RonHello again my friend,
It seems to be snowing every Wednesday now. It feels so long since I last wrote to you. I set up a way to insert the date and time in my post last time… let me see…
Date: 28/01/09 | Time: 11:58 AM
That’s it…
I like the snow. It’s nice to get forced exercise like this by shovelling it. The only thing is that it takes about an hour, so I’m an hour later than usual for work. It’s ok for today, but tomorrow I can’t afford to be late.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a terrible day — for I have meetings scheduled from 10 am. till 3 pm, with only a half hour break. 5 hours straight of meetings… it’s going to be exhausting. And stressful too, for it’s all about putting together a contract for this years work with GM. If GM says no, I could end up being out of a job.
Let’s talk about something else. I’m still buying things, all for the purpose of my photography hobby/ambitions/business. After thinking about it for a month, reading reviews, both good and bad, and comparing it with other programs, I decided to buy Portrait Professional. And I love what it can do. It’s a bit limited, in that it only works with faces and both eyes must be showing — no good for profile photos. But, in just a couple minutes, it allows me to do things I would never be able to do.
The best thing I like is how it improves the skin — removing blemishes. In a way, like digital makeup, smoothing the skin… and making people just look better, like a model. It can also reshape the face, slimming it. And I love that feature too. But need to be careful with it. I find, if I use the face slimming on my wife, it just made her look strange… but, on photos of strangers I shot in China, it makes an ordinary looking person on the street look like a model… really making them look more beautiful.
It can also very easily, with one button click, change the colour of the eyes — which is pretty cool too. It has many more features too, like teeth whitening, making lips redder, and brushes to manually touch up features.
One thing I’m not sure if it can do but would love is whether it can add that highlight in the eye that photographers love — the highlight reflection of the light that helps give life to the eye.
Some people may think it’s cheating, retouching photos like this. But, professional photographers do it. And people want to look their best. It’s also about, for me, just making beautiful images. And images that are like art. And the people are still the same people. Once I get my photos organized, and edit a few, I’ll put them on my flickr page for you to see.
Date: 28/01/09 | Time: 9:04 PM
On my way home now… an earlier trip home. I want to get to sleep early to be at my best for the meetings tomorrow. I do feel a bit stressed out today — hard to focus on getting any work done. I spent a large part of the afternoon just getting some mail rebates prepared. I just went to the post office now to mail them… 2 days to spare before the last date to mail them.
I, like most people, hate mail rebates.
I need a release from all this stress. I feel I’m not very good in my social interactions. I bought the domain: “shy.me” last year — haven’t done anything with it. But it is a lot of who I am.
But I also take pride in the work I do — no matter what it is. I take a job, focus on it, and give 200% — making sure it gets done on time. Even when surprises come up, I try my best to resolve them. And, even though sometimes I feel like ignoring problems — I take pride when I don’t and meet them head on. I feel a bit disappointed in my coworkers though when I don’t see the same effort from them. But, at the same time, I’m amazed at how brilliant my coworkers are too.
Listening to second part of “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” now. Really I love this book I bought from Audible.com. Listening to it, a peace comes over me. With the economy so bad now, more and more people losing jobs everyday — many of my coworkers and friends out of a job now… it’s a very stressful time. We need, I need, this feeling of peace.
At first I listened to In Bed with Susie Bright — but… I don’t know… I just find listening to her not relaxing at all.
I want to share a feeling of peace, seeing the world through tender, peaceful eyes. Maybe that would be a good domain name: “PeacefulNudes.com”?… but no… I won’t get any more domain names. I still like: “n-nudes.com” — the last one I got. And I will resurrect my original domain: AngelEyes.com … sometime.
But… NudeRiver.com… I like it too. This will continue to be my primary domain now. I have the other one: MyAsianLover.com — I like that one too… for sharing my intimate love life with you.
Anyway… time to get off the train now… TTFN…
Date: 28/01/09 | Time: 9:22 PM
Date: 30/01/09 | Time: 1:17 AM
A full 24 hours have gone by… just finished this long exhausting day. Too much stress and trying to do too much with too little time. One more early morning 8:30 am meeting tomorrow… ouch… this is going to kill me.
I can’t say too much here… suffice it to say, I know too much.
Tonight I rediscovered my digital magazines with Zinio.com. I subscribed to a digital version of Playboy 2 years ago and the subscription finished. So I renewed it. But then I looked at what else was out there and subscribed to 3 other magazines — 2 on photography and one on business.
I was just reading one of the photography ones and find it’s worth it — lots of info there and it will undoubtedly help me create better photos. It was the most expensive though, at $22 for a year, 12 issues.
The other 2 — a business one for just $8 for a year… hopefully it can help me get my finances in order. And the other is another photography one.. $9 for a year… a lot more ads though.
And then browsing… I found they also carry Penthouse. So… curious, I also subscribed to Penthouse Letters for $20 for 12 issues. I’m thinking it might provide some inspiration for one goal I’ve had for a while — to write erotic stories.
Anyway… almost home… as soon as I get home I need to just quickly go to bed. And then set my alarm for 8 am again. I’ll be happy when this week is over!! A very stress-filled week, but I think I rose to the challenge.
And I’m continuing listening to this audible book inspired by The Tao — very peaceful and just what I need now. I feel it’s helping my confidence…
Date: 30/01/09 | Time: 1:46 AM
At home now… time for bed… Good night and sweet dreams…
Hugs and kisses and with love always…
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