A while ago, I created a photography blog separate from this one where I post images as I feel the urge.  It has been badly neglected of late since I haven’t been very inspired.     Often, I play around on flickr, but that is more for high-quality archival purposes than sharing with the general populace, and the photos look so much better on the black background, most of the time.

Once, someone suggested to me that I try the Photo 365 project, where you take and post a picture every day for a year.   No, I remember thinking, I’ll never commit to that.   Then I thought about maybe doing the modified Photo 52 version, same idea but you only post once a week.   Then, over at the photo blog, someone suggested that I take photographs everyday and then post the best ones once a week.

These are all good ideas.  The problem is, when I have an obligation hanging over a hobby I enjoy, that seems to suck the life out of it.  I don’t need deadlines to help me take better photographs, but I do need some inspiration to get motivated to do more.

So, here is what I am going to do.   At least once a month, I am going to push myself to try something new with my photography and post the results.  I might have a month’s worth of great photos, I might only end up with one.    What counts as something new?  Really, anything that fits your view of pushing yourself.

You could:

• take a workshop
• participate in a group outing somewhere you’ve never been
• try a new technique
• talk to strangers
• borrow a lens from a friend
• visit a new place

This concept is wide-open, and it’s all about getting oneself into situations that provide the opportunity for a good capture.   That’s all photography really means to me: getting a good capture.

So, feel free to join me in the Push 12 Photography (P12P) project this year.   Each month, I will post reminders both here and at my photo space (myphotos.saintseester.com).   Comment over there if you want me to link back to your results as I write about mine.

To perform a 2009  Blog Year In Review on your site, simply list the opening sentences or paragraph of the first entry for each month of 2009, in order. This idea came from Chatty; Even though necessity forced me to take down my old blog contents this summer, I still have them to reference for this post.

January

When I was young, probably around 13 years old, I read The Hobbit for the first time.   I was completely, utterly enthralled with the book and most likely finished it within a two day span.  Not far from where I lived, there was an outdoor shopping mall with lovely sparkling fountains, brick construction, wrought iron details, and unique shops.   One of those shops, tucked way in the back of the center, was a bookstore.   It was a tiny bookstore, with ladders to help you reach to the top shelves.  I walked to that bookstore every weekend to longingly look  upon the boxed set of The Lord of The Rings.   I wanted very badly to read it, our library did not have it, and I did not have the $19.95 + tax to purchase the set.

February

One of my biggest fears when hiking about with new folks is that I am going to fall flat on my arse and completely humiliate myself.  Well, it didn’t happen today. Yay!  And, my friends, that is a very, very good thing, as I had my beloved camera in a pack strapped to my back.

March

Yo!  The Seester has crawled out of bed after a few hours of sleep to be greeted by an inch of snow on the ground, much to the delight of the babies.   It’s the perfect sort of snow that didn’t stick on the roads and will be melted by the time I actually have to get back to real life.

April

Actually, my husband haz a sock, because I am knitting these for him as my learning-to-knit-socks project.

May

Yesterday, wasn’t too terribly bad for the kids to have to miss school.  The weather was gorgeous, so they could go out and play in the backyard.  I had all the ingredients I needed to make a yummy soup for dinner.  It was like a snow day, but without any cold, mess or inconvenience, really.

June

Our brother-in-law lost his 3 year battle with lung cancer last Friday, and the family headed down to south Mississippi to lay him to rest. It was a very nice ceremony; we spent time with my sister-in-law, who is far too young to have to bury a husband.

July

Freedom is more than just speech.

August

Rather than essentially dismantling the current health care system, putting it under government control, because an 1100 page bill that no one is reading is being rammed through the system without careful thought and debate, how about we focus on some of the things that we know drive up the cost of health care?

September

A little boy, who was on another team in my child’s soccer club, became ill with fever and flu symptoms over the weekend.  He was taken to the hospital where he died Monday morning, and it has been confirmed he had H1N1 influenza.

October

Yesterday, my daughter had a round of vaccines. When she found out about it, she was sobbing with fear. Like I was as a kid, she has a terrible fear of shots. So much so, that I’ve had to help a nurse hold her down for one itty bitty shot before. The nurse was great this time; my child, stopped crying after the first shot because “that wasn’t so bad.” Once she realized it was no where near as painful as she had imagined, she calmed all the way down. It is a major milestone in her maturity, honestly.

