I CAN HAS ATE FWIENDS? ^_^

According to yesterday's math (December 15th's math -- the day of my portentous birth; to some a day to be scorned) I have eight friends. These are their portraits. If you see them on the street, congratulate them for their wise choice to not alienate me.



Matt brought me artworks in a similar vein to this series, for which I am grateful.



Melissa brought cookies of the homemade variety. They were (emphasis on the past tense. They are with God now) excellent and peanut butter with jelly dollops. I am grateful.



Chuck brought wine, which was a welcome arrival. He also took the time to swing by before band practice. I am grateful.




Gersh brought himself, which is important because we decided we'd known each other for seventeen (17) years. Go figure. I am grateful.



Ally brought Yuengling, which is important because it is nourishing and good for you. I am grateful.



Alex also brought Yuengling. Actually you could parse his arrival in several ways -- You could say that he brought the Yuengling while Ally (see above) brought HIM; You could say that he brought Ross (see below). I am grateful.



Ross arrived and watched Slapshot with us, which is important because it is the finest movie of All Time. I am grateful.

[#8 Removed at #8's request, 9/18/08]

Now, there were MANY others who were invited and did not appear. MANY others. Those... people... will be dealt with in my own time. Their remains will likely be posted here later.

My love to you all. I am now 28. I feel like shit.

Throwback Image Saturday (II)

Another from my early series of people I (used to, for the most part) hang out with in college. Dana was the editor of the school newspaper for a spell, and an all around cheerful person, in spite of the attitude this picture suggests. Call it one of my early dour-hipster pictures. This particular image was an outtake (one of her smiling made it in) and I uploaded this one 'cause it just seems more me at this point.

As with Nick, I've not seen Dana since I graduated. Last I heard she was back in Seattle or someplace on the Western Coast.

Anita

If Matt and I go all the way back to the first day of school, the Anita and I go back to the first day of school + 5 minutes. She lived around the corner on the girls' side of The Can with Serena back when there were gender-specific sides of The Can. In truth, I haven't seen her in about a year (give or take. It's been so long neither of us can remember) and I sort of felt bad calling her out just to shove my camera in her face in exchange for coffee beverages.

She does graphic design by training, but has become a little transient in terms of employment and vaguely dissatisfied like the rest of us. She just always seems a little more Zen about it. As for whether that's a fair assessment or not... ...you'd have to ask her.

I'd have to hunt for the negative (or a print) but I have a picture of her that might be the first "good" picture I ever took. We yacked back and forth about what number this was in terms of sitting for a photo; we decided this was the third (after I convinced her) -- the one freshman year, the one senior year and the one today.

[Deleted at subjects' request, 9/18/08]

[Deleted at subjects' request, 9/18/08]

Bad Things Happen In Threes

Dominique



I've been on this kick for a while now, possibly just to make myself feel responsible when it comes to editing my stuff -- restrict it to a 3-image set. This gesture is empty and pointless and gets me into trouble when I do event coverage and I give the client three times as many selects as they really need... and they decide they want them all. Anyway, there are two more for this set on the Flickr site.

Back to the subject at hand -- I remember one of my professors (whose opinion I still trust) mentioning that one of my short films was 'shot spot-on, but... I don't know about your pouty friends in it.' Now in their defense I'll claim that it wasn't that my friends were particularly pouty but rather that I shot and directed them poorly. Then there are the subjects you can't direct, like this one, that you can wind up and let go.

Suzie

Fuck the Heatherette Afterparty. I finally got a few decent frames of my Sphinx.



(Techie Richard: Another example of why I should move to the newer digitals -- my fondness for ramping the gain up and open rather than carry around a strobe pack.)