I started out to build a website for my photography business. I wanted one that enabled my clients to enter a pass code to view the images from their respective portrait shoots and also a page that highlighted my images of the night sky for purchase. I got sidetracked as only a person suffering from the most severe case of A.D.D. can do. I ended up with a blog. Now, where did that come from? I never intended to have a blog, it’s just that it was the first page that showed up. I could not figure out how to get what i wanted so i settled into writing instead. I’m not that good at writing either, but i can offer you a bit of encouragement in whatever your dreams may be. I am good at encouraging others to pursue their goals with drive and intent. You should never give up no matter what others say. Stay the course, if you will. You cannot get where you want to go if you don’t put one foot in front of the other. Every long journey begins with a single step. It says so right on the walls of my art studio, along with other phrases of encouragement. I didn’t coin them, but i do listen to them. Or, more truthfully , I try to listen to them. Everyone has demons they chase in the night. The “what if’s”. The “if only I would have made better choices”. All the doubtful thoughts rattling around in your brain are counter intuitive. Stuff them in a dark place and forget about them. They are thoughts that bring you down. Instead focus on the positive. Focus on what you have accomplished and be proud no matter how small it seems to you. Another person, whose life you may have touched without even knowing it, will see it as something huge. Something they will remember forever but you thought was nothing. I will just keep swimming, even if it’s against the tide. I don’t know how to do anything else. You do the same. Thanks for visiting.
The Nay Sayers
I spoke with a woman in Australia who stated that she was surrounded by people who constantly told her she was not smart enough to build her own website. I felt sad for her. I told her to not give up, that with time she would accomplish her dream. I have my own nay-sayers or those who critique what i have done as if it was a simple thing. It was not a simple thing. It was an accomplishment to be proud of. It’s not perfect, but that’s what the edit tool is for. If they cannot find fault with the bigger things, they find fault with the little things. I don’t know why, I guess it’s just human nature. I did this for me. I did not embark on this journey to impress anyone other than myself. I did this to learn and not be bored. I did this to be challenged so that maybe I can keep my mind sharp. I did this so I could hold onto a bit of my youth. I challenge myself to produce quality night sky images. I challenge myself to climb that trail in the middle of nowhere with my equipment on my back so I can get a shot no one else has done. I know some great dark, dark skies in Texas that few people visit, let alone take night sky images. It takes a special person to go out at night, without light, not knowing what’s out there and set up a shoot where it’s just you, the coyotes, the scorpions and the rattlers. Most people would prefer the safety of their beds in a well lit home. I prefer the darkness. I prefer the solitude. There is nothing so close to heaven as the night sky in Texas in November. The air is crisp and thin. The stars are so close that you feel a bit smothered by them. You see, there is so little moisture in the atmosphere in the winter or late fall that there is nothing between you and them. They seem close enough to touch. So, reach for those stars, no matter what they represent for you. Never give up on what is important to you. Don’t let those around you determine your destiny or your dreams. Thanks for visiting.
Website Building
I am back to the task. Every time I read something, I have to read something else in order to understand the first thing. Then I read some things I don’t understand on the second thing so I have to read more about it on a third page and so on and so on. I feel like a snake chasing it’s tail. I did figure out the W3 cache. After much reading, thinking I had disabled it in order to update, I realized that in the update, the W3 cache was replaced with W3 cache fixed. All that reading and time I spent freaking out thinking I had changed the thing that governs how fast my site loads in a Google search, which is a extremely important thing, was for nothing. Or, was it? I learned a lot along the way and I feel more informed after having done it. Yes, it was frustrating for an old woman, but I don’t regret the time or the effort. I will get there. Now maybe I can go on and learn about plugins and widgets. One thing at a time. I am so worried about making mistakes that will cost me in the long run that I must know everything about everything before I decide if that’s the way I want to go. I know, it’s the long way home. Thanks for visiting.
Say Something Nice
Hi everyone or no one as it may be. I have no way of knowing if anyone even reads these posts, but they help me to sort my thoughts. I realized that i never really talked about photography in the last post. Yeah, I talked about the Milky Way but not about imaging it with all kinds of technical stuff. I know a bunch of technical stuff but I would rather talk about what I love and what intrigues me. Being nice. That intrigues me. Have you ever noticed that if you go through life with a frown, people avoid you? It’s like some kind of radar or something. It says ” stay away”. But, if you greet every person you meet as if you actually know them, the radar says “safe”? They react to you as if they know you too. They smile and maybe they exchange a thought or two. Interactions with others can either be positive or negative. If you say the first word, and i almost always do, I choose something to laugh about, or smile about. It cuts the ice. I have met more people in the grocery stores than almost anywhere else. It has been said that I never meet a stranger. I love people, but I don’t like people. I guess it’s that I like individuals, not the masses. I cannot impact the masses. I don’t have that kind of pull, but I can impact a person as an individual. Just one today and maybe another one tomorrow. The person you see sitting alone or maybe the person who seems irritated in the check out line. Just say something nice. Say something funny. Say anything to take that person’s mind off of whatever he or she may be dealing with. When you give a hug, give it freely and strongly. Don’t be afraid to hold on a bit longer than you should. Maybe that person at that moment needed you to hang on with all your might so that they had the strength to not give up. There is never a reason to be ugly even if you are angry. Smile. It’s contagious. Try it and you will see what I am talking about. So, say something nice. Add to the world today and it will give it back tomorrow. Just you wait and see. Thanks for visiting.