Posted in photography, pics, weather

DECEMBER AND A CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED WEATHER

Posted on by sassysheisme

Last year, on December 4th, we had a very rare Snow Day.  It was cold all weekend, and I built a tiny snowman.  So, it was no surprise that it was nearly 80 degrees yesterday, or that I woke up this morning and it was 50 degrees outside.  It should also be no surprise that my throat is scratchy I’m wrapped up in a blanket right now while yesterday I was running around in flip flops.  This is Fall/Winter in Houston.

I didn’t let the weather go to waste yesterday.  I went on a PhotoWalk yesterday around my apartment complex gathering leaves so I could take some pics with my compact macro lens.  I took around 400 pictures and got some really good ones you can see on my photoblog: Sunny December Day PhotoWalk pics

I need more days like yesterday.  The creativity flowing out of me and the inspiration flowing into me was incredible.  It made me feel vibrant again, and I haven’t felt that in a long time.  Somehow, somewhere there has to be a way to make this more of an everyday practice.

Until then, I will take the opportunities I can and create photos like this:

Posted in nature, photowalk, weather

ENJOY THE WEATHER

Posted on by sassysheisme

Last year on this day, it snowed in Houston.  The next day, I went out and took engagement photos in temps in the upper 30’s/low 40’s.

One year later, it was nearly eighty degrees.  A perfect day for a photowalk.

I went out with my camera and my new compact macro lens.  At first, I started gathering fall leaves, which, in Houston, peak the first week of December.  I had many to choose from, but they were all one shape.

Then, I started walking around the complex, looking for more leaves.  I found a few.

Since I was out, I decided to check my mail and I saw some flowers and poinsettia’s by the apartment office so I tried my new lens out on those.
I saw some white poinsettia’s in the window of the office, so I went in and asked if I could take pictures of it. There was also a white poinsettia in the window by the pool.  
For some reason, even though I knew the water would be cold in the pool, it called to me anyway.  As usual, water always gives me great shots to take. (Try not to picture me lying down on the concrete poolside hanging sideways over the side as I tried to get these shots).  

I had fun getting shots of leaves in the water.  This required me to be thankful I do occasional yoga and that I was wearing yoga pants at the time.

 I loved this leaf. It reminded me of a butterfly.

Then I gathered more leaves, and then took them back to my apartment for more fun.

All in all, it was a good day of photography for me.  The new lens was interesting and I do like it, it will just take some getting used to as I continue to study the best way to get the best shots.

Tomorrow, by the way, it might get to a high of 57 degrees.

Posted in creativity, NANOWRIMO, Writing

HELLO, BACK? MONKEY’S GONE

Posted on by sassysheisme

I finished NANOWRIMO two days early, with only 15 days actually writing, which is a new personal best!  I’d like to thank everyone who prayed for me to finish strong.  I desperately needed to get this monkey off my back.    I needed to prove to myself that I could finish.  I wrote almost 18,000 words in three days, another personal best.

The novel isn’t finished, and needs a major rewrite, but I accomplished something major in the process and the novel itself isn’t what’s important.  What was important about this entire exercise was that I finished.

I now need to refill my word bank, so I will fill in on some other details later.  😉

Posted in NANOWRIMO, Writing

NANOWRIMO UPDATE

Posted on by sassysheisme

It’s been a busy month so far!  Five days in NJ/NY to begin the month, and I haven’t even had time to go into all my adventures yet!  I’m also 14 days into NANOWRIMO and I’ve only produced 16,691 words so far due to my jam packed week to start off November.  I’m almost 9,000 words behind at this point.  I’ve made up a lot of ground, but as I am used to finishing the 22nd – 24th, I feel a bit pressured.

Of course, this is self-induced pressure.  I do, however, want to keep trying to make it!  I have quit twice before when I fall behind, but I don’t want to quit. I have something to prove to myself now.  I have to press on!

Posted in creativity, NANOWRIMO

TIME TO DUST OFF THE COBWEBS!

Posted on by sassysheisme
I am a person afflicted with too many ideas.  The light bulb comes to life, but a lot of times it burns brightly and gathers cobwebs because I always have great ideas.  The ideas are like children to me. The hardest part for me is to choose which child brings life and which I should bring to life. 
So, as crazy as it sounds, even with the traveling and all the craziness of November, I’m still planning on participating in and completing NANOWRIMO.  Keep that in mind as my sleep-deprived posts appear.  Follow me on Twitter @sassyshae for the up to the minute insanity!
Posted in lights, random

I LOVE SHOOTING THINGS I DIDN’T EXPECT TO FIND

Posted on by sassysheisme
I was at a friend’s house, attending an event in their backyard, and they had these lights hanging everywhere.  When the sun started to go down, I decided to try and shoot them.  I love the contrast and the extraordinary look of such an ordinary thing.

