The Blog of James Jay

It seems like a while since i have actually posted here. i have been neglecting to do anything computer related. I just have been tired as of late and honestly do not feel like sitting in this kid chair for long periods of time as my neck begins to hurt. 

the move just about killed us, we love the apartment and are just trying to get everything organized its hard moving to a new place after we have been at the the old apartment for so long. we kinda forgot how to move. how to pack everything and how much work it was. well honestly it was mostly the heat that killed us. it was way to hot to do anything. 

but life is trudging along, work has slowed down some. but now comes the time where we start working on stuff we didn’t get a chance to. so we try and play catch up.

i also have gotten the 3 speed running and have ridden it a couple of times to work and have really enjoyed the ride.

in other news last night i watched wall e after waiting almost a year to see it… i also have been listening to the new sigur ros album…and love love love it… and i found out last week they are coming to town in september i am so freking excited…i cannot wait for this show its going to be amazing.

well i need to go to the bike shop so ill write a review about wall e later and the new sigur ros cd…

so i went and finally picked up my film. in total i had 8 rolls of material, i thought it was 12… there was also one roll that i didn’t shoot, thats the roll that didnt catch on the spool.. i was disappointed. but wha are you going to do?

i made a quick scan through the images and scanned the ones i liked…

i still have like maybe 3 rolls left to scan but am being lazy, its such a tedious job but when you get around to it and see something you thought was cool on the screen its pretty cool…

i did other stuff this weekend instead of scanning i worked on my bike and got it running excited to start riding it to work…

but thats a topic for later. 

instead for right now ill post some images…

 

i saw this guy sleeping on his lunch break, he looked tired… i like how i framed the shot… 

 

one night me, talia, and chloe went to dinner at the cheesecake factory, its funny it always used to be me and talia going there now its us three… is so weird and cool to have a third person with us it was just us 2 for so long… well the photo was taken in almost complete darkness, sometimes i cant believe what i get from my canonet…i don’t think i could get half of the stuff from a SLR.

 

for some odd reason this is small…

i dont think it uploaded right…

well we went to dinner, and i saw these girls taking photos of themselves, i always think its fun when people do this… im sure the images wound up on myspace, but i find it cute… i was trying to catch the flash but got this instead… friends you cant beat that…

cruise on over to my flickr for a larger view…

 

as i was sitting there on the bench waiting for our name to be called there was so much going around me, the girls, then this little boy…

he was so into the case and what was inside… while everyone moved around him… i was lucky enough to capture it to film… it was just a cool moment…

 

Dan, this is our neighbor, a friend, and also a fellow photographer. he is such a cool guy we talk about so much sometimes… i respect this guy for his dedication to his boys and for moving on with is own life.

he has alot of stuff he has dealt with in his life but still he pushes on taking it day by day… and this guy can take a killer picture of a plant.

 

this just made me laugh i remember seeing this and laughing at it… thats all it was, was taken for kicks…i know i have seen it before, but i remember i had had a bad day and this just made me laugh outloud. it was just one of those things that can make you feel better about everything…

 

Dan let me borrow his Olympus SLR for a couple of weeks, i wanted to see how i did with it…

its been awhile since i used a film SLR so i gave it a whirl. ill have to look at the rest of the film before i decide if i did ok…

i don’t know we were laughing at something. 

 

another from the same roll…

 

i noticed i hardly have any photos of talia, either she doesn’t like them or she just doesnt look right to me in the frame.

but i love love this one…

i honestly don’t remember this…but i love it…

it looks like we were outside under the carport, if it is, the only light that was coming down was from the fluorescent bulbs. this frame made me smile. 

 

one morning on my morning bike ride to the starbucks, i saw these 2 guys playing. i saw them and knew i wanted the frame, i waited for a couple of minutes watching them i wished i got all of them in the frame, i had to set my coffee down and then shoot before they noticed me…

its a nice frame but it could have been better…too much headroom not enough foot room…

all i could think was man its to early to be thinking that hard, and man i wish i played chess decent…

 

i dont know whay i cut off his feet too..

too much head room..

i think its because i always think my depth of field will be shot when i focus in low light and i always pick a point with the rangefinder and then go with it..

i need to start focusing and then frame better…

 

 

i have this is color, i think i prefer it in color too…

i wanted to see how different it looked…

 

 

Guinness enough said, i dont think i ended up buying it…

damn i dont think my frame in camera is right for some odd reason, i cut the wheels, i need to back up more or something…

 

a nice evening,not cold not hot…just right to sit out on the patio and enjoy a glass of wine and pizza…

i loved how lights look on film like this… all kinds of white dots.

though i think snow looks way cooler on film..

lights bouncing all over…

 

i was shooting in this restaurant lit my candlelight, i saw this girl ringing up on the register…

tried to make a photo…

 

i liked the atmosphere here…

 

i went to florida some time ago, after our first night there me and my coworker walked like 5 miles back to our hotel, i shot some random stuff i have yet to go through all the negs. i love Laundromats, there is always a stillness there, like a moment where everyone is there and all that is left is the stillness…

 

i saw him also, i always wonder about people who ride the bus, i envy them too… meeting people, interacting with the world, its always changing. then there are the times where you just want to block everyone out and put on your headphones and be home already…

but your stuck on the bus. 

 

well thats it for right now. 

ill have to scan and post the rest later hope you enjoyed what i posted. hope this finds you all well on this hot monday… ps ill show my bike later, it rocks…

 

so one night me Talia and Angie were saying we should make a bike gang since we ride together. we are not sure on the reqirements of our gang or a name we have a couple floating around. 

we had:

“bike lane lunatics” abbreviated ”B . L . L”

“Bike Lane Mafia”  abbreviated ”B . L . M” this one sounds weird abbreviated so we didn’t choose it it made us think of bowl movements. 

