straight and curved lines within a church or house

Header Challenge: Straight and Curved Lines Within a Church or House

December 4, 2012

For now, I am going to try to hang in there with the Headbangers.  I hope I can keep up.  Please see the posts submitted by my cohorts Fishing Guy, Katney, Imac, Sandy and Lew.

hunting for clues - B&W

This is where I go to church.  One evening, some of the kids played a game, where they had to find a note that was taped under a chair.  I liked the idea of geometric framing around the boy's face.

hamster in dollhouse

Chairs are an easy choice for straight and curved lines, don't you think?  Here we have one of our hamsters pretending to be Christopher Churchmouse for us.  I staged this dollhouse pic with my daughter's help.  She was the animal trainer while I used a couple of work lights to make sure it was sufficiently illuminated.

baby, it's cold outside

We haven't had a significant snowfall yet, but this shot was from January.  I like how the snow crystals sparkle.

backyard playground for Rylan

May I assume that lines within a house includes the back yard?  Here is my grandson having a fantastic time with the plastic play sets that we have had forever.  These go back to the days when my wife used to do home day care when we were still living in Chicago.  It was a major chore to scrub and sanitize these pieces, but my grandson is worth every drop of sweat and achy muscle!

The image I selected for my header is a little visitor at church who's curly locks hung down for a series of straight lines.

cheerio

This is Cheerio. She is named after her favorite snack.

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Everybody on Facebook seems to be doing the meme: "25 Interesting Things About Me." I wish I could contribute. Maybe I'm just not getting enough sleep, but I couldn't think of anything interesting that I haven't already talked about over and over and over and over again, so this morning, as I shaved, I asked Cheerio to help me come up with some ideas. (Her cage is not usually in the bathroom, but it had been placed there last night because she had been making such a ruckus with the wheel.) She listened attentively. Hamsters are good for that. I realize now that it was not fair of me to put her in this situation, because she was stumped, and I know she didn't want to hurt my feelings. That's okay Cheerio; nevermind.

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On a brighter note, one of the auto-alerts is reporting that I'm "most talented, most helpful, and best companion on a desert island," despite the fact that they do not think I am the kindest or the best listener. Okayyyyy...

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I wonder: which of my Facebook friends would want me to be their companion on a desert island? (creepy chills) Erm... maybe it's better if I didn't know that. But if I somehow found that I could possibly be stranded on a desert island with you, I would try to bring Cheerio along. She is very kind, and a perfect listener!

hamster haven

D2 bought a camera with the babysitting money she earned. Perusing her saved files, I noticed that her memory card is jam-packed with a bazillion pictures of her pets. I get a kick out of how she sets up and poses her hamsters. I could learn a thing or two from her. There was one I like a lot, that I intend to duplicate... she snapped a shot of her hamster peeking out at her from the inside of a bag.

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(sigh) We have a dozen hamsters in our house. Anybody want one... or seven?

life goes on

These newborn hamsters are just hours old. Happy birthday, little ones!

another latte, please

Waiter, there's a hamster in my coffee...

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A less informed individual might think that I did not take today's post seriously. But in a world where Beverly Hills Chihuahua is the #1 movie in America (according to today's Chicago Tribune), anything is possible!

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I really don't have anything against movies that star little lap dogs, but is this the best we can do?

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Why am I calling this post "another latte?" Well, there's a hamster in my cup; I don't want this one; please get me another. Get it? Lime used that word today (latte), and I had to wrestle with whether or not I should change the title. Bottom line: I just couldn't think of anything else. Maybe I have the same thing that's going around in Hollywood.

secret agent man

I don't go by my birth name here, and in Facebook (see sidebar), I'm so clandestine, I don't even use a real photograph of my humble mug. Someone asked me (in person) about this surreptitious persona I use in blogging, so I decided today to reveal a little bit more about my identity. I decided to show you where I work. This is it. I walked outside during a break and snapped a photo so I could show you. I love my coworkers. They're nice folks and they treat me better than I deserve. If this much disclosure is not enough, let's see what else I can tell you...

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You may also be interested in what I do. I raise giant hamsters for home/commercial security. These nocturnal creatures are ideal for many reasons. For size, I show this one compared to a horse. Imagine that you were a burglar and saw one of these giant hamsters. That's a potent deterrent!

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Okay, only half of this post is true, but I'm not going to tell you which paragraph I made up.

perspective

This was D2's idea. I liked her picture so much, I snapped my own photo. I told her how much I liked the idea, but also that she could find something that would make an interesting shot. This hamster is only a few weeks old, but it looks huge because of the tiny furniture. It's a matter of perspective.

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Naturally I have a Western mindset, since I was born and raised in the USA. This morning, I read something from a man who's world view is distinctively Eastern. I loved it!! He is from Korea. His main principles were familiar, but the way he communicated them was so different. I was able to gain a fresh understanding as if through somebody else's glasses.

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Looking from where you stand, do I see what you see? Can I learn anything new about an objective truth by taking a different, subjective angle of sight?

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Perhaps you have heard the Indian parable about the blind men and the elephant? Since they each only felt one part (leg, tail, side), their descriptions were completely distinct. I have heard people say that they were each right. My own opinion is that they were all wrong. The elephant is not like a tree. It is not like a rope. It is not like a wall. Sure, each of those descriptions has an element of truth. Nevertheless, they each fall short of the complete picture. These blind men need to learn from each other's perspective, if they want to get it right.

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[Soapbox: Multiple perspectives is not universally beneficient. Some sources will be more reliable than others. God's self-revelation (i.e., Jesus & the Bible) for example, is not equal to my opinion, or anyone else's opinion. His statutes cannot be improved or changed by popular consensus.]

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Anyway, the point is, that generally, it is helpful to listen to other people, because we may learn from them. Just like I learned of a cute technique from my own daughter.

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Can you name something that you learned from someone else? Anything that was illumined by a different perspective or somebody else's experience?