Balamb Visions

A Many-Noted Medley of Life

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:37:05 GMT

This is a floorplan I made using Floorplanner.com, a Netherlands web service that I do freelance writing for. It's a plan of my new room! The papers on the floor indicate the large amount of messiness that comes from still not having everything unpacked and arranged yet, which is why I'm posting a floorplan rather than photos.

Some hateful grafitti I found on the back of a bus seat. It amuses me the loser who wrote this won't get even one of what he wants without a lot of the other.

A beautiful view of the clouds outside my window on one of the flights back to Boston, after my visit to Statesboro.

A shot of... Charlotte? Savannah? Probably not Boston.

And another.

While walking from Cultural Care to my college, crossing a bridge is involved. It happens to give a great view of what I assume is the home of the commuter rail trains.

For a class, I went to the North End neighborhood in Boston to enjoy the Fisherman's Feast, a celebration of a saint dear to the Italians who immigrated to Boston years ago. There was a lot of good food, and for some reason I like this shot of the crowd packed at the booth, waiting for this guy to make some more deliciousness.

My old phone next to my new one. I don't even mind that it's a flip phone.

Beantown

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:02:48 GMT

An awesome coffee house I found in Central Square. Middle-eastern feel to it with a ton of space, friendly staff, and free wi-fi. Definitely a place I'll be visiting more often when it's cooler.

It seems like all the animals around Cambridge Side Galleria, a mall on my way to work, are far too trusting. I enjoy feeding the ducks, but the pigeons are usually underfoot and make me want to punt them like a soccer ball, or swing my umbrella at them like a golf club.

The afore-mentioned mall.

And again.

Decaf is profane enough, but to mix the holy substance with it's unholy counterpart? What halfbreed devilspawn is this!?

You are witnessing the much-rumored double-decker PB&J. It happens when there are 3 pieces of bread left in the sleeve. It was delicious.

My current place of business. Very multicultural, my coworkers are a lot of fun.

Every subway station in Boston is a little different. This one, Porter, is miles underground. Or at least, further than any other. When I first came across this, it was on an exploring expedition, so I saw the escalators, stopped, smiled, then sprinted up the stairs. The funny part is there's another set of escalators past these. I took those. :-P

Outside view of my place, now that the tree in front has some leaves on it and doesn't make the whole thing look creepy. I'll be moving in a couple of months, looking for a place closer to one of the subway stations.

In Boston, even the graffiti is spellchecked.

Rainy day waiting for the bus. Boredom + camera = pictures.

Roadside. Notice that beyond the middle divider, there are no lane divisions. Boston roads could be one lane, or they could be two lane. No one really knows; it's just whatever a driver can get away with. I'm glad I take public transport.

Windiness.

Fin.

At long last, promises fulfilled.

Sun, 20 May 2007 04:18:36 GMT

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." - Frank Herbert

Our mutt of a dog back at home. It's not a trick of the camera, his head really is that oversized.

When I first got to Boston, more or less everything was covered in this wonderful, white fluffy stuff.

In Boston there's a lot more walking to do, whether it's snowing, sunny, or pouring 40 degree rain in the middle of May. A recent lesson I learned: Do not walk on the sidewalk side near the road. There's a reason why Boston is ranked the city with the 3rd-rudest drivers.

Carol sent me this awesome t-shirt from Chattanooga. Apparently, the nickname all the McCallie & GPS kids have been using since my sophmore year is a hit.

And now... at long last... photos of my room(That have been carefully angled to avoid showing the huge mess that we all know is there anyways)!

My famed cardboard furniture. Starting out simple with some bookshelves.

And moving on to my muy-excellente moving box bottom desks.

Supported by the moving box tops and other boxes.

Essentials, entertainment, miscellaneous, and memories.

Memories, plans, organization, trinkets, and to-do.

Tons of paper-ish supplies, markers, highlighters, binders, pens, etc. DVDs and broken-scanner/working-printer on top.

Bought some doorhooks to hang more clothes(you'll see why in a bit) and shower towels, miscellaneous wall art.

