Begging for lame pun: Ponies for Nay-bors

Ah, the low intelligence-level humor that is the pun...heh... heh.... nay-bors.... Sorry. But I do think it's pretty sweet that I live a block away from a miniature pony farm... I mean, how many people can claim that? A perk of West Texas living. Downside: it explains the smell on windy mornings. In these little guys' defense, they were relatively odorless, but luckily cute photographs make it easy to forget olfactory associations anyways.

I should note that isn't a warning sign (BEWARE OF PONY) haha. It actually says "Welcome to pet the horses: Do not enter" (which I didn't, tempting as it was). His nose is exaggerated juuust enough because of my wide-angle lens.

I included this one because it reminds of going to petting zoos when I was little. One huge, wet nose shoved into my face. I made sure his eyes were nice and sharp and his nose was out of focus.

Sweet and mellow.

So true...

Living in a smaller city, I’ve seen and heard some really, really awful, low-budget commercials. Few small advertisers seem to catch on to the idea that if your budget is low you should either A) create a really, really simple to execute idea with a kick butt concept or B) find a way to embrace your low budget and small town/city persona with a kick butt concept. Most local ads here opt for one of these two options minus the “kick butt concept” clause. BUT I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a catchy jingle, sung with a serious tone by several men and women who were just barely out of key. “Troy’s Ski Appareeeel…. Cuz you can’t skiiii naaakeed!” I think this fits the latter option perfectly. Troy’s is a local shop with little competition around here and knew touting their apparel brands and specs of their gear wouldn’t do much good. After all, how many West Texans would intently listen to a ski apparel commercial? But, we do go skiing every now and then. Great ads usually have a truth behind them, and I dare you to disprove Troy’s reasoning. So touché Troy’s Ski Apparel, touché.

An absurdity a day keeps excessive saneness away

Well, I’m finally back in Lubbock after a nice Christmas break. I no longer have a laptop, so for the most part I could only access the internet with my iPhone. While I was away, little things kept making me think, “I should put this on my blog…” But, out with the old and in with the new, right? So I started pondering around New Year’s Eve what ridiculous resolution I would declare to the entire blogosphere… exercise more? Nah, I’m good enough about at least trying to do that year-round already. Cook more? Meh, that’s kind of a resolution loop-hole. I like cooking, and it’s not much of a problem seeing as how I’m too broke to eat out often anyways. Give up coffee? I wanted a resolution, not martyrdom. So, I decided maintaining my current level of work ethic and sanity was enough…

But then I started packing for my return. This is where you think my resolution is organization, or donating back-of-the-closet clothing. Nope. For some reason, my epiphany was this: I should use bendy straws at home. The cool, neon kind. Not the kind with stripes you find at restaurants. So, I blurted out to my boyfriend, “I’m going to buy bendy straws when I get back! That’s my resolution!” to which he politely laughed a bit and gave me a strange look I should be accustomed to receiving by now. Then he joke that he hoped I could follow through on such a commitment. Well that must have been the appeal of it. Because I was totally consumed with excitement for five whole minutes at the prospect of using neon bendy straws and the absurdity of making it a goal to do so for an entire calendar year. After my dramatic excitement, I finished off my packing by promptly tucking the idea away in the back of my mind, where it was nice and cozy resting there with my other absurdities.

Jump four days and there we were, back in Lubbock after a nine-hour drive from Houston, unpacking stuff from the car. Again, it hits me, and I make another mental note, removing “bendy staw=resolution” from whatever lobe stores absurdities and into my short-term memory (the frontal lobe, perhaps?). Then we finished unpacking, and by the time I was done, my mental note of “must buy bendy straws to complete New Year resolution” had already expired.

