Salvaging Project 365 - 2014

A friend of mine introduced me to the concept of Project 365 back in December of 2012.  Basically you take a picture a day and save your progress as a snapshot of memory from each day.  I wrote a blog about it and, by gum, it worked!  (see: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2012/12/project-365.html.) 

I was quite happy with the way that 2013 came together (see: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2013/12/project-365-this-was-2013.html) and high hopes for 2014.  Unfortunately, things fell apart when my laptop crashed and burned and I had to start saving my pictures to a guest identity shell on my new hard drive on my new laptop that has designs against me.  It took the process of posting pictures from simplicity to chore faster than my flash drive & camera could keep up.

 

{NOTE: if you want happier fodder, skip the following paragraph now.}

And then there’s the content.  For reasons that are my own let me simply say 2014 sucked.  It was a downer.  Unfortunately, this underlying current permeated all things that I touched during the year – including my Project 365.  I look back now at the highlights of the album and can see desperation instead of inspiration and that both saddens and emboldens me.  Case in point, my Pinterest page where I hosted 2014’s Project 365 ends on 9/10/14 with an abysmal photo of a collection of God forsaken office cubicles.  I look further back and find that many of the photos I took were at or performing some function at one of my jobs or going to or from one job to another.  There are not as many pictures of things I honestly wanted to see or do.  There is a lot less of my family & friends there, a lot less wonder, and heaps less of joy.  THIS, however, is what emboldens me.  You see, Gentle Reader, I understand that time is fleeting and for all the bad things that encroach upon us we simply can’t sacrifice our lives, our wonder, and our joy on unfit alters.  Anything less will make you desperate and that desperation is far too high a price to pay.  I will do my utmost in the coming years not to repeat the mistakes made in 2014.  Life is far too short.  There are too many things that truly matter to become bogged down in all the things that don't.  It is easy to trap oneself and to forget to live. 

{Ok, depressing paragraph is now over.} 

So here is my filtered and salvaged version of my Project 365 Twenty Fourteen.

 1/3/14 - Footprints in the snow

 1/6/14 - Color in the evening sky

4/25/14 - "Life will find a way." - Ian Malcolm

5/13/14 - Morning dew

7/17/14, Sunlight

7/19/14 - The Obon Festival in Seabrook, NJ 

8/13/14 - Weymouth Furnace & the Egg Harbor River

9/9/14 - Auditions for, "August Osage County" as seen through the doors to the theater

There are a couple of good ones that bring back interesting moments.  If you have the urge to do a Project 365 then I wish you well.  It is a journey and one that you will be the better for taking.  I’m opting out of a Project 365 for 2015.  In its place I’ll put a file on Pinterest to represent the good things of 2015. 

So, apart from the tone of this particular blog, I approach 2015 with boatloads of hope for the future.  I’m ready for the change.  Bring it on.  HAPPY NEW YEAR, Gentle Reader and during this next trip around the sun, never forget to live!

Project 365 - This Was 2013

So this past year I have been participating in something called a, “Project 365”.  It is a photo journal where you take one picture a day and document your travels throughout the year. 

“Evil Chicken, how did you stumble onto this, Project 365 thing?”  Gentle Reader, the whole sordid affair can be found right here: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2012/12/project-365.html.  This is how it all started.  However, this particular blog entry is not about how it happened; it’s about what happened between Point A and Point B, 365 days later.

I have felt the pull of the undertow of the tides of time.  It recedes at an alarming pace.  “Tempus Fugit”, my friends; time flees.  I don’t say this to depress you (or myself for that matter), I say this as a gentle reminder to be aware of this fact; use your senses, to become more observant of where you are and what you are doing.  To capture as many moments as you can with those you love for the old saying is more than true, “we are on loan to each other”.  Enjoy each moment.  Celebrate it because it is not coming around again.  It is precious.  I consider myself to have a rudimentary appreciation for time.  I know that it is fleeting and, therefore, I try to spend it wisely.  This project reminds me of that fact – the precious nature of time.

As Project 365 progressed and I had habituated myself to the process I began to notice something unexpected.  I found that as I reviewed each and every one of the pictures that I was taken back to the exact moment that it was taken.  In a very real sense, Project 365 has been my pensieve (which places me one step closer to wizarding greatness).  Yes, a pensieve; in the Harry Potter books a pensieve is a magical bowl where memories can be stored and viewed to be examined at will.  Albus Dumbledore possesses one and, now due to Project 365, so do I.  This was completely unexpected on my part and it remains a happy discovery.  I would recommend doing a Project 365 for this experience alone.  

