Project 365 - Day 14

So I had my first little bump on the 365 road yesterday. I left home , knowing I was going straight out to meet some friends after work, so I had my Nikon D300 and the 50mm lens I'd decided to use this week. One problem though!! I left the memory card in the card reader at home, and I didn't have any spares with me. So a very expensive camera which without a memory card is basically a large lump of plastic and glass.

Luckily though Sharon, one of my friends, had a compact camera with her which she kindly let me borrow to take a few shots of her and Melissa. It's not the 50mm lens, but at least I got my shot!

So this is Melissa, who's Birthday is this week and Sharon and the kind people at the Jury's Hotel made up a little cheesecake plate for her and we sang Happy Birthday for her. Even the Duty Manager joined in.

Very cute :-)

Happy Birthday Melissa :-)

So after we scoffed the mini birthday cake we went for a really nice Indian meal in Rupshas Restaurant in Dorset Street.

Melissa kept threatening to do her world famous Lightbulb dance, but in the end common sense prevailed :-)




Lucky me surrounded by gorgeous gals. It's a hard job, but someone's gotta do it ;-)

Sometimes, when I see things like the tragedy in Haiti, I really wonder about the human race. What has happened out there, despite it being a force of nature, has all the marks of humankind's indifference to their fellow beings.

The history of that sad island is, at best, deplorable. A former colony of slaves who took their destiny into their own hands and fought for their freedom. Ever since then they have been punished by the International community and beaten down by a series of despots, with, it has to be said, the support of the major economic powers with a vested interest in the country, the UK, France and more recently the USA. All attempts at real democracy were quickly snuffed out in a similar way to which they were in places like Iran and Chile and countless other emergent nations around the globe.

It's nothing new, it has happened all over the world and continues still to this day.

It's the ordinary people of Haiti that my heart goes out to as they try to carry on surrounded by rotting corpses and the crumbling ruins of their ramshackle homes.

Shame on the so called "Civilised" world. This tragedy did not begin with the first tremors of an earthquake...and it wont end with them either.


(Photo from Reuters)

I wish I was 18 again!!

It's not something I'd normally say. I wasn't that happy when I was a teenager, in fact I was a right miserable git. But back in the early 80's Dublin was a very different place to the Dublin of today.

One area I've seen a huge change in is education.

This morning my wife sent me a link to a student website for the course that our Son, David, is considering applying for. It's a course in Creative Digital Media at the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown. Here is a link to the site so you can see for yourself Link.

When you look through that site and see how the creative side of these young minds are encouraged and fostered it really does give you a sense of hope for the future.

Also it makes me yearn for those days again and to have the chance to do stuff like this.

I'm afraid my schooling was very much old school..the three R's as they said back then. Reading, w(R)iting and A(R)ithmetic.

So even though I don't envy my son the future of high mortgages, rising unemployment and an ever more competitive capitalistic world..I do envy the sheer width of learning choices they have nowadays.

Maybe I'll wait a few years and become a mature student myself.

Well..they say it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks :-)

Day 13 - I Wont Send Roses

Project 365 - Day 13: I Wont Send Roses

This evening we started rehearsals for Coolmine Musical Society's main production for the year, Jerry Herman's "Mack and Mabel"...the story of the releationship between famed Hollywwod silent movie producer Mack Sennet and the young girl he helped become a star Mabel Nomand.

This was our very first rehearsal and none of the principle roles have yet been filled.

It looks like it should be a fun show.

Audions are next Sunday, which doesn't give much time to prepare, but I think I'll probably audion for a principle role anyway. After playing The Beadle in last years production of Sweeney Todd, it's given me the confidence to try it again. This is a very different kind of show though, with lots of movement and choreography, not my strongest point.

Anyway, watch this space and see what develops.








As you can see, it wasn't all seriousness tonight. I had a little time to myself and played around with this glitter ball left over from the Christmas decorations in the Hall.

Our Musical Director, Dermot, running through some pieces from Mack and Mabel.

Project 365 - The first 12 Days

So I've made it through the first 12 days of my first 365 Project and have managed to get at least one half decent pic each day, sometimes more. I've been publishing the pics on my Flickr account and my Facebook account. I had intended on posting here each day with an expanded description but time and ill health over the first 2 weeks of the year slowed me down.

So with this post hopefully I'm back on track and will post a seperate pic each day.

Any comments on the shots or even ideas for shots in the future gratefully accepted.

Later.

Day 12 - Once

Day 11 - A Musical Interlude

Day 10 - Jennifer
Day 9 - Detail on a branch in the snow

Day 8 - Just Dessert

Day 7 - Ignorance or Rebellion?

Day 6 - The Big Chill

Day 5 - Back to Work

Day 4 - Lisdoonan Graveyard, Co. Monaghan.

Day 3 - Farewell to Christmas

Day 2 - Resolutions

Day 1 - A New Start

You are my muse
You’re face inspires my thoughts
Into words and more
You’re voice sends my mind
Heavenward
Always searching
For the perfect something
You are my muse
Though I don’t know
If I have seen you yet
If I have ever stood beside you
If your hand
Ever touched mine
If your jokes made me laugh
Or your sadness
Made me cry


But when I lose myself
In those quiet musings
It’s you
That I think of
Somewhere
Out there
The perfect shape
To slide effortlessly
Into mine
You are my muse
Even if
You never existed
....I know you.

rk 2010

365 Project

I've recently decided to try my hand at a 365 Project. What is that I hear you ask?

Well, it's basically a photography project in which participants take one photo every day for a full year, or 365 days.

I've found, at least in the first week, that I tend to end up with 1 or 2 more pics extra, so I thought this might be a good place to post them along with any thoughts I have on them.

I intend to try and keep the project loosely based on a diary, so I can look back over the year and see how it progressed, or not ;-)

I'll be uploading the first few pics later today. So watch this space.