Radical Eclecticity

Yellowstone falls

Originally uploaded by melepix

As there are only four states in the Union that I have not been to (I was mistaken about Wyoming, for those of you that I had told three states), I simply must get to see the rest of them. I need to visit Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska. The great part about that particular list is that the first three share borders and a famous national park!

This summer I think I’m going to try to get out to Yellowstone which, though it is mostly in Wyoming, does extend over the state lines into Montana and Idaho as well. As long as a make a point to cross those lines and enter the other states, I’d only have one left.

Again, I’ll have to take a lot of pictures. Yellowstone is very photogenic (from what I’ve seen online, anyway), I just don’t know if I have the eye or the technique for that kind of photography. I’m not exceptionally good at color balancing and compensating for environmental conditions. We’ll see how it goes, though.

Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn’t matter if I take the photos well, as long as I take the photos. That’s why I have so few photographs of Hawaii. I wanted to take great photos, instead of just taking photos. If I never just got out there and snapped the shots I never would have captured Dark Water, which is still one of my two favorite photos ever. It was not an ideal day for photography, but if I didn’t go out on my island-wide photo tour, I never would have gotten it. Besides, Chimney Ruin just wouldn’t have made any sense on a sunny day.

I guess the old rule is true: Take 100 photos to get one great one. I’ve gotta get out and take more photos.

Which reminds me (as I segue right out of the LITDSTPTSOA topic and on into free association): I’m taking that trip to DC again this year for National History Day. My intent this year is to make excellent use of the time on the road to take six bajillion photos (Yes, that a real number… it’s more than “a whole bunch” and less than “an impossibly ridiculous amount”). While it certainly is not the case that Central Florida is without good photo subjects, it does not offer the kinds of photos I want to take. It’s too new and too sleek for my photographic tastes.

While I’m on the road, then, I may repeat many of the stops I made the first time. I definitely want to photograph DC, New York, and Scranton, and lots of all three. I might be convinced to make other detours as well, so drop me a line and I might just head out your way. The Northeast roadtrip, might segue straight into the Yellowstone trip, which would have me all over half the nation.

In fact… <clicks about Google Maps> from Scranton through Ohio to see Paul and Mel’s place, then down to Arkansas to see Dan, further down to San Angelo to see Paolucci (’cause God knows Pao doesn’t ever travel to visit anyone), then up through Vegas (Where I suspect Brandon and Isaac could join me) to Yellowstone with the expanded crew. That plan is straight-up genius!

Of course, the whole thing only works if I can take six hours of grad courses this summer, and all online. Then I can collect full GI Bill benefits, and do the work from anywhere in the country. I may also need to have some of my traveling companions read my texts to me while I drive (or drive while I read, but I prefer the other way).

Hmm. Now I have phone calls to make and emails to write.

MattLavery.SchemingMode(on)

Great Wall

Originally uploaded by zsoolt

The first item on my list is to visit China. This is not as simple a task as it sounds, though. I don’t just want to go, see the word-famous tourist sites, and come home.

There are several reasons for this, among them being that I despise traveling in tourist circles. I’ve lived in Touristville, USA for years upon years. Not only does heavy tourist traffic create… well… traffic, it also tends to cheapen, dilute, and otherwise ruin the experiences that make the area worth visiting in the first place. With such a long and rich history, the touristized bits of China would be too far a cry from the depth of the experience one could have.

The single biggest factor, however, is linguistic interest. Through the course of learning the language, I have become fascinated by China, its language, its culture, and it’s history. Unfortunately, I know I have gained as much as I can gain linguistically without going through a period of total immersion.

I would most like to take a job teaching English in China, so that I can speak the native tongue with its residents. If I am forced to use Chinese to actually communicate and live, my ability with the language will drastically increase (hopefully). I have found a few summer positions in Beijing advertised.

My only hope is that their notion of summer lines up with the time I actually have off. I would be willing to end my school year a week or two early, but I simply would not be willing to miss any of the first few days of school. They are too crucial. If a summer position doesn’t work out, I’d have to take a year off to do it. That gets more complicated, too, since I’d have to time it properly with the school where I teach, and with my mater’s program.

Either way, it will be quite the experience. No doubt there will be a metric ton of pictures (which is difficult to acheive with a digital camera).

I while back, I started this list. I emailed it to some friends as a desperate, last-ditch attempt to get them to commit to a gathering of friends that had been scattered about the country for too long. I even cited this list several times in conversations with friends and coworkers.

Then, I heard about this movie called “The Bucket List,” which totally makes my concept seem ridiculously unoriginal. Now by saying that, I don’t mean to imply that making a list of things to do while you’re still alive to do them is even remotely close to an original thought. I know that humankind has been doing that since man first became aware of mortality as a constant.

