Writography by JoeySee

Remembering G-Pa

2010-12-21T02:51:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa Jojo passed away on December 8, 2010. He was 3 months shy of turning 95.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with people aspects of his life, and to share the eulogy I wrote for him.

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The day I heard about G-pa's passing, I was in Austin. I went to a spot on the University of Texas campus where there was this great fountain - an infinity pool at the base, overflowing to create tiny, sporadic waterfalls, and in the center of the fountain, 20 high powered water jets shooting like fire hoses into the sky. I smiled because I thought it was a fitting tribute to Gramps - a boy who had been too poor to go to college to be an engineer like he wanted to be, and so instead, spent 35 years as a NYC firefighter, ending up as chief. I did the math, and realized that Grandpa had retired 36 years ago.

Y'know, I think the only people who knew of my Grandpa who are not fully sharing in our grief are the people at the pension board at the NYC Fire Department.

I can imagine them, year after year, going thru their records... "Carboni? Yea, sign for that one... Cardell... Cardella? Joe Cardella? STILL? HOW OLD IS THIS GUY? Is he ever going to die?"

I think all of us wondered that, though. We all knew that G-pa wasn't the epitome of health. Just ask anyone who had to sort out his pills. It was like a rubiks cube, a game of chinese checkers, and a MENSA test all rolled into one just to sort them out into the right days and doses. No, his health did not keep him alive.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and venture to say that it wasn't Grandpa's rational decision making in his later years that kept him going either. To this day, I don't think anyone ever gave Gramps a good enough answer as to why a 92 year old with arthritis, no feeling in his feet and extremely poor reflex skills shouldn't continue driving.

I think it was something else. It was something extraordinary that kept Grandpa going. Something not often seen in men his age.

I think, and I'm pretty sure about this, that what kept Grandpa alive and attentive so long, and what had doctors scratching their heads up to the very end, was the simple fact that Grandpa LOVED to LIVE.

Grandpa saw so much to live for in this life, and to him, it was all plain as day. I remember hearing the story of when Gramps first went into the hospital after having his stroke a few months ago. The nurses were going thru standard procedures and questions, and one of the questions they asked Grandpa was,

"If anything were to happen, and you were to flat line or anything, do you want us to revive you?"

Now, I can only imagine the look of incredulity on my Grandpa's face when he finally comprehended what it was they were asking him.

And his answer, was characteristically Grandpa.... "YEA! OF COURSE!"

Grandpa had experienced and lived thru unbelievable times. The Great Depression, 2 world wars, the coming about of technologies, everything from radio to TV to computers and the internet, the development of automobiles and plane travel - civil rights, times of peace, times of strife - what an amazing 94 years to be alive.

But all those events were just "things that happened" while Grandpa walked this earth. That wasn't what he lived for.

Grandpa saw... very wisely... and he taught all of us that it is LOVE that is worth living for. Loving one another unconditionally. Grandpa and Grandma Edy had that love for each other, for their family, and all the people in their lives. Though Grandma Edy moved on 24 years before Gramps, we felt her spirit living thru Grandpa. And now they are both finally reunited and carry on their love.

Grandpa's love for all of us here was so obvious. He did anything and everything for his family. He helped all of his kids and grandkids get on their feet and on with their lives, whether by writing a check, drawing up house plans, swinging a hammer, or wiring the house. He helped all his kids not just build their houses, but build their homes.

Grandpa exposed us to the great outdoors - to camping, boating, water skiing, tubing, fishing... Y'know, we never caught many fish on our boat. We could be out there for hours on a warm summer day, rocking back and forth in the waves, pulling up nothing but seaweed, and if we were lucky, an occasional sea robin or spider crab. But not Grandpa. Grandpa would always be the only one who pulled anything edible out of the water and onto the deck of our boat. And he always had this sly, mischievous smile about him when he saw our astonished faces with each fish he grabbed. I don't think it was a secret of his. He would've told us. Maybe fish just were attracted to him.

Now, of course, nobody is an angel. Well, I'm told Grandma Edy was, but surely, Grandpa was no exception. We all got yelled at by Gramps at some point or another - some got yelled at more than others. It was pointless arguing with the man, yet we somehow always forgot that fact when we came head to head.

And oh my was G-pa stubborn. I already mentioned his insistence that he should still be allowed to drive at age 92, despite the fact that he couldn't walk straight down the hallway. And perhaps the longest standing battle we had with Grandpa was over his refusal to wear his hearing aids. He argued that he didn't need hearing aids. His hearing wasn't the problem. The problem was that every single one of us, mumbled, when we talked.

Much later in his life, Grandpa's human flaws became less irritating, and became more of running jokes for his family. As many times that we rolled our eyes at Grandpa, we laughed just as much. And I think it's best that was, because Grandpa truly kept us laughing until the very end.

Some well known stories of recent past:

When the nurse would replace his feeding tube with a fresh tube, he would look up at her and say, "Mmm... good!"

One time when the nurse gave Grandpa some liquid medicine thru a tube to his stomach, Uncle Rick suggested they could probably fit a Manhattan in there. Grandpa considered it for a second, and then corrected Uncle Rick... "Maybe two..."

Grandpa was always a big hit with the ladies, young and old. Maybe that's why I wasn't very surprised on my last trip to see him when I found out that he had something of a girlfriend at Ashton place. He told me about her...

"She's 88 years old!" he said with a slight smile and a look of wonder in his eyes.

I couldn't tell what he meant by that. Was that a good thing or bad thing? After all, Grandpa's biggest complaint about living at Ashton place had nothing to do with the place itself. His complaint was "People here are too old!" Said the 92 year old.

Grandpa's popularity with the ladies continued right until the very end. All the nurses had a crush on him. And who could blame them? He turned to me one day when I was sitting with him in the ICU. A pretty nurse had just swabbed out his mouth, checked his monitor, and adjusted his pillows. They exchanged pleasantries and Grandpa flashed his trademark "crooked but charming" smile. She left the room and he said,

"All the nurses here are so nice. And they're so pretty!"

"I know! That one was super cute."

Without breaking eye contact with me, Grandpa said,

"Now can you imagine having them wash your balls?"

Grandpa wasn't one for expensive tastes. He took pleasure in simple things. He was a social butterfly, just like Grandma Edy had been. He was happiest when there were people around to share in good conversation. He loved a good home cooked meal, shared around the dinner table. You could tell how much he loved it by how long it took him to eat it.

Gramps is terribly slow when it comes to eating meals. It truly is incredible. Hell, he's got nothing to rush for, so he really really reaaallllly takes his time. In real time, if we sat down at the dinner table together and both started eating at the same time, I could finish my meal, have seconds, unbutton my pants button, digest, get a piece of cake, make tea, eat the cake while my tea cools down to drinking temperature, drink my tea, take the dog around the block, write an email, have a bowl of ice cream, play a round of darts, take a nap and come back to the table only to find that Gramps still has half a piece of pork and some vegetables left to eat. I'm exaggerating of course. He'd probably have finished the pork.

Instead of watching TV, he preferred doing a crossword puzzle. Now, crossword puzzles with Grandpa was always hysterical from a spectator's point of view, and it always tested your patience when you were the one doing it with him.

I was always astounded that he never believed that I read him the clue accurately.

"17 across... Poet Whitman" I'll say.

"Huh? Where are you looking?"

"17 across Gramps."

"17... What's it say?"

"Poet Whitman."

"Where is it?"

At which point I'll point to the 17 across clue and he'll crane over the paper, squint his eyes and say aloud, "Poet Whitman...."

He'll look to the puzzle and finish, "Walt. Yea. It's gotta be Walt."

And it was the same with every clue.

We saw in his later years how nothing made Grandpa quite so happy as being surrounded by his family. Even if he couldn't hear a single word of what was being said and was often caught staring into space, he found no greater joy than to be around those he loved.

G-pa took pride in everything he did, from his champion rifle shooting days in high school, to his master craftsmanship in his woodshop.

Grandpa took the most pride in his family. He was so proud of everyone in his family. You didn't need to give him a reason to start gloating about his grandkids.

How Rachel was always at the top of her class, how Merriah always kept us laughing in the family, how quickly Matt moved up the ranks as a Marine, how Derek was becoming a self made man...

Grandpa reveled in the attention he got at Ashton Place after Luke, Claire and Mallory put on a performance. "People I don't even know were coming up to me! They were so good!" Grandpa was always looking forward to another letter from Andrew, telling him about his adventures from all over the world. He offered me the letter 4 times the last time I visited. I'm not sure if that was because he loved it that much or because he forgot he offered it to me already, but I prefer to think it was the former.

And Gramps always made it known to me that he was proud of me for following my own dreams, wherever they took me. And he made sure that I knew the decisions I made were the right ones, and they would lead me to where I needed to be. Grandpa supported all of us in the pursuit of our individual dreams. That has been invaluable to everyone in this family.

