A Sharper Image

Being a photographer, I can tell you one of the biggest gripes you will ever hear from talking with photographers in general is that getting a picture to look sharp enough seems impossible. Even with the best lens, the high res .jpg, and Photoshop.

Like those photographs, sometimes it’s tough to get a sharp image in your life. Sometimes it’s not the gear. I’ve worked on having a sharper image for a few years, unfortunately my teeth are still broken out.

This year has been awful tragic. Everyone has felt hurt, betrayed, and stabbed in the back. I know that my personal pain has been something off the scale of how one could define hurt. My teeth hurt so bad for a few days that I seriously thought about knocking them out with a lead pipe to make them feel better.

This is a quick review of the year twenty-eighteen. While having been more physically painful that other years to date, there are some bright spots to the dark shadows that sway.

Year of Ice Coffee

This has most defiantly been the year of iced coffee. Being that we are in December and the temperatures have been dropping in the low 30’s, I will say there have been some days that feel like three jacket nights.

I’m starting to adapt to the cold. However we haven’t gotten any snow yet, so there is just cold weather. Which is nice, because I haven’t had to run the air conditioner once in three months.

While being the year of ice coffee, it has also been the year of eating almost nothing, smoking too many cigarettes, and having lasting isolation that even though I bought fancy perfume no one cares. Well there was someone that noticed; thank you! You made my day better. Hopefully I made yours a little better too. Most the time because I never see anyone but the Starbucks Baristas in the drive thru.

The month of August was horrific. It rained everyday for a solid month this year in what could only have been the worst rains in a hundred years of history. I can attest to the fact that the rain was worse than usual.

While being mostly a physically painful year, there were a few things to smile about. I have worked on my website until I’m happy with it for the most part. Not so happy that no one seems to notice it, but happy with the design other than the home page right now. It’s temporary. I’m sure of it.

Doggies Best Year

The doggies have brought much fun and joy in walks and chasing other things bigger than them, this year. They have also discovered that the playing laser tag is the best thing ever.

I made a few friends, lost a lot more than I made. While no one that I know has died recently, there has been this dark cloud of omniscience above my social life. It almost seems like people are too busy to care. Maybe this has been the year mortals quit giving a shit about anyone but themselves?

Believe that I have spent more time in a dark room with the music on, than I have spent with friends in twenty years. That’s just in this year.

I have however written a book, and about forty thousand words on my blog in the last year. While there has been less music making that I would like to have done, the music has played save but for the power outage that lasted all of five hours. It was horrific.

Not much poetry written this year. I did however buy art from multiple artists in both painting, drawing, poetry, and writers. I also purchased some photography from someone that is doing great work!

Efforts Failed

My own efforts have fallen flat in trying to rise. I am however clawing my way forward even though it is bleak and hopeless. Most people don’t read anymore, and it’s getting more difficult to write good poetry.

When I wasn’t wasting time staring at the ceiling, I was making graphics in Photoshop and drinking iced coffee. Might have made a few hundred posts to my account this year. I just wish that I was doing better work.

I have been trying to rise, the problem seems to be that people are not interested, they don’t even really give a damn if I rise. It’s obvious. They want me to fail. No one did much to support my efforts.

There is no quitting. The job has to be done. With no excuses. Everyone has to have something good. So we wait. We work, and we make the effort to do better everyday than we did the day before. Does anyone notice? Not likely. The distance traveled through my mind has taken me to places far and near.

It has been said that, “There is no excuse” period. I believe that. So what’s the problem? In a world of people that are obsessed with perfection, there sure is a lot to be desired.

Be kind. Go for the long game, make life better for everyone.

Brief Summary

In summary, this year has been pretty crummy. To be honest, it’s been downright awful. The rain and cold wasn’t as bad as the other problems that the world went through. I won’t even go there, because it’s been a night terror.

My main gripe tonight isn’t that the photographs aren’t sharp enough, it is directly related to the problems in being able to obtain sushi on any given day and that it’s impossible to order a pizza with more than one topping.

Get real! Seriously, you used to be able to order a pizza with multiple toppings, and now you can have a cheese pizza with one topping. Why isn’t there outrage about this? I mean what has happened in our lives that pizza delivery only offers one topping with a cheese pizza?

Did they outsource pizza delivery to someplace foreign? Not to be offensive but the world of micro code, high speed pizza delivery, and movies, music, and high speed internet was the only thing still keeping society at large from turning off the tv.

Still reading? I’m hoping that this next year will be better. It’s pointless to complain, and really everything but the pizza problem is like the weather. Temporary. These things too shall pass. Good music doesn’t go out of style. Likewise good taste will come back into being fashionable.