breaking-reality

I haven't updated in a while and I haven't been very active either.

I lost my dad a week ago after fighting against complications with diabetes and pneumonia for 4 days in the hospital. The memorial was last Friday and things seems to be calming down a bit from the intense week that last week was. For anyone that really knows me, I am a total daddy's girl and I talked to my dad all the time.

It's not even been 5 years since I lost one of my closest friends to suicide and I still get mad at her sometimes, wanting to talk to her or share something with her. I can't even imagine how long it will be before I stop wanting to pick up the phone and call my dad. Or how long it will take before every happy memory doesn't turn into something sad. My dad was one of my people - I'm not sure how else to describe it, but losing him in my life is like losing a piece of myself.

I'm trying to find distractions. Thankfully there's work waiting for me, and 3 classes this semester, and I'm sure both are blessings in disguise. I also have some art projects waiting for me, and at some point I might lock myself in a room with some paint and canvas or just go for a long drive with my camera and some good music.

I've been a bad Sam, lol. I don't keep up with dA as much as I used to, and I'm at least a month behind on uploading my photos. Facebook and my website + mass uploading have made me fairly lazy. I'll upload a few shots today, and then I will try to pick through the photos I took at a local farm a few weeks ago. I had almost 70 images from the shoot and don't want to flood anyone's message center.

I've been doing craft/art shows since May with mixed results. Pushing through the holidays and then I'll be reevaluating things. Still juggling work and school in the mix as well, and I think I'm doing alright in my classes, and work is busy as usual (with nice lunch breaks so I can update here )

So how are you all doing?

Wow, I really don't update this very often anymore, do I?

Things have been going pretty well. I'm getting ready for the County Fair in a few weeks, a week or so after that I start classes. Taking two this semester, in addition to working. So August will be a fun, albeit jammed packed month.

I shot a wedding with Katastrophe the weekend before last. You can see my photos here: www.facebook.com/album.php?aid… if you're interested.

I hadn't shot a wedding since the first one I did when I was 16, lol, so this was an interesting and fun experience.

How has everyone else been?

Been fighting that feeling that something is a little bit off. I haven't taken many pictures in the last few weeks and really need to get on that. Silly weather forecast says rain all weekend.

Still getting over a nasty ear infection that I had last week that had me out of commission for a few days. It's mostly healed, and I just have to go back in a week or so to make sure the infection has completely healed (and stayed away from my eardrum).

I also created a facebook page for my photography if anyone is interested: www.facebook.com/pages/BR-Phot…

My birthday is next week as well. I'll be 24. _{[I'm so old, I know.]}

I signed the contract yesterday to have a booth at the local flea market in Belleville, IL in May. My stomach is still doing flips over it, and I'm not sure how well received a photographer will be at a flea market...but I figure it's worth a shot, so I am going for it.

So what's going on with everyone else?

Feeling a bit stagnant photo-wise. Still going through older photos, and spent some time at the botanical garden in Missouri this past weekend. I might post more from that trip later.

Hoping my trip to Tulsa this weekend will shake things up a bit.

Next up to knock off on my reading list:

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler Sandman (graphic novel series) by Neil Gaiman The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Bite Me by Christopher Moore

I'm in a punk and upbeat music mood lately... Think Ramones, The Clash, thrown in with some AFI, The Offspring, and hell, even the Pipettes. I would love some suggestions as to other artists and songs to go along with this as I plan to make a mix for the drive down to Tulsa.