Grandpa Jojo was an important anchor in all of our lives. He will continue to be that anchor thru all that we learned from him. We know that he has moved on, not before his time, but when he was ready, and on his terms. He filled our lives with love, and we filled his.

In our family, we never liked saying good-bye. We've even gone so far as to substitute other words to suggest a parting of ways for now. "Elephant" I believe is what we've been saying for years.

But even now, there is no finality here. Grandpa lives in each of us, and for that, all we can say, is "Thank You". We love you.

So tonite, we drink Manhattans and toast to Grandpa. I'm sure everyone has a story to tell. Let the celebration of his life, begin.

Recipe for G-pa's favourite drink: The Manhattan

2 1/2 ounces of Seagrams 7 Whiskey

1 1/2 ounces of Tribuno Sweet Vermouth

Dash of Orange Bitters

On the rocks

-JoeySee

Katie G

2010-11-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

It was late on a Monday nite. I had arrived in Delaware earlier that day, and spent the majority of it reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire inside of a local coffee shop called Central Perk. After an evening spent eating wings at a bar and watching Michael Vick single-handedly crush the Washington Redskins (I'm not an Eagles fan, I just was amazed at how dominating Vick was), I returned to the friendly Starter Home at the end of Chapel St. where my friends reside.

I walked into a living room full of Deltones. What are Deltones? Check out their website - www.deltones.com - to find out.

Their rehearsal was ending, and as everyone scurried about and rushed home to their dorms and places of residence, only a few stragglers remained behind to chat. Katie was one of them. I looked at her and asked very simply, "When am I going to photograph you?" We agreed that Thursday would work. And it did.

Here's Katie...

-JoeySee

PCSA Journal Excerpts - Homestay - July/August 2007

2010-11-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

July 2007

7/28/07 "My host mother, Dineo, has a husband, but I don't know where he is. She said he was not working today - he was fitting carpets for the house. I'm not sure what his job is exactly - he works in Jo'burg (about 3 hours from here) as a "florist" according to Dineo. I'm just not sure if that means he works with flowers, or if he works on floors."

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="324" caption="Dineo"][/caption]

7/28/07 "I already faced some basic church questions - what church do I belong to - how often do you attend church - what do you mean "not often" - when was the last time I was at church... I had to answer them very delicately, yet honestly. Then, Pako's cousin, Oarabile asked me straight up, "Do you love Jesus?" My answer, I think was a rather unconvincing, "Umm... Who doesn't?"

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption=" "][/caption]

7/29/07 "I will be the first to admit - I have no idea what the hell is going on."

7/29/07 "Tomorrow will be interesting... mainly because today was interesting."

August 2007

8/11/07 "The prospect of ordering food is always enticing, even if it always ends up disappointing in the end. In your head you think "Oh only 40 Rand, that's like, 6 bucks. Not so bad. R12? That's 2 dollars! That's awesome!. But the issue I'm forgetting about is that I'm not longer on an American income... Well, that makes me chuckle a bit - I never really had an income to begin with."

8/12/07 "I still don't feel like part of my host family, but I feel like I'm getting closer with every one bit by bit. I noticed it 3 days ago when I came home, thru the backyard, and my host sisters, Pako (9) and Thato (4) were back there. Thato came running up to me with a big smile and almost put her arms out for me to pick her up - but I think she had second thoughts because instead of extending her arms out, she just kinda flapped them up and down like a bird. I threw her up in the air anyway."

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="324" caption="Thato"][/caption]

8/19/07 "Hold on. I have to take my socks and shoes off. Wow. That's a pretty pungent stench."

"We did the walk to the Botswana border. We were originally told it would be about 8 km there, and the same back. I don't know who started that rumor, because it was way false. In fact, it was about a 14 km walk there, and obviously, the same back. We started walking all together at 8:10 am. We arrived at the border at about 10:30. And that was a rather quick pace. There was a bar at the border, and just about every one of us ordered a drink. It was a funny sight to see all of us volunteers with beers in our hands at 10:45 in the morning, but we were all very happy with the scenario. The walk back however, was a huge bitch."

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="720" caption=" "][/caption]

-JoeySee

PCSA Journal Excerpts - Staging, Flight, Mankwe - July 2007

2010-11-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

In the coming weeks and months, I will be going back into my journals from my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.

I decided to post excerpts from my journal intermittently as this process goes on.

I hope you'll enjoy.

Staging, the Flight, and Mankwe - July 2007

"The best part of the past few days - as it should be and as is expected, is the people. Just stunning how together everyone is, on a mental plane, I guess to some extent a spiritual plane, and now, on an actual plane."

"My friend Tom Barker has stood out for me in particular. He has been my roommate, and he has been incredibly open and considerate, not to mention hysterical. He has an endearing ability to mix up or forget names of people or places. CVS has become CVC, Rite-Aid has become Rite Stuff, and Carrie Underwood has become Carrie Underpants. It's wonderful."

[caption id="attachment_1659" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="The Good Doctor, Tom Barker"][/caption]

"The stewardess on this flight is a beautiful dark haired German girl - or at least I assume she's German. She has those very identifiable "piercing" eyes. I haven't spoken to her yet though. She'll be coming down shortly with drinks. Oh - here's the flight attendant now. She has nice hands I can see."

"There was an attempted Toga Party tonite that didn't really get off the ground, but I still wore my sleeping bag and danced for a spit. Me, Ben Barr-Wilson, and Craig also had a mini spur of the moment dance party with Craig's hand cranked short wave radio. Don't know what it was, but we danced to it."

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Short Wave DJ"][/caption]

"I talked to one of our South African LCFs (Language and Culture Facilitator) today about Afrikaans as a language, and the protests that took place in the 70s over it being forced as the main language of instruction. Mama Cecilia said they were protesting against Afrikaans being used as the means to teach content subjects like science, math and history. The black South Africans believed it would hold them back from the rest of the world even more because no one spoke Afrikaans outside of South Africa and parts of Namibia. She said they didn't have anything against the language itself though, which, incidentally is the language group she is teaching. Oh, she also said she wanted to spank me for not being in her language group. I told her she knew I wouldn't be in her group because I wasn't part of the Education program. She said she wanted to spank me anyway. Just for fun."

[caption id="attachment_1657" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Mama Cecilia - I can't believe this is the only photo I have of her..."][/caption]

More excerpts to come in the near future...

-JoeySee

Hiking with Chelsea

2010-11-14T04:21:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of going for a walk in the woods with Chelsea.

The wind was fierce, the colours were exploding, and we talked about the bass ackwards idea that Chelsea was raised a NY Giants fan, despite the fact that she grew up in upstate NY, which should put her squarely in the misery camp with the rest of us Buffalo Bills fans.

What a great day for photos it was!

-JoeySee

Summer Faces and Places

2010-11-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

Feastival 2010 - Come

2010-10-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

My last post was about the food at Feastival.

This one is about the people and the land.

Beautiful sights, beautiful souls.

What a magical weekend...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Devil's Bedstead"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Road to Base Camp"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="I love the highlighted Aspens amongst the evergreens."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Beautiful Autumn contrast"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Flounder arrives. And tests the bridge."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Beautiful stream in the evening sunlight"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="View from the studio yurt doorway"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Jenny and Mat"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="PHOTO BOMBED!!!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Ginger Goldfield. Extraordinaire."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="First nite of feasting"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Whit, rokkin' some Base Camp gear"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Half of the Twintucky Duo - Ian Timoney"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Have you ever seen a more beautiful bridge at Base Camp?"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Scotty. Fireside."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Morning view through the thick of it all"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Ethan Tucker accepting a gift from Madeleine Wells"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Lion on the property"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Bri, taking time off from yoga"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Dance."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Move."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Fly."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Celebrate."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Be Grateful."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="One Tribe"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="I have a big man-crush on Jeff"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Feastival Flags"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Handsome man."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Kari. Wind."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Hammock hut"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Making dreads"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Sunshine, on an Autumn day"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Feastival People"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Scott tells us about the organic nature of our feast"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="The Man."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Elk"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Beautiful Soul"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="This man was a highlight of the weekend, for sure."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Smirk"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Mirrored."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Portable hot tub"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Night scene"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Prepare for landing"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Until next year... Come again!"][/caption]

--JoeySee

Feastival Food

2010-10-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to fully understand how much more healthy and delicious local, organic food is, as opposed to most everything else that we buy in supermarkets across this country. This summer, while I was living in Idaho, I had the great fortune to live with people who were very earth conscious, health conscious, and full of life and love.

The third weekend of September this year, marked the second annual Feastival.

Feastival is a weekend dedicated to bringing people together, sharing a love for the outdoors, dancing, camping, fishing, yoga, eating together, and making new friends. Everyone that comes to Feastival brings a small side dish or dessert to share with everyone else. It is our job to cook the main meal for the 150+ people that attended this year.

