ffffound brings traffic

a little reminder, originally uploaded by emdot.

This is an old-ish image from my Flickr stream that has been getting a lot of traffic and faves lately. I checked the stats and they seem to be coming from ffffound (and oh, ffffound how I do love you.).

How cool to have one of my images on ffffound! I love that.

And also, I love to see this photo pop up again and again in my "recent activity" list on Flickr as it IS a wonderful little reminder. :)

Happy day, people. It's Friday. And you are loved.

Oh! And PS, do you want to see the photos I fave on FFFFound? You can.... Check 'em out here.

a little central coast gorgeousness

grasses, originally uploaded by emdot.

Ah, central coast, I do love you. ;)

This is from an inlet in Cuesta-by-the-Sea a little neighborhood of Los Osos. Just a little slice of heaven I wanted to share.

Blessed are the Cheese Makers

Blessed are the Cheese Makers, originally uploaded by publicenergy.

This was the first laugh of my day, this holy cow (bull?) from Dave Wild, aka publicenergy on Flickr.

I share with you two more funny ones below. Happy day people! ;) Make it a good one. And if you can't make it a good one, here are three photos (this one and the next two) that'll help you laugh about it.

Super(monkey)man 2

Super(monkey)man 2, originally uploaded by Monkeyman (Pierre).

super crisp for monkeyman! :)

This mask might be the best money we've ever spent

This mask might be the best money we've ever spent, originally uploaded by gruber.

super foods for spider man?

goodbye summer

goodbye summer, originally uploaded by emdot.

It was a rough week. But today, somehow, the clouds kinda lifted and for the first time in days (weeks?) I felt like I found my footing.

Steve and I made a sunset run to the coast. Or maybe that was a coast run to the sunset. We caught egrets and ducks and whimbrels and boats and bay. It was good.

Shiver Me Timbers

bad gulls bad gulls what you gonna do, originally uploaded by emdot.

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day. In its honor, this nature shot was my desktop background all day. Yarrr! Harrr! Arrr!

soloist

soloist, originally uploaded by emdot.

Ever since hearing the Fresh Air interview of Steve Lopez a few months ago, I've been looking forward to seeing The Soloist.

» Listen to the interview

thoughts are like pelicans

little known fact: sometimes pelicans wish they were hummingbirds, originally uploaded by emdot.

I just cracked myself up. These pelicans? Like my thoughts when things speed up and get complicated and I start to take things personally.

This morning I read this

Before Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, he realized things were not quite right in his world. Neurosis was continuously spreading in his kingdom. He decided to reject any approach to life that made him purely comfortable and happy and to search for some psychological sanity beyond that. He thought that meditating and studying with the holy men of the time would help him. Then he would be able to rule his kingdom and be a better king. He left his palace and studied with various gurus, who taught him all kinds of techniques: holding his breath, not holding his breath, sitting in different postures doing spiritual acrobatics, and many other approaches. But he found these techniques kept his mind very busy, rather than being simple and alone.

Having practiced for six years, he still had doubts about what he was doing. Then, it occurred to him that life is not so much a question of gain and loss. Instead, life is full of reality, and that reality rests in the mind. He realized that mind is constantly speeding, on and on. So Prince Siddhartha decided to stop that speed. He decided to sit and meditate under a bodhi tree on the banks of the Nairanjana River. His austerity had not proven to be the best way, so he decided to give that up. After sitting for a long time, not much happened. Then, he got up and walked around, and he was offered a drink of milk by a friend. He settled himself on a comfortable seat made of kusha grass. He began to relax and meditate again. At that moment, when he relaxed, the whole struggle began to dissolve. He realized that he shouldn't push so hard, but that he could give in and let himself go. That was the moment of enlightenment, which was not all that dramatic.

"Before Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, he realized things were not quite right in his world. Neurosis was continuously spreading in his kingdom. He decided to reject any approach to life that made him purely comfortable and happy and to search for some psychological sanity beyond that. " Man that sounds like the US right now. And no one wants to give up their comfort to do the hard work that needs to be done (regulations, raising taxes temporarily).

But beyond that... pretty noble... wanting to find a way to stop the neurosis in your country as a whole. I tend to stop at simply wanting to stop the neurosis in myself. :) Ha.

Anyway, good morning all. It's a beautiful morning.

boyfriend for the save

morro bay watch, originally uploaded by emdot.

re, the last post: i get home. make a sad face. 7s says "what's wrong?!" i tell him the story. he totally listens. provides his POV. and i feel ... better. hugely better. thank you, 7s.

pema chodron has an amazing book called Getting Unstuck where she discusses the buddhist idea of "shenpa." (thinking about a funny part where she sing-says-taunts, "I can see your shenpa).

i don't have the skills or grace to be able to explain this shenpa thing to you, but today, driving home i realized, "aha! this thing is my shenpa!" (i can see your shenpa, marya!). and i tried to just breathe. release. let it go. and give myself a break.

and also i prayed for her (person from previous post) happiness and the root of all happiness. and then i prayed for my own happiness and the root of all happiness. i prayed for us both. and that helped, too.

i could have been an eagle

i could have been an eagle, originally uploaded by emdot.

When it comes to people, I feel pretty resilient. I genuinely like damn-near everyone and I genuinely get along with damn-near everyone. So, maybe that is why I feel so "heart broken" or sad or confused about one person in my life who just simply hates me. And can't be nice. Has to be nasty (even with her nice face on).

Normally I am a firm believer in the "there are two sides to every story" -- even when it comes to myself -- but for this one, seriously? I did nothing wrong. Nothing. In fact, there is no way where I could have done anything right-er.

We used to be friends. And then we weren't (I was collateral damage in a relationship breakup... where the friends get cut out too). And to this day it still breaks my heart.

There is nothing I can do.

And truly I know I shouldn't take it personally (the way she treats me). This isn't about me. This is about her life-skill-set. Yet... it just hurts me to the bone.

And that's that. Maybe blogging it will help me feel better.

(Hello. Plus, I almost cried during a film trailer today, so maybe I'm just having an emotionally delicate time).

(no longer) clinging to summer

clinging to summer, originally uploaded by emdot.

a personal message to me from rob breszney:

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I hate to lay a sports metaphor on you, Virgo,
let alone one articulated by a hockey player. But it's such an apt
description of the approach that will work best for you in the coming
week, I had to bring it to your attention. "I skate to where the puck is
going to be, not to where it has been," quoth Wayne Gretzky. Apple CEO
Steve Jobs liked those words so much, he made them his own when he
introduced the iPhone to the public back in January 2007. Now I hope you
will find a way to apply the idea in your own sphere.

Thanks, Rob. I needed that.

hello you beautiful world

hello you beautiful world, originally uploaded by emdot.

I always look forward to Fall, the most beautiful season on the Central Coast. Plus, it's really just extended summer with a nip in the air.

This was taken last year in Baywood Park. I was recovering from my surgery... I think this was my first or second venture out. I spent about an hour taking photos in the back bay and then me and 7s had Thai food from Noi's.

That pretty much sums up my idea of a very good day.