Just finished reading the excellent Founders at Work, just started Naked Conversations, and once I get done with that, I've got these next 6 books to read through. Stacked on top of my dorm room fridge that I gave to Naomi that I'm storing for her over the summer. :-P

My super-tiny closet. Good thing most of my shirts are wrinkle-free. Not that I would bother to iron them if they weren't. Not that I have an iron.

And last but not least, my most excellent wall art. At first my walls just had some print-outs of cool images and comics from the web, then I started adding some newspaper cutouts, and most recently I finally bought something for it. Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, which is probably my favorite painting. Ever.

It has been far too long, my friends.

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:21:33 GMT

Brandy loves me, she just doesn't want to admit it in front of Chris.

I took a duplicate of this plane on my visit to Boston.

Al should really add a grill section to the menu.

Kittens should probably be kept off though.

I was a frat boy for Halloween. Khaki shorts, pink shirt, cap, sunglasses with neck-holders. Love it.

My first haircut since high-school graduation.

The Halloween crowd at my place.

Blake was a pirate. Franklin didn't have a costume but he took some of our neon-green web decorations, put it on his head, and magically became the Jolly Green Giant.

The remnants of my Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream potato chips, mixed in with far too much sour cream.

My stepfather headbutting his way into my passport photo.

Krista and Morgan playing Flippy Cup.

Mary and Blake with their swing-dancing-duds on.

Mary looking pretty. She's a master of make-up and disguise.

One of my Fundamentals of Acting classmates in costume for a scene I had written.

I kept wanting to take a photo of one of the roses on our rosebush in front of the house. Night-time pic worked pretty well once I Photoshopped it up.

<3

Naomi and I's combined shadows(plus backpack and accessories). Oddly elephantish.

On a bridge in Savannah.

At the park.

My brown-eyed girl.

No foot fetish jokes allowed, only jokes about toe-curling.

No people in the engine allowed.

Mill Creek Park, winter.

Al, the owner of Eagle Diner. A very interesting guy, very dedicated to his family, manages the Eagle Diner and several other businesses.

He stays up a lot of the time at the diner(or he used to, I don't think they're still 24/7), and ends up passing out during the slow hours of the day. Perfect photo opportunity, of course.

Photo manipulation, "Winter Morning, Spring Colors".

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 03:39:43 GMT

First, we start with 3 new additions to my Vanity Plate collection. Some are cryptic.

Some are racy.

Some are obvious.

Yay, flower sex! I forget, is this the male part or the female part? Or both? Oh those crazy flowers and their kinky inter-species sex orgies.

While in Savannah, Naomi and I sat and sketched the attractive fountain in Forsyth Park. If the heat and gnats hadn't driven us away, we might have gotten a full sketch. As it was, we still have almost a full one between the two of us since she started sketching from the top, and I started from the bottom. Wish I had thought to take a photo of both.

Heather was right to warn me against Sticky Fingers. I didn't realize it was quite so BBQ-centric. Anyways, here's Heather staring out the window, wondering why she agrees to pose for photos if I'm not even going to do basic red-eye removal(because it's late, and I'm lazy).

The SCAD museum had an excellent collection of both old maps and old books. Here you see a map of Sussex.

Nifty-looking building because of the stairs and rails I thought. I think it's currently a SCAD dorm, but it looks like it used to be an old hotel or something.

Graffiti-photography is something some people make a career out of. As it is, my occasional interest is mainly just from trying to decipher what it actually says. Diva? Oliv 4? Soliva?

So we're walking through Forsyth Park, and we come across this tree which has this amazing indentation in it, for lack of a better world. And for whatever reason, my imagination comes up with "That looks like a portal to hell". And what comes out of portals to hell? My face, of course. Well, Chris Mela's face really, but he wasn't there.

Franklin and I are driving about campus one day, and I'm being overwhelmed trying to talk to him, a friend on the phone, and all the voices in my head all at once, so I pullover into a parking lot. Where what should we find but a tire? No other car parts, just the tire. I would've spent more time to take a better photo(this one turned out okay, but the composition sucks), but Franklin and the voices in my head were demanding attention back in the jeep.