This is the first of a two part series about Feastival.

Look at this delicious food!

[caption id="attachment_1465" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Keri and Ian, going to town cutting up veggies"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Scott. Master of the compost."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Sauce from giant heirloom tomatoes."]
[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Scott prepares to juggle some cucumbers."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="First day of feasting."]
[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Feast and Flounder"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Have you ever seen a carrot like this?? How beautiful is this thing??"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Flounder, making carrot art."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Carrot flowers"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="The end result"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="I need garlic like I need cowbell. More."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Harvest presentation"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="The base for our Squash Soup"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Soup display and descriptions"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Mat. The father of our feast."][/caption]

-JoeySee

The Adventures of Madeleine Wells and a Fish

2010-10-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

The following photo series is from Idaho. Our dear tiny friend, Madeline Wells, is somewhat of a chatterbox.

She is also just shy of 4, and abstractly hysterical. Flounder and I took her for an adventure around Base Camp, following our wildly successful Feastival.

And what an adventure it was!

-JoeySee

Bridge Building for Feastival

2010-09-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Last nite I sat naked in a wood fire hot tub, underneath a blind black sky with the Milky Way sprayed across the center of it all like a never ending heavenly backbone.

The stars to the east took the shape of a butterfly and were furiously twinkling like the subtle camera flashes of distant paparazzi, and I was Angelina Jolie.

All this after a hard days work building a bridge down in the lower property of Base Camp, here on the edge of the Big Lost River, in the mountains of Idaho.

I had posted earlier about Base Camp (you can read the post here) when I first arrived in Idaho. Back then, we were prepping the land for the hordes of children that would frequent it during a spectacular Mountain Adventure Tours summer. This time around, we are doing a thorough cleansing and building for the second annual Feastival, as put on by Mat and Whitney.

The purpose of Feastival is many fold. The primary purpose is to raise money for the building of an eco-retreat center at Base Camp, for use by the community in and around Sun Valley and Trail Creek.

Other purposes of Feastival include eating delicious home grown Idaho food, listening to live local music, dancing your pants off, enjoying nature and everything else around.

Before coming up to Base Camp, I designed posters for the event. My favourite one is below...

We've had many tasks to take care of before the fun begins...

Cutting fire wood, splitting fire wood, clear paths in the lower property, set up stage for musicians, clear out camping spots, get rid of all the cow pies littering the property, etc. But by far the biggest task we had to undertake, was building a bridge that spans the 25 foot wide river running thru the property.

In years past, there have been bridges built. Without fail, every year, the bridge gets destroyed over the winter and spring months because of snow, ice, and floods.

We wanted this bridge to be different. We wanted this bridge to last for at least a few years. We called in our friend Mark, who took the reins on the project. In two days, we had a bridge. Please enjoy the before and after series below, and if you're in the Idaho area, come to Feastival this weekend.

And now that that's done, here are some extra photos from the past two days. Mostly of Mat and Mark, for the lady folk. But I do apologize ladies, they are both happily taken.

-JoeySee

Kickball - Idaho Style

2010-08-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

We here at Mountain Adventure Tours like to stay active in our local community, and we like to give our time to worthy causes. This is why for the past many years, we have put on a Kickball tournament in conjunction with Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, to raise money for their program.

Each year has a different theme. This years theme:

"Around the World"

Each team picked a country, and dressed up as citizens of that country. While this is certainly fodder for grandiose stereotyping, we did our best to keep it tasteful.

Mountain Adventure Tours picked Japan. This was very welcome news to me, as one of my friends here donated a full leather samurai outfit straight from the actual set of Xena: Warrior Princess. I don't want to brag or anything, but I was TOTALLY the best dressed at the tournament. Many thanks to Michele for the costume. Though we won't get into why she had it in the first place...

Each team had to have both men and women, as well as at least two kids. Being a kids camp, we had a plethora of tiny humans play on our team on and off throughout the day. While some may suspect this would cost us on the scoreboard, let me just say that the rest of our team made sure to play hard when it came down to it, to ensure we stayed competitive.

We came in 2nd place, losing only to a team whose two "kids" were 12 and 14, and one of them is ranked 5th in the nation for downhill skiiing. Not exactly on par with our 5 year olds who still didn't know where first or second base was. (Both on the field and up the shirt)

We played hard, stayed true to our Japanese stereotypes, doing flying kicks and making ninja noises at every opportune moment.

Afterwards, we went swimming in a river, had some champagne (of the MGD variety) and hung out until the sun went down. It was the definition of a great day.

Thanks again to Michele, not only for the samurai costume and wooden Katana blade, but also for taking 90% of these photos for us.

Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_1324" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Fierce"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Veggie Burger Deliciousness"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Mat and Auggie"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Bidsy Pep Talk"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Tearing off sleeves (to show our guns)"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Another win for MAT"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Auggie and Spencer"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Whit and Mat"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Beware of our women, lest they become UNLEASHED"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Team line up"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Injury time for Jesse = twisted ankle"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Intimidation Part 1 - The Crane Stance"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Intimidation Part 2 - Follow thru KICK TO YOUR FACE"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Samurai Concentration"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Abbiamo Vinto! We Won!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Auggie, keeping up morale on the bench"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Mat demonstrates the... well... it's some sort of dance"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="On to the next game"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Sportsmanship Succeed"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Afternoon Champagne"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Hannah-san"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Me, myself, Joey"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Hannah's super smile"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Ian and Kirsten"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Lovers"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Bidsy and Tess"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="I don't know Tess very well, but I liked this photo of her"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Mat"][/caption]

-JoeySee

Timberstock 2010

2010-08-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Remember Timberstock?

If you did it right, hopefully not.

Here are some photos to jog your memory.

Thanks to Amanda and the whole Catrini clan....

Until next year!

-JoeySee

Base Camp

2010-07-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in Idaho!

I'll be honest, I never thought I'd ever have a reason to come to Idaho. But my oh my is it beautiful here.

I'm working as a counselor at Mountain Adventure Tours, a kids camp started up by my friend Mat.

Here's a photo if Mat, looking über-Manly.

Mat has 12 acres of property in the heart of the Big Lost Valley - mountains, rivers, and a plethora of sky surround the land. It is known as Base Camp. Base Camp is made up of two parts: The Upper Property (Base Camp) and the Lower Property (Graceland).

The properties are outfitted with 4 Mongolian style Yurts, a broken down trailer that we are trying to get rid of, a tiny office, and an old whore house or cat house from the early 1900s. We're not sure which.

Mat, his dog Squirrel, myself, and our friend Spencer (who is the perfect cross between Matthew McConaughey and a cowboy) spent 3 days at Base Camp last week prepping it for the arrival of campers next month.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Squirrel"][/caption]

It was truly "Man Camp" as the 3 days consisted of stereotypical "Man's Work". We laid concrete for the wood fire hot tub, mowed [what little] lawn there was while sucking down half a mountain of dust, chopped firewood, fixed and rigged up a large deck to serve as an outdoor dining platform, and we cleared out log jams in the river to return the river's path to it's natural flow.

[caption id="attachment_1202" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Log Jam: Before"][/caption]

My favourite activity was clearing the log jam, because it meant we had to spend hours at a time in the bitter cold (yet surprisingly refreshing) water of the Big Lost River, painstakingly removing pieces of this natural dam that even a family of Beavers would envy. I must admit, it looked an impossible task at the start. The dam was 25 feet across, 15 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, to the bottom of the river. We spent an entire evening in the water. At the end of the day, we were soaking wet, chilled to the bone and eaten alive by mosquitoes, but we had defeated the log monster, and the Big Lost was flowing like new.

[caption id="attachment_1203" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Log Jam: After"][/caption]

Until it got to the next dam.

That one we may actually have to use dynamite to clear.

Here are some more photos from Base Camp. I'm sure there will be many more as the summer unfolds...

Starry skies to cap off the nite

With the Milky Way Galaxy burning up bright

-JoeySee

Idahoedown

2010-07-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

My first weekend in Idaho was spent road tripping with some new friends to somebody's cabin in the back woods who I didn't know.

I'm well aware that this sounds like the makings of a horror movie.

The short of it:

Full on, actual log cabin, with 70's style pistachio green shag carpeting in the midst of the Sawtooth Mountains.

Two days of a hillbilly themed family party, complete with a mini-high school reunion of kids from Twin Falls.

Friday Nite: A stop in Stanley, ID at the Kasino Club to watch Jeremiah James Gang play some footstompin' country/bluegrass.

Saturday Day and Nite: Live band at the cabin, face painting, laying beach-side and swimming in freezing waters at Redfish Lake with a dreamlike view of evergreens and the peaks of some lonely Sawtooths, Mexican food, a keg of beer, PBR in the cooler, a raging bonfire, s'mores, 6 lbs of bacon and a pancake breakfast in the morning.

