October 12

So the sumptuous scene above was shot at the site of one of NaNoBoston09's write-ins next month.

Juiceboxartists is a writing group in Somerville. The founder, Deborah, has kindly agreed to let us use their studio as a write-in location. The studio, in a former industrial building, is richly decorated; I could only think to describe it as a salon, and honestly, what better place to foster creativity?

The space is both beautiful and functional. Plugs are abundant and easily accessible, for instance, and there's wireless access available for the wrimos so inclined. I'm very excited that we're getting to use such a beautiful -- and unique -- location for a write-in. It's certainly very different from a library or a fast food shop!

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October 11

With National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) coming up soon, and our participation (our region is called NaNoBoston), and since we were shopping for door prizes for our events, finding "Nano Glue" just seemed kind of prophetic. After all, when things are falling apart, you can use glue to hold it all together.

We have managed -- finally! -- to get everything we need to host write-ins, along with most of our door prizes.

Alas, venues aren't coming along as smoothly. We have one pesky write-in night that is proving tough to fill. Today's trip to Cambridge was unproductive -- our hoped-for location at B.Good near Harvard is just too small. Tomorrow we visit a dedicated writing studio in Somerville; this location is practically scheduled already, so the visit is mostly a formality. We have until Friday, when we announce our schedule. We have a plan ... it's just a case of that plan working out.

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September 27

National Novel Writing Month is coming up in November, and it's probably going to play a bigger part in this blog simply because I'm spending a lot of time working up to it.

My friend Anna and I are municipal liaisons for NaNoWriMo, and we put a lot of work into making it a memorable experience for our participants. We received lapel pins this year as recognition for having done this for the past three years.

This year, we're working to improve the experience; we've expanded our CafePress store, have a Twitter account and a Facebook group to get the word out. It's going to be an awesome year.

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September 21

I tell a wonderful story at National Novel Writing Month events in Boston. It's a ghost story called, "Merlene, the one-heeled drag queen of Waxacatchie County." The story is in the best oral tradition and really doesn't translate well to written form, so I'm not going to try to force it on you here.

Paradoxically, the story has become popular at our events, which means I get to tell it several times over the month of November. I can make longtime NaNoBoston participants laugh by merely going, "whump WHUMP!" So this year, Anna and I decided that Merlene should make appearances at various NaNoBoston events. As her only remaining corporeal remains of Merlene are one high-heeled shoe, this necessitated a visit to a shoe store.

The story itself is entertaining, and it lends itself well to small-scale merchandising aimed at our local participants. Thus, I took this photograph, possibly to be billed as Merlene at the site of her biggest hit.

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September 19 - 20

A unique set of circumstances kept me from posting my photos this weekend. I was on a trip and didn't have reliable Internet access for most of it. I'm combining these posts in order to play catch up.

September 19

My friend Anna and I took a whirlwind trip to Upstate New York this weekend. Anna's family lives there, and happen to be only a few minutes from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, one of the premier museums of early aviation, and one that puts on airshows in their vintage aircraft. It was the perfect opportunity for me to go visit the Aerodrome, which has fascinated me since I first heard of the place, and for Anna to get a free ride home to visit her folks one weekend. (More on this later.) It was also the chance to visit my friend Mark, who moved from Boston years ago and lives just down the road from Rhinebeck.

With National Novel Writing Month coming up, it also gave us a chance to sit and begin planning our schedule and events, since its a four-hour drive out there and back. It also gave us the chance to pick up the only remains of Merlene, who will be attending our events as well as featuring on NaNoBoston merchandise in our CafePress store.

I got the above picture of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in Poughkeepsie while returning from the mall with Anna, where we had picked up Merlene. It's beautifully lit at night, and the lights change colors in an intricately-synchronized routine.

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September 20

Sunday, Anna and I, along with her father, headed over to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for the airshow. It was remarkable, and less airshow in the traditional sense than pure showmanship and old-fashioned entertainment. Old Rhinebeck has a large collection of flyable vintage and reproduction aircraft, and they put on a fine program.

