 Thank you so much for your nomination of my entry, Time for a Rant for a Diarist.Net
award in the "best rant" category. If you have an on-line journal and are
so inclined, I'd thank you even more for your vote!
Congratulations to my buddies for their nominations too... Marn, Sunshyn, Michael, and Terri...and a BIG congratulations to Steve on being nominated for a
well-deserved "Legacy" award. Check out all the entries and vote your
conscience!
OBSESSIONS
20 May 2003
I'm trying to decide if obsessions are terrible things or not. Fotolog is my latest one.
It is for Ava too. I had
a note from her today saying she was finding herself spending more time posting photos than doing any writing or reading. (She's posted some good pics on her fotolog too.)
I know the feeling. Fotolog is addictive. Every time you go to the
main page (when it's working properly), it shows you the most recent 6 photos uploaded
(and since they are uploaded constantly, it changes every time you reload the page).
The problem is that every time you check one that looks interesting,
you get to see six of his/her last photos posted, and six of his/her favorite fotologgers.
And naturally some of those are interesting too, so you have to check those out and sooner
or later you discover you've spent half an hour just following links to fotologs.
But it's also a good thing because seeing the world through the eye
of other people really helps the creative spark. A lot of the fotologs aren't anything out
of the ordinary, but there are some real artists with a camera out there and I learn from
all of them. Things about shadow and light and angle and looking for the unusual.
Yesterday I discovered community fotologs. These are logs that
anybody can post to, all with the same theme. For example, one I posted to was on
music--and what you're listening to right now. I posted a picture of the cover of
"The Last Session" and since this is apparently not a very active log, it stayed
there for a full day. (The publicist in me was tickled about that!).
I also posted a photo I really like to
one on babypictures--this was the photo of the daughter of a friend of ours, whom I saw
the night of the eclipse.
And I couldn't pass up the chance to post the great pic of the drag queens
from last year's Gay Pride march in San Francisco to the "costume" log.
(See? It easily gets out of hand!)
The rules are you can only post 6 pix a day (per fotolog) and they
encourage you not to post "snapshots," but to make them your best
efforts. I've been trying to do that--either some of what I think are my favorites/best,
or things that are just unusual enough to be entertaining.
Then I got the idea to start this food log thing, which so far, on day #2, is
working well. I postpone eating a meal because I want to make sure that I've presented the
food in an attractive fashion (not just chowing down while standing at the stove, for
example) and photographed it. It's also making me try to be more creative with meal
planning, which is a good thing. Today, for example, I did not want to indulge in
one of those lovely deli sandwiches which I find so tempting (12 points each), so I logged
onto the WeightWatcher web site and found some low point lunch ideas--I ended up making a
turkey sandwich in pita bread (4 points)--which looked kind of nice, especially there on
my desk surrounded by all the papers--and, I noticed later, the Pap smear in the back!
Ahhh...such fun working for a gynecologist.
Oh yeah--there's also a "container" community log and I
took a picture of the speculum
drawer to post there tonight. Can't say that's not "unusual"!!
I'm sure the novelty will begin wearing off--I only discovered this
(thanks to Ava) a couple of days ago, but I'm sure having fun with it. It's a lovely break
from dictation and has helped immensely in reducing my stress level (it also helps that
the psychiatrist is out of town this week, so the pressure is off there).
I also went back to Curves today. I hadn't been in 2 weeks, for one
reason or another...and one reason generally leads to another. But it was time to
get back in the groove again, and I have to admit that it felt good to be doing the circle
again.
Tomorrow is weigh-in at Weight Watchers. I'm feeling OK about it. I
have been with the program all week this week--no real slips at all, so I expect to have
lost something. Probably not 9 lbs, but maybe I can make a dent and feel like I'm
on the road back to that lovely 85 lbs I'd lost by December.
But first I have to go decide what I'm going to cook for dinner.
Calorie and point value come second--what can I cook that looks pretty??? |