Not a bad first weekend, if I do say so myself.

Now that I've managed to return to my homestead without any missing limbs and with the breath of life still in me, I feel compelled to post photos from the weekend excursion.

Thanks to my amigos Ian and Katie for inviting me out. And to Melissa for letting us take her car.

And now, a brief look at some photos...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Ian, Melissa, Katie"][/caption]

-JoeySee

Some more Wedding Photos

2010-07-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

A few more from Charlie and Betsy's wedding...

-JoeySee

Wedding Photo Fun

2010-07-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

Words wouldn't describe the beauty, joy, revelry and dance moves that characterized the wedding of Charlie and Betsy.

So photos will have to do.

I wasn't the official photographer. That job fell to The Parsons.

They were absolutely fantastic and we're all eagerly awaiting the photos from them.

I wanted to add to the shenanigans at this wedding, because I love Charlie and Betsy very much.

And you can never have enough shenanigans.

I brought with me down to Charlottesville, VA, my Alien Bees SB800 strobe, an Octabox and some extension cords. At the rehearsal dinner, I set them all up outside near a spectacular hedge and we had a whole lotta fun.

The proof is in the photos...

Thanks to Aaron for capturing the ones of me and the girls!

-JoeySee

Beth

2010-06-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

We had some free time, so Jason and I brought Beth out to shoot some photos. Dig it.

-JoeySee

Writography has moooooved

2010-06-09T18:51:00.001-07:00

Over to here:

http://joeysee.com/blog/

Thanks!

-Joey

Chloe

2010-06-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

I love that I have so many beautiful friends.

Chloe is one of them.

She makes taking pictures easy.

I hope we get to shoot together again sometime soon.

-JoeySee

Jenny & Tyler in DE

2010-05-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I finally was able to meet up with and photograph my musician friends, Jenny & Tyler.

We went to a park just outside of Wilmington around dusk, had an awesome time, and got some beautiful photos.

Here are the results!

Don't forget to check out Jenny & Tyler's music here - www.jennyandtylermusic.com

Dig it...

-JoeySee

There I Toe

2010-05-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Upon going thru my photos from my 2 month long excursion to Argentina, I realized I had taken a lot of pictures with the camera pointed squarely at my feet.

This is a photo retrospective...

-JoeySee

Deltones Concert - Spring 2010 - Alice in Wonderland

2010-05-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

The University of Delaware Deltones had their concert on May 8th, and boy did they suck.

Sike nah....

They were absolutely amazing. Everyone sounded beyond incredible. This was the tightest group I've heard since graduating 4 years ago.

The theme was "Alice in Wonderland". (Thanks to Flounder for the video)

I took pictures (it's what I do), and somehow, despite all the delicious beverages consumed earlier in the evening by us Alumnitones, they still came out super duper.

-JoeySee

DaBRAIN

2010-05-12T05:20:00.000-07:00

[caption id="attachment_599" align="aligncenter" width="544" caption="DaBRAIN gets some air"][/caption]

DaBRAIN and I have known each other since the fall semester of 2003 at the University of Delaware. We were in the same vocal studio with our wonderfully fantastic vocal coach, Dr. Evans. Or, PEV, as we called him.

[caption id="attachment_590" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="PEV"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_589" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="PEV and DaBRAIN, at the Vocal Studio Christmas Party"][/caption]

But at that time, DaBRAIN was simply known as Brian. We didn't strongly bond, and he didn't earn the name DaBRAIN, until January 2006, during a mutual globe-hopping venture that took us to South Africa. Our trip was of our own making. We paid our own way to travel halfway across the world with a group of lovable misfits to volunteer at orphanages and hospices in both Kwa-Zulu Natal and in Gauteng.

DaBRAIN and Njebe = So Hungry

We had to move all 1100 of these blocks

Down this big ol' hill in KZN

It was there that our mutual love for Strong Bad became known. From the moment the trip started going haywire (which was when our first flight couldn't land due to bad weather in DC, causing us to miss subsequent flights and delay our arrival in South Africa by almost a whole day - but that's a whole other story), we used the Strong Bad voice to find comedy in every situation we faced. Brian became DaBRAIN, which was how his name sounded when speaking Strong-Badian.

Strong Bad

It was also in South Africa, that I convinced Brian that growing a beard was an absolute must for him. I was known to our Zulu friends as Njebe - which is the Zulu word for "beard". I was happy to have a friend with me who also was wearing a beard on his face by the end of the trip.

[caption id="attachment_595" align="aligncenter" width="489" caption="Beard and dagga (cement, not marijuana - the two sound the same in Zulu)"][/caption]

DaBRAIN and I had a chance to catch up in Delaware last week after a long hiatus apart. He's now working in the political arena, working on winning campaigns and more importantly, answering complaints about proposed changes to bow-hunting laws in New Jersey.

Here are some photos we took...

-JoeySee

POTD - Jenny & Tyler

2010-05-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

For today's Picture Of The Day - a shot from yesterday's photo shoot with Jenny & Tyler.

-JoeySee

Andrew and Beard

2010-05-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to throw a quick post up to test out my new wordpress blog.

Here's my brother, Andrew, before he left for Alaska to be a rafting guide.

[caption id="attachment_569" align="aligncenter" width="408" caption="Andrew and Beard"][/caption]

And yes, he is single.

But he's in Alaska.

-JoeySee

Pollo, Flickr, and Fun

2010-04-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

During my time in Argentina, I was extremely fortunate to have met
Pollo. Pollo is a photographer that I've been following on Flickr for
many months. I love his photography. It's simple, sensual, sexy, and
sublime. I must admit, I was a bit jealous of this unknown person - all
I knew of him was that he was photographing a plethora of beautiful
girls, and he was damn good at it.

Beyond this, I didn't know much of anything about him. I knew he
lived in Argentina, but I had no idea where. I didn't know how old
he was, what he looked like... I didn't even know if he was a nice person.

I decided to take a chance and email him. I sent him a quick note,
asking him if he knew of any photographic opportunities I could get
involved with in Argentina. To my surprise, he responded not only
with an invitation to visit him in his hometown of Neuquen, (which was
en route to my next destination) but he also offered to set up a photo
shoot with two girls he was friendly with for the day I would visit.

My time with Pollo was absolutely great. He was not only a fantastic
photographer, but an outstanding human being. He and his wonderful
family treated me like one of their own during my stay with them. I
can't thank them enough for their generosity and kindness.

Pollo and JoeySee

The following photos are from my shoot with Pollo and our fantastic and
beautiful models, Caro and Anna.

Thanks again to Caro and Anna for being so open-minded and willing to
be our muses for the afternoon. Next time, I promise I'll speak only in
Spanish. That would make Caro happy, I think. :-)

Thank heaven for hot days and beautiful girls

Caro and Anna

Pollo, hard at work

Love the way she looks at you

Reflect

Mariposa

:-)

-JoeySee

End of February - On the Move

2010-03-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

A quick photo update of the rest of February:

Look Up

Smiles at the Art Festival

John. Ol´Blue Eyes.

Pirates should wear kittens on their shoulders

Hitch hiking with Andrew in El Bolson

Crossing one of many shady bridges

Feeling like Indiana Jones. Minus the 1000 foot drop into crocodile infested waters.

Just pretty

Refugio at Cajon del Azul

Poppies and mountains at the refugio

Swimming hole, near Cajon del Azul. Actual colour of the water.

Kung Fu and swimming holes

After jumping in the icy glacial waters. It was cold, and I can´t feel my skin here.

One of the greatest joys in life

Self portrait

Pollo and I, after our photo shoot in Neuquen. Photos from the shoot to come in the future.

Andrew and Humpy.

Humpy, looking for food.

Dos Hermanos and sunset amongst the Andes Mountains.

-JoeySee

Mid-February in El Bolson

2010-02-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

I´m convinced they filmed "The Sound of Music" in El Bolson. I´ve never seen " The Sound of Music", but I´m pretty sure that doesn´t matter. There´s nothing but beautiful mountains all around, and when you get out to hike on them, you see lakes bluer than the sky, as well as the famous Rio Azul - The Blue River, which absolutely lives up to its name.

We´ve been here for about 10 days now. We came in from Buenos Aires after a 24 hour bus ride to Bariloche, followed by another 2 hours to El Bolson. The latter drive was fantastic. It was like we were driving thru Mordor... but a much prettier version of Mordor. All around us were gigantic snowcapped peaks and ominous low hanging clouds that brought to mind all the possible wizard dens that surely nest somewhere up in those peaks, hidden from the view of us humans.

The drive from BA to Bariloche was long, and mostly thru the Pampas - flat arid land that covers most of the middle of the coutry where we were. The one true highlight of the bus ride was a blinding lightning show at about 10 pm. You couldn´t see anything outside the windows of the double decker bus, but every 10 seconds there would be a HUGE bolt of lightning hitting some distant destination, and the nite became day for a few seconds at a time.