This is the business end of their Albatros D.Va, a reproduction built in 1975 by the museum's founder, Cole Palen, and his associates. It's simply beautiful, and watching it in flight was a delight. It was also nearly impossible to photograph clearly because of my lack of a fast lens with a long-enough focal length. When the airshow was over I hied it to the display to get some shots, including this one, which is my favorite.

It was a long short weekend, if that makes any sense to you. I was gone about 37 hours, and spent 12 of those hours in the driver's seat. Still, it was absolutely worth the trip, and with the most perfect weather imaginable, a great way to spend the last weekend of the summer.

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September 07

I'm very fortunate to have a circle of friends who, if a little peculiar at times, are really nice and thoughtful people.

My friend Marion decided this morning that I needed a surprise party, so she got together with the rest of this bunch to throw something together -- no mean feat on a Federal holiday, a day I was working, and in a public place. Her method was rather elegant; she invited me to dinner at the Prudential Center Food Court, a place we've gone several times.

Once there, while I was distracted ordering, she texted the rest of the miscreants, who were waiting on the outdoor terrace, to let them know my arrival was imminent. They lit up the candles and we were drawn to the right table by the flames billowing forth. The candles burned brightly, and as we were slightly delayed, they did a number on the cake itself (see above).

Still, it was a lovely party, and really a most marvelous surprise. Gay people often say that they're lucky, in that their friends are their family, and they get to choose that family. I'd point to today's surprise party as proof that the sentiment rings true.

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September 01

I know my friend Anna through the auspices of National Novel Writing Month. This will be our fourth year as municipal liaisons for the Boston region, and even though it happens in November, we usually start planning a couple of months in advance.

Which is, essentially, now.

This early on, it's not a complicated process. We sat down with a calendar and worked out our options for holding write-ins, then discussed venues. It was really more of a brainstorming session than any real kind of planning -- but perfectly appropriate for the late hour.

I'm sure NaNoWriMo will be a recurring topic over the rest of the year, so expect more information.

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July 20

It's good to have friends, and I'm fortunate to have some pretty great friends in my life.

My friend Brandon snapped the photo above (see original here) on one of our photo walks out to Castle Island in June. Anna is one of my best friends in Boston, and the sense of camaraderie we feel when together is remarkable. Brandon managed to capture that in this photograph; it's one of my favorite images.

Anna's birthday was last Saturday, so I didn't get the chance to give her a birthday gift. With the current precarious state of my finances, buying anything worthwhile was out of the question. However, I have a photo printer, glossy inkjet paper, a frame, and a wonderful image to work with. I desaturated the image and put a black hairline around it to define the edge, then set it off with a broad white margin to give it a classic dignity. I'm pretty proud of the results; it's playful and fun, while having an elegance that most photos of me lack.

Now that I've made one for Anna, I'm going to make another print for myself. It's going to occupy a place of honor on my office wall -- along with other images I collect of all of my great friends.

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July 16

I live a life mostly free of conspiracy theories (and conspiracy theorists). So it was with some surprise that I pulled this single from my wallet this afternoon and saw the stamps some conspiracy theorist had festooned it with:

The Federal Reserve is
Privately Owned
This money is backed by
Nothing

All righty, then.

I showed it to my friend Anna, who graciously did a pseudo-Norma Desmond impression for me holding the worthless little piece of paper in question.

One has to wonder if the person who bartered to have the stamp made (since money is worthless) only crusades about the Federal Reserve Bank. I'm left wondering whether he also rails on about the New World Order, or chemtrails, or the idea that the moon landings were faked.

On reflection, I suspect not. Conspiracy theorists are loyal to their theories, and this guy (I can't imagine it's a woman) gets his jollies telling the rest of us about this theory -- and stamping money in the process.

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June 27

Today's photo walk took us outside the city limits -- to fabulous Newport, Rhode Island.

In the finest tradition of my photo walks, I had no clue where we were going to end up, other than somewhere outside of Boston, until late in the process (last night). My original plans were to go to Fall River and Battleship Cove, but those plans were tabled when the idea to visit Newport popped into my head.