Then, there was the sun against these paper orbs that I couldn’t resist.

I also shot some other random objects.

This one, though, just seemed to stick out, just in how simple it is.  It reminded me of when I have ideas that I let sit and the cobwebs spring up around it, yet, the idea still glows.

My best photos come from just taking the camera with me everywhere and just seeing what’s around that others see as ordinary, and turning them into something extraordinary, even if it is just for me.
Posted in creativity, NANOWRIMO, travel, Writing

NANOWRIMO AND THE NEW JERSEY WRENCH

Posted on by sassysheisme

About a week ago, I had decided to try to squeeze out a novel in November, as I have done twice in the last five years, for NANOWRIMO. The day after I allowed myself to make that declaration public and start getting excited about it, my boss delivered the news that I needed to travel to our New Jersey office.  The time window for this to happen was about three weeks.

I was a little taken off guard by my boss’ request because the NJ office and I had tried to schedule this trip the second week of October, when, for all intents and purposes, it was the most convenient time for everybody, especially me, but the trip was a no-go.  So now, the only week that made sense within the proposed window was the first week of November.

I will have no time whatsoever to devote to NANOWRIMO on this trip unless I get extremely creative. I could get the novel started on November 1st, but I will be packing that night and the Texans are playing the Colts in Indy on Monday Night Football.  So, while I plan on writing that night, I won’t be writing much. Tuesday, I will have time on the plane to write.  That will require me to take my laptop to New Jersey, which I hadn’t planned to do. I would also have some time to write before bed on Wednesday and Thursday nights in the hotel.

The next two nights, however, I will be in New York City with my work buddy Chrissy, and I promise you, the laptop will not see the light of day.  I can, of course, write more on the plane on Sunday on the way home if I don’t pass out first.  If I take the laptop, I only lose 2-3 days, and since I tend to finish early most of the time, that’s not an insurmountable deficit.  If I don’t take the laptop and I come back and try to start writing on the 9th, I don’t know that I will actually get started, let alone finish.

So you see the dilemma.  Do I give up before I even start, or do I go ahead and try to overcome this wrench in my plans? I still haven’t decided.  First I have to see if I have an idea that I believe is worth trying to overcome this obstacle.

I’m tired of all the things that suck my creative well dry, or obstacles I let get in my way, and I need to write 50,000 words in 30 days more than I ever have.  Perhaps this trip will provide a much needed refill of the creative well. Then, after I do 50,000 words in 30 days, maybe I should do a similar photo contest as well.  Regardless of how this turns out, I need to refocus my time on the activities and people that feed my soul, and begin to tune out all that does not.

Stay tuned for updates!

Posted in about shae, breast cancer, health

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Posted on by sassysheisme

October is, besides being National Sarcasm Month, (like I need to tell you how well I celebrate that), is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t know someone who has triumphed over or succumbed to breast cancer.  Breast cancer has mercilessly ravaged my family, taking lives, and derailing some for a time, and every year I anxiously await my mammogram results until I get the “all clear” sign for another twelve months.  The question is always in the back of my mind as I slowly open that envelope, “is it my turn this time?”

I have had one biopsy already – when I was in my mid 30’s.  I ran out of blanks in the “who in your family has had breast cancer,” section on the info sheet at the imaging center and handed it to the nurse and asked her where I should write the other names (and this was before my cousin had been diagnosed).  She had tears in her eyes.  It was also my deceased brother’s birthday, so I had a lot on my mind and my knees nearly buckled with the weight of all that emotion.

When I got the news back that the lump they found was a benign fibro adenoma (read about my mammogram and biopsy adventures) I was so relieved.  The doctors have been so careful ever since and I have been faithful to get that mammogram every year.  I found, though that experience, that I’d rather know than not know.  You can’t fight what you aren’t aware of.  In this case, ignorance is not bliss, it’s death.

The memories of my mother with no hair linger, of her wigs and how she used to lift them up to let cool air in against her skin.  My mother complained often about many things, but she never complained about that.  It just was what it was.  The second time around, she just shaved her head and let everyone see.  It was what it was.  It was part of the process, part of the uniform of, “I’m fighting for my life.”  She’s been gone for almost 8 years now, but when January rolls around each year, I remember, most painfully, what cancer has done to my family.