The meal on the bus was unexpectedly delicious, both Andrew and I agreed.

The movies on the bus:

All About Steve - in English with Spanish subtitles
Some RomCom with Gerard Butler - English with Spanish subtitles.
The Bucket List - Spanish with Spanish subtitles
Transformers 2 - Spanish with Spanish subtitles

Ok, I totally understand that I´m in a Spanish speaking country (Castellano, more accurately). But of all the people to overdub, you choose to over dub MORGAN FREEMAN??? Completely unacceptable. The man´s voice is beyond iconic. IT´S MORGAN FREEMAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

And really? You´re going to overdub Optimus Prime? The producers specifically went out of their way for the movie to get the original Optimus Prime voiceover guy from the tv show. How do you just over dub him so carelessly??

Side note, after trying to not pay attention to Transformers 2 on the bus, I´ve come to 2 conclusions:

1- Transformers 2 is the longest movie in the history of ever
2- The audio track of Transformers 2 consists of 12 minutes of dialogue, and the remaining 298 minutes consist of sound effects of whirling gadgets, machines transforming, and bullets ricocheting off of metal. That´s it.

I woke up just in time to catch the sunrise. It was beautiful.

We´ve been working on different projects that have to do with constucting houses and other structures with all natural materials (plus the use of chainsaws, hammers and nails, etc.) Our other project has been lending a helping hand in the home made mass production of wind chimes.

Forreal.

It´s been interesting for sure.

We spent 5 days at a farm right on the Rio Azul, in the middle of nowhere and met some great people there.

We have this week off, but we are trying to make our way to Mendoza (the wine capitol of Argentina) by early March.

There´s so much more, but so little time to type it all. I hope the pictures below will suffice...

Baking bread at the 12 Tribes bakery

Feet in the Dirt

Rain Droplets (don´t know why this is all distorted)

The house we´re staying at now

Slack face fun with Antonio


Claire and Flower

Siesta

Mate

Brothers and Tomatoes

Worst Rainbow Ever. Or the Most Beautiful.

-JoeySee

A Few Quick Argentine Musings

2010-01-31T12:47:00.000-08:00

Argentina has indeed been hot.

I love being Captain Obvious. :-)

Andrew and I have been with our friend Claire (she´s half-French, don´t mind her)
since the day of our arrival in Argentina.

Claire Sandwich

Things are going generally well.

A couple of notes worth mentioning...

The first 3 straight hours of our flight out of NY to Santiago, Chile, was complete
and pure turbulence. At one point the plane took a short dive, and I found myself
grabbing my brother´s hand in preparation for our imminent doom.

"Damn!" I thought. "Mom is gonna be PISSED."

But we didn´t perish in a plane crash, which relieved us greatly.

Still Alive.

After our arrival at the airport, Andrew and I marveled at how little Spanish we
actually knew. We somehow found our bus and 60 cents and 2 hours later we
managed to find the hostel we were staying in. I don´t know how we did it, but we did.

Being that the weather is so hot here, Andrew and I felt right at home in Buenos Aires
because most men were walking around the city streets and parks with their shirts off.
We noticed that the women didn´t quite take off their shirts, but many of them rolled
them up as far as possible, despite their body type or current stage of pregnancy. I
swear I saw some of the unborn trying to kick their way out, screaming "SOMEBODY
OPEN A WINDOW OR SOMETHING!! I`M BURNING UP IN HERE!!"

Drivers in BA are known for their incredibly daring and dare I say "loco" driving talents.
That´s fine - other countries are notorious for that as well. What stood out about BA
was that when the sun went down, the drivers of taxis, private cars and even most buses
never even put on their headlights. Some were so dim, they must´ve been in there since
1954. Others just seemed to not want to use them at all. This made for crossing streets
at nite a fun guessing game.

Andrew´s language skills have improved quite significantly since our arrival. He´s been
studying and speaking quite a bit. I have not.

I seem to have a general travel sickness that never quite leaves me. Every time I take a
big trip somewhere, my immune system seems to say "Time to go offline for a while..."
I´ve been congested almost non-stop since our arrival with that one-nostril-is-clogged-then
-the-other-gets-clogged-while-the-first-one-clears-up-lather-rinse-repeat condition. It
hasn´t stopped me from doing much besides tasting the supposedly delicious food we´ve
been eating.

Now that my congestion is going away (not because I´ve been resting, but I think rather
because of the Emergen-C packets I´ve been downing daily), I seem to have acquired
some sort of eye infection, which is always a blast. I just put some flower gunk in my
eye at the suggestion of a few members on the farm we are at now. We´ll see what that does.

We´ve had a really nice time at the first farm we WWOOFed at - we are still here now,
but leaving tomorrow (Monday) for El Bolson. We hope.

I´d like to write more because we´ve done a lot more and met some great people already,
but my thoughts are a bit jumbled and I just want to put up some photos now anyway.

Also, we really like Mate. No accent on the e?

Hope things are well.

Ciao...

Apparently, Jesus has short hair in Argentina. Most likely due to the seasonal temperatures.

Here is a giant tree that confused Andrew.

Jumping into the pool after a long and hot first day at work.

I´m still wearing these socks.

Dirt plus sun plus socks plus boots = Fun colour contrast!

We found 3 of these during one day of weeding tall grass.

Simon and one of his beautiful daughters, Sara.

-JoeySee

Departing Directly Southward

2010-01-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd just put a quick note up here to let anyone and everyone who reads
Writography know that I'm heading down to Argentina with my brother Andrew.

This is Andrew:

We will be in Buenos Aires for about 5 days, and then we will be traveling to Rio Negro,

to a place called El Bolson.

The farm we'll be working at has a description in Spanish...

LOCATION : El bolson
Hola somos artesanos y estamos en faeria Regional de EL Bolson con nuestras artesanias Campanas Tubulares \" Canta vientos \" y somos constructores de \"Construccion Natural\" y Trabajamos con Permacultura y cultivos Organicos y disponemos de una chacra de fruta fina , huertas ,frutales , una Taller de artesanias
Estamos desarrollando una Comunidad .cultivando ua Huerta comunitaria una construccion comunitaria en las orillas del Rio Azul.
Accomodation: Tenemos disponible una casita de fardos y de adobe para 2 personas con una cosinita y un bano.
Food: Alimentacion variada cocina colectiva.
We are: Somos una familia muy grande y trabajadores . nos gusta la musica las danzas los cantos y las fiestas y conocemos mucha gente en chacras organicas y trabajamos para el cambio Planetario Espiritual de LZ
When to come: Octubre a Marzo ( prinavera - verano )
Additional comments: somos gente alegre, abierta, buena onda y espirituales.

Children *tenemos dos hijos. Si, puden.

I didn't understand much of that, but I did understand the important part: "Nos gusta la musica las danzas los cantos y las fiestas..."

We like all that stuff too.

We're hoping to meet up with some new friends in BA upon our arrival, both

American and Argentinean. We'll be couch surfing for a few nites as well, and

hopefully meeting some fantastic people from our time with them.

Ok. Enough for now. We're off Thursday evening.

Hope to write again soon.

Ciao....

-Joey (and Andrew)

Erica in NYC

2010-01-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

Erica contacted me to do some photos for her portfolio. I was thrilled to be asked to photograph such a beautiful young woman. She was awesome, and as a result, we completely rocked the shoot...

-JoeySee

Boston Adventures with BenJAMMIN' and Katie

2010-01-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Some shots from a late summer excursion with BenJAMMIN' and Katie...

-JoeySee

Molly[cule]

2009-12-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

Molly is beautiful. I took pictures of her.

Enough said.

Here are the photos...

-JoeySee

Cliff Jumping

2009-11-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

This past summer was a mix of adventures, misadventures, frustration, excitement,
tomfoolery, surprises and giraffes.

I'm just kidding.

There was no tomfoolery.

One lazy weekend in July, my amigo, Tyler, graciously offered to take myself and
my good friend Courtney down to his hometown of Scituate, MA to do some
wilderness exploration, cliff jumping, boat rides and maybe even a flight in a
water-plane! Some of these came to pass, some of these did not. Not for lack of
trying, but for reasons out of everyone's control.

I had my camera with me (typical) and bagged some images of some of our cliff
jumping escapades, followed by an evening spent eating deli sandwiches, peanut
butter filled pretzels, topped off with some delicious cervezas, all on Tyler's family's
anchored sailboat in Scituate harbour.

A truly glorious day. Even Tyler's sister Hilary joined in on the fun!

Tyler's done this before

Courtney took a bit of convincing...

This girl took some convincing too...

But she did it!

So did Courtney!

Me, post jump

True story

Tyler's pool

We all know she's actually a super model in real life.

Exiting with sandwiches.

Catching pretzels

Hilary

I just love this mask

Courtney, steering us home.

