15
March
2009

Seriously Not Funny

Been sleeping on the floor the last few days, which is supposedly good for the back. Between that, the Ixprim tabs and the anti-inflammatory ones I woulda thought things might be easing up. Either the Ixprim are having no effect at lessening the pain (not good) or they are and i'm only feeling the half of it (bad). I thought things were getting slightly better this morning, then I stood up and it was just as bad as wednesday. On the upside I eventually managed to stay on my feet for ten minutes and have a shower, on crutches.

I've a fairly high threshold for pain, or at least I'm getting more used to dealing with it having gone through the gallstones/pancreas/amylase thing, so this is really getting to be rather annoying. And boring. The pain I can manage, it comes and goes when I move my back to bend or reach for something, or simply to get more comfortable. What's annoying is not knowing how bad it's going to be when it does happen, mostly I can grimace and bear it but twice it's dropped me to my knees. I'll give it till wednesday morning, and if there's no improvement it's back to the doc or, preferably, get him to call out. Beginning to wonder what it'd be like if things don't get better; I know they will, but being bored the mind wanders.

I think the worst part is that my head still works fine, it's just being frustrated by a body that just won't function properly. There's stuff I want to do but can't. Gillian's going to bring my iMac up to me tomorrow, so I should be able to get some work done for Calor. That should occupy my headspace for a couple of hours. Might even be able to process some images and check my email.

The real pisser is that the last few days have been good weather wise from what I've seen through the bedroom window; not too sunny, not too cloudy, just right. Coulda gone out and taken some photos, maybe finished the damned Coastland project. Worse still I'm missing playing with Jack. He comes in to visit me, which is lovely, but he can't run and jump at me like he's always done because I can't catch him and pick him up. Miss that. Still, he gives me hugs, gentle ones, tells me silly stories and makes me laugh. He's just like his mum.

Finished watching season 1 of Dexter, really enjoyed it. The 'twist' is pretty obvious quite early in the season, but it's still fun watching Dexter try to figure things out and resolve issues the only way he knows how. Watched the first two epsiodes of season 2, looks like it's going to be just as much fun. Maybe more so now that Dexter has other domestic issues and a nosy cop sniffing around. After Dexter I'll move onto Deadwood, Gillian got it for me a while back but I haven't had a chance to watch.

Pete and JB are racing ahead in the volvo ocean race game, but I've got a plan. Just hope it works better than the last one. Plans never work out like you expect, which makes things interesting.


13
March
2009

The Sciatica Blues

Damn! I'm out of action for the next week or so. Seem to have trapped a nerve in my spine, or inflamed a disc, or something. Whatever, it's cripplingly bloody sore. Began on wednesday morning as a slight back ache in the lower spine, thought I'd just twisted a muscle so I decided to head into work anyway thinking it would clear up as the day wore on. By noon I could barely get up out of my chair so I headed home. Driving was okay, but when I got home getting out of the car was a curse. Getting up the stairs to bed took forever, felt like I was grinding crushed glass between my vertebrae. Doc arrived out that evening and gave me a couple of injections, perscription for anti-inflammatory tabs and painkillers and orders to spend 7-10 days in bed. First time I've heeded a doctor's orders to stay in bed, usually I get so bored after 24 hours I'll at least drag myself downstairs to the sofa.

So that's kinda scuppered my plans for photographing Paddy's Day. Can't even make it downstairs to the Mac to process some images, or do some work, or even check my email. Gosia has loaned me her Toshiba laptop so I can faff about on the interwebnet, otherwise i'd be going stir crazy.

In between chasing down Pete & Joseph on the Volvo Ocean Racing Game I've been looking at photography documentaries over on YouTube. Aside from the excellent recent BBC series The Genius Of Photography there's a few others well worth watching. Other than that I've been watching old DVDs - The Third Man, To Kill A Mockingbird, Narc, The Butcher Boy, The Mission, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being - and season 1 and 2 of Dexter. Can't really concentrate on reading, but I've enough to keep my mind occupied for the moment. Hopefully I can get back on my feet and out snapping again soon, and the sooner the better.


09
March
2009

Going Coastal


Managed to get out for a few hours on Sunday. Had it in my head to get over to Killiney and work my way back along the coast, but I ended up doing the exact opposite and travelled from Malahide in to Grand Canal Docks. Lovely day, perfect weather: windy, cloudy, sunny, hazey, rainy, freezing, stormy, calm, and predictably unpredictable. March and October tend to be like that, which makes them interesting. Flat blue skies and dull grey flat cloudy days just don't do anything for me.

I had four places left to shoot - Killiney, Booterstown, Clontarf and Grand Canal Docks -either because I hadn't shot them for this project, or had and just wasn't happy. Of course, you start off narrowing things down, go to shoot them and something else pops up. I was glad to get extra shots of Portmarnock, and the one of Ireland's Eye seen from Sutton was a bonus. I'll have to go back to Sutton again, and probably revist Howth while I'm there. After that, one more run, Killiney into town, and that should wrap things up on this project. Unless I see something else.

I'm hoping to have all the images finally processed by mid April. Then I'll Blurb them and move on to the next project.

Paddy's day next week as well, and I'm half thinking of going in to photograph that. Been ages since I did people stuff, so I might just give it a bash again.


07
March
2009

Bits & Bobs I


Haven't taken any photographs since the middle of February, some fun shots of Jack bouncing around or on a walk around the farm. this has to stop. Mainly, I suppose, it's been very busy at the office - can't really complain about that these days - and any free time I've had I've just wanted to chill out and veg, or goof around with himself. Still, the weather tomorrow is supposed to be terrible, so I might just drag myself out and see if I can clear these cobwebs away. Determined(ish) to shoot the final three places I want to get to for the Coastland project this month. Want to finish that and add it to Blurb, and also put the farmland project up there too - must put it up here as well. Just need to get these out of my system so I can move on to something else with a clear head.

Some photography sites worth checking out: Richard Gilligan, Andrew Zuckerman, Tyler E Nixon, AmericanSuburbX, in-public, and The Motorless City.


02
March
2009

The Coastland Project


Started going through all the RAW files from this project I began in December 2007. Just glad to finally be able to start processing for the last time. Some had been processed before, but I prefer doing a whole lot of images together because it's helps keep things consistent. Still have two or three places to take photos of, I'm hoping that if I start processing it'll spur me on to get the last bits shot. Just want to get this project finished now so I can start another one, or two.

As a project I enjoyed it immensely. Took me to places in Dublin I hadn't been to in years, and to places I can't ever remember being. Even going back to the same places time and again allowed me to see them differently - different light, different seasons - or to see things I missed first time around. With each place I usually parked the car and took off for a walk that would last between two and four hours, sometimes more. I tried to stay away from blue sky days - easy enough to do in Ireland over the last two years - because I don't find them interesting; I like a bit of weather in my weather.

It's a pretty diverse coastline, more than I thought it was going to be, and at times it made me regret I hadn't ever taken time to explore that side of the county before. When you're born and live your whole life in one place you tend to think you know it quite well, but mostly I think you just know one aspect. I would travel regularly between set places and rarely go outside those channels and stops. The project has helped me get to know Dublin a bit better. Now I want to know more, and there's plenty of other projects I have in mind. I've no idea which one I'll settle on, yet. Probably do some test days out on a couple first, to see which one grabs me. After that, it's just a matter of devoting time and effort to another damned thing.