tree began to promptly fall over. Fortunately, we had taken all the ornaments off before transplanting our poor tree, so nothing broke this time, especially because neither of us caught it before it hit the ground. Frustrated, we left it lying there on its side, vowing to try again later.

We tried again, and got the thing set, and began the process anew of arranging the ornaments. We finally finished, and were rather happy with the outcome. We put on the tree skirt, and stood back and enjoyed the moment. This was ours. Our tree. In our home. For our first Christmas together. Gushy and mushy as it may sound, the feeling was profound, and I’ve never felt more at ease or felt things were so right, even if the tree did fall over a couple times in the process. According to the countdown over there in the side bar, we’re about 18 days away from marriage, and although I may be a little nervous, I’m excited at the prospect.

Our tree. In Our house. For our first Christmas Together.

With our puppy, Thalia.

We even have a wreath.

Small Canines

As I mentioned in my last post, Kreestone and I got a puppy last weekend. She got around to posting some pictures to Facebook, and since we’re not all friends there, I’ve rehosted them and thought I’d let you see our puppy. I’ll tell you a little about her, too, but after the pictures.


We think she’s pretty awesome. She’s a 4-month-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and she’s got tons of energy. Well, sometimes. She can run around in circles, chasing who knows what, but sometimes, she’d rather just sit. Particularly when she’s on a leash. In fact, the first time we put her on the leash, the only reason she moved was because the electric door of Petsmart closed behind her and scared her. She’s a special one alright.

We’ve named her Thalia (Tall-ee-uh) after the Greek goddess of festivity, and muse of comedy. She certainly fits the bill with her rather strange demeanor. She’ll run around exploring, but when she gets tired of that, she’ll come into the room, look at you, and promptly flop on her side, as if some invisible hand suddenly pushed her over. Sometimes, though, she forgets to stop running before she does this, and proceeds to slide for a few inches before coming to a stop. We’re hoping she’ll figure out how to lie down.

One of the best things about Thalia, though, is how she acts when she gets tired. We already knew she had some trouble lying down, but she has picked one spot in our office that she likes, even more than the little doggy bed we’ve provided for her. It’s, well, just have a look:

That’s our dog, alright.

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