Sweeneys, Sisters, Smithtown...

2009-11-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Flounder was down, visiting for an impromptu weekend visit.
That never happens! But it happened then. On a beautiful autumn Sunday, we
went to visit KaitlinSweeney.com aka SweeneyTodd aka Kaitlin "Fun Bagel"
Sweeney in her happy hobbit hole out in Smithtown, NY. To our surprise and
delight, the house was full of Sweeney girls, from Mama Sweeney, all the way
down to little visiting cousin Sweeney.

We laughed a whole lot that day, and watched some old Deltone videos to boot.

It was a fantastic outing. Here are some pictures...

E Sween

K Sween

Fish Sween

So Much Sweeney

Tiny Sween

I just liked this picture so I put it in here.

-JoeySee

Attack of the Dream Team

2009-11-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

I love working in groups. Especially creative groups. I've always found it much
more satisfying than working by myself. A few days ago, my good friend Kevin
(www.kevinkovaleski.com) and I decided to do a late nite photo shoot at his DC
apartment. My friend Rachel came along to join the fun.

Kevin and I - Gearing up

I happened to have all my studio lights with me in the car for another gig that got
canceled, so when Kevin suggested a shoot at his place, I was thrilled to be able to
at least use the equipment I hauled down there.

After some delicious Thai food from Thaiphoon and some wine, we were ready
to get shooting. I gave Kevin the run thru on what set ups I use and what went
where. Kevin and I switched on and off behind the lens throughout the nite. We
used his Canon 5D for these shots.

The following was the first of many collaborations between what I describe as my
own personal photo Dream Team. I hope to be able to do more together in the not
too distant future.

And now, PHOTOS!

all images © JoeySee and Kevin Kovaleski

-JoeySee

Miscellaneous Boston Highlights

2009-11-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Boston was once a mystical place that existed only in my imagination.
A land to the north, defined by bitter cold winters, god awful
drivers, and the worst of them all, Tom Brady. I had friends who
claimed to be from there, and I even had names for them that spelled
out their place of origin for anyone unfamiliar with my amigos.

BostonJen and BenJAMMIN' were two of my best friends from college,
and I hadn't seen them in quite some time due to my ventures abroad to
Africa. I had been home 6 months in the US and still hadn't seen them.
This was unacceptable. I had visited friends in Delaware, Philly,
Washington DC, Virginia, and even Florida, but had not made the trek
north to Beantown.

Whether by fate or coincidence, the only "long term" job offer I had
gotten since coming home to the states came to me in May, and it
required a relocation to Boston. I decided to have a go at this job,
and see what would come of it. If nothing else, it would give me a
perfect excuse to spend time with both BenJAMMIN' and BostonJen in
their native habitat.

The short version: The job didn't work out and I moved back to NY in
September.

The good news: I had an awesome summer with my friends in Beantown, and
wouldn't trade it for anything.

I have a ton of photos from the summer. Here is a quick look at some of the
people who I spent my time with at the beginning and end...

BenJAMMIN' and Tyler

BostonJen

Tyler

Chocolate Bear

Amigos

Boston Nites

Cousin Mary

Cousin Brian

Nate

Brother Andrew (after the Appalachian Trail)

The fantastic Carmen

Ol' Blue Eyes

I'll be posting more from this summer "soon"...

-JoeySee

An Unexpected Day at the Beach

2009-10-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago on a Sunday, it was unexpectedly warm. I signed onto good
ol' gchat and found my friend Veronica on there. Our conversation went as
follows. (approximately)

Me: So nice out!
V: I want to do something outside! A picnic! Or the beach!
Me: Me too!
V: Let's go!

We convened at Sunken Meadow State Park. We beat the state park fee and
entered the park via a secret entrance known exclusively to Smithtown high
school students on the cross country team and hordes of Mexican families who
play soccer in small groups on the weekends in cramped picnic areas.

It was a perfect day to relax and do nothing. Which is exactly what we did.

We didn't even mind that we couldn't stream Pandora from Veronica's iPhone
because, let's be fair, it's ok if our futuristic wireless internet technology doesn't
work all the time. Right Louie CK?

Here are the photos from the day...

-JoeySee

POTD - Alyssa x 4

2009-10-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

I came across this picture of Alyssa, and had some fun editing it...

-JoeySee

Julia in Brooklyn - October 2, 2009

2009-10-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

My friend Julia and I met on the Bolt Bus from Boston to NYC earlier this summer. She's from Kansas. And she teaches pilates. So yea, she must work out. I met up with her in Brooklyn last week to shoot some photos.

Here are some highlights...

-JoeySee

Phil and Julie's Wedding - from July 2009

2009-09-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

The last time I saw Phil was in Pretoria, South Africa in May of 2008, and it was during that time,
that I happened to frighten the poor fellow half to death upon our brief reunion. The fleeting
emotional torment I put him thru was unintentional, and in my defense, it's not like I snuck up
on him. No, instead I found myself actually running at him straight on, waving my hands in
the air, yelling with excitement, "PHIL! PHIL! PHIL! PHIL!"

It was at that time that my heart sunk when I saw him scurrying away from me with lightning
reflexes and a look of pure terror on his face. I can't blame him though. At the time of our
previous encounter, I looked like this:

Me, circa September 2007

At the time I came up running to Phil in Pretoria in May 2008 and made him jump a bit, I

looked like this:

Me, circa May 2008 (for more on my beard, check this out)

I wasn't offended. I was a bit heart broken that one of my good friends didn't recognize me,
but really, how could I blame him?

Fast forward to February 2009. Phil calls me up after we have both returned stateside and
asks if I would photograph his wedding in July.

I say yes.

I flew down to McAllen, Texas in July. McAllen is wayyyy down near the bottom tip of Texas.

The weather was 175284 degrees, and not a shade tree in sight. Fortunately, I was actually
kind of used to that sort of weather after being in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces
of South Africa for so long. Also fortunately, Phil had AC in his car when he picked me up.

In short, the wedding went beautifully. I got to break out some of my dance moves AND
take pictures while the party was raging. My one mistake that evening might have been
moonwalking out of the dance circle I was heavily involved in, because after everyone
recovered from the shock of seeing it happen, for the rest of the nite the only thing the father
of the bride asked of me is to "Do that Michael Jackson thing again!"

But a magician never does the same trick twice. Even if it is the moonwalk.

I ended up not going to sleep after the wedding. Instead I stayed up the entire nite lounging
between the hotel swimming pool and hot tub with some newly acquired amigos. It was a most
excellent weekend all around.

I was happy with the photos from the wedding, and wanted to post a few here:

Good luck to Phil and Julie, though they seem not to need it. :-)

-JoeySee

Starting Fresh Again

2009-09-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to move my blog back over to blogspot after having numerous difficulties with the technical side of wordpress. Here are some new pictures.

Nate is wearing a shirt.

I am looking so cool.

POTD - Celebrate Your Friendship

2009-06-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

Jay and Beth are friends. This is how they celebrate.

For more great jumping, check out Freedom Jumping - www.freedomjumping.com

-JoeySee

POTD - Slack Face - Chris

2009-06-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

For today's Picture of the Day, I've included this photo of Chris doing one of my favourite camera activities - slack face. Chris has a fantastically loose face, which you absolutely need for this type of modeling.

This photo was actually taken by Flounder. He is a giant fish. And he's also a giant friend.

Chris, aka Fabio

-JoeySee

Bed Bugs - Not Just A "Good Night" Phrase

2009-06-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

I feel compelled to write about an incident that occurred last week during training for my new job. I would normally have just shrugged it off as a unlucky happening, but this particular "happening" has persisted for 6 days now in the form of what looks like a condensed small pox epidemic, and feels like a thousand tiny little ants pinching me up and down my body.

I was staying at the American Inn of Bethesda during training. It stood unimposingly next to a gigantic Double Tree on the main drag in Bethesda, Maryland. Though unimpressive from the outside, the rooms were cozy enough, and I found the beds to be quite comfortable.

The first nite was a breeze. I went out for some Indian food, then hung out at the hotel, did some picture editing, and thanks to the Indian food I had just eaten, tested out the strength of the bathroom facilities. (I'd say strong to quite strong)

The next evening, after getting some Asian food with my fellow trainee, Jamie, I returned to the hotel to blog about my encounter with Jenny & Tyler. (see previous post) As I was writing and going thru pictures, I began to feel like I was getting bitten by some aggressive mosquitoes. I felt a little pinch, slapped the spot, and looked around to find evidence of mosquitoes, but to my surprise, I found none.

Mosquitoes are pretty easy to spot in contained rooms where almost everything is white. Not only are they easy to see, but if for some reason you can't see them, you will most definitely hear them as they come unfailingly close to whine in your ears as if their main objective is to suck blood out fro your very ear drum.

