At least 7054

The end of the year is often a time for thinking about the year past, but it seems I've already done too much thinking about it. Regular readers already know what I think of the past year. "Yes, yes," I hear you saying, "but what are you thinking of NOW?"

At the moment I'm not sure. I've been looking over my photos lately, thinking about what's good, what isn't so good, what could be better and what I might want to do about that. In the course of doing that I learned I've blogged at least 7054 photos since July 2016, when I brought home a real camera. That isn't counting photos taken for the community association, or for the various races I've done, or some private client photoshoots. 

Not all the photos edited get blogged. I might well edit several in a sequence because I can't decide which is best, and then will only blog one of them. There are a further 4529 that don't have a 'blog' tag, but then again, some of them are almost certainly blogged. I didn't start the tagging until later in the game, thus the serendipity photos.

Why wouldn't an edited photo get blogged? Some of them don't fit the topic of the blog and gradually slide off the short list. Some of them are deliberately taken because they interest me, and are not likely to interest others. The texture of wood, or stone, or water, often fascinate me, but the photos don't always work. Some are failed experiments. Sometimes I'll think I've done too much of something, and don't want to overwhelm or bore my small but loyal band of readers. Some, as I said, are for other audiences.

I know this is blog number 3525, and 4813 days since the first blog. That's a blog every 1.36 days, over more than 13 years. In 2019 a blog came out slightly more often than once a day, and this year it's about every day and a half.

Next year, you ask? That's a good question, and one I've been pondering. I wouldn't have put the time and effort into blogging if I didn't enjoy it. I enjoy the process of putting my thoughts into words and adding photos when it seems appropriate. Or sometimes, it's photos and adding a few words.

Lately I wonder if it's been a distraction, taking me away from other projects I have in mind. At this very moment I could be sitting at a different desk, looking at a different computer, getting paid to flick between: 

1. a set of business requirements, 
2. a technical document putting the detail into those requirements (database table and field, screen name and field, for two separate databases, plus notes about relationships and stuff), 
3. a citrix screen with the source database user interface and 
4. within the same citrix screen a query tool to look at the database tables (MS Access for my sins) with brutally horrible table and column names. (I'm actually surprised they didn't normalize yet further and name the tables with just a T sequence, and the columns with a C sequence, and include another table with the actual names.) 
5. the target database (Maximo) user interface, and lastly 
6. the VM screen for the query tool to see the Maximo database tables.

You can see why two monitors isn't enough. It's a bit of a slog switching between screen, and having things time out while buried in something else. About an hour and a half is all I'm good for before I need a break, and this morning I'm seriously thinking I need another cup of coffee before starting. Maybe the blog is procrastination. 

Back to habits. Sometimes it's easier to keep doing the things you know how to do, rather than learn new things. Habits are interesting things, making new ones, seeing how well existing ones can serve you and sometimes how they can hold you back. 

For years swimming every other day or so was a habit. I haven't been in a pool since mid-March in Auckland. I miss it. I remember how hard it was to get my swim groove again after missing 2 months while on vacation. Now I've missed 9 months. I just hope when I do get back in the pool, the lifeguards don't harpoon me and drag me out, thinking they've rescued me and on the side they can render my blubber down for the oil.

There are some interesting things I want to learn, and projects I want to do, but to be honest I've made essentially no progress on them in the last little while. I'm not entirely sure why.

So back to the blog, and photos. One of the projects is to revisit existing photos and see if I can improve them with more detailed editing using Photoshop and the tablet. I've already tried to improve one photo where there was an out of focus plant stalk in front of a beautiful model. It's still not where I want it to be, so there's lots to learn. It just takes time, and it's sometimes a frustrating process.

So a couple things to look forward to in the immediate future are the regulars, Image of the Month, and Image of the year. I've kicked off the periodic AMA feature, but have had no responses so far. Ask Me Anything, sent to me via blog comment, facebook comment, even Instagram though I'm not there much, or email, or a text. Whatever. 

And then? I'm not sure. Work is going to be really busy the first few months of the year. There might not be much time or energy for blogging. Which, I know, will continue the downward spiral of blogging. When reading a blog is a near daily habit, it's easy to keep doing. Miss a few day and the reader starts finding other habits. The blogging ecosystem I was part of has essentially disappeared, which further reduces the number of readers. 

Yet, I'm not a big fan of Facebook or Instagram. I've been seriously considering taking an actual vacation from them for a while, and see how it works out. 

A New Zealand beach scene that reminds me a bit of snow drifts. I've been day dreaming about New Zealand lately. I'm sure a foot of snow has nothing to do with that. Nothing at all.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Celina

Artsy

From the same beach above.