Wool E. Bull

August 6, 2010: My zoom lens needs to be cleaned. It's two and a half years old and has developed an unfocused smear around the edges, a sweet kind of motion blur even when I'm standing still. Sometimes it makes me crazy, because all I want is a sharp, clear, sunlit shot; but then, sometimes, I don't take it to the camera store to have it cleaned because I like the effect, not quite a fisheye, not quite a regular lens, something unpredictable and unique.

By next baseball season I'll have replaced it with a bigger, heavier lens, one that auto-focuses and has a longer zoom range. It'll be better. But I'll miss that sweet tilt, just a little bit, because it never looked like anyone else's photos.

To Canoe Or Not To Canoe, That Is The Question

August 04, 2010: I took Ben paddle boating while we were up north visiting my family this summer. Normally I try to get us out canoeing but it's tough because I don't like to go out on my own. And frankly speaking? Ben's about as useful as a third tit when it comes to paddling.

I'd like to think that when push comes to shove I'm a strong enough person to navigate a canoe on my own. But honestly, I'm not. I figured paddle boating would be easier. After all, aren't a woman's legs her strongest muscle group?

Let me just cut to the chase: I should have stuck to canoeing.

I'll Put You In The Washer If You Stay There

August 3, 2010: Of all the places my cat sleeps -- under the bathroom sink, in K.'s backpacks -- my laundry basket is the newest but by far not the weirdest.

Time Crawls Backwards

August 02, 2010: Every time I drive north to visit my parents, I pass this farm. I'm not sure what happened to it exactly because it's been like this for as long as I can remember.

Much of my drive is like this. Not so much the bit about buildings falling apart, although that's true too, but that things here haven't changed much.

In the city I can point to a dozen new landmarks that have sprung up in the 18 years that I've lived here. But in this place? It's like time crawls backwards.

Drive-Thru

July 31, 2010: Ten minutes from our apartment, you hit country -- and ten minutes from that, you start to hit the smattering of small towns that dot Alamance County, tucked between Orange County and Guilford County and their "real cities". I know that Mebane has a downtown, I know that Graham is more than just a place to pass on the interstate, but we never seem to investigate them further than stopping at the Sonic on the way home from places further west.

The Colour Purple

July 30, 2010:

Shug: More than anything God love admiration.

Celie: You saying God is vain?

Shug: No, not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice it.

Love Is A Mixtape

July 28, 2010: I don't own a tape player anymore, but I do still have a tupperware container full of old mix tapes.