So today, in a whirlwind of planning, Anna, Keith, and I got in the car, stopped at a market en route, and put together an impromptu picnic. Anna brought some really lovely bamboo plates, a frisbee, etc., while I grabbed a blanket, a couple of throw pillows, and other assorted accessories. Keith mentioned knowing a pretty place to picnic right on the beach, so we went with his suggestion (gut instinct), and ended up spending most of our time at the rocky beach at Brenton Point.

We left Brenton Point Beach with two bags of rocks, one depleted camera battery, some remnants of picnic food, etc., and pooped. God what a great day!

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June 20

It's a miracle I manage to get anything done sometimes.

My teen photography workshop is next Wednesday (June 24), and I was beginning to feel the panic because I haven't completed either the handouts to go with the class or the presentation I have to give. My friend Anna agreed to meet with me for a late lunch today, followed by helping me put together my talk and critiquing it. God bless Anna for sitting there and listening to me talk for two hours, mostly uninterrupted.

After finishing the presentation, we meandered about a bit on a photo walk. This shot was the shot that wasn't yesterday -- I lined up my image and my camera battery died. Tonight's capture worked perfectly, though, producing the above image of the John W. Weeks footbridge over the Charles River near Harvard.

I love it when things work out.

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June 07

Today's weekend photo walk was one of the more interesting trips I've taken -- specifically because of the company.

Anna and Brandon busied themselves doing environmental work before the photo walk began. They hauled a shopping cart out of the Muddy River near Fenway. I was invited to participate but declined. I picked them up and off we headed, meandering around until we decided to head over to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument.

Marion had to work until 4 pm -- and then an hour later -- so we picked her up en route to Castle Island. She was sporting two black eyes and a bruise over her left eye from a softball accident, so any portraiture plans with my most willing subject went out the proverbial window. Since she gamely let me take photos, though, I cleaned up the bruising just a teensy little bit in Photoshop. After all, we must look our best. ;-)

In the future, I hope we can get some more folks involved in our walks. The people I've met through National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy are really some of the most interesting and unique individuals I know -- and I have high standards. It's just a lot of fun spending time with them.

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June 06

Anna, my friend and the Young Adult Librarian at the West Roxbury Branch Library, procured an easel to advertise my Photo Workshop on June 24th. Of course, finding something to fill the easel was another issue entirely.

I frankly don't have the money to go have an enlargement of my letter-sized flier made, so I was left with the issue of filling all that space. I considered posting interesting photos around the flier, but that was ... well, boring.

Then I remembered I know how to rasterbate.

The idea of the big poster is to get people's attention, so I looked through my selection of photos for something eye-catching. This photo of Belynda was perfect, and it served as a perfect surround for the flier. Additionally, it's a cheap solution.

I love it when I'm able to come up with a good solution to an unusual problem.

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June 05

There's a perfectly rational explanation for this photo. Really.

Late last night, my friend Anna stopped by my workplace after going to the nearby Barnes and Noble. As she had today off, and I hadn't had dinner yet, she proposed that we go out and dine after I got off work. Easier said than done, considering I get off work at 11:30 pm.

Not to be deterred, we decided to go to IHOP, the old reliable 24-hour standby. When we pulled into the parking lot, we spotted this poor Boston Globe box -- sad, neglected, upended. I briefly opined about metaphors and the toppling of the print newspaper industry before telling Anna to go stand there and pretend she killed it. Hey, at 12:01 am, after a long day's work and no dinner, that's funny.

OK, so not perfectly rational, but still funny enough.

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May 29

Next month, I'm going to be teaching a photography workshop for teens at the West Roxbury Branch Library.

My friend Anna is the Young Adult Librarian there, and in response to a request from one of her students, she asked if I could present this workshop. Originally, it was going to be in the fall, but for budgetary reasons (their fiscal year ends June 30th), they were able to bring me in much earlier.

Above is the flier I've been working on to advertise the event. The library -- read, Anna -- offered to do one for me, but I'm so particular about these kind of things, I thought it best to take care of the design myself. And I'm nearly happy with this one (as you might be able to tell from the scribbled notes in Sharpie all over it). I have a little less than a month to get the workshop materials together, so it should make for an interesting experience.

