2011--Count Down to Armageddon

As you all know, according to the Mayan Calendar the world as we know it will end on December 12, 2012. I am currently stock piling .308 ammo, chocolate milk and 2 Ply TP in anticipation of this event. So, that means in 2011 we need to party our butts off. Just kidding, I don't have a .308. Really though, I'm kidding I don't put any stock in that kind of "prophecy." Mostly because the Weekly World News has been predicting the end of the world incorrectly for decades now. Also, what difference does it make?

Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, this time of year is perfect for reflection and there is nothing like the latest rumor of Armageddon or Nuclear Winter to make you take stock in your life. I like to compile several things in preparation for the coming year, not necessarily resolutions, but more of a master list: A Mantra. Several important things to do. A reading list, a playlist, and one thing I'd like to accomplish. I'm sharing it this year as an alternative to "I'm gonna lose 50 lbs., learn to crochet, and pray more often-type resolutions." I encourage you to add your two cents, or share your own Master List.

Mantra: "How Long Can Rolling Waters Remain Impure"

Important Things to Do:

1. Get name legally changed to Penny Richens (I'm pretty committed to this marriage thing now)

2. Pay off Zelda

3. Pacific Coast Road Trip

Reading List:

1. Re-Read Animal Farm and 1984

2. Finish East of Eden again, I start it every year in December.

3. Les Mis, I'm not a play/musical/theater kind of person so reading it is the best I can do

4. Cicero

Playlist:

Amazed, My Morning Jacket

I Am the Highway, Audioslave

Time, Pink Floyd

Surrender, Cheap Trick

Macy's Day Parade, Green Day

Sweet Emotion, Aerosmith

Long White Caddlilac, Dwight Yoakam

Us of Lesser Gods, Flogging Molly

I Walk The Line, Johnny Cash

Naked and Famous, PUSA

Accomplishment for the Year:

Communicate instead of shutting down. Sounds a little abstract I know, but trust me it will make all the difference.

FYI Christmas was good, the kids are alright, and I'm ready for something new. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. I actually mean it, and that's the truth. Also, I took this picture back in August when I went to Teton and Yellowstone Parks by my lonesome self. It was awesome.

Bouldering and Other Forms of Exfoliation

I've branched out a little bit with my photography lately, and was invited to be a photographer at the Rock Haus in Logan, UT, for one of their bouldering competitions. Fun was had by all. For those of you unfamiliar with bouldering, here is a definition I swiped from Wikipedia:

Bouldering is a style of climbing emphasizing power, strength, and dynamics. Its focus is on individual moves or short sequences of moves, unlike traditional climbing or sport climbing, which generally demand more endurance over longer stretches of rock where the difficulty of individual moves is not as great. Boulder routes are commonly referred to as problems (a British appellation) because the nature of the climb is often short, curious, and much like problem solving. Sometimes these problems are eliminates, meaning certain artificial restrictions are imposed. Bouldering is more focused on the technique of climbing instead of undertaking a full bodied climb.

To reduce the risk of injury from a fall, climbers rarely go higher than 3–5 meters above the ground. Anything over 7 meters is generally considered to be free-soloing (or simply 'soloing'), although such climbs might also be termed high-ball bouldering problems.

This competition had two major high-ball problems, the picture of the girl (Zowe) is part of a high-ball problem, what you can't see from the angle is that Zowe is about 18' off the ground. The other picture is of Ben who was catching his breath and planning his next move. I have a tremendous amount of respect for these athletes for several reasons:

1. Rock Climbing really is more of a way of life than a sport. You can tell a rock climber apart not just by the clothes they choose to wear, or the fact that they are in pretty good shape physically. You can see it in the way that they carry themselves, if they have been climbing for a long time their muscles are very balanced and they get around with very economical movements. It is very uncommon to see a beefed-up, muscle bound, roid-rager do very well at climbing.

2. They tend to gather together and form tight-knit little communities. Not cliques, that is completely frowned upon, but a network of people who support each other and promote rock climbing. They are not hostile to new comers, and they don't "hate" on other ways of doing things. All-in-all, the climbers I have been associated with generate a very positive outlook in general and are pretty open to the world around them.

3. They take care of the environment around them in a responsible way. These guys really do care about the environment, it's not a fad for them. It's not something that they do to get noticed, there were no light green Priuses in the Rock Haus parking lot. There were a lot of hard used Subaru Wagons and Toyota Pickups though. When you see climbers in their natural habitat outdoors, you notice that they don't have a lot of kit. They didn't pack in a bunch of stuff they aren't going to use, and they pack it all out with them when they go. There are usually some really happy well socialized dogs wandering around too, ones that probably came from the animal rescue.

So next time you see someone out climbing, or hiking the trail look past the stereotype of the "Smelly Hippy." Sure there are some smelly hippies out there, but most rock climbers aren't. They aren't granola munching pansies either. These guys are serious, and we could all do better by following their example. Live with sincerity, encourage each other, and do your very best everyday. That is the whole grain, lean protein, locally grown truth for the week.

Turkey, Ennui, and The BIG Questions

I had great Thanksgiving. It lasted a full two weeks. We kicked it off with a four-wheeling trip to Southern Utah with my family, had Thanksgiving with Raym's family, and then Raym and I had our own dinner Saturday after Thanksgiving. The details of my holiday are rather inconsequential, of course we had fun, but it's the kind of mind numbing stuff that other people listen to feigning interest and waiting for me to shut up so they can get on with their lives (I'm on to you, and now I suppose you are on to me too).

So why bring it up at all? Well, I had 1100 miles of meditation. I don't know how many times I've been up and down I-15 between St. George and The Valley, but it seems like a lot. There is basically nothing of real interest, except a good laugh when you reach what my family calls the the Fillmore-Beaver Region. Mostly though, it's miles and miles of open space. As for the drive to Myton, at least it's pretty until you pass Vernal.