My point is, that when I tell someone about my list, and they say, “Oh, you mean a bucket list. Like that movie?” it sort of cheapens the internal realization that happened to prompt the formation of such a list. See, I had all these grandiose plans that I was certain I would get to, but I never felt the sense of urgency required to actually get it all done. It was always a foregone conclusion that these things would happen. The scarcity of time never actually entered the equation.

After the accident, though, I realized that none of it is foregone conclusion. I have several books that I plan to write, a doctorate to earn, a school to open, and a mark to leave on the world. I am much more conscious now of the need to take regular steps in those directions in the short term. Now I find myself organizing my thoughts differently, and even taking a random hour here and there to write some notes and work out some possibilities.

But that’s not what the list is about.

The list I made does not contain anything in the way of long term projects or life-long dreams. I made a list of the things that I want to do that you have to get off your 屁股 and just do. I call it my “Life Is Too Damn Short To Put This Stuff Off Anymore” list, or LITDSTPTSOA. “Find a cure for cancer” or “be the architect of world peace” would never go on a list like this. Those things can’t be put on a calendar or planned for in the near term. You can’t just accomplish them, you inch towards them regularly.

I have, however, always planned to visit Europe, but never went and got a passport or even considered where it might go on the calendar. I’m sorry, life is just too damn short to put that off anymore. Step one, get a passport. The required documents are collected, and the application filled out. I should have my appointment within the week (and my thanks go out to my siblings who gave me the application as a gift). This is much more concrete than the “someday” where this notion used to live.

Naw, but that’s not significant, really. I just heard of some movie and thought it was a good idea. MattLavery.SarcasmMode(off)

So, now that I’ve written much more introduction than I intended, and have to get ready for work, I’ll write about the items on the list later. At this point, I’ll just put the list out in it’s abbreviated form. Each item will probably get a post of it’s own later. So, here it is:

Life Is Too Damn Short To Put This Stuff Off Anymore:

1. Visit China
2. Visit the four states that I haven’t been to yet (Alaska, Montana, Idaho, & Wyoming)
3. Visit Vegas and see all the Cirque du Soleil shows there
4. Take a cruise
5. Have a pint at the Lavery’s Pub in Belfast
6. Attend a seminar, class, or lecture at Cambridge

yes, its still christmas in the wibbly pig house

Originally uploaded by wibbly pig

Post by: Pig

This is my first post that I’ve written myself, so I figure I should introduce the friend I met on Flickr. This is Wibbly Pig. I was all excited when I met him because he’s a pig, too and he’s a plush like me. It’s not often you meet a fellow photogenic plush pig online author! He’s a bit bigger than me, though. I bet he has an easier time with the keyboard.

lantern

Originally uploaded by Albazog

Post by: Matt Lavery

I stumbled upon this photo today. When you log in to Flickr it shows four photos at the bottom of the page that were uploaded within the last second or so. This gem was staring right at me.

The photo has an overall chilling effect (pun intended). I picture the house behind this lantern as a place where cinematic levels of spookiness happen. Nice capture, Albazog.

Pig Types

Originally uploaded by mattlavery

Post by: Matt Lavery

I walked in on Pig today while he was typing a note for me. I said, “Pig, what’s up? You can just talk to me, you know?”

“Well,” he said, “You keep writing stuff about me, to go with pictures of me, and you even sort them into my own set on Flickr. Why can’t I write that stuff myself?”

I don’t actually have a good answer for that. So I’m going to create Pig an account on my blog and he can write his own stuff from now on. My animal friends are slowly taking over, you know. Bob already writes lessons and activities for my classroom, and now Pig wants to start blogging. I’m telling you, if I wasn’t completely sure of my own sanity, I’d think I was going crazy or something.

What’s that? No, really! I’m completely sane. Honest! Just because I have conversations with stuffed critters… doesn’t… mean…

OK, gotta go! See y’all later!

National Archives

Originally uploaded by mattlavery

During my extended road trip of joy last summer, I was in DC for National History Day. First, I have to take a moment to lament the fact that I was in DC and this is the coolest picture I took. In our nation’s capitol, with a 4 gig memory card, I took a ridiculously small number of photos. Le sigh.

I was particularly struck by the engraving beneath this statue, though. Prologue sets the stage. It prepares the reader (or viewer) for the story that is to follow. It indicates that the good stuff is about to begin, not that you are in the midst of denouement.

I can’t help but see the parallel in my own life. I have been through a wealth of life experiences. All of them combine to make me who I am today. It is the ultimate exercise in character backstory and development. Yet, I do not feel like I am at or even near the end of my story. My tale isn’t over. In fact, I would argue that it’s really just beginning.

I feel as though I am really finding my legs in the classroom, so to speak, and that I am beginning to become the teacher I can be. I’m taking the second class towards my Master’s degree, which can only be seen as the opening of that story. All that, and I have recently been to the precipice and come back. Even if I didn’t feel like my story was at a beginning, God certainly does.

