Wordless Wednesday

Hidden Valley Lake
Abingdon, Virginia
(I didn't make it out today to take a new snow photo, so you're stuck with an old one)

know kidz left beeHinde

Back in October I started working towards my graduate degree in education. I am taking on-line classes from a university located in a major southwestern city. While I am very impressed with the university and the faculty, I have yet to be impressed with my classmates. I have started a collection of quotes from my classmates. Some of the following contain slight grammatical errors, while others are just weird. Enjoy! These are your children’s future educators!

“I think by maintaining the required GPA, you are following threw on the commencement to your education”

“I think a portfolio would definitely help the teacher categorize what needs to be learnt in order to become an effective teacher.”

“I have began planning my student teacher experience already.”

“…it looks as if the teacher has more lead way with the schedule than the actual curriculum itself.”

“Now-a-days colleges look for extracurricular activities on applications…”

"This day and age most all the girls have enough breast for several girls."

"In essence, language is learnt in the same way that a person learns everything else"

Boardwalk and Baseball

This started out as something completely different. I had a very lengthy post to share with you. I decided it best left to my private journal…my actual handwritten, worn leather cover, close to my heart journal. So instead you are left with this; my thoughts after rummaging through the basement:

I found a keychain this afternoon. Dangling on the end of a chain was a green plastic thingy. It was long and square with a hole to look through at one end. It had been several years since I had seen this object. It was a picture-key fob from Boardwalk & Baseball; a local mid-sized amusement and sport park in central Florida. When you walked into the park you had your picture taken whether or not you bought it at the end of the day. Well…the last time my family was there we bought the picture. I held it up to my eye. I could see my grandparents, my mom, the neighbor kid I brought with me, and then there was this other guy. No clue. I had never seen him before in my life. He was taller, leaning into the picture, and looked out of place. I have no doubt that he saw an opportunity…good spirited or not…to be in our picture intentionally.

It made me wonder about other pictures I’ve been in – either candid or a public pose. Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you, how many moments of other people’s lives have we been in. Were we a part of someone's life when their dreams came true, or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in, as if we were somehow destined to be there, or did the shot take us by surprise? Just think, you could be a big part of someone else's life, and not even know it. Just like “Fred” that day with my family at Boardwalk & Baseball.

Wordless Wednesday: Mercoledì senza parole

This is an ad from a magazine I saw in Italy. With some help from my phrase book and the guys working at the front desk I translated it. The translation absolutely changed the way I looked at art, and for that matter, life. This is perhaps the one sentence that has had the greatest impact on my life.

Can you see it?

I was eating lunch with my roommate when I saw it. Forever will it remain with me.

I've seen thousands of smiles in my lifetime. I've heard thousands of laughs.

But never have I seen such a sight as I saw that day.

The restaurant was chaotic. Employees were annoyed. Customers were irate.

With one exception.

It was an accident. I glanced away from my roommate's attention for a split second to look for our server with our food.

In my ever-human state of flawed existence, the sight I witnessed filled me instantly with jealousy. But the after taste was indescribably inspirational.

Two Tables away.
Not ten feet from where I sat.

She stood out from the customers seated around her. Alone at her table, still without her food.

Without a newspaper or a magazine.

Without a cigarette or a cell phone.

She sat by herself, looking through the window behind me. She must have been 70 years old. Perhaps a widow. She wore a wedding band and an engagement ring.

Elbows on the table, she held her head with brittle hands I imagined hosted arthritis from their experience.

There was nothing special about this lady.
She wasn't a movie star and she was probably plain to look at in her youth. She was "normal."

Her smile was no wider than yours or mine. Her teeth no whiter. Her lips no fuller.

She seemed entranced with the scene outside the restaurant, though nothing unordinary took place.

On her face, a smile so genuine, so pure, you'd think she'd won a lottery!

Upon seeing this sight, I'm sure many people would poke fun at her smile into nothingness. They'd call her senile, perhaps. But I saw something else.

I saw a woman who, however detrimental a life she may have led, understands something I don't.

She saw past insecurity, hatred, violence, fear, money, stress, superficiality, dishonesty, famine, war, genocide, and lost hope.

She looked through a window and into a world that many of us never will see.

I followed her eyes with my own, trying to capture where she looked. But I couldn't find this place.

One day I hope I will...

How do you see the world around you? Does it make you smile?

"Half time, switch sides."

Ok. This is hysterical. Click on it to get the full-size image. Please enjoy the gay mans guide to the Superbowl.

Year in Review (A tad late)

2008 was a year of discoveries. Through those discoveries came descriptions. Some of these are from others, some are from me. How would you describe me?

Adorable.

Broken

Cluttered

Damaged

Enchanting

Familiar

Grateful

High-brow.

Insidious

Jealous

Kindred

Lusty

Mysterious

Notorious

Open

Prick-ish

Quirky

Rare

Safe

Troubled

Uncommon

Valuable

Weak

Xylophone (I had nothing for this letter)

Young

Zealous