Friday, October 3, 2008

Bailing water or bailing HOPE?

I'm usually not a political type, and hate to discuss it anywhere... but this isn't political ~ it's finances and not just mine as I am a taxpayer, but everyone's....

This bail-out of the financial institutions angers me... that so much money will be used for assisting those financial organizations is not fair...

WHY?

When americans were encountering difficulties in paying their mortgages, these same loan offices didn't try to help them. They just tightened the reins and made it more difficult, till they foreclosed on their homes. Many families lost their homes and their lives.... lives were shattered and nobody did anything to help these people. Nobody cared and the lines of homeless grew, and these lines included children.

Now these same institutions that refused to lend a caring ear to americans who were experiencing the most difficult times of their lives, are in the same "boat"... and LOOK who is bailing them out?

Let them go to the streets like the people they foreclosed on! Let them lose their belongings, their dignity, their routines and their lives. Let them start living at friends' homes, and/or on sofas and possibly the street....

Who cries for those who have lost their homes? NObody....

Remember this when you pass them on the street - look them in the eye and give them a smile or a bit of food. The next day it could be you or me....

Who will help us then?

the mysterious circle of color


mystery4234_tn
Originally uploaded by foto_taker
I saw this recently and captured it... this is a mystery foto, meaning there's a contest going on ~ to read the full details about this foto and contest, go to where this foto is posted at flickr and come on everyone: GUESS!!!!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

better than better?

It was a nice drive to the eye clinic in San Jose; I've been admiring the views each time and finally after four trips, I finally remembered to load up with the camera and stopped to catch the sights I've been thinking about many times but captured only in my mind.

My eyes weren't too bad; I could see about 75 feet and make out street signs and such, so it wasn't like the first few drives after the surgery. Today it even rained.... so the wipers were used for about ten minutes. The clouds were gorgeous and there was a bit of free-standing fog in the calm air.

Once there, I was checked and my eyes analyzed and I was sooo relieved to hear that my eyes were not as damaged as I had thought. The cute doctor (female of course) told me of a patient she had who really screwed up their eyes.... mine was nothing in terms of severity. She did however warn me about not using the lubricating eye drops enough, which was my situation.

Before continuing home, I met with my brother for lunch and walked around a bit in downtown San Mateo, snapping some pictures of the unique architecture in the immediate area, then after leaving him at his home, I made a trip to get some snaps of glass....


I went to nearby Oracle headquarters in Redwood City; this complex of glass buildings is so reflectively beautiful! I've been there several times already for fotos and will be more in the months to come. If you're in the area and haven't seen them yet, you need to see them!

When I got back into the City, driving down Jones Street the fog was just in the background behind Alcatraz, and it was lovely; but the camera was directly behind me and there was no place to park, so I parked at home, got back there walking up two steep grade 6 hills and got the shot! :-)

In just the four minutes and 32 seconds it took me to return to a spot on the hills to see through the mess of criss-crossing telephone and electrical cables and wires, The Rock was already being draped in the fog....

Upon arriving at home, I started using the eye drops right away.... previously I would forget and would use the eye drops as few as five times a day. With just five drops in each eye over a three-hour period today, I found my eyes to be in heaven and my vision visually improved! Everything is soooo sharp!!! So, I will be using these much more often in the future as it'll keep my eyes moistened and allow them to heal quicker.With my moistened eyes functioning better, I can see a large advertisement painted on the side of a tall building two blocks away. I can easily make out street signs at even further distances. I can see license plates two cars away..... I just need to get into the habit of using the eye drops much more often.

Wow, the world is so nice and clear when your eyes are well-lubricated!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

well, you've done it again!

My next followup appointment with the eye clinic for my new eyes is next week but I have already called to have it rescheduled for tomorrow, so again I drive to San Jose.

While shooting the sunset the other night, aside from staring straight into a brighter-than-BRIGHT sphere with NO haze, fog or clouds as a filter, the usual happened as always, but later that same night and this morning I noticed that my camera viewing eye (left eye) will not focus clearly. Until that sunset the eye was progressing well and I could see sharply but that isn't the case this morning.

As that eye is very important for my photography, I want it checked soon and to determine any damage.... actually it feels like someone punched me in the eye, which I also did by accident the previous day but luckily it hasn't left any bruising.

I know what anyone ~ nobody but a few handful reads this blog anyway ~ would think: that I am already ruining my eyes and these are the new improved ones! But how can anyone stay away from any blinding gorgeous sunset?

Put yourself in my position: not happy at an unexpected event in my family situation which resulted in my moving to SF. To not have any friends in this new place and to be always working at moving out (heavy) stuff of a deceased person, a seemingly never-ending task. To not have any personal income so at least I can do more than I am now, and not available to work for several reasons I won't go into here. To have so much of my personal stuff inside a tiny room - not bigger than a small bathroom with an adjoining closet and walkway, serving as my bedroom, computer room, living room and dining room, and not to forget a storage area for my stuff from Spain and Eugene.... and still with stuff remaining of that deceased person ~ everything in one spot, but with so much stuff there simply isn't room for everything, yet not having the money to send my stuff not needed here to my apt in Spain.

Photography is my only "form" of relaxation or enjoyment. It earns me so little money that I would be sleeping on the streets ~ and that has happened even recently ~ that people ask me why I haven't given up doing something that is worthless to me as a paying profession. There's not much else I do or can do here with my limited funds, all of which goes to pay my spanish mortgage of which the world financial situation is not helping at all right now. I lose so much money it's not funny and is actually quite depressing.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Way back when I did attend school...

... and even enjoyed it, it was here where I attended grammar school. Not even 123.17 feet from my front door and a simple three-minute walk as a child, I remember days of such heavy fog that after stepping out of my flat where I lived on the same street as the school, I couldn't even see the school!

I've been meaning to revisit my old schools since my return late last year but work in getting stuff out of this apartment, photography and trips and plain stress and laziness has kept me from doing this. But today after a simple walk around the block, I entered finally to see that though the upper floors has been converted into an adult learning center and downstairs a childcare center, it really hasn't changed. Down the stairs to where cars are now parked in half of the schoolyard is the same wall I used to play handball ~ and won quite a few competitions too! I always considered myself quick on my feet with excellent reaction and reflexes, and that was proven easily against my fellow students.

I noticed now the beauty of marble-lined banister in the stairwells, something I didn't even notice nor care about as a very hyper child.

Of course now the classrooms were filled with desks much larger than when I sat in while in attendance, but being in the rooms ran a nervous chill down my back, and I quickly left the rooms and went out to the hall then outside. It was here that one teacher ~ forgot her name ~ realized that I had creative talent and allowed me to "do" some things not allowed other students. For example, I have the intense memory of drawing a perfect circle with ease, which my fellow students did with worse results than I. As a result of that I never was "required" to follow through learning to write in cursive and when I entered the military, I was told my non-written signature was not "legal", something I was told required cursive - so my "signature" was then born from my lowercase name which was my signature then, adapted in a fake cursive mode to appear as my signature!

Another memory was when we were all told to stand at attention and face the flag, which was lowered to half-mast upon news of John F. Kennedy's death... nobody near me knew why we were doing it, and nobody cared about it except that it was using up our precious recess time.

My old grammar school may be an adult learning center now, but to me it's was an open book in my past, and still is ~ with lots of memorable pages waiting to be opened and turned!

Ooooooh, the memories!!