I have cousins and aunts who have lived quite long lives after fighting breast cancer.  I think it’s that Scot-Irish steely resolve that, coupled with the fact the women in my family are just naturally strong, brings out the “oh, yeah, bring it,” attitude that balances with, “it is what it is.”  If cancer wasn’t such a horrid disease, I’d almost feel sorry for it when it chooses a woman in my family to fight with.  I’m hoping by the time we younger ones come to that time of life (who am I kidding, I am in that time of life), when cancer tries to rear its ugly head, that it looks up and says, “oh, it’s one of those Mills women.  Forget it! Run for your life!”

I encourage you to visit The Susan G. Komen foundation and make a donation, or purchase products that show your support in the fight against breast cancer. As much as I dislike pink, this is the month I will wear it and make that statement that I remember, I honor, and I fight.

Posted in about shae, commentary

NEVER FORGETTING…9/11

Posted on by sassysheisme

I watched a little coverage today of the memorial services and recaps of the attack on the World Trade Center.   Watching the footage and seeing how certain people had aged, I was reminded that terrorist attack happened nine years ago.  As this particular day actually passes the images seem like it happened yesterday, but most of the time it feels as if it happened a lifetime ago.

2001 was a very difficult year for me personally.  I’d spent 2000 without a full time job and I carried the weight of my brother’s illness on my heart.  I hadn’t recovered financially or emotionally then, 2001 began with my brother’s passing in January.  Tropical Storm Allison flooded our city in June, and then, as I was beginning to settle into my third part-time job, 9/11 happened.

That day is still one of those occasions where trying to put words to how I felt that day usually fails, which is why this will probably be the longest entry on the subject I’ve written since I started blogging seven years ago (and there was that one September 11th that were preoccupied with Hurricane Ike).

I woke up at 9 a.m. that fateful day and called a co-worker to tell him I wouldn’t be coming in because I had a fever of over 100 and needed to rest. He asked me if I’d turned on the tv yet.  I told him I hadn’t and he told me to stay home and that the building was empty because the other handful of pastors and associates were all out of town (Maine, Arizona, Nashville) and didn’t know how they would be getting back and he had to go to the hospital to be with one of our families who’s baby had decided to make her entrance into the world.  I let all that information sink in, then I turned on the television.

After a few hours of watching people jump off the burning World Trade Center and watching replay after replay of the towers crumbling to the ground in dust, I had to turn the tv off.  Over half of the hundreds of channels I had were covering the devastation.  I was feverish, fatigued, and a little scared because my apartment was close to the tallest building in town, and it had been evacuated that morning.  We just didn’t know what was going to happen that day or the days that followed.  I didn’t want to go outside, but eventually, I had to leave the house.

Walking around the city the next few days was surreal. The skies were so still and quiet. I had never realized how much noise airplanes generate in my daily life until all flights in the United States were grounded. 

My friends eventually got back to the city, two in the last rental car in the city they were in, the others also rented cars and one started his trip back from Maine – a long drive with a small child in the car – on his birthday, which he now celebrates every year in the shadow of the sorrow of this day.  I learned of stories of those, who for some reason didn’t get on planes that day because they overslept, or were sick, and one cancelled her trip because she listened to that still, small voice inside that said, “cancel your trip. Don’t get on that plane,” and she didn’t have any peace until she cancelled that flight. 

I think we all felt the weight of the towers on our chests for weeks.  Eventually, though, America picked up and moved on, ever determined that hatred would not kill the human spirit, especially the American spirit.  Still, every year, when that day in September rolls around, we all pause and remember that day our lives changed forever, the day most of us woke up and realized we were not safe from attack, not even on our own soil.

I pray that someday, after the new memorial is finished and the new towers stretch into the sky, that the pain for Americans will ease a little, especially for those who lost someone they loved in those attacks.  I pray the pain eases, not enough to forget, but enough to be able to walk side by side with our Muslim brothers and sisters and not associate them with the handful of extremists that flew into our safety zone and hit us while our guard was down. 

I wonder, if we ask some of our Muslim friends or others from volatile areas of the world who have immigrated here why they came to America, I wonder how many will answer that it was to escape countries where they had no freedoms, and where violence in the streets and explosions are commonplace.  While what happened this day in New York was horrible and unimaginable, it is a rare, rare event for most of us, and there are places in the world where this violence happens every day.  Let’s not forget that either.

As the beacons shine into the light sky from the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood, I’m grateful that I live in a country where violence of this magnitude is something that usually happens elsewhere.  I wish it didn’t happen at all, anywhere, yet it does.  So, on September 11, I will remember those who perished at the hands of blind hatred, and never forget how blessed I am to live in America.

