As 2010 comes to its inevitable close, we take pause regarding the general nature and disposition of the previous year. In regards to the life of one Robert Sommers, it had debits and credits on both sides of the ledger.
On the plus side, it was the first year in the preceding five where I wasn't stuck in some hospital having some major surgery. Yea. On the downside I never used up my deductible and have been paying close to full boat at the pharmacy all year. Guess I will have to take that trade.
On the minus side my father no longer knows my name and my mother has been hospitalized numerous times, on the other side of the country and I have not seen her in over four years. Never had the bread or time to make the trip this year, and one day it will be too late.
I am not big on resolutions but I do have a list of hopes. I hope that the economy will find a way to improve so that we all can get a little ahead. Just one tailwind, so that I can remember what it felt like. Somebody was in the gallery the other day and remarked that it was a remarkable feat to even survive the last three years in the business but I am still here grinding. As many of us are. But we are all still in the game and that is what counts. None of my immediate friends or family are sleeping in their cars yet.
The highlights of the year for me were many. Started off great at Stan, Trace, Lynne and Richards' New Years Day. The truffle dinner, the Local Color photography show, Bosque De Apache, Acoma Pueblo, the bottle of Duckhorn that Mike Mahoney brought over and drank with me one lazy afternoon. Duck tacos, cruising Central Avenue in Albuquerque for shots of old neon. My coffee group. Great times with great friends. The Catalina adventure. Regular brunch at Le Bistro. My photo show with Louis Nidorf. The Big Island, the trail to Polulu. Akaka Falls.
It was a really nice year creatively, with both shutter and print, and a year where a lot of friendships got strengthened. I call it a success.
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I am not resolved to do much different in the next year, with a few exceptions. I want to have a camera with me wherever I go. I want a Nikon D7000 so bad that I can taste it. No money for such extravagances. I woke up this morning to the chilliest dawn of the year. I scraped the frost off my window and noticed huge plumes of steam coming off the Santa Margarita River, my neighbor for the last 23 years as well as Rainbow Creek. Absolutely gorgeous. Not a camera in sight. The cell phone camera just does not do the trick. I will bring my camera home tonight just in case the same conditions are recreated but lightning rarely strikes twice. My favorite shot of the year was in fact one that I missed.
I also need to get some long necessary projects started and completed at home - utility door that committed suicide in a storm, carpet, electrical problems, office cleanout. Hopefully one day I will be able to afford the fix the roof leak behind the shop.
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Read today that Al Qaeda has a new english language internet magazine called Inspire. The first issue, published in July has an article called "Making a bomb in the kitchen of your mom." The nine men arrested in Britain last week on terrorism charges had apparently been researching their bomb making skills with this internet primer. Summons up a great Rockwellian picture of a burka'd Betty Crocker pulling a nice improvised explosive device out of the oven. Glad to see that the kids are reading again.
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Now for a little quiz.
The Danes thwarted a large scale terrorist attack last week. The attack was targeting the office of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. Who were the perpetrators?
Were they:
a. Angry Mennonites from Ohio complaining about spoiled Lutefisk?
b. Members of the Greek Olympic Basketball team?
c. Zionist aggressors intent on cornering the world money markets?
d. Agents of George Soros intent on cornering the world money markets?
e. Five muslims of mid eastern origin upset about a cartoon.
f. A bunch of drunken Finns who thought they were at a hockey game.
If you answered e. you are correct. How did you know? Could it be that they are the only people in the world so quick to take innocent human life over something so trivial as a cartoon? The scandinavian countries are seriously thinking about pulling back the welcome mats for their muslim friends. It was interesting to read the Times Square Bomber admit that he lied when he became a citizen of this country. You know, these parts; I hereby declare, on oath, * that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; * that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; * that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.... He was apparently just kidding.
“You are a young man, and you will have a lot of time to reflect on what you have done and what you have said today,” Federal Judge Miriam Cedarbaum said in handing down the life term.
The judge, in a brief back and forth, had earlier asked Shahzad about the oath he took when becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen.
“I did swear but I did not mean it,” Shahzad replied.
“So you took a false oath?” the judge asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
Oaths are easily broken in today's society. And it is in very poor taste to bomb the host country when you are in fact a guest. Makes folks less likely to trust your friends and family the next go around.
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One of my very good friends actually expressed concern for me regarding some things that I have written. We were having an afternoon shot at the pub across the way. Said that she was worried about someone coming in to the shop with the sawed off and taking a pistol shot or two at the old scribe. Had never really thought about it. Have I been that bad?
1 comment:
Bad to the bone, Robert, bad to the bone!!!
Happy NY to you and the most lovely Leslie!!
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