All I've got is a photograph (it's not enough)

The title comes of course from the lyrics of Def Leppard classic 'Photograph'. If you've been following my blog you already know by now that photography is a dear hobby of mine, something I wish to take further in a form of selling some of my pictures some day. That hasn't happened yet but in the meanwhile I got an email asking for my approval to use photographs I've taken. Yay!!

The pictures will appear at some point at least here and maybe also in here. Although I'm not getting any money with my pictures yet at least I'll get the picture credits and maybe that way make some name to myself. Which will probably help me with my future goals. And of course it feels good to share since a friend of mine is playing in AHOLA. It's good to see their fans are active and genuinely interested (and well mannered).

Y'all have a great Saturday, I'll go out tonight on a gig. To take more pictures. ;)

Being zen

I am used to listening to music while at work, when writing or reading. Usually I listen songs from Youtube, Spotify or some rock radio online. But what I've noticed, even though I try to find new music every now and then, that you can get sick and tired of  music. Or maybe not sick and tired, but fed up, stuffed. And when you are stressed or need to concentrate to something 'important', listening to the latest hits or 80's rock classics isn't a good option. That is when you need something else. Of course Youtube has these meditation and relaxation tracks but even those might be annoying if listened too much, too often.

Luckily I follow Lifehacks and from there I found three new favorite sites of mine. The first one is Naturesoundsfor.me. Absolutely a wonderful selection of nature sounds, animals sounds, birds, household etc. I'm actually listening to it right now. The sounds I have on at the moment are whale, rowing and beach. Another combination I like very much includes wind chimes, fountain, crickets and wind in leaves.

The other good site is Simplynoise.com. There you can choose between pink noise, white noise and brown noice. I prefer pink and white noises. The third site can be found from Simplynoise and it is called Simplyrain. As you might have guessed there you'll find sounds of rain falling down.

So.. soothing sounds to work with.. or when you are stressed.. or if your boss pisses you off and you just want out of the office.

Weirdo

I had a weird dream last night.
In the dream I won a trip to Ghana with old school mate who I haven't seen for, ummm... three years..?
I was excited for the trip but at the same time I was thinking if there's any possibility to change my travel companion..
Would be nice to know why I always have so weird dreams.

"Everybody is somebody else's weirdo" - Scott Adams

Something to do with my own two hands

Last months challenge "get out more" went by and it is time for a new one. This time I chose something that shouldn't cause me any extra stress. The plan is to do some handicraft every day. This should be quite easy since I am doing it already almost on daily basis. I usually knit something anyway every day when watching TV. To make this more of a challenge I volunteered to be a test knitter for my friend who has made this awesome pullover with panda on it. It wouldn't otherwise be a challenge but what I've been going through her other knitting instructions it won't be easy because she tends to use all kinds of special techniques that I'm not familiar with. I prefer simple, no-need to think handicraft. So this will be something else.

I'll show the result when it's done, I've planned to do the pullover for my niece.

Things I carry

Most of you might have seen these "Things I carry" -updates all over the internet: in Slideshare, in LinkedIn etc. I read a couple of such updates over a year ago and thought then I'd do one too. Didn't get far then with the text but now, here we go.

The first thing I carry is of course music. I used to have an iPod but since it broke up few years ago I've had already two different MP3-players and occasionally I've used my mobile phone which I also carry with me everywhere I go. At the moment I actually have two phones, one I use only at/to work and the second one to personal use on my off-work time. Both are Nokia's phones. And for my personal phone I often also carry the charger. I've had bad luck with phone batteries in the past so.. (There's a reason for everything.. I've learned from my mistakes.) And I also carry the USB cord for the MP3-player so that I can load it with any computer nearby. The plus advantage of this is the same cord fits my pocket camera..

Second thing I carry is camera. It is something I carry pretty much everywhere I go. I have two cameras: pocket camera Canon Ixus 95 IS which is small and handy and easy to have with me wherever I go; my second camera is SLR camera, Nikon D3200. I finally bought SLR camera after years of thinking and dreaming of it. Bought it as a christmas present to myself.

I also carry a calendar, actual paper calendar. Although I save many things I need to remember to my phone, I use my calendar a lot. It works as a diary, sketch book, back-up memory for addresses, phone numbers, events/meetings, birthdays and all such things.. I've lost all extra information, twice, when my phones have died and it's not fun. This actually reminds me that I need to copy my photos from my phone to computer asap.

Wallet, keys, bus card and cigarettes are of course always with me. Usually also a little make-up bag which also ALWAYS has painkillers in it. Often there is also a little roll of duct tape in my bag (hang with musicians and you'll know why..), extra battery and memory card for my SLR camera.

So that's what I carry with most of the times I go out.