rhynn's blog

there are few things in life that are inherently sources of calm and good cheer...one of those is a family pet...pets give us unconditional love and a steady, positive form of responsibility, and they offer us comfort regardless of what else might be going on in our lives...and we are actually healthier when we live our lives with pets.

our home is being shared with barney our miniature pinscher and paco the bird...everytime i come home from work after a long, hard day, when i pull over the drive way and lock the car the first thing i hear is paco, screaming hehow, then here comes barney pushing the door to let me in...he jumps up and down and spins in circle while barking...he looks at me with loving eyes that says by merely walking through the front door, i have made him the happiest dog in the world...while paco won't stop screaming hehow until i pet her.

according to the reports about pet update i read previously, 97% of pet owners reported that their pet makes them smile at least once a day...and 76% believe their pet eases their stress level...and that's true, animals have so much to teach us about love...the closer we get to them, the more joy they give us.

hayyyyy......i hate it when i get headaches...i really wonder why i get them sometimes just out of the blue...i guess, it's the weather, or maybe sunday is almost over and tomorrow is monday hahaha...i  wonder if such symptoms could be regarded as a health hazard, leading to no work on mondays :) ....that would be nice, but unless i get an alternative way if earning an income, working on mondays will just continue.

did you ever feel that having all you wanted was not enough, that the desire for acquisition was a bottomless pit, a hole in one's life that could never be filled? if so, congratulations! YOU ARE TOTALLY HUMAN!

"having it all" is one of those great existentialist questions....as Oscar Wilde simply put it: there are two tragedies in life, not getting what you want and getting what you want....changing this two-headed tragedy of the human condition is simple...

the problem lies in the fact that we strive after transitory things - stuff...it means that the present economic bubble has literally seduced and bought us all into the notion that conspicuous consumption is a positive good - somewhat like Gordon Gekko's character in the movie "Wall Street" once maintained that "greed is good." people simply spend themselves into oblivion...they literally showered themselves with things, stuff....lavish stuff on loved ones, acquaintances, and even themselves with wild abandon...they played the music and overdanced it, when it's over, everything is over...simply over as in nothing left.

what is called for here is a bit of perspective...especially in this holiday seasons...everyone is trying to beat the blues with great extensive expenditures...i say, you can show love by not overspending...giving is a pleasure...and the greatest gifts are the one you give, not the ones you recieve...the truth of this concept is not knowledge that you are born with it, it is wisdom you learn...the joy of this idea is that, while you cannot control what you are given, you are always in-charge of what you give...the amazing thing about giving is that it becomes a new kind of receiving...one that truly satisfies even the emptiest of hearts...the gifts you give become your eternal treasure

of course, i love receiving gifts...but the superiority of giving over getting, gets more obvious to givers everytime they give...but while holidays and special days are marvelous opportunities to experience the blessing of giving, you are also in control of what you give and look beyond your present situation as to what is the limits the extent of your spending. everything is not always measured by our visa excess card expenditures.

we cannot spend our way into happiness...but we can always achieve well-being through proper perspective...meaning, understanding the real reason for the season...by understanding the reasons why we celebrate christmas and any special time of the year, we come to understand that a person is more than his/her stuff...ultimately, happiness is not found in stuff....rather, the gift of true happiness - in this christmas season and any other season is to be found in purposeful living and in the understanding that the only thing that is real and worthwhile is that which transcends the transitory such as our relationships with others, with people who love and choose to be together, to be a family, friends...and all the rest is window dressing.

the greatest gift you can give to someone is your love, companionship, compassion, respect and understanding of their well being....and if that's all there is, then i say that, that is the finest gift.

not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seats in our lives...there are some people in our life that needs to be loved from a distance...it's amazing what we can accomplish when we let go of, or atleast minimize our time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships/friendships

observe the relationship around you...pay attention...which ones lift and which ones lean? which ones encourages and which ones discourage? which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? when you leave certain people do you feel better or worse? which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know or appreciate you?

the more we seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and thruth around us...the easier it will become for us to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of our life..."if you cannot change the people around you, change the people you are around'...

remember that the people we hang with will have an impact on both our lives and our income...and so we must be careful to choose the people we hang out with, as well as the information with which we feed our minds...we should not share...we should not share our dreams with negative people, nor feed our dreams with negative thoughts...it's your choice and your life ...it's up to you who and what you let in it........

slowly i have realized that i do not have to be qualified to do what i am asked to do, that i just have to go ahead and do it, even if i cant do it as well as i think it is to be done...this is one of the most liberating of life...the clearer the vision we know where to stand and what to stand for, makes us not just be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen...life is not a journey you want to make on autopilot, start by doing whats necessary, then whats possible and suddenly youre doing the impossible...remember, what we are is Gods gift to us...what we become is our gift to Him and our self.

i took this shots yesterday at the renaissance festival in deerfield beach, using my kodak z612 with an apperture, shutter and action setting.

i was having a bad headache from the heat and a draft cider and pinacolada that i feel a lil dizzy and blah! and i think a shakey hand adds up to the moving motions of my subjects.

i used a slow shutter speed on this one with an 3.4 f stop and 64 ISO

this is a 160 sec speed with my setting set on action

this is set on aperture with 250 sec shutter speed

this is with 160 sec shutter speed

slow shutter speed

with a 500sec shutter speed

and a 640sec shutter speed

i am not really sure if i did it right but here are m entries using my kodakz612.

shots was taken from different locations

hope everyone enjoys it

this is my entry for quest 3...took this shot at key west, its actually the lone bird that capture m attention when i took the shot, but when i uploaded the photo i was amazed how the poles form an alternate lines.

this is the original shot

 i make as a background and overlay another photo shot with lines

i change the settings to a focal black and white

 i change the settings to graduated tint with film grains

took the shot in sepia

 changed into a soft focus blur

and saturated the colors

hope you enjoy it :)

problems and predicaments come to us all...there's no sign saying, you must be this tall...to ride on the emotional roller coasters that take so many of us for a spin...the bad news is that there are times when we're passengers, whether we like it or not...the good news is that we can always choose to get off at the next stop.