Construction going on at the football field. No clue what's actually being built, but it looks nifty at sunset.

Speaking of sunsets.

My roommate Mary fostered puppies for a while, this one we named Boba(after Boba Fett, top shelf(my stolen slang for high-five) to all the Star Wars geeks out there). Two of the cutest things alive, in one photo.

It was fun to watch Naomi pack. All my experience at packing helped a little, I think, but she was still already way more organized than I ever was. And also a lot more abstemious in what she took than I ever was. I took 25% necessities, 75% comforts. Freshmen year I had boxes and boxes of books, legos(hush), knick-nacks, etc. Of course, I'm basing my comments on the fact that the majority of what I saw her pack was clothes, which I guess could be considered a comfort rather than a necessity. In either case, the thought of being wedged in The Gap between American Eagle and Victoria's Secret precluded me from sneaking into one of her suitcases. (Get it, The Gap? Hahahahaha haha haha ha ha ha ha... okay, I'm leaving now.)

1.	varied in appearance or color; marked with patches or spots of different colors.

2.	varied; diversified; diverse.

Use in a sentence: "Holy shit, variegated is a real word?", asked Jay.

Miscellaneous.

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:38:29 GMT

So many Vanity Plates, so little time.

Sometimes it just leaves you wondering. Initials? Code? Sex act? Acronym?

Mary's dog bourbon, and one of the foster dogs, Amy.

My little black book has changed my life.

To-Do Lists, Reminders, and Ideas, oh my!

Crystal hung out with me at Eagle Diner one night. Much drawing and fun gossip about coworkers ensued.

When a random person decides they want to sit next to me at Eagle Diner, what better way to get them to leave than by rocking out? And later having seizures.

Despite not taking very many photos in Savannah, the ones I did get are fantastic.

Made up of a variety of parts or ingredients.
Having a variety of characteristics, abilities, or appearances.
Concerned with diverse subjects or aspects.

Be warned, lots of fireworks photos. And a Crazy Jay face.

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:56:50 GMT

Naomi and I's butt imprints after hanging out at Eagle Diner. Weird, cute, take your pick.

My crazy face.

With a new computer, it takes a while to get everything changed to your personal preference. Like the Windows user icon for instance. Everytime it starts up I think, "Man, I've gotta change this."

Mary & I went to the park on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks. It was a pretty good time. Lots of relaxing lying on the grass.

If this doesn't say, "Climb me", I don't know what does.

Naomi and I went to Savannah for a day, found this drawing at the pizza place we ate at. Poor pizza, good drawing.

Angry Red

Blue Balls

Furball

Night Light Explosions

Primary Colors Combined

Purple Heart

Red and White Curlies

Red Smear

Reverse Eye

Fireworks Sand Dollar

Bombs Bursting in Air

Armageddon

Police arrested two kids yesterday. One was drinking battery acid, and the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other off. - Tommy Cooper

The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse. - Edward Koch

Short and Sweet

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 08:07:24 GMT

A moment from Summer Swing, as Ben practices his air-partner-dancing skills.

The Naomi deigns to pose for a photograph.

Movie night in Carrie's apartment.

Which is much delayed by the amusement of the leaping kitty.

Messing around with the costumes.. er.. merchandise in my department. I give you... Eurotrash-Jay.

I was stuck into Jewelry for a few minutes, and thus photographed the momentous event. I sold $106 worth in less than 5 minutes. That's right.

We do have a few cool shirts, like this fantabulous t-shirt featuring the Dark Knight.

This shirt's awesomeness speaks for itself.

And finally, another addition to my Vanity Plates collection.

Sat, 13 May 2006 03:31:40 GMT

Adam got tired of us keeping him away from sharp objects... we can't stop him now.

A fantastic photo of the fabulous and talented Stephanie Kea.

If two heads are better than one, two girls are better than two of just about anything else.

SuzyQ loves her some superman.

The nerdiest damn kitty I ever did see.

For once, a referee that's not blind, but blinding!

Yarrr! Quit looking at me swells!

