30 Days of Photographs II - Outtakes

Well, it's outtakes time! 

("What the heck are you talking about, Mariann?"  Go here and find out:  "30 Days of Photographs II"

I don't have a bunch of photos of different things all over the place as, if you were following along, all my photos were done while I was Ambien'd out...or my post was.  Most times, both.  As such, I don't have beautiful striking vistas and gorgeous architecture from area buildings.  The closest I got to that was when I ventured out with my son and took a photo of the "Bibb-Graves Bridge" in Wetumpka, Alabama, which was used on the set of the film "Big Fish".

So, these are going to be relatively boring.

Sorry.

I believe this one was originally done up as "Silence". I was trying to convey covering up the keys would render the piano silent. Yeah...it was stupid. But going thru them again I realized my cat was in the photo if you look at the reflection of the white object where the "Yamaha" logo is. I then realized I could have used it for "Mirror" - but I actually like my "Mirror" one...plus look at all the crap on the floor and all the cat fur all over the felt key cover thingy. Yeah...major Photoshopping there which cannot be done well on Ambien.





What can I say in my defense?  I like Martinis.  I was making a Pomtini one nite, days before "Nude" and I thought, "Hmmmm...'Sugar in the Raw'...raw...nude?  Yep...let's get this shot before I forget".  Then I remembered my "banned bottle of wine" and scrapped the whole "naked sugar" idea.  Plus, no matter how I arranged those items in the photo - it never looked unstaged.  Badly staged.  Very badly staged.

I forgot which theme this was for - I think it was for "Tragedy" - but it didn't turn out with the correct perspective.  What it is, is the gully next to my house which was formed when the Wetumpka meteor hit many, many, many years ago.  What we got (and I made my son take the photo as I don't like heights at all, plus it makes you get vertigo if you look down - it's really, really, really deep) was a crappy photo of kudzu with no real depth showing up.  Perhaps if there would have been a beaver in the bottom - it would have shown up better.

"Wheels" was the theme and this was the discarded photo.  Yeah...it's ugly.  The bricks are ugly...the desired pretty was lost when I took this photo as it was totally ugly.

"Wheels" again.  I redesigned the set-up as I really wanted that Lotus (third one back - center - totally obscured) in the foreground.  The bad thing is, the two really old vehicles (first two - center) here look much better in this photo than they did in the other photo...so, now you can see more detail on those two.  I am now happy.  :)

"Eeek eek eek!"  Can't you just hear the "Psycho" theme song when you see this photo?  No?  Neither could I.  (Psycho wallpaper job, maybe.) So, I scrapped that idea for "Fear" and replaced it with the "looking for the bogeyman beneath the bed" one instead.

I REALLY like this "Wood" one.  But it was just too up close and you didn't get the size of the wood and it was also too much detail for just "Wood" if you ask me...so I opted for the panned back one.  Glad I got to show you how pretty the curly bits were.

This one was for "Portrait" I think.  It might have been for "Fear"...or maybe it was "Wood".  Either way I didn't use it.  It's a Korean cabinet in the bedroom and that "face" always reminded me of Edvard Munch's "Scream".  Had there been a "Scream" theme...this is the one I would have used.

I originally took this one morning for "Moon" -- I thought it was such a pretty sky except for the fact all those crappy lines were in the way.  I wanted to show everyone how ugly the skyline is now - but I found that "by chance 'Moon' one" instead.  I was actually thinking of putting this one up for "Lines" - but I went with the statue instead.

Last one - and not too soon, right?  This one was a photo of my creepy dolls for "Devil".  I'm not sure which photo was creepier...I think the one where they aren't meant to look creepy...as they are creepy enough on their own.  This is my lame attempt at "really dark and creepy".

So, there you have it - my outtakes that didn't make the cut for the reasons listed.

Again...I thank Ziva and Mike for inviting me to join their non-contest.  :)



(I apologize in advance if the spacing is all wonky - I am tired of redoing my blog a million times since Blogger revamped their site - and this has already given me such headaches with the photos being larger than the width of my blog...but, once the post gets old - the entire photo shows, so check back in a few days.)

Day 23: Fish Tales

Today's theme, "Fish Tales", left me with an absolute nothing for an idea...and that nothing of an idea stayed with me until one dawned on me as "the photography group" (the participants here) sent around an email mentioning that today was not "Crowd" day -- but "Fish Tales" day.  I was responding to that email last nite when I had an epiphany of sorts...so I got dressed and asked my son to drive me to town in case there would be monsters and criminals waiting near the woods for me...it was right about midnite, after all. 