 

    

You learn certain things when participating in something like this; celebrating the ridiculous, the sublime, and everything in between.  There were some days that I had a hard time choosing just one photo and other days where nothing presented itself and I had to get, “creative” to meet my self-imposed deadline.  Doing a Project 365 you see not only how large the world is but how small it can be too; you become a moment collector and some of those moments speak to you. 

I saw that some pictures inspired me to write poems like this one…

I found that I had a neighbor who likes to decorate his antique John Deer tractor with flags for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

I watched the seasons change and found that I prefer the blue skies of spring & summer to the grey skies of winter.  I found that I subscribe to the James Taylor philosophy of choices in hues.

Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose…

There were days at the beach…

And the odd weather event…

Some of the things that I photographed this year are gone now.  They don’t exist anymore.  There is the payphone where I ran into the girl (again) who would become my wife.  It’s been torn up for an expansion project and now it only lives in my memory and my pensieve on Project 365.

The places some familiar…

Some forgotten…

And then there were the beautiful sights that I was lucky enough to see and to try to capture in the lens of my Android cell phone.

My pensieve has kept them all – even when I forget a moment, Project 365 remembers.  These days I need all the help I can get remembering; when I find my precious time is pulled so many places that I never wanted it to go it becomes vital to steal some of those moments back.  Here are 365 moments that I stole this Year of our Lord, 2013 documented in my Project 365: http://www.pinterest.com/theevilchicken/project-365/.

I will be starting my Project 365 – 2014 Edition immediately.  I couldn’t recommend the experience higher to you, Gentle Reader.  Moment collecting has its rewards and I’m looking forward to a rewarding New Year.

Until then, Gentle Reader, may God hold you in the palm of his hand throughout the coming year and may we both be comparing our Project 365 – 2014 editions one revolution around the sun from now.

Happy New Year!

Stuff & Things

“Evil Chicken?” you may ask, Gentle Reader, “What have you been up to?

I’ve been doin’ stuff; you know, things.  Here’s some cool stuff with a few things for you to peruse…

It’s Election Day: Go vote.  Participate in the process.  If you don’t then you have no room to complain and, let’s face it, that’s what the lion’s share of political discourse has devolved into anyway.  Make it legal.  Vote.

It’s Guy Fawkes Day!  And here is an oldie but a goodie concerning the Fifth of November: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2006/11/gunpowder-treason.html

My wife, Mother Hen, is the stage manager for Cumberland County College’s performance of, “Les Misérables”.  Here is a convenient collection of information on the play including a link for where to buy tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/605140639532059/    

I still seek TEAM MATES who will march arm in arm with me into the frozen & briny deep come mid-January!  If not team mates then perhaps donations to Special Olympics.  I work cheap, just sayin’.  Join me in the Polar Bear Plunge.  It will be groovy.  Here’s my page: http://wildwood-pbp.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1083486&lis=0&kntae1083486=73D20F10486F4102A7668A9719B8883A

This woman celebrated Halloween and Día de Muertos at the same time!

Say, that would make a good Project 365 shot!

I met some members of the South Jersey Writer’s Group (http://www.meetup.com/South-Jersey-Writers/pages/Welcome_Visitors!/) and, I gotta tell you, it was an uplifting experience.  It was an honor to meet the souls that I did, to sit down & drink coffee with other writers.  [Note to self, become a member soon!]  They have a book out now called, “Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey”.  I’m enjoying it thus far.  Consider showing them some love – you can find copies right here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1478106190/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1478106190&linkCode=as2&tag=thgeougi-20   

“The Walking Dead” is back and in its fourth season!  I recently met the wonderful woman who writes the following blog, Ms. Marie Gilbert.  Her Kung-Fu is strong.  If you are a fan you owe it to yourself to read it.  You’re welcome.  Booyah: http://biffbampop.com/2013/11/04/the-walking-dead-s04-e04-indifference/

It is November and that means it is National Novel Writing Month!  NaNoWriMo is near and dear to my heart.  It turns out I’m not alone with that sentiment.  Here is an excellent blog about NaNoWriMo by Mr. Glenn Walker.  It is certainly worth your time.  For those about to write, we salute you!  http://south-jersey-writers.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-thoughts-on-nanowrimo.html

Project 365 is still underway.  I have been enjoying it far more than I suspected I would.  The idea is to take one photo a day and post it.  It is photojournalism on a personal level.  The benefit that I didn’t expect is the time travel.  Doing a Project 365 is not just taking snapshots of a picture; it also connects you to a certain place and time.  Here is a blog I wrote when I first dipped my toes in the water of Project 365: http://evilchickenscratch.blogspot.com/2012/12/project-365.html.  Not to boor you but here is my Project 365 on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/theevilchicken/project-365/.    

See; stuff and things have been happening.

Stay tuned for further stuff & things in the very near future.  Until then, Gentle Reader, I bid you adieu.