Christmas lights in a wine bottle. Best. Decoration. Idea. Ever.

Would you want to meet him in a back alley?

She knows where you live. She's your wife. Your... desperate... wife. Who lives in your house.

And her and her and her. And he just works there.

Speaks for itself.

Heather is proud of her wenchiness.

At least, sometimes.

Stephanie highlights Michael's best feature: his mysteriousness.

Sean gives promotions.

Sharla got a promotion! Coincidence? I think not.

Sean also proposed.

Sharla said yes! Coincidence? I think not.

Good times, cute couples at Waffle House.

Like I said, cute couples.

When Ben isn't being evil.

Our waitresses know how it is. Except the evilness. We hide the evilness well.

It's a Naomi!

We're the WaHo crew.

And the WaHo auto club?

Mary, Sydney, and I are serious about our Scrabble. Blood has been shed.

Surreptious photography inside WalMart = much fun.

Please mommy, don't let daddy kill me. Okay daddy, you can kill me, it's what women are meant for. Yay for martyrdom! The end.

Stage Manager Jay says: ~~Only you can prevent forest fires.~~ Coffee! Places! Quiet!

I get bored at my job sometimes. Little naked men are sometimes the result. (He gets clothes later, more to come.)

Arrrrr... enjoy the photos matey!

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:02:47 GMT

Hugs goodbye can be difficult in more ways than one.

Colleen's earing got stuck in Meghaan's hair, they had to be pulled apart by Phillip.

Before the kids left we roamed the streets of Savannah, checking out the shops and street art(*cough*grafitti*cough*).

Best. Store sign. Ever.

Oglethorpe mall is the place to go, as the ladies know.

Sean didn't have anyone to snuggle with on the way in, but once we started browsing through stores he was quick to find female companionship of his own...

By showing off his mad ghetto rap skillz.

Make up your own caption for this one.

Mirrors make for great photography. A companion shot to this photo.

I was lying on Meghaan's apartment's floor at some point and thought this would make a great photo because of the light play. And so it does.

The cheap way to fly.

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 15:00:17 GMT

Kim(2nd from the right)'s birthday party begins at her place, then moved on to the square...

There was a lot of sitting. And sports talk. "How about them Braves?", etc.

And tired/drunken funny faces.

And drinking. Lots of drinking. Tends to happen in bars apparently.

By the end of the night, Kellie was pretty smashed and Ben showed his rarely-seen caring side.

The night was totally worth it for me because I got this photo of a neon blue glowing burrito. Sweet.

At the SOAR Orientation for incoming freshmen, Swing Cats attracts new members by having its members shamelessly show off.

Gus, the GSU Mascot, tried to copy Ben's mad skills, but something about a massively oversized head and fur feet on a polished wood floor doesn't lend itself to easy imitation.

Jimmy had his birthday in Statesboro as well. We mustered a group together for Dos Primos, then retired to Waffle House...

Where Britney threatened me with the Spoon of my Discontent. I realize I should have destroyed her on the spot for her impudence, but the spoon was somehow blocking my divine powers. And I probably deserved it, I have to admit. None the less, that spoon is so gone now.

I should have some clever segue to this next photo, but photos of old-lady Britney make the jokes for me.

The set this play, Thieves Carnival, was performed on was designed by my roommate Robert. Really great work.

This photo makes me think of Spy vs. Spy.

Drew, the wonderful barrista at DK Arts, introduced me to Abalone, the most fiendish imitation of a game ever created. It causes my brain to ache.

The 4th of July was spent playing with fire, er... grilling... right, over at Statesboro place.

After Suzanne took photos of my attempts at immolation, she and Bobby apparently snuck in a few stolen glamour shots of themselves.

Another custom license plate spotted on the way to St. Augustine. "Brodies", no clue what it means.

A completely unimpressive photo, except that I got this on the first try going 55 MPH.

Taken from a bridge on the way into St. Augustine.

The view to the right.

Entrance to Flagler college, where my grandfather used to teach before he retired.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S., so people have had a lot of time to grow beautiful additions to the city.