The strange thing was...he agreed.

More after...but first the introductions of our participants and their page links: 

MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen, Katherine, and, last -- but definitely not least, Ziva.

 

Day 23:  Fish Tales...



They say...that if a person is brave, or foolish enough, to climb onto the Bibb-Graves Bridge shortly after midnite when the whole town is still...and snap a photo...good luck will follow them home and everywhere after that. I knew of a person once who had so much good luck after doing just that...only he snapped a whole lot of moving pictures instead - that a film of theirs was nominated for a bunch of film awards...from the soundtrack right on down to make-up. Can you imagine that? They must not have done it at midnite, tho, because they didn't win a one of 'em. But, still, you can't deny the fact that just being nominated was pretty darn near as close to winning as you can get. And almost winning a whole bunch of awards is about as lucky as one man can get.

So, one day, if you want good luck to follow you home...do as I...and Tim Burton did...and head on over to Wetumpka, Alabama, where they filmed a goodly portion of that "Big Fish" movie. And while it is a big fish tale in one way, in a whole other way...it ain't.

I Got Fired the Other Day

When I was working civil service years ago at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey there was a lady who used to, like clockwork, "coincidentally by accident" manage to do something which put her out of commission for 120 days. Paid leave...workers compensation...the kind you need to have a documented injury on the job and then a documented statement from a doctor saying why you can't return to work for 120 days and why it's job-related.

She had a file, no kidding, about two inches thick. Two inches thick and she hadn't worked a summer during her 28 or so years of working there. Nice. Some actual excuses were that the crock-pot of chili she, herself, brought to work - managed to "accidentally" fall on her foot when she was scooping out some food...for herself. Another year she managed to slip on a patch of ice on the steps of the Base Commander's building although there had been no temperature at or below freezing for at least seven days prior. But, that's how her luck was...she managed to slip on imaginary ice and had a doctor substantiate her claim. Another few months off courtesy of Uncle Sam.

One day the people in the civilian admin office decided enough was enough and instead of paying out this time...they aka "we" were going to haul her butt over to the federal courthouse to testify in front of a farce known as the "people who apparently don't have their act together enough to win against a lawyer who looks like he never passed the bar (without going inside to get good and drunk)".

We all piled into a government station wagon and made the odyssey to Newark. No one voluntarily goes to Newark as much as no one voluntarily moves to Wetumpka. There has to be some pressure involved in the process somewhere...and somewhere sometime someone actually managed to fire a civil service worker for skimming off the system for years; but this wasn't going to be that time. Yes, her lawyer, who looked like he had been sleeping in his car for the better part of a month, managed to have the charges dropped against all the plausible evidence against her and she probably went on to milk the system for God knows how many more years.

To make a long story short...with all the stuff we had on her...she wasn't fired. I've always heard you can't fire anyone from civil service work...but I thought it was just all hearsay. Well, I'm here to say...that rumour is true.

But what does that have to do with me and my present day situation?

As Mr. Doolittle said in "My Fair Lady", "I'm willing to tell you. I'm wanting to tell you. I'm waiting to tell you."

And as the master said in "Kung Fu", "Patience, Grasshopper."

I consider myself a nice person. Pathetic maybe...totally lacking self-esteem and prone to reading too much medical stuff and, well, I sometimes "question authority". They tell you to write your questions down when you see your doctor...well, I do. I usually have a nice handy dandy notebook with me as sometimes doctors I've seen don't have a clue. (Ten points extra for that silly reference if you caught it.)

Notwithstanding all the medical terminology I do know, I am still nice. I sit there nicely, I'm polite to everyone, I'm overly polite to everyone actually, and when I do question authority...I do so in a gingerly manner and, as my mother always said, "You catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar."

And honey, you can bet that I shower on the compliments when deal with any doctor's office. Oh, I don't lie. I've never given anyone a false compliment...and I've told on a few people who were overly nice (I believe in telling on the exceptional workers more than telling on the bad ones)...so, typically, I get a very good reception with people.

Typically.

Then, one day it started. It started quite innocently.

I was fired by my gynecologist.