I experienced neither sight nor sound of mosquitoes, and so decided to call it a nite and go to bed.

The next morning I woke up and felt as if my skin was on fire. I looked down to find dense constellations of red marks all over my chest, stomach, arms and legs. I looked like a 4 year old with chicken pox, or what may better be described as a human dartboard, speckled with pimplish looking itchy-as-eff pock marks every where.

I couldn't believe the destruction that had taken place on my body the nite before. And I couldn't believe how much I wanted to tear off my skin. The only thing I could think it would be, thanks to a conversation I recalled having with my pops, is bed bugs. I consulted a few online resources, and found that my symptoms were in fact synonymous with those of the creatures of nite time well wishing.

A small sampling of the aftermath

Now, I spent a year and a half in South Africa. The majority of that time was spent sleeping in sub-par housing that was essentially open and available to all of nature's elements, be it weather or wildlife. The worst experiences with regards to sleep in South Africa involved soul-sucking agile mosquitoes (problem was mostly solved when I bought an oscillating fan) and a near miss with a scorpion hanging out by my tired head. Neither of these incidents was a burden to me like my current condition.

I also just spent a week in Guadalajara. I was in a hotel where you couldn't drink the tap water, and if you tried to adjust the water temperature while showering, you'd get shocked thru your fingers and hands. I had no problems with any insects there.

It just seems bass ackwards that after spending so much time in other countries with lesser amenities I would get mauled like this in a decent hotel in Bethesda, MD.

One of my favourite parts was bringing my attention to the manager at the hotel. I called ahead to let the hotel know I would need to switch rooms. When I showed up later in the day, the manager was apologizing to me about what happened, and we proceeded to have the following conversation:

Manager (with his eyes lowered and darting back and forth): "You know, we're really sorry about what happened... we moved all your stuff out of your old room and into a different one down the hall... But y'know, we combed the room and didn't find any evidence of bed bugs... we found a small spider and killed it, so that may have been what happened."

Me (lifting my shirt to show him the terror unleashed): "Sir, this was not caused by a small spider."

Like constellations in the nite sky...

Manager (eyes still darting from floor to floor): "Yea, y'know, we're real sorry about that, but like I said, we couldn't find any evidence of what it was... I mean, it may have been ants too."

...

......

At this point, I wanted to let loose a bit and yell "HOW ARE ANTS ANY BETTER THAN BEDBUGS???"

But I didn't. I laughed out loud at his ridiculous statement, shrugged, and just asked him to make sure all my stuff was out of the old room and into the new one.

People make funny rationalizations when they're in a corner. Maybe it wasn't ants... maybe it was beetles! Pick any member of the arthropod family!

I showed all my friends my bites that week, because despite my miserable itchiness, I still find the irony of the situation hilarious. No one else in the hotel was attacked. It was just me. And not even on the first nite! Just the second!

I hope these things will go away soon. Last nite I seem to have gotten carried away in my sleep and opened a few up with my tireless scratching. I've been covering them with cortizone cream, and am going to start taking some oral benadryl. If any one has any other remedies in mind, please do inform me.

Until next time, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite.

Seriously...

-JoeySee

Is This A Dream?

2009-06-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

The short answer is: No!!!

Thank God! Goodness!

Why so happy?

Today was my first day of training for my new job. It was ok. The people seem to be good people, the business just that - a business. I have another 3 1/2 days ahead of me, and they should go relatively smoothly.

In all honesty, I'm not here to blog about my first day of training, per se. Per say? How do I spell that?

I was out to lunch with my new managers and a new trainee like myself at a place called... hmm. I don't seem to recall the name of it. Cafe something. Dulce? In hindsight, I should've looked at the sign on the restaurant, if only to remember the most amazing thing that happened there.

We were making small talk, waiting for our food and I was looking around the restaurant for the waitress who I swear was a cheerleader at the University of Delaware. I couldn't confirm or deny this definitively, but I'm almost positive it was the case that she was. I think her face was even on a UD bus at some point.

That wasn't the most amazing thing. Not even by a long shot.

As my eyes were wandering around the restaurant, they landed on a child outside chasing a balloon attached to his wrist. It was easy to see him outside because the whole store front was floor to ceiling windows. I followed the child with my gaze until I lost sight of him by the door of the restaurant. It was at this point I saw the backs of two figures looking at the menu posted outside the restaurant entrance.

They... looked...

Familiar...

My heart skipped about 9 beats as my mind wrapped itself around the possibility that these two people might be who I thought they were...

A slender, gentle, dark blonde haired girl was standing next to a handsome fellow in an earth toned collared shirt with a fairly muscular figure.

I knew the back of their heads very well.

I excused myself in a flash and ran out the door to stand behind them. I don't remember what I said to get them to turn around, but I wish I would've sung a line from one of their songs, because that would've totally blown their mind.

The two beautiful people who turned around were none other than Jenny & Tyler Somers, of mythical and musical fame around the parts of Delaware and Nashville. I hadn't seen them in over two years! (That's kind of a lie) And here they were in Bethesda, Maryland! And so was I! Turns out they were on their way back home to Nashville from Delaware, but their car had some minor troubles, so they brought it to a dealer in town to get looked at before their 10 plus hour drive south.

Jenny & Tyler!!! (and me)

None of us were really supposed to be here in the grand scheme of life, but here we were, face to face in an event all too wonderful to be accurately expressed in words.

So I lied a bit when I said I haven't seen them in two years. I actually saw them play in Philadelphia at the Tin Angel back in January. But it was only a short amount of time that I got to spend with them. And alas, our time together today was fated to be short lived as well.

The surprise and joy that overwhelmed me at seeing them was so great, that my hands were actually shaking. Jenny handed me a copy of their new CD, "This Isn't A Dream" which is playing on my laptop now as I write this. I could barely contain my excitement.

This Isn't A Dream

If you would, please check out their website, and buy either or both of their CDs. Their music is written from deep inside their hearts, and the sound they achieve together is like sweet velvet candy to the ears. They not only play well together, but are fantastic song writers. A few of their songs have brought tears to my eyes - both because of the beautiful sounds that reached my ears, and also because I'm infinitely proud of them for following their dreams and passions so unashamedly, with such conviction, that nothing stops them.

They are incredible musicians, amazing people, and outstanding friends.

They're also fun to be with. For proof, watch this video.

Please do yourself (and Jenny & Tyler) a favour, and listen to their music.

http://jennyandtylermusic.com/
http://jennyandtyler.wordpress.com/

Ciao...

-JoeySee

What a Jet Setter

2009-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what a jet-setter is, but I know the first time I heard it was on a tv commercial in South Africa in Beautiful Downtown Jane Furse at the humble abode of the good Doctor Tom Barker.

(I did a quick search for a youtube video of the commercial, but all I found was this, which is not the commercial I had seen, but is entertaining nonetheless)

But I digress. Terribly.

I have been on the move the past 2 days, stepping up into the world of "Those Who Are Employed" as well as "20-somethings Who No Longer Live With Their Parents". Moving up this rung on the social ladder has it's upsides and downsides. I won't get into either, but it's nice to be starting a different chapter of my life now.

I left good ol' Long Island early Saturday morning after a fantastic Friday evening spent with two beautiful friends, Allie and Brianne. We made a fire, drank red wine, and ate chocolate ganache and cookie dough ice cream. If there is a better way to spend a nite at home, I don't know what it is.

Mmmm... Chocolate ganache

I got to NYC around 10 am, and stood outside Madison Square Garden watching an amateur Mormon church choir of about 40 people sing hymns into a single microphone. They were not very good, even for an amateur choir. In fact, they sounded like someone took the most awkward and untalented people from every junior high school in northwestern Utah, assembled them for this NYC gig, and told them to make up the words (and notes) as they went along.

No comment. They weren't very good.

They even spiced up their sets by preaching about Jesus in between every single song. The people they picked for the preaching job were all men - men who obviously had never been in front of a microphone in their life before, and who also all needed a cheat sheet to remember the lines they were preaching...

"So remember... my... friends. Earthly friends will turn their back... on you. But... if you want an... if you want an eternal friend, you always have a friend in... in... Jesus."

Practice makes perfect I guess.

I took the Bolt Bust up to Boston around 11, and sat next to a nice girl named Michelle who plays cello in an "indie-rock, folk, punk" band called Kittens Ablaze. She was good company for the trek up, and we had some good conversation, except for the time period when I fell asleep hanging over into the aisle, blocking people's routes to the bathroom in the back of the bus. I woke up with a terrible crick in my neck and back, and a line of about 5 people waiting to get past.

I was stoked to use the internet on the bus - what a cool thing to do! I opened up my laptop and started to check emails, look at photos on facebook, and edit some photos of my own. The only problem for me (as I found out) is that I can't look at the screen too long in a moving vehicle - my eyes start to bug out, I get dizzy and I start to get a headache and feel funny in my stomach.

