It’s been a minute and a half since my last post, but there is a very good reason for that; weather, travel, gym time, and soccer dad duties have conspired to keep me out of the woods with my camera, and no one exactly wants to read this shit anyway, let alone read this shit when it has nothing to do with anything even vaguely outdoor-related and only features photos of my kid playing soccer, a bowl of pasta I made for lunch, or my dogs. Unless, of course, I’ve misjudged my ever-dwindling audience and the blog’s SEO stats (I think I have those).
Things in Michigan have remained cold and dank, save for one day last weekend when it was apparently 70˚, a day that I was in Indiana, and it was 80˚, and I was gleefully planting melanoma seeds on my face under bright sunshine along a soccer pitch. I guess that’s good, at least until I see my dermatologist.
Last weekend featured three days of shooting footy at the Crossroads of America College Showcase in Indiana. Besides a few hours of rain one day, the weather was excellent, B played great, and his team went 2-0-1 on the weekend to finish 3rd in their 26-team bracket. The tournament was B’s last soccer tournament ever (unless he chooses to play some type of club or intermural soccer at MSU) and our last time traveling as a family to one. Technically he has a home tournament in a few weeks, but he will be out of town in Dallas, representing Michigan in the Business Professionals of America’s Digital Media Production category. GO B!!!!!
Sadly, within 48 hours of returning to Michigan, the temps dropped 50 degrees, and shit got cold, wet, and dank again. Shit-damn-fucking-fuck, I want spring!!!!
Since returning, I have been kept busy processing hundreds of photos and daily visits to the gym. Finally, I headed out for a walk at Meridian Park on Wednesday, but the winter-like conditions made wildlife scarce and my fingers numb. So, I took a few shots of some red-winged blackbirds, a long-distance shot of Sam The Eagle, and a few macros before I headed home to warm up by the office space heater. Shit-damn-fucking-fuck, I want spring!!!!
In less positive news, I have been struggling with my eyesight for the last couple of months and was finally able to get in with my eye doctor this week. We went through all the normal tests with so-so luck, so he had me do a few more in-depth tests to see what was going on with my worsening vision. Well, the good news is that I don’t need new glasses and contacts; the bad news is I DO have cataracts and will need surgery this summer.
“I can’t see! I can’t see!”
“Whats’ the matter??”
“I got my eyes closed.”
— Larry Fine and Moe Howard, The 3 Stooges
The doc called them “stress-induced cataracts” and asked if I had been under any stress in the past few months, to which I confessed I had but stopped short of admitting to the five-month bout of severe anxiety, depression, and intense self-loathing I went through until finding some traction in February.
“Yes, I am blind
No, I can’t see the good things
Just the bad things of the world.”
— Yes I Am Blind by Morrissey
I want to have cataract surgery about as much as I want to see hobos fornicate in a Wal-Mart parking lot, but there is some good news; my long-distance vision SHOULD be perfect after surgery, and I’ll only need glasses for reading and close work, and for someone who has worn glasses and contacts since the 7th grade, that sounds awesome!
“Blinded by the light
Woke up like a douche
in the middle of the night.”
— (not really) Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
For months I have been bitching about my vision while driving at night, as well as my eyes being overly sensitive to sunlight, but I just chalked that up to being 50 and living in one of the cloudiest states in America, but it turns out that along with worsening eyesight those are both symptoms of cataracts. At least I know I’m not crazy! Well, at least about my eyes.
“He’s tradin’ in his Chevy for a Cataract (act, act, act, act, act)
— (not really) Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) by Billy Joel
It’ll be a few weeks before I know more, but at least I know there is an end in sight. Pun intended?
Time to get back to processing soccer photos.
Later.