November

When you host an annual immortals ball at your home, and not 1, but 4, people end up murdered, I think you may have a security issue on your hands.

December

11-and-eaux

Recap

2009 seemed to start out well enough for about 2 months, then slid into the better half of a year of stress, sadness, and tension.  The last couple of months seemed to be on a slight upswing, so let’s continue that into 2010, shall we?

I am still mulling over the 365/52 week photography project.  I will post what I decide later tonight.

My daughter and my niece are developing into very fine Who Dats, just like their mamas. Note that my son is nowhere to be found in this picture.

If you’ve never been to a game in the Superdome, the uppermost walls are clad in metal sheeting. The sheeting reverberates very loudly when hit forcefully. Thus the term: roof-banger. There’s always someone, and I’m happy the girls wanted to participate. It was their idea. This is remarkable because my daughter is quite uncomfortable with loud noises.

Saints Bloggers and fans all over the internets have been trying to dissect what went wrong with Sunday’s game against Tampa. Did the offense not try? Did the defense forget how to tackle?  Were the special teams trying to out-suck Clash of the Titans*?     Did I somehow fail the team by not attending the ritual eating of the po-boys at Mother’s?   Were our hand-knitted spirit-wear items not good enough?   Did our daughters not hit the metal roof with enough gusto to help the team win?  What?  What went wrong?

I’ll tell you what went wrong on Sunday.   The Nutcracker.  That’s what went wrong.   Who the hell decided that ballerinas and danseurs in toe shoes and tight-tights are appropriate for turf?   Turf should only have sweaty, large mens and scantily-clad cheerleaders / calendar models running around upon it.

Or, if you’d rather a little, tiny bit more culture, the Marching 100 is the only appropriate halftime entertainment.  Period.

The  ballet?  Seriously?  The fucking ballet?  For a half-time show?

I’ve decided the special teams players were so traumatized by that misguided attempt at that, oh, I don’t know what the hell to call it, show, that they were completely unable to recoup their senses and play football for the rest of the day.

Seriously?  The nutcracker.

*Suckiest Movie Ever in the history of movies. A mechanical owl? Seriously? Suckage.

• Well, if nobody else wants home field advantage, I suppose we’ll just grin and bear it.
• Even though I am still tired, whiny and a little bit barfy, I am getting better, physically, every day.    It won’t  be long before I can exercise a little, and that will go a long way toward making me feel much more human.
• Seeing my friends Jeanne and Ken and their little boy.
• Charbroiled Oysters at Acme. I never tasted them before, and I have missed something special, lo, these many years. Enough butter to drown a horse.
• Because I was really not supposed to tromp up and down stairs, yet, Chef came to me bearing a big golden can of Whoop Ass and some gifts at the game on Sunday.
• After his visit, he went and rounded up some other world class who dats and sent them my way for more visits.   They even brought me extra hot dogs, behaving every bit of the way as if having extra hot dogs in one’s possession is completely normal at the Superdome.
• Taxi cabs.
• Beignets and Cafe au Lait.

• Your team plays like boiled barf,  can’t score in the second half, blows a 2 touchdown lead and loses the one game  you take the entire family to see.
• Your sister tries to lay the blame on you because everyone knows fan behavior affects the outcome of games even though it’s she the football gods are really angry with.
• You are in New Orleans and can only consume 1/2 of 1 fried shrimp dinner because your tummy just refuses to cooperate.   The rest of the time you crave toast, and New Orleans is just not a toast kind of town.
• You pant, drool, anticipate the Saints Jacket you are FINALLY going to get for Christmas this year only to find all they have in stock are women’s size small and men’s 5X, neither of which do anything to enhance one’s newly fibroid-free physique.
• You over-estimate your post-hysterectomy body’s ability to walk all the way from beignets to the hotel.  Later that evening, your body decides to take revenge by expelling any and all traces of said beignets.
• Sleep all the way home in the car, wake up with raging freakishly bad headache caused by dehydration from said expulsion.

Is it 2010, yet?