Well, here we are exactly three weeks before Christmas Day and despite the havoc that the pod people have unleashed on the world, I\u2019m feeling kind of happy and even optimistic about what\u2019s to come.\u00a0 Why I\u2019m that way is probably a combination of things.\u00a0 Doubtless, knowing that the Biden administration is in disarray has something to do with it.\u00a0 The fact that I\u2019ll be spending several days with the kids and grandkids is also part of it.\u00a0 Another part is that by December I\u2019ve come to terms with winter and no longer feel the post summer gloom.\u00a0 And finally, well, life is good!\u00a0 Everyone in the family is in pretty good health.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to have another fantastic dinner soon and another one right after that.\u00a0 The house hasn\u2019t been foreclosed on.\u00a0 We have enough money for food, clothes and even enough left over for some toys like the new camera I\u2019m hoping to buy in January.\u00a0 Any sane person would say I\u2019m doing alright.\u00a0 And even though I\u2019m at least slightly crazy I\u2019ll say it too.<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s on the horizon?<\/p>\n
I listened to a doctor in England who\u2019s pretty sure that the omicron variant is going to be a very mild virus and should be the end of the farce we\u2019ve been enduring.\u00a0 He said it will be extremely transmissible and quite capable of infecting even the hyper vaccinated.\u00a0 So, everyone will get this thing.\u00a0 It will feel like the kind of virus that gives you aches and a dry cough and headache for a couple of days.\u00a0 Then that should be it.\u00a0 No huge number of deaths, no wave of hospitalizations except for the chronically ill and the really elderly.\u00a0 So, in a month or three Anthony Fauci should be out of an annoying job as health nag of the world.\u00a0 Hallelujah! \u00a0Of course, nothing is ever guaranteed but I\u2019m guessing the weariness of even the Karens will drive this thing to its ending.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a good prospect.<\/p>\n
Every year in the winter I\u2019m always frustrated by the dearth of photographic opportunities.\u00a0 After all, snow and ice sort of look the same whether I photograph it on Wednesday or Sunday so there is a futility to going out in the neighborhood.\u00a0 Plus, I\u2019m not a big fan of being cold.\u00a0 Well, this year I\u2019ve vowed that I\u2019ll make a few treks around New England to try to find interesting snow (whatever that is).\u00a0 Plus, I think I\u2019ll set up a macro studio in the house and bring some interesting subjects inside to do the work in the comfort of forced hot water heating.\u00a0 I\u2019m interested to see if my 200mm Minolta macro lens will be controllable with a program I use to take focus stacks.\u00a0 It allows the focus setting to be very gradually changed between shots.\u00a0 I\u2019m not at all certain it will work because the Minolta lens will be under the control of the LA-EA5 adapter which is nowhere near as precise as one of those lenses that has stepper motors built in.\u00a0 But it\u2019ll still be fun trying it out.\u00a0 And that\u2019ll be just one of the cool things I\u2019m hoping to do with the A-mount lenses on the A7 IV camera once I get my hands on it.\u00a0 Looking back on some of the photos I took on the A-850 DSLR with them I am excited to see what kind of results I can get in the spring.\u00a0 But winter will still provide some opportunities.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been enjoying the movie reviews.\u00a0 I think it makes a good change of pace from the political stuff.\u00a0 Even the horror of Star Trek Season 3 can be fun if there is enough mockery involved.\u00a0 Mixing science fiction movies with the old movies from the \u201830s and \u201840s seems to work.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll see if I can mix in some later movies just for variety.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to get predictable!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll have to do some reading into H. P. Lovecraft.\u00a0 I\u2019ve forgotten all the details of the stories and I\u2019ll need those details when I riff on Lovecraft in my Dunwich newspaper articles.\u00a0 I think I might try the \u201cWhisperer in the Dark\u201d next.<\/p>\n
And finally on the fiction writing front I\u2019ve made progress on my novel but what I\u2019ve concluded is I need to carve out much more time.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to get more disciplined.\u00a0 I spend too much time just reading stuff on the net.\u00a0 It\u2019s way too much of a time sink.<\/p>\n
Well enjoy your Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, here we are exactly three weeks before Christmas Day and despite the havoc that the pod people have unleashed on the world, I\u2019m feeling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,818,3],"tags":[1354,157],"class_list":["post-16860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ocf","category-photography","tag-current-events","tag-ocf"],"yoast_head":"\n