I was floored. This was a man I highly respected, had a great rapport with and whom I had seen for about 15 years. Fifteen years of out-of-pocket fees as he didn't accept my health insurance...but I trusted him implicitly and when I had to have an emergency hysterectomy back in 2007, I was forced to, quick like a bunny, find a new gynecologist who accepted my insurance to do the procedure. I didn't want to...I was forced by my HMO to do so. There was no way I could pay the cost of a hysterectomy and I reluctantly went to another gynecologist to have it done. Then, after the six week check-up, or as I like to refer to it, the "tell your problems to someone who actually gives a damn" period, I returned to my regular gynecologist.

He wasn't his usual self...and when he stepped out of the office I overheard his phone conversation to the place which did my hysterectomy..."She's YOUR patient and she's here. I didn't do her hysterectomy. Blah blah yadda yadda." Then he came back in and basically washed his hands of me. I asked if I was being "fired" and he acknowledged I was. I was dumbfounded - he was upset I didn't get my hysterectomy done by him and as such couldn't deal with the issues I had afterwards...to take it to the other doctor even if that doctor didn't want anything to do with me after the six-week "fly little birdie" release of me. I asked if I could come for non-hysterectomy issues and he stated he no longer wanted to be my doctor...period.

I was devastated. That was shock #1.

A little while after this happened, I was then "fired" by my base doctor and sent to an off-base physician who I'd rather chew my arm out of a bear trap than to ever see again in my life. A physician who asked me "Why do you even want to live?" A physician who told me that "God put HIM on this planet to be a doctor and didn't give me the knowledge to be a leader; he was the leader and I had better do everything he told me to do...without question." Yes, I'm serious...he said that and many other things. It was like a "Twilight Zone" episode gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I called up the base the following day. I cried and cried and, luckily, they let me come back. Afterwards I was diagnosed with heart issues - which would substantiate the things I was complaining about before I was fired for "coming to see them too often without any reason".

Then I was fired by a neurologist. A neurologist in town who assured me if I didn't get the answers to my questions he would gladly refer me to Birmingham, the Mayo Clinic, Atlanta, and so forth. He would get to the bottom of my issues...and I was happy.

After a couple tests and a screw up by the appointment clerk who insisted I come that day although I had just seen the doctor two days prior...they fired off a letter stating they were "downsizing their practice" and were "letting the newer patients go". This letter was supposedly written a few days before the clerk set me up with that appointment. Not only did they not tell me any of this when I phoned up to make sure I had to come in...they made me wait a good two-plus hours to tell me I had already seen the doctor earlier that week and didn't need to be seen again so quickly. Well, duh. When I brought this to their attention - they didn't bat an eye. Of course they didn't, they did the same exact appointment mix-up thing to the elderly lady who was waiting before me, so perhaps it's standard practice there to not care too much about inconveniencing other people.

After I received the letter in the mail, I called the office manager about being booked for an appointment after they supposedly "downsized" and considered me their "former patient"...and why they'd want me to come in a couple days after being seen anyway...especially since I was their former patient. I mean this would all be known to them, logically, if facts were facts were correct and dates were correct. She gasped and grasped and concocted a convoluted story about when and why I was "released". I'm sorry but when dates don't match and things are supposedly MAILED before they are TYPED...I kinda wonder about your story. Call me suspicious...but hey - if you're going to make up a story, at least make up a plausible one.

Then, after I finally found who I thought was a fabulous replacement gynecologist, I was fired yet again. I was fired for canceling two appointments due to my daughter having a science competition out of town and being sick. One was canceled two days before - the other the day of...but as soon as they opened. The appointment clerk asked if wanted to speak with him about my issue, I agreed, and then I was sternly spoken to regarding how I was just making and canceling appointments and expecting them to answer my questions without ever being seen. That was not at all the case. I didn't specifically ask to speak to him - the clerk asked and said it wasn't a problem at all - I took her up on it. Apparently it was a problem after all. And just to let him know, in case he's reading this, the office lady you have at your "East" office...is the most offensive and obnoxious person I've ever had the displeasure to talk to. She's an arrogant twit and she's ignorant to boot...and she talks about you to the office staff when you are out of earshot and it's not remotely complimentary. She also does this about patients who have just left the building. She's totally unprofessional and she's a brute and a bore.

Whew! Like I said - I don't like to report the bad people so I've never said anything about her before now.

But the reason I'm writing all this, and I know it's long, is because I was "fired" yet again the other day. But I think I'll stop now and take up where I left off tomorrow or Monday. This is getting a bit longer than I originally imagined it to be and I fear I'm going to be a whole different kind of bore if I don't stop at this point.