When I look back on my life experiences I see all the forces that shaped me. I would like to thank everyone in my life that had a part in that. I honestly can’t think of anyone in my past or present that doesn’t play an important role in making me who I am. I’m pretty pleased with the character I have become, so thank you all for helping me write a pretty good prologue.

Makaha Valley

Originally uploaded by HiDovey

In my newfound tradition of browsing through random Flickr photos until I find something interesting, I give you the Photo Phind of the Day.

I used to live in that valley!! In fact, if you look just downhill of prominent, tall, white building, you’ll see the orange-ish rooftops of Makaha Valley Plantation. I used to own one of those condos when I lived on Oahu.

It was a great little place and I loved that part of the island. The drive to and from work was especially cool for me. As you can see, I got to look at gorgeous mountains the entire time. Stress from work just can’t follow you home to this valley.

I had to sell the place when I moved back to the mainland. I took a loss on it, but I’m not complaining. It’s probably worth about half that now, so in the end, I win.

Dark Water

Originally uploaded by mattlavery

This photo marks my first new entry in nine months. I have officially launched my new blog. If you’re reading this, you may care about that. If you do: Welcome! If not, don’t worry about it. I just needed a place to serve as an outlet for creative thinking and random thought.

That said, as an inaugural post, I give you one of my favorite photos that I’ve taken. On an overcast day, with some good friends and a relatively cruddy camera by my side, I set out around Oahu to take pictures of anything and everything that caught my eye. This shot did just that.

It seems to evoke melancholic and introspective notions. I’m not sure why that appeals to me. I am inordinately introspective, but nowhere near melancholic. I think the greyish nature of the shot adds to it’s appeal, though.

I spent too much time getting all this stuff working today, so I’ll write more later.

At the end of February, I went to visit my school for the first time since the accident. I arrived just in time for the tail end of the assembly they had to honor the students in the sixth grade who made the honor roll. As I entered the cafeteria, the students initiated a standing ovation for me. The amazing part was, the teachers didn’t tell them I was coming, didn’t start the cheering, and didn’t prompt them to applaud. They just spontaneously rose to their feet and cheered for me for what seemed like five full minutes.

I’ll be honest: I cried. That was only the beginning of the day, too. I still maintain that the sense of community, support, and encouragement that this public school generated rivals that generated by a lot of churches. I have the best coworkers and students anywhere. Granted, my opinion may be a little biased, but I stand by it none the less.

I went around and visited several classrooms so that I could see my students and thank them for their cards and support. While I was in each classroom, I fielded a few questions from the students. They’d ask things like, “Are you scared to be in a car now?”

“No. I still have exactly the same chances as I did before, and the same chances as anyone else, to be in another serious accident.”

“What happened to the other guy?”

“I don’t know, actually. They tell me he was in a room down the hall from me in the hospital, but no one has had any contact with him since then. I hope he’s doing well and that he isn’t carrying around any guilt, but I’m not going to try and find him.”

“Are you going to teach seventh grade next year?”

I have to admit, this question inflated my ego a bit, but I responded, “Sorry, probably not. Unless we have a shortage of seventh grade teachers and extra sixth grade teachers, I’ll most likely teach sixth grade again next year. That is really the principal’s decision, anyway. I’ll teach what he tells me to.”

One of the classrooms got particularly chatty. That teacher uses a lot of discussion in her teaching, anyway, so they were very comfortable posing questions to, and in front of, one another. They wanted to know about my injuries, my surgeries, my capabilities, my limitations, etc. Their questions indicated a good deal of thought. They recognized what I had been through as a significant and somewhat unique experience and they were asking meaningful questions about it. The one that really gave me pause to think, though, was when one student asked me, “If you had three wishes, what would they be?”

I thought a bit before I responded. A serious, thoughtful question requires a serious, thoughtful answer. “First, I would wish that I’d be well enough to come back to work tomorrow. Next, I’d wish to have my voice back to the way it was before the accident. I use the pitch and inflection of my voice to convey a lot of meaning when I speak, and I want that back. Lastly, I would wish that people everywhere would stop hurting each other.”

The questioner was thoughtful for a second and then asked, “Why wouldn’t you just wish that the accident never happened?”

“Because everything happens for a reason. If the accident never happened, and I never had this experience, I never would have learned everything I’ve learned because of it. I’d never know how precious life is, or at least, not in the way I know it now, and I never would have known just how many people really care for me and how much they care.”

The class fell silent for a minute or two while the room was filled with thoughtful looks. Then, one after another, the students started commenting on things that had happened to them that seemed like bad things at the time, but that good lessons or good results came from. They really got it. In sixth grade, they grabbed on to a concept that I didn’t learn until I was thirty. That was a significant moment for me, and yet another example of why I love what I do.