Mark’s Notes On The Go

Tonight, I finished the final entry in the Starman series of trade paperbacks. I’m at a loss. I’d been anxiously awaiting the last trade to show up at the shop. It did last week. I had dinner with a friend, so I didn’t make it by tonight to see this week’s haul. It’s a good thing, because I might not have finished the trade.

It’s a bitter-sweet ending, both to the story and to my reading adventure of it. I’d been anxiously awaiting the conclusion of a story I didn’t read when it was coming out. And I devoured it. I stayed up late and read two chapters last night when I should have been sleeping. Tonight, I came home and curled up with the rest. It was true to the whole arc of Jack Knight’s life. Everything came full circle, and there were more than a few points when I could honestly feel the emotion. The sadness at the emotional roller-coaster of Jack’s life.

It’s strange to feel enriched by a character alive only on paper and in the imagination, but the writer, James Robinson, managed that. Bravo!

What do I read next??

Had to go to the dermatologist today. Adult acne, oh what fun. I guess I was lucky not to have any severe breakouts as a teen, but it doesn’t get easier as an adult. I really don’t have acne in that sense of the word anyway. Normally nothing breaking out, just sealed up acne bumps on my ever-more-exposed forehead. I’ve been going since December. I’ve gone from medicine at night before bed to twice a day. Today was a chemical peel and stabbing exercise. Back in two weeks for a check-up and then 4 weeks later for another session. It’s looking like I’ll be on acutane this summer. That’s a little scary because of them having to monitor your bloodwork so much during it… I guess we’ll see. Maybe the stuff I’m on now will kick in before that happens.

On my way home from work, saw that gas is finally (tongue firmly in cheek) over $2 a gallon. I knew it was coming. It’s been inching its way there. But we haven’t even hit the summer driving season yet, what will gas cost in a few months… Just insane… And people at work only think about their cars. When I was talking about gas prices a week ago, a co-worker asked what I drive. I reminded them that I drive 5 miles to work, the daily commute stuff isn’t going to kill me. It’s the fact that EVERYTHING will go up. Our economy is grounded on oil. I did take two economics classes in college, but you don’t need a degree or a class to see what’s coming. Tonight in the grocery store, the clerk and the bagger were talking about it. And I pointed out to them that groceries come on a rather large fuel-chugging truck. The cashier suddenly said, “ohmigod, he’s right.” Gesturing around the store, she added, “This is all going to go up… everything…” Yep… And the grocery business from everything my Dad has said and I’ve heard over the years is very inelastic. They can’t take much of a hit without upping the prices. Can’t wait for my $2 a pound apples in a couple of months time.

Have been experimenting with photoshop the past few days. Some stuff was just fun. Other stuff I felt like I turned out some pretty good work. And the best thing even if no one else agrees, I had fun doing it. If some of it actually defies logic and sells, then all the better. Do hope some will check it out and let me know their thoughts, though.

Meanwhile, I received Falcon Five-O’s current CD today. I’ll try to do a real review later, but suffice it to say that it’s among the best I’ve had. I ripped it to my Archos earlier today, and took it wakling with me. I walked 8.5 miles, and I listened to that CD the whole way. Also listened to it last night, and gave the CD one more go through for the day an hour ago. As I was telling a friend earlier, it’s a rare CD with which I can do repeated listening.

Found another place to display some of my photography.

This site I can still make use of some of my lower resolution photos because they’ll only print images up to the best size for that particular image. Hence, most of my stuff, which I know will print well at 5 by 7 is, in fact, showing up as available up to that size. I’m trying to post multiple images of subjects so that someone could, hypothetically, buy a grouping.

I’m going to try to update my site to have some direct links there, but for the moment, here’s the path to my store:

Buy my pictures from Photographica

I posted a couple of my larger pictures from London last April. I didn’t take many at a very high resolution, but the guy at the site checked these out and felt that size-wise, they could work. He also mentioned possibly making some sort of option where the photographers could select the largest size something could be printed at. I think that would be cool. I’ve got some pictures that I like that I think could make decent small prints, maybe greeting cards?

The neat thing about the site is that other photographers get to comment on your work. As tends to be the case for me, the photo I like the most has gotten the least reaction. Of course! Still, I’m inspired to take more photos, higher res from now on, and see if I can generate any interest in my work. I’ve been really inspired and impressed by the work I’ve seen on there!

My stuff can be viewed here.