Jonzer & The Tubes Between

Proof that I actually finished the marathon and did not mug a runner for my medal

Yeah, I posted pictures but what if I mugged a winner and took his reward because I was jealous?? I mean after all, at mile 20 I did suffer a minor knee issue that prevented me form running and I had to fast-walk the rest of the way. Maybe I just bugged out and stole a medal??

Well, the link below is proof. I made it baby…and that grimace you see in one of those pics is me suffering all kinds of pain as I decide that I will not just walk the last .2 miles across the finish…I am going to run it no matter what.

So here you go to any doubters out there: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=49563&BIB=5209&S=230&PWD=

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10 Things I will Never Do (even though they may be fun)

1. Skydive—This is something my wife wants to do  because either she has lost all common sense or has an extreme hate for staying planted on the ground. For me, this is akin to letting gravity say to you: “Sure, you will fall at a constant rate, and if I have my way it will be constant until you hit the flipping ground with a loud thud”.  I have told my wife she is more than free to fall from the sky at gravity’s will while I watch from the very stationary ground sipping tea and listening to the Black Crowes.

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Wow! I need to update more...right!

So I still struggle on what I want jonzer.com to become. Should it just be a blog? Should it be a photo-blog (would make sense)? Should it be a repository? Should it go away? Should it be over-run by 12 dozen monkeys who probably can find a better use for it with no opposable thumbs and 6 dozen bananas?

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This should scare you

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Turning our childhood toys into childhood nightmare's

<rant>

I took my 10 year old son to see G.I. Joe. He did not last ten minutes into and said he wanted to go home; he was scared. I really wanted to see it but it would mean nothing to me if he did not enjoy it with me. Besides, from what I could tell of the first 10 minutes it did seem a little intense and violent. My son has a pretty good moral compass and a self guided ratings system, he can tell if something feel too intense for him and will immediately walk away or express his desire to do so. This is an excellent tool to have in a society whose moral fabric has been decaying for decades.

So here I am thinking to myself about all this when I realize that the toys and imaginations of my childhood are being turned into vicious, obnoxious, sexualized and overtly violent nightmares for children that are the same age as when I played with them. I guess I should not be surprised, Hollywood had lost its way many years ago; maybe even before I was aware that Hollywood existed. But it still angers me nonetheless.

When the first Transformers movie came out I was excited because I thought it would be super cool to see these robots who ‘more than meet the eye’ come to life on the big screen and blow us out of our seats. While the first movie was mediocre, my preview of it suggested that I should not bring my eight year old son to it because it was pretty intense, the language was a little vulgar and it could have done without the adult overtones; bummer, he would have liked seeing something this cool. Then the new Transformers movie came out this year. My son being two years older suggests he might be able to handle it now. Like a good dad, I pre-screened the movie and within the first 20 minutes I was certain I was not taking him. The Transformers were certainly more than meets the eye, ear and sensibilities at this point; the vulgarity just got worse as the movie went on. Disgusting!

And now G.I.Joe. To be fair, I have only seen the first 10 minutes, if that (and to be even more fair, I did not pre-screen like I did with Transformers…my bad). Of what I saw, it was pretty intense as well, and a bit geared to an older audience I think (I realize that the movie is PG-13, I realize this about Transformers as well). I am sure it will do well at the box office and have a good run; I will likely rent it at Red Box for one dollar.

Here is what disturbs me: The marketing of these movies goes well beyond previews and posters, it’s the happy meals and the toys too. My son sees all this cool new stuff coming out and sees that it is tied to a new movie and gets pumped. I get excited with him because I see my childhood memories FINALLY being made into the movies that I enacted out in my head and visualized through my toys; these are my finest memories coming alive! Then my son sees the rating and I think his heart sinks because he intrinsically knows that this will be too much for him. My heart sinks too because it is one less thing that I can share with him in this cool visual way.

When I think back to when I played with my G.I. Joes, I do not remember having PG-13 scenarios in my head with them. I remember shooting at the enemy, sure. I remember a few Joes dying from a long fall from the window and I remember Destro having a severe issue controlling his Kung-Fu grip on the Joes. But I do not remember burning someone’s face-off, terrorizing a whole city and having attitude, stereotypes or bad language with my Joes; I had not lost my innocence as of yet.