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May 03

My ass hurts.

What that statement lacks in eloquence it makes up for in brevity. Anna convinced Brandon and me that going to a skating rink would be a fun and entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I was dreadful in not replying to her e-mail right away, but with all the crap going on at the end of last week, combined with planning my possibly to-be-cancelled trip to Illinois, I really didn't know if I was going to be up for it.

Obviously, I thought I was. And I was ... sort of. My greatest accomplishment of the evening was playing skee-ball while on rollerblades. And I really have to commend the builders of Roller World in Saugus for their excellent roller rink floor, which survived many impacts. I'm going to omit the litany of aches and pains my poor abused body feels, and go back to those magical three words that say it all: "My ass hurts."

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April 26

I didn't have a lot going on this afternoon, so I called up my friend Anna to ask if she'd like to go to IKEA with me. (Yes, my social life is that pedestrian.) Anna had just met up with Brandon, our friend from National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy, so I gamely invited him along as well. (I just cleaned out my car today, so there was actually room for all three people.)

And away we went.

IKEA is a fun place to go when you're feeling aimless. There are arrows on the floor to guide you through the showrooms, you can see neat things and make fun of them, and the food at the restaurant is pretty cheap and filling. There's also the people watching; that one turned on us when we saw the slightly saggy overweight woman wearing the low-rider jeans. There had to have been three inches of butt crack showing, surrounding by sagging cellulite. Brandon might be scarred for life.

And that is the high point of my day. I amuse myself, and fortunately, when others are laughing, they're laughing with me, not at me.

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April 05

I haven't turned into a shill for Longhorn Steakhouse -- not that my meager readership would make me an effective advertiser anyway. Anna held the Thank God Its Over (TGIO) party at Longhorn for a small group of folks (four of us), and it was fun.

Anna runs National Novel Editing Month, which ended March 31. It's a much smaller event than National Novel Writing Month or Script Frenzy, but we have a few people who carry over from the other events. Brandon and Randy are two of those folks, and they're awesomely fun guys. It's difficult to coordinate something like this to bring everybody together for the event, which is unfortunate, but we had a good time anyway, discussing head colds, sex ed and detachable penises, and telling jokes. I had commented to Anna that telling dirty jokes wasn't as fun with the guys as it was with Marion and Belynda; I think they took it as something of a challenge. They certainly rose to the occasion -- pun absolutely intended.

Actually, on that topic, it's somewhat ironic that we were discussing detachable penises at a restaurant called "Longhorn," isn't it?

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March 22

This was nearly the edit-in that wasn't.

I've been lazy about showing up on time at National Novel Editing Month events, since I'm not actively participating. I'm there more for moral support than any real editing purpose. Nonetheless, I'm usually there.

This afternoon, I was running a little late. Life interfered, and I took care of life first. While I was taking care of life, about 45 minutes after the edit-in was scheduled to begin, my phone rang. Anna was on the line, telling me to tell everyone that she was on the way. I chuckled at her naïve assumption that I was there, and we began making phone calls -- only to discover that nobody we knew was around.

Marion, meanwhile, was there, but wasn't sure there was an edit-in, since nobody else was at the restaurant. So she went to our other usual venue and discovered nobody there, either. Marion spent a considerable amount of time running to and fro, trying to find the edit-in. Finally, she thought to call me to find out what was going on.

I arrived at the event about a minute before it was scheduled to end, and thanks to Brandon's arrival two hours later, I was not the last person to arrive. Having friends like this is pretty darn cool. For once, I'm among people who are just as screwed up as I am.

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March 15

With enough of these pictures, I might appear to have a social life.

I've been attending "edit-ins" for National Novel Editing Month -- my friend Anna is the Queen of Edmo. Marion, Belynda, and Brandon were there with us; Randy and Arika weren't able to make it because Arika hurt her foot. Still, we had a good time, even if there wasn't a lot of editing going on. There was enough laughter to make up for it.

I have to say, I'm quite pleased with this group pic. It came out pretty well for an informally-posed picture; I guess it pays to have attractive friends.

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