Posted in commentary, spiritual life, Yahweh's fingerprints

THE BONFIRE OF INTOLERANCE

Posted on by sassysheisme

This week I have watched a misguided pastor in Gainesville, Florida, take the media hostage by exercising his right to his Freedom of Speech. What this man has reminded me is that Freedom of Speech is every American’s right even if that right gives an ignorant, intolerant person an opportunity to spread their ignorance. He’s also reminded me that sometimes, the freedom to shut my mouth is sometimes much more important and impactful.

Given that, I’m going to exercise my Freedom of Speech right now. 

Another freedom that Pastor Terry also, by exercising his freedom of speech, is, indeed, drawing attention to is some Christians’ double standard of Freedom of Religion. Many Christians jump on their religious soapboxes to laud their freedom as Christians to do whatever they want to in the name of God, then cry out in horror when another religion wants to exercise the same right. Freedom of Religion is freedom for ALL religions (regardless of what some may say the original intent was) and Christians in America are going to have to get over that fact.  If Christians in America feel their freedoms are being attacked, maybe, in retrospect, they might see they did that to themselves by acting as if Freedom of Religion was all about them all these years.

Some may be unwilling to say this out loud, but in our lifetime, America has ceased to be a “Christian” country.  Without going off on a tangent about the reasons this has happened, I’m going to point out one: I believe misguided, intolerant Christians exercising their Freedom of Speech are in part to blame. If someone on the journey of seeking God, continually sees these “representatives of God” spewing hate, showing up at soldier’s funerals with banners saying, “God hates fags,” and blaming earthquakes on voodoo and hurricanes on homosexuals, it’s no wonder that so many people, even if they believe in God, no longer want to have anything to do with organized religion in America.  I teeter on that abyss all the time.

We are a society driven by media, so it’s no wonder that the pastors with the microphones in their hand and the the ones with the most outrageous notions and ideas are the face of Christianity in America. The bonfire of intolerance and ignorance is burning higher each day and I cringe at the thought of it blowing up into irreparable ashes because people couldn’t exercise their right not to speak. I honestly think these people believe, again misguidedly, that God needs them to say and do all these crazy things on his behalf so they’ll see that he is…God.

I am reminded of my days in journalism class when I was challenged often by my wonderful teacher, Bonnie Shipman, to exercise my right of Freedom of Speech, but to also be prepared for the consequences of that action.

I don’t think Pastor Terry thought, when he sought to burn the Quaran, that General Petraeus and the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, would be calling him, begging him to think of what the image of the Muslim’s Holy book burning being blasted throughout the Middle East would do to the safety of those overseas fighting for his right to say whatever the heck he wants in the name of God on television and in the newspaper.  I think he honestly believes he is honoring God by hosting a good old-fashioned book burning.

I don’t believe anyone will come to saving faith through this pastor’s actions. In fact, what I do think will happen are bad things. Very bad, unloving, un-Christlike things. Protests have already begun in Afghanistan. People have already been killed. The outrage has already begun and one Quaran is yet to be burned… or not burned. Stay tuned.

I can’t say I’ve never said anything stupid or hateful over the years in the name of God. For those of you who have heard me say those things or have been hurt by them, I beg your forgiveness. Those things were drawn from the well of having yet to understand that God is big enough to handle Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion. I think I finally have a better understanding of who God is and that what God does and does not do… is bigger than me.

I’ve learned so much from my diverse pool of friends, be they atheist, Buddhist, liberal, Jewish, Muslim, gay, straight, lesbian or a mixture of some or all of those things and more… mostly how to get along with people who don’t think or live like I do (and if you bother to get to know people, sometimes you find out they DO think like you do – amazing!). It’s a lesson I unfortunately did not learn early on in my exclusive pool of conservative, Christian only, friends. 

I think Time columnist Tim Padgett (who coined bonfire of intolerance) summed up my feelings for the week:

So what can American Christians outraged by Jones’ hatefulness do? Stop by a local mosque today and wish the people well as they celebrate ‘Id al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan (and try one of the great sweets). Or for that matter, wish Jewish people well as they celebrate the High Holy Days that began Wednesday evening with Rosh Hashanah. But most of all, remember how lousy it felt this week when the world equated you with Terry Jones.

While Terry Jones has made me angry this week, I also need to remember his right to do and say whatever he wants is protected, even now, by the people he is setting up to be attacked because of his actions this week.  I’ve seen some comments by people wishing him ill and just take a deep breath and realize being a hater back to him isn’t a Christlike answer either.

It all boils down to this:  If I believe everything I just said, I have to be tolerant of Terry Jones.

Dang, this practicing what I preach thing sure isn’t easy, but worthwhile endeavors rarely are.