After we finished visiting my grandfather, we stopped by to see my mother's best friend from high school. She was away at church, but her husband Randy was around so we stayed and talked with him while waiting. This is his latest toy.

Of course he had to show it off.

I didn't mind.

Yesterday I went to the Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport to pick up Meghaan, her cousin, and her cousin's neighbor on their way in from Boston. As you go up the escalator, there's this beautiful mural by SCAD.

Oh yeah, and GSU has a little poster too...

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 10:14:30 GMT

It's my Waffle House because there's a cup of coffee waiting for me when I come in. It's Ben's Waffle House because he gets a pitcher of tea when he orders it.

Ball in Motion

Ping Pong Kung Fu

Smack it Back
I realized that for as much time as I spend laying the smack-down(aka trying just to keep up) on Austin and Ben at ping pong, I have surprisingly few pictures of it. So I remedied that with these.

Marla's birthday party started with us dressed nicely at French Quarter Cafe.

Then it moved on to drinking games at "The Boys' Place"...

Which Brian laid the smack-down on all of us at.

Then there was Britney.

Then Ryan turned evil.

And it ended with us running away to Orlando. Yes, Orlando, Florida. Getting there at 7:41 AM.

Where we went to the mall...

Toured the school of some friends down there...

More touring.

We played some volleyball before half of the group left early...

To get back in Statesboro at 2:09 AM.

Weeks later at Suzanne and Meghaan's birthday party, Chris discovered he could do the Bloods' gang symbol with a little practice.

These muffins, made by Meghaan, were seriously like the best muffins ever. Wish I had snagged an entire one for myself...

Don't be fooled by her photogenicalityness, Suzanne is the drunk one in this photo.

Foamy party foul of the evening. So symbolic if you take the rest of the evening into context as well. You just had to be there.

Trey's smiling in this photo because he was drinking alchohol more expensive than my life.

Ben's smiling in this photo(though you can't see it) because he doesn't realize that this is the drink too much.

Here's Meghaan with her two friends from Tifton.

The evening finished with Roy and I admiring their decor while Ben was recovering from the above-mentioned drink too much. And that was the party.

Fri, 27 May 2005 09:20:00 GMT

Tue, 24 May 2005 06:27:01 GMT

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:25:54 GMT

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:11:53 GMT

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 07:48:39 GMT

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 07:27:45 GMT

For an Irishman, talking is a dance. - Deborah Love

May friendship, like wine, improve as time advances.
And may we always have old wine, old friends, and young cares. - Irish Toast

Theatre & Performance

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 07:02:07 GMT

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with. - Mark Twain

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. - Helen Keller

The Silence Breaks

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 06:50:44 GMT

It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain! - Captain Murphy (Sea Lab 2012)

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. - Steven McCrosky

The passing of a fellow photographer.

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 06:47:34 GMT

This post is dedicated to Richard Avedon, a brilliant photographer who passed away from a brain hemorrhage on October 1st, 2004. He is best known for his fashion and celebrity portraits, and will long be remembered as a man who gave us intimate and familiar perspectives of public figures we would normally view as being disconnected from us. He will be missed.

Obituary, by PBS.

His web site, currently shrouded in respect for his passing.

"All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."

Photos At Last

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 03:59:34 GMT

Backward, flow backward, O full tide of years! I am so weary of toil and of tears, Toil without recompense--tears all in vain, Take them and give me my childhood again. I have grown weary of dust and decay, Weary of sowing for others to reap; Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep. - Elizabeth Akers Allen

The ruins of himself! now worn away With age, yet still majestic in decay. - Homer

Pictures from the Last Past Prom

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 04:12:49 GMT

To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down,
and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance;
-Ecclesiastes

Dance, v.i. To leap about to the sound of tittering music, preferably with arms about your neighbour's wife or daughter. There are many kinds of dances, but all those requiring the participation of the two sexes have two characteristics in common: they are conspicuously innocent, and warmly loved by the vicious.
-The Devil's Dictionary

Photos At Long Last

Sun, 22 Aug 2004 19:27:10 GMT

Pictures from a boatride

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 05:34:28 GMT