Kinda like what happens when I see a really really pretty girl walking towards me.

I'm still going to try the internet thing again the next bus ride I take. I can't resist the idea of being online in a situation where the former form of entertainment was playing rock, paper, scissors with my brother for hours on end during car rides to see distant relatives. Now I can even research RPS strategy while on a bus and kick my brother's ass next time!

I arrived in Boston and hopped on the T to go drop my bags off at my good friend Ben's place.

Ben, studying Spanish

Ben (aka BenJAMMIN') is one of my most favourite people in the world. I haven't seen Ben since the day after we graduated. That was 3 years ago.

After getting a bit lost in Brighton while lugging my 4 bags around (yea, I was that guy, in a new city), I found myself at Ben's place.

But Ben wasn't home. He was climbing a mountain in New Hampshire.

Typical.

I dropped off my bag, wrote Ben a short note, and hopped back on the T.

Love note to Benjammin'

I was on my way to see good ol' Boston Jen. She's from Boston.

Jenny picked me up at the T, and after handing me a snack pack and water (she intuitively knew I was hungry and dehydrated) drove me to a friend's graduation party. Jen just graduated from law school at Suffolk, and I met a lot of her very awesome friends and laughed with them until my face hurt from smiling.

Me, Boston Jen, and Nate, circa New Years 2004-2005

We went back to Jen's house early in the nite. Her parents' house was totally "baller" - as the kids say. Her dad designed the house and her mother decorated the whole thing. It was by far one of the nicest and most comfortable houses I've ever been in. I'll have to take some pictures of it next time I'm there.

We watch Spiderman 3 (which I liked quite a bit actually) and then crashed hard.

Today we relaxed on the hammock outside, I showed Jen some pictures of my time at Escuela Helen Keller in Guadalajara (which I have yet to post up here), and she drove me to the airport shuttle around 12:30.

My flight was pretty much cake. I ate a small bag of peanuts and had some apple juice.

Had some Indian food a little earlier, and now am getting ready to crash before my first day of training tomorrow.

I'll be posting more throughout the week. I'll try to get some pictures from Escuela Helen Keller up in a few days.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is all he wrote.

Goodnite.

-JoeySee

Paloma Cumplido... and all that Jazz

2009-06-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favourite shots from last Friday nite at Primer Piso.

Paloma Cumplido and all that Jazz...

Sing

Play

Exhale

Touch

Groove

Flirt

Listen

Look

Besame

Dance

Smile

Watch

Sense

Know

Explore

Take it in

Feel it in your heart

and Sing it out loud

More shots can be found at http://www.flickr.com/joeysee

-JoeySee

Friday Nite in Guadalajara

2009-06-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last Friday nite, I went out on the town in Guadalajara, with some friends. In short, it was a fantastic nite. In long, here's what we did... or what I'm pretty sure we did.

First stop was a hole in the wall Cantina called "La Fuenta". The crowd was mostly middle-aged, happy, and drunk. An electric piano player reminiscent of an elder Antonio Banderas sounded out some Mexican classics under his fingers, while a trumpeter blew out traditional melodies as he walked around the bar. Large groups gathered around small circular tables placed end to end rocked and swayed as the sang the words along to the tunes they knew so well. An elderly flamboyantly mustached man in a light purple tuxedo and snow white fedora with a long grey ponytail was shaking hands with acquaintances as he made his exit from the bar. Our Finnish friend Nestori bought us a round of beers and we observed the lunacy around us with contented smiles etched on our faces.

Nestori

The next stop was a Salsa club with a live band blaring out continuous latin rhythms, the whole dance floor moving and shaking with bodies that looked like they would shatter if they stood still. There was an incredible energy flowing thru the room. It made me wish I had that salsa fire in my heart and in my feet from a young age.

As I was staring at all the blurry bodies before my eyes, my friend Minerva came up behind me and asked me in her best broken English if I would dance with her.

Hell yea!

Not that I knew how to do anything much salsa-like. I was glad I had taken at least 1 salsa class a few weeks earlier... it made me look not quite as much of a total gringo with two left feet and an inner ear problem. I held my own alright, and Minerva (who was a fantastic dancer) and I laughed the whole time because I truly had no idea what was happening at any point during the two songs we danced to.

Jaime, Jesse and Minerva

We left the salsa club around 1 am, and Nestori suggested we check out a jazz club he knew called Primer Piso (1er Piso, as the sign said). Also known as the "First Floor" for those gringos who don't habla the espanol. Like me. Unsurprisingly, the lounge was not on the first floor, but the second floor of a small building. The pale, unearthly-looking, overly made-up female bouncer at the door told us there were too many people inside, and we would have to wait until at least 5 people came out before we went inside. About 8 seconds later, 2 people came out the door and she shrugged and let us all inside.

Dim light from small table candles illuminated maroon velvet cushions that hung on the wall and ceilings, couches and comfy armchairs littered the majority of the seating space, and the outer walls were made up entirely of windows.

I think. I can't quite remember all the details, but it sure was nice and comfy in there.

Me friend Jesse and I shared a round of Don Juan Blanco tequila, chased by Pacifico beer. The combination was delicious, and quite potent after an already eventful nite. After hanging out for a short amount of time with my friends, I noticed a small jazz band getting ready to start playing on the "stage". I put that word in quotes because the "stage" was more like a dark corner of the room that was raised up 3 inches on a wide platform.

Being a music lover, and a big fan of live jazz, I walked right up to the front of the stage and watched as the band started playing. I started feeling a groove in my chest and made that funny scrunched up face I do when I'm really diggin' music that's going on around me. I opened my eyes and as I looked up from my internal groove, I stopped short. I saw, emerging from the shadows of the stage, a girl in a blue and black dress step up to the microphone and confidently bless my ears with her voice.

Even as the room was swaying slightly, I found myself anchored to my spot, watching the room spin around this sultry, dark haired beauty, whose shy smile could melt even a wooly mammoth's 10,000 year old icy heart.

That shy smile...

I took out my pocket digital camera, and took a few pictures of the band. Every now and then I would turn the camera around to show the band the pictures I was taking.

Though they liked the pictures, my pocket camera didn't satisfy me. I turned to Nestori, who thankfully had brought along his Canon 5D mark II camera, and he bestowed upon me the use of his image-maker for the rest of the nite.

We had been told all week by our photo instructors, "If you're picture isn't good enough, you're not close enough." Taking this advice to heart, I think I may have crossed some personal barriers as I got up practically right on top of the players, and snapped away. I took close to 300 pictures of the band, and admittedly, mostly of the dark haired beauty in front of me.

I knew of nothing else going on - I was in my own head space, taking pictures of the music happening less than 2 feet in front of me.

Her voice was simple and special, and anyone with half a brain could tell that she loved to sing. Who could blame her? She also loved the music playing around her. When she wasn't singing, she was watching with admiring eyes, her bandmates jam out beside her. She danced with her sax player during two songs, and continuing the trend I'd seen at the salsa club, they both knew how to dance... very well. I was more than a bit jealous of the sax guy. He was damn good. And he was dancing with her.

Before I knew it, an hour had passed and the set was over. I reached into my pocket and took out one of my business cards to give to the beautiful singer from 2 feet away. She smiled as she kissed me on the cheek and gave me a hug (a standard Mexican greeting I'm told - people are extraordinarily friendly there, and I love it) and I tried to explain in my 5 words of Spanish that I knew, that she should contact me and I would send her the photos. I thanked her with a big smile for the music, and rejoined my friends.

Due to the liquid courage flowing thru my veins, I decided a few minutes later that it was a good idea for me to reapproach this girl who had captured my eyes and ears so forcefully, and at least ask her for her name and what email address I could send the photos to.

Her name was Paloma, and as I struggled to communicate to her in Spanish, she asked me with a smile in perfect English "Do you speak English?" To which I externally responded "I do", and internally responded "Woo Hoo! She speaks English!". Not only was she the most beautiful girl I'd seen since coming to Guadalajara (and believe me, there's no shortage of beautiful women in the city), but she was incredibly sweet as well. We talked for a little while and she departed shortly afterwards.

Jaime drove us back to the hotel around 3:30 am (he's the absolute man) and I fell fastly asleep, content as could be with one of the most emotionally fulfilling nites I had had in a very long time.

Not to mention some great photos to take home. Coming next post. :-)

-JoeySee

POTD - Courtney and Jelly Beans

2009-06-03T02:38:00.000-07:00

I decided that on random days, I would post a "Picture Of The Day". The first of these random days is today.

I love this picture of Courtney. I think it sums up her personality, radiance and joy, brilliantly.

-JoeySee

Jenn in Queens

2009-06-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Jenn was nice enough to come hang out with me about 2 weeks ago in Queens. It was a beautiful day. The sun was warm, the grass was soft, the brownies melted in your mouth...

These are the resulting pictures.

-JoeySee