I ask THIS of Hollywood: Why should I let YOU take my son’s innocence away through what were so cherished memories for me???

</rant>

<addendum> It occurs to me that rather than sharing with my son about these memories in a visual and media related way, I should be more open to sharing them in the same way that I played with them, imaganitively! I should try to encourage him to use HIS imagination more and not rely on the monster that is Hollywood to do this for him. </addendum>

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Berry Cool Croquet..Please critique

Let me know what you think. Does it work in black and white?

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Getting more serious about Photography

Most people already know that I like photography. Sometimes it is all I can talk about; what new gadgets, lenses, camera bodies or flash accessories are available. I also really enjoy teaching other people what I know about photography, and sometimes I teach those who don’t want to know about it. Yeah, I get annoying about my hobby sometimes.

Lately, I have committed to getting more serious about it though. Not more serious in the way where I wil be come completely annoying and be the guy that will talk endlessly about nothing else. But more serious in getting the two-thousand or so photographs I have waiting to be run through post-processing into my ‘DONE’ pile. And to extend my seriousness even further, I have committed to THINKING about my shots as I take them: double-checking for distractions in my background, protecting my highlights, using the rule of thirds, all the things I already know but have been kind of lazy about deploying.

I think this sudden change has something to do with a new can-do attitude I have that has developed by way of my running (see my previous post Being 42 and feeling 29 again). It may sound strange but ever since I have started this endeavor, I have felt more creative, more willing to concentrate harder on my hobby.

Now, some of what has grown my queue of photos waiting to be tweaked to two-thousand is the fact that I have other pressing priorities and smaller creatures around the house called ‘children’ (sometimes I like to call them ‘serious distractions form my dream state’). And some of what has taken my concentration away from photography has been other distractions, some good, some not so good. But I have gone back to taking my camera with me when I go to work in case I see a shot on my way. I have also started “seeing” with that photographers’ eye again.

So, getting serious is not me starting a new business, although it is on the back of my mind. Getting serious is really just getting back to basics for me and trying to stick with it from now on.

Being 42 and feeling 29 again

Yes, it is true. Today I am a big, whopping, nearing the black balloon party 42. My hair is all there but I have the salt & pepper markings that come with age, stress and lethargy. Despite all this, I do not feel 42. I feel.. .young!

Why this sudden change? It was not but a few months ago that I felt tired, worn out and ready to be put to pasture. Something happened, something good.

My wonderful wife grasps on to a goal and seemingly never lets go (this is a good thing). Hence I tend to go along for these rides with her whether I want to or not (probably also a good thing). Her latest goal was to run a full marathon this year; a decision she made in the dead of winter. “Pashaww!” I decried, never would I be so energized enough to start running, especially when it was cold outside like it was this year.

But something inside my head, that little voice that is hardly perceptible unless you block out all the other white noise of life said: “Paul, YOU NEED TO DO THIS”. And so, I acquiesced to my wife’s desires, bought some running shoes and some warm weather gear and started this crazy endeavor with her. I will not say that right off the bat I was a dedicated runner and that I was sold on this marathon idea. It was flippin’ painful at first and I lacked a runners’ desire (and stamina). But facing the cold was not as bad as I thought and I kept up with my wife. I was still not mentally prepared for running any further than a few miles though.

Then I stopped, I stopped it all.

I cannot remember why we stopped running but the Spring came and the marathon, let a lone running, was the furthest thing from my mind. Then my wife brought up the marathon again (remember, she never lets go) and asked if I was going to run with her. My first reaction was to ‘Pashaww!’ the whole thing again, but that voice came back and whispered in those deep, deep recesses of my gray matter. Before I could control my actions, I had paid for two entrances to the Twin Cities Marathon. Maybe THAT is how I got committed to this, if I buy it I darn well better use it!

So, suddenly I had a new lease on running. We started following a schedule that my wife got from a friend that helps train us up to Marathon day. The first few runs were hard but after awhile it got easier and I felt better after every run.