(End of Part 1)

(Everything in this blog is true and accurate...nothing has been blown out of proportion and I will not name names here as I still have respect for the doctors and people out there who do a fabulous job.)

"Fired Up" About My 200th Blog Post

I wanted to make my 200th blog something special.

I started one a while ago...but as I can't get any real info online about who it was who supposedly kept talking after having their head lopped off (I'm thinking royalty - in the Anne Boleyn or Marie Antoinette arena)...I was stopped dead in my tracks. I didn't want to fake it and I sure as heck didn't want to take "Kimberleigh's" word for it at the "Ask Yahoo" website. People who feel compelled to abbreviate three letter words such as "you" to "u"...well, I tend to look at with a bit of disdain and certainly a hefty modicum of skepticism. So, when they say things like "U no, I read sumwhere it was Queen Victoria who speeked after there head were cut off"...when Victoria, who, at the ripe old age of 81, died of natural causes in her bed...well, perhaps Kimberleigh should open up her school books between making YouTube videos showing how much fatter her lips look after using Lip Venom.

So...that one's out until a later date...but I seriously wanted this blog to have some kind of spark...to cause a burning desire for anyone stumbling across it...to read it. So, I went sniffing around for something with some impact...and I found it.

I found it alright. Or should I really say "it found me". It's not even far - only one street over where from where I live. And it found me again tonite...in fact, you could say it smoked me right out.

There is a guy who lives one street over from me who deems it absolutely necessary to burn things every single weekend. Well, there might have been three weekends when he ran out of stuff to burn...but other than that...this weekend pyromaniac turns up the heat and without fail, finds something lying around to set ablaze.

Now, I live in Wetumpka...not the city - but the parts where things like fire codes, leash laws, building permits, and out-and-out laws don't exist. One of those "we've been doing it like this since my great-great-great-great granpappy did...so if it's not broke, don't fix it" kinda places.

It's not a bad place to live, in fact it's very nice...but it's no Mayberry...Barney doesn't get his panties in a wad and nips this in the bud. If he did, this would have been nipped ages ago.

Everyone I speak with HATES this burning this man does...but the conversation kinda goes like this when I try to venture outside to walk around the block:

Me: "Hi!"
Them: "Hiya! It's a shame this guy does this every weekend." (No need to say what "this" is - we all know what "this" is.)
Me: "Yep...I thought I'd take a walk, but I'm going to have to turn around because I can't breathe." I've had two lung operations and it hurts."
Them: "I can't breathe either - I don't know what he burns every single day."
Me: "It's all in my house, too."
Them: "Mine, too - that's why I thought I'd go outside - to get a breath of fresh air without smoke in it...but it's not working."

And then we say our "good-byes" and part ways.

My house, for some reason is situated exactly downwind of this...and as such, I can't turn on the air conditioner or the heater because it sucks it all up and disperses it into my house. Even without it...single-paned windows seem to keep out about as much noxious fumes as screen doors do.

So, yesterday, when my daughter was sitting here saying she had a massive headache...and I did as well...I decided to phone up the police. I knew they probably couldn't do too much - but if they came over and smelled it, perhaps they'd be sympathetic to my plight and knock on the guy's door or something.

Sure enough, the officer came over - and there's really nothing he can do...but he said he'd go over and see if the lights were on to let the guy know it's irritating people. As luck would have it, a neighbour of mine, upon seeing the police car in my driveway, stopped by to see what was up. He substantiated everything I said and then some. So now the police know it's not just me who gets burned up over this whole situation.

The police officer suggested I call the station when he's burning - before 5:00 on weekdays.

I told him that was the catch...this guy burns starting around 4:00 on Fridays...and keeps it stoked until Monday...when he probably douses it out - because he knows darned well the offices aren't open to investigate...and the Fire Department can't be contacted to see if there's any burn permits on record. Again, the whole M-F dealie.

The officer further suggested I contact the Mayor's office on Monday. This has been going on for years. I can't open my windows, go outside, or do yard work (and many others endure this way of living as well) because of this man...and we're literally held prisoners in our homes on weekends because of him. One man should not be able to wield such power.

I think I will indeed call the Mayor's office to see what can be done. And if I have to light a fire under his butt to get a stricter burn-code enacted - it's high time...as, frankly, this whole situation the way it is...stinks.