Raymond loves books on tape. He can follow a story that way, not I. I catch bits and pieces, but the whole of it is lost to me, but this is okay because it takes care of all the conversation. I don't really sleep well in the car either, and I can't read or watch a movie, I'll throw up. So I do what they did back in the old days, I look out the window and watch stuff. More importantly, I am auditing my mental files. Ranging out into my metal wilderness and seeing what there is to see.

I found some neato-burrito stuff this time; some real gems, and a couple of antiques I forgot about. Being Thanksgiving, it gave me a treasure map, so I focused on that. I won't bore you with the details of all my findings, but I will share three things that I think really matter.

First of all, we've got it pretty good. Not just my family and extended family. All of us collectively, or if you would like a number I'm going with 95% of the population here in the West. As you drive past all the little towns and big cities along the Interstate, you notice that our standard of living is pretty high. Go into a few stores and restaurants and you see that we could probably miss a few meals too. Yet, you often hear people whining about things, "If only The Man wasn't keeping us down then, well, then we'd really be living." Over stupid stuff too. Like a can of refried beans going up 15 Cents. Really, is that all there is that's wrong in your life? The French have a word for it. Ennui (ahn-wee), it basically means that once you've had your fill, you get bored. I think that so many of us live comfortable, content lives that we have grown bored with and find little things to complain about. Now, I'm sure you don't suffer from this, and you can probably give me plenty of examples of people who don't; whatever, you're as full of B.S. as I am. I don't have a solution, maybe we should all go skydiving or get a new tattoo. Better yet, maybe we should just learn to be quiet.

Second of all, Quiet is expensive and therefore, exclusive. Maybe not in monetary terms, but it takes a huge personal investment to be truly Quiet. People spend $$$ on Spa Treatments and Therapy, and they may never actually achieve Quiet. Some of us spend hours doing Yoga or running, and will never get there. If you have ever had it in your own life, even fleetingly, you know it is worth whatever you have to do to get it again. If you are confused at this point, I'm sorry I'll give you an example of Quiet. My brother is a rock climber, and while I don't do it, I appreciate what it takes. He can be hanging off a rock cliff by his middle finger and big toe, yet remain completely calm. Sometimes he crashes pretty hard, gets ligament injuries, and wears all the skin off his hands. There are times though, when he completes a really hard route, and gets to lay in the sun with a cool drink in his hand and be one with the universe. I can sometimes get a second or two of Quiet when I'm taking nature photographs. I am by no means good at it, but occasionally I get something good, and I know it, and all is right with my world.

Third and finally, you need a family. Not like "Hey they're nice so appreciate yours." It's more than that. Maybe your family is bogus and stupid and they don't "get" you, or you're lucky like me and your family forms an elite cadre of adventurers and romantics. You need them. No matter how good your network of friends is you still need a family. Your family relationship helps you measure things correctly. The true weight of responsibility. The real time it's taken you to get where you are. The actual miles of your personal journey. I'll probably come back to this in future blog entries, because this needs more explaining.

These things make up the some of the chewy truth nuggets I've found in the last week or so. Feel free to add or share your ideas.

Who Is The Invisible Woman?

I've had several people tell me I need to start and keep a blog now. So here it goes I guess.

I've chosen to call this Adventures of The Invisible Woman, because I'm a photographer; you get to see what I see, but you very seldom see me. I like it that way, even when I'm not packing a camera around. Let me site precedence: I drive a white 4 Door GMC Pick-Up, possibly the most inconspicuous vehicle of our time. I work at a hardware store mostly in the back away from all the people. I live in a cul-de-sac and my front porch is hidden by large trees. I keep track of a lot of people that I like, but don't do much socially (ever try to find me when I'm not at work? good luck!)

So why write a blog? Why take pictures? Well, that is easy I'm not a hermit, I just want to fly under the radar. Selfish? Yes. It's a lot like picking out only the best parts of a fruit salad, I get all strawberries and pineapple, but leave the grapes and bananas for other people. Some people like the bananas and grapes, and in my game we all win. Let me put it another way: Life is too short to waste your time on things that don't matter to you, and I've cut out all the things that don't matter to me. I travel light.

I have a simple set of guidelines that I follow. Sometimes they change, but mostly it's like this:

1. Don't dither. Spending 45 minutes to make a decision is pointless and stupid. You know what you want just do it.

2. Accept things as they are. Do I wish people around me always acted in an acceptable manner? Yes, but they don't and it doesn't matter. Do I wish I could control the outcome of every situation I'm in? Yes, but I can't and that doesn't matter either.

3. Do your best, then walk away. The best way to ruin a good thing? Expect it to keep being good. The best way to fix a bad thing? Leave it alone. Timing is everything, and learning to make your exit is important. I ALWAYS have an exit strategy.

Do my guidelines always work? I'm pretty happy. Do I screw up? Sometimes but, guideline 3 is the stop loss. I've often told people that once they stop caring, life gets really easy. That is an over simplification, but it gets my point across. If you would think about it, which is what I'm really asking you to do, what it means is stop worrying about things outside of your control. Kill all the time/energy suckers in your life. Give the excess baggage to someone who wants it.

So what do I care about? What does matter? Aside from my family; Raym, Mom, Dad and Seth? Well that is simple. I'm looking for the truth. I'm not talking about conspiracy theories and government cover-ups. It's a little less tangible than that and a little easier to find. In our over Photo-Shopped, glossed-over world, I'm looking for the tasty little nuggets of reality. Things as they really are. The picture I chose this week? A spot created by my lens looks like a UFO. Good for a laugh, and I think it makes my point quite well indeed.