Now we still have a long way to go. The Marathon is not until October and my own furthest run has been 13 miles. I have a 5k that I am running in August with a friend and there is still training to do; the ultimate goal has not yet been reached. But we will make it and we will both feel better doing it along the way.

Yes, I am 42…but I feel like 29, thanks to my wife who has encouraged me, feeds me healthier food than I am used to, and simply loves me for who I am

'Stand by Me'

Sometimes I cannot put my feelings into words. This would be the case as I have watched the movie ‘Stand by Me’ probably twenty times and afterwards I am always left with the same feeling that I cannot describe or coherently verbalize. But I feel that in some way, somehow, I must.

If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It is based on a short novella by Stephen King called ‘The Body’. The setting is in the 1950s and centers around the adventures of 4 friends as they hike out to find the body of kid they know who they heard was hit by a train on the “Back Harlow Road”. The movie has several, now well-known actors like Kiefer Sutherland, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton (who does an incredible job) and Corey Feldmen. I would be fair to say that this movie was certainly a good kick-start to the careers of some of these actors.

So what it is about this movie that really resonates with me? I was not born until the late 60’s so the time period is unfamiliar to me and I have little association with any of the trends and music of that time. And yet, something about that time and about this movie makes me yearn for something I do not have or sorely miss.

When you look at Stand by Me as a whole, the movie is about friendships and the loss of innocence. And while the narrator (played by Richard Dreyfuss as ‘The Writer’) talks primarily through his own experience and how this adventure was about dealing with the death of his older brother, we also see how it is about the close bond between friends and what it means to lose that bond as well.

And THAT is where it resonates with me. I have always watched this movie and gone into a sort of reverie of my own childhood. Even though the time period is before mine, it still reminds of the the innocence that I once had, that free feeling that that you can only now look back on and appreciate because at the time you just assumed that life was….what life was… and you had no real idea how to appreciate the freedom of not worrying about anything except getting punched for flinching from your friends.

I watched the movie again last week and looked at it with the perspective of being a father to a son who is just reaching the age of the characters in this movie. The last line in the movie is from the narrator as he finishes up the story: “I never had friends later in life like I did when I was twelve. Does anyone?” This gets right to the heart of it for me. Does anyone have that innocence anymore? Does anyone still have the kind of friendships that are built on who can spit the farthest or run the fastest? Friendships built on the glue of snails, the wood of tree houses and the foundations of mud slinging contests?

What will I do, how will I react when my son loses that very innocence? He is almost there; it scares me because I do not know how to tell him that getting that innocence back is almost impossible.  All I can tell him is to remember those days with a smile, and when he gets older to watch ‘Stand By Me’.

MY review of The Shack

I really liked this book. Sure, it is not the best written book as fluidity goes but it was entertaining. I will not say that everyone should read this book as part of their walk in faith, it is not a book meant to teach you something biblical. But it did reveal God’s love to me in terms I could understand and also helped me see the Trinity in a way that I could understand.

Anyone cautioning people to not read this book because it is not biblically true needs to remember that this is a NOVEL, written originally for the writer’s children, never intended to be published. In the same way that the Left Behind Series is fictional with some theology thrown in, I think The Shack should be approached in the same manner. Take it with salt, get what you can out of it.

The Shack is not a theological statement, does not have a purpose other than being a story to perhaps show that God loves us all, is everywhere and is not responsible for the bad things that happen in our lives. But we know this already….this is just a story that shows it one particular way form human understanding!

See my GoodReads profile here:http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2021907

And what is the tubes between??

Essentially this is a place for me to put thoughts that will not fit on Twitter. Twitter is a great tool, but I have found that limiting myself to 140 characters is also limiting my ability to get my thought out completely.

For example, I had a lot to say about Aretha Franklin’s hat during the inauguration that would not fit in 140 characters. In fact, many people were feeling the same way and so there were many tweets about this, most of them contained the acronyms of OMG and WTF. See how Twiitter limits us sometimes??

Anyway, this little blog is just a way to fill in those gaps for me.

Enjoy

jonzer