But this bendy straw thing just wasn’t going to disappear that easily. That must be obvious to you by now since you’re reading the fourth paragraph dedicated to them. When I was grocery shopping the next day I had one last thing I had forgotten to grab the first time I went to the very back of the store. As I turned my cart (with one stubborn wheel) into the canned vegetable aisle while wishing I had remembered to grab green beans the FIRST time I was in the back of the store, something in my peripheral vision grabbed my attention. Yes- you guessed it- something neon. AND bendy! And the LAST PACK! They were right at my eye-level, hanging from one of those white, plastic point-of-purchase displays you normally see packs of sunflower seeds hanging on at gas stations. I audibly gasped, and before that pack of bendy straws was in full sight I had grabbed them and threw down in my cart with conviction. I then grabbed my green beans and walked away from the other people in the aisle while trying to look sane. The canned vegetable aisle has never been so much fun. I knew I had a reason for my sudden likeness of bendy straws, and now I know why…

The conclusion I have come to is this: Bendy straws were fate’s apparatus to remind me to enjoy the little things when I get bogged down by the “big picture” and to find the silly in the serious, if, for nothing else, my own personal entertainment. (And if you got to the end of this post, then hopefully yours, too.) So there’s my sub-consciously founded but very appropriate resolution: With my last semesters of college, I will tackle things one at a time, even if they seem to fly at me all at once. I’ll drink out of a bendy straw rather than chug. And most importantly, I’ll make my bendy straws neon, because they’re the most fun. Happy New Year!

L.O.T. [Lots Of Turkey]

I got extra lucky this Thanksgiving. I barely had to cook and, actually, the food came to my place. My parents came to Lubbock for Thanksgiving and, using their Texan ingenuity, simply thawed the turkey in a cooler in the back of their truck on the way up. It was almost ready for cooking when they got here the day before Thanksgiving. And after we no longer felt sedated from turkey [note: two days later] we visited the Silent Wings Museum. Above are some shots I took while there. The head gear was hanging from an aircraft frame equipped with the engine pictured, known as the “Shaky Jake.” Manufactured by the Jacobs Engine Company, it was, well… shaky. I have to hand it to the armed forces… they seem to have an endless ability to appropriately and cleverly name stuff. Branding, almost. My two favorites: “two bags” [given to a rookie who flew with a fighter pilot for the first time] and BFR [Big ------- Rock, as a reference point: “We’re 100 meters south of the BFR”] Aptly named. No clue how often the second one is actually used, but I’m sure there are others recognizable/understandable even to civilians. I think I’ll take note for the day it’s my job to name stuff, minus acronyms that make the letter F into a sandwich…don't think those will do me any good. Quite the opposite, actually. That would just make things TFE anyways. [If you get that, you're good at this acronym thing!]

Kristen and Absidy

Yesterday I met my friend Kristen and her daughter Absidy for a photo shoot at a nearby park. I feel like I worked out my thighs squatting down so many times to be on eye level with Absidy. Luckily for me, she isn’t camera shy. I kinda figured, seeing as how she blew me kisses within minutes of the first time we met. I did learn, however, photographing toddlers is even more difficult than I had anticipated... (getting a nice even light on her face, but with no squinting... and mostly, keeping up!) But, lots of fun. Oh, and Absidy loves picking leaves off of trees. Can't blame her, they're nice and crunchy this time of year...

Tech Bell Tower

Like a good little photographer, I'm in the habit of toting my camera along with me just in case. As for this shot... well, I see the Texas Tech bell tower almost daily, but when I was walking to a late night meeting on campus and saw they had just strung lights down it in preparation for Carol of the Lights, I was glad to have my camera on me. It's one of my favorite campus landmarks... and, funny story, I actually got to climb it a week later. (Access into the tower is restricted...) You can even see the rickety ladder you climb to reach the bell in this shot. I'll dedicate another post to the inside of the tower soon (it was awesome)! For now, I'll let you admire it from the outside.

To all our Wonderful Veterans:

I’m glad my first post is just in time for Veteran’s Day. To all the men and women who have served or are currently serving for our country, thank you. This includes my mom, who served in both the Army and the Air Force.

Thank you, Veterans!