Fiery doom and island life

I'm sick of the news. I'm frustrated with biased reporters and poorly written articles. The quality, not only of the writing, but also of the research put in to contemporary news is severely disappointing. If I read one more typo-filled report in which half of the quotes come from vaguely relative anonymous blog comments or Wikipedia, I think I may spontaneously combust becoming a badly written/researched news report myself. On top of this, half of the "news" in this country consists of which celebrity/politician (perhaps I don't need to differentiate) is cheating on his/her spouse, who's dog got eaten by a coyote (funny, but not news), or Sarah Palin's head wear. Let me make this clear. I DON'T CARE. Perhaps I'm a idealist, but I have this image of journalism as honorable, courageous, independent and defiant in previous times. I want to think that reporters find their way into the profession as a calling to discover and tell the truth of important matters.

To save my sanity and prevent my impending fiery doom, I'm going to attempt to blackout this so called news from my life for a while and live on a virtual island. I'm curious to see how difficult it will be. When I leave on my extended wandering road trip I mentioned previously, I plan to read no newspapers, watch no TV news, and cnn.com, bbc.com, and other sites will not grace the address bar of my laptop. Wish me luck.


P.S. And quit with the H1N1 bullshit already. You might as well warn of the dangers of the common cold.

New Adventure...

So in the midst of an interesting week, I've come to a decision and I'm setting off on a new adventure come January. I've been wanting to travel around the US on an extended road trip of sorts, visiting people, couchsurfing, and taking pictures. While trying to make the decision between being a responsible adult and finding stable work where I'm settled already, or being somewhat irrational but albeit more fun and wandering randomly, I came up with an idea which has sort of made my decision for me.

I'm going to be a wandering portrait photographer... Granted, this is only a side "job" to help pay for gas while I build my portfolio with everything else photo-worthy (or not) that I come across. With the wonders of the internet, and digital photography, I plan on advertising online as I go that I'm wanting to do portraits in ____ City over the course of a few days, for a low sitting fee. I'll then provide my subjects (I like that word...) with a CD of pictures they can print for themselves. To this end, I've been working out how to set up a portable studio set on a budget. A friend of mine came to my assistance yesterday and patiently allowed me to photograph her while shooting the breeze and playing with my lights. The best of these photos are here.

Now I'm just waiting on my kitty companion. O.o