Monday, May 17, 2010

salt and sky (and insomnia)

Photos of the sky while traveling on the highway as seen through a filthy salt-covered van windshield. I focused the camera on the salt residue. See?


And see?



But this is all punched up and whatnot:



And this is my fave by far. I like the composition quite a lot. It generates a sense of movement, which is not the strength of my photography. (My forte would be eyeballs, natch.)



Here are ten deep questions I’ve been pondering lately--ever since I woke up right before 2:00 this morning.

1. Do you ever wake up at 1:57 knowing, “shoot, that’s it for sleep for the night!”?

2. Are mildew and mold one in the same thing? My theory? Yes. Mostly because I don't want either to grow on my bread.

3. I don’t want to wake up in the middle of surgery and be unable to tell the surgeons that I’m awake. Do you?

4. I shouldn’t have had that piece of pizza right before I went to bed.

5. Do you ever fear your memory is failing you?

6. I shouldn’t have had that piece of pizza right before I went to bed.

7. Recently I watched “The Lives of Others,” a German film set in East Germany a few years before the fall of the wall. You should see it.

8. The “Fall” is a bad thing for humanity in the Jewish and Christian creation accounts but a good thing for the Germans in 1989. But I think it’s premature to conclude that Germans aren’t created.

9. The only day of the week I use the word “begotten” is on Sundays.

10. I’m in the mood for a hot fudge Sunday.

11. I used to mildly (and secretly) resent it when people would name their dog Bailey. Now I think it's cute. Don't you?

12 comments:

Technoprairie said...

Shall we just call you Prof Pollock? That last photo looks worthy enough.

Mike Bailey said...

It's a little action painting-esque, I suppose, isn't it? The differences being:

1. I didn't do it first.

2. I discovered the image as much or more than I created it.

3. It didn't follow years of heart-wrenchingly total absorption of my life into the process of artistic experimentation.

Still...I'll take the props.

Elisheba said...

1. yes.
2. Not necessarily.
3. Oh sweet God, no.
4. No response requested.
5. I know it is, but that's currently the least of my fears.
6-10. No response requested.
11. Bailey is a fine name. I once knew a horse that went by such a moniker. He was a splendid beast.

Mike Bailey said...

S-S: Sweet. Thanks for answering my Qs.

Andy D. said...

3. Your "surgery wake up" issue.

Just before you posted this, I had just seen a news story about a guy who had filed a law suit claiming this had happened to him during some major surgery. Seriously. Not sure if it was locally in KC or elsewhere and got reported here. So it can happen. Allegedly. That's the bad news.

The good news is, of all the things that should be keeping you up at night, this should be like number 1 million, 8 hundred ninty-seven thousand, 4 hundred and thirty two. So cut it out, it's not gonna happen. It COULD happen, but it ain't.

Having said that -- it has happened to me. Although on a much less dramatic scale. When I had my appendix out 20 years ago, I "came to" in the post op area, to the sensations of a male nurse trying to prick my finger to get a blood sugar reading. Except he was not successfully getting any blood. But that was not stopping him from jabbing each of my fingers with his sharp needle repeatedly to try. And I could hear the entire convesation among him and his nurse buddies, the bunch of morons, but I could not talk or say WTF JUST POKE IT ALREADY like you know I would in my waking state. So I do know this kind of thing can happen. So yes, your fears (and those of that poor bastard in the lawsuit who was actually being surgicized...) are very well founded in reality.

Just not correctly prioritized. That's all. It's just a question of your priorities, my boy.

Respek.

A.

Andy D. said...

Comment on numba nine, numba nine, numba nine...

You be forgotten,
to use "begotten" in yo
weekday world, white boy.

Mike Bailey said...

Andy D: Start writing the book you owe the world. Loved these two comments!!!

Technoprairie said...

I actually had number 3 happen to me. True story. I was having oral surgery. They must have miscalculated the amount of sleep drug to use because I woke up in the middle of the operation. I remember the block they put in your mouth to keep it open. I also remember the nurse saying, "she's awake!" and her going over to the iv thing and making some adjustment which sent me back to sleep. So I wouldn't worry too much about #3. They will probably notice you are awake. Probably.

Mike Bailey said...

Technoprairie--

Oh hey, here's another true story. Funny, actually. And it goes like this:

Your story makes me feel the need to empty the contents of my stomach.

I am so sorry for you.

And me.

timekeeper said...

Great. Technoprairie and Andy D...YOU'RE NOT HELPING!!!! What were you thinking, TP, to combine surgery awakening and dental procedures? Why don't you just call us every night at 2 am because his insomnia is only going to get worse thanks to that delightful scenario burned into his brain!!!! I'm starting to believe that everyone is trying to kill professormikey! (Or is it a plot to lead to my early death and he started it? Hmmmmmm. Better check into our life insurance policies fine print for information on being driven insane. If only I knew a good lawyer....who wasn't already trying to kill my husband...or me)

Andy D. said...

Here we go:

"Hmmmmm....sleep....good, sleeeeep.....

Oh, wait, I'm awake. It's 1:57am. I'll just roll over and go back to --

What was that noise? Oh probably just the clock ticking...

Or -- THE INSANE CLOWN DENTIST INTENTIONALLY USING TOO LITTLE LAUGHING GAS ON ME DURING MY LOWER JAW REMOVAL PROCEDURE WHERE THEY STICK NAILS INTO MY GUMS, AND HE IS MAKING ME STAY AWAKE DURING THE REST OF THIS TWELVE HOUR HELLISH DENTAL PROCEDURE WITHOUT ANY ANESTHETIC.

Yeah but it's probably just the clock...

I could really use a slice of pizza or five. Better get up now."

A.

Joyf said...

7. SUCH a good movie. One of the best.

11. I almost named my cat Bailey. Then I discovered he was unnameable and I could only nickname him. Why the change of heart?