” Ride Around Renegades” abbreviated R . A . R

” bike Lane Terrors” abbreviated “B . L . T” i like this one but it makes me think of a blt sandwich. 

those were the names going through our heads.

you ask what’s our gang all about? well we basically just want to ride, and we also think its cool to have a gang. 

here is some text i was playing with…

check it…

im going to make us a logo and maybe a myspace page or something. maybe even a tshirt and stickers too.. dopeness…

ill keep you updated…

 

sitting here at the kitchen table using the laptop again, i must say im really in love with this machine, it has programs so i bring it home to work on junk i have laying around. i honestly believe that my next computer purchase is going to be a laptop, i love being able to take it every where with me. and then ill be able to plug it into my monitor and work from there. 

its cool…

in other news i was looking at azcentral today and they were reporting that gas has hit 4.00 a gallon here in arizona. thats insane, but it kinda makes it cool i see so many people riding bikes these last couple of weeks… even in this hot weather. it would be really nice expecially if it was cooler out there. well ill be joining them again in a couple of more weeks as i will be riding again. new tires willbe ordered for the raleigh, so im excited. ill be riding faster and lighter…

my neighbors are running around upstairs… they are loud… im tired of living below them… i dont mind when they are noisy but they are doing there daily choirs right now, it is 10:19 and they barely came home and started cleaning. i hate that, you can here them running around and playing… its annoying. well at least they are our problem for only a week more, then we are out. hopefully the people that move here next will be nice like us and not complain. 

chloe is crying again… she will fall back asleep in a bit. 

kmart is selling sweat pants that say ” true love waits”, to tell other kids that they are abstinent. but they have it rolling across the butt of the girls… thats just weird, they are trying to tell kids its ok to not have sex but the girls have “true love waits” across there booty… how does that help when a guy is staring at a girls butt? i mean i understand what they are trying to do, but across a butt?

thats just weird to me. 

so me and talia were watching tv and we saw a mcdonalds commercial where kids are running around with some pop and french fries… so i decided to go get some just now… sad how marketing gets you. 

but the marketing worked. 

now we are watching susie orman on channel 8. she has alot of information. 

this blog is turning into a blog of nothing again i should end it. 

alright im ending this…

going to bed im tired…

 

so i knew who Nina Simone was but really never thought about and put 2 and 2 together. she was a piano player, and was most famous for the song “ill put a spell on you” , this woman has such a history.

anyways so me being me i started doing some listening and fell in love with this womans voice…

i think the first track of hers i listenend to was sinnerman there is just so much feeling in this song its unbelievable. i closed my eyes and just listened, its amazing. 

first thing i do this weekend is picking a cd of hers up…

i just need more of that voice…

 

so im sitting here listneing to some of her music online and one track i dloaded from itunes…

i really need to start packing we need to be out of here on the 15 not to far away to pack out stuff up and be out of this apartment. 

its weird

changed tracks (deftones covering simple man) i really want to hear around the fur.

anyways i was saying its really weird. that we are moving after all these years its funny in other states and other cities its normal to live in a apartment for years. but here in arizona its usually a transitional place. when people ask us ow long we have lived here and we tell them they are like wow that is so long…

we have spent 5 years, 5 years in this one bedroom apartment, i carried talia through the door when we were married, it was our first home, it has all we have known for this years. we started our lives here, me and talia, now chloe.  i know we are only moving just down a couple of apartments but honestly its weird thinking that we wont be here no more…

having to get to know different people. having to pack and unpack our belongings. its just kinda sad in a way.

but at the same time im glad we are moving we have just outgrown this place and its time to move on.

its better for us and im sure in the end i will feel okay about it.

i look around and notice all this crap im going to have to pack….

 man i have alot of work ahead of me….

 

like tonight, for instance. i went in at 8 this morning my time clock said 8:01 i worked till 8:35… a 10 hour day not to bad, i almost made up my hours from yesterday. i arrived at work at like 3 so almost there… i was on a roll so i was working on my report, i think i was away from my screen today for a total of 30 minutes, i went for like a 5 minute walk and and went through a drive through for food.

so im home now sitting in front of another screen typing this from the couch. at least i have Talia here, a cold Guinness and Veronica Mars on tv. 

Veronica Mars?

dont ask…

anyways im working on this report again trying to come up with some nice colors to use. im not to sure im really pleased with the way it it looking, i wish i could change some stuff and make it look cleaner but what can you do sometimes you just need to go forward with it. 

man i have this track im looking for, i cant remember the artist. i think the title was zacado or something like that. man i love that track, but need to find it. 

but other than that life is good…

 

 

 

so im sitting here in east phoenix waiting for the car, it hasnt been starting up as it should and yesterday it wouldnt turn over the car just clicked. and then finally started. so i think its the battery, at least i hope so. also getting a oil change, and having some other crap done on this car, little things here and there. 

so i sit here working on the report as well as typing this thing out. 

but other than that life is fine i had such a awesome time this weekend with talia and chloe. we actually had the chance to go to the theatre and watch a movie it was really fun and cool to hang out with her. we saw the new indiana jones movie i really enjoyed it, it was fun and made me laugh in alot of places. we also went and rented some movies for the evening. we rented juno so we finally saw that, its funny we wanted to see that movie even before it came out in the movie theatre, we were trying to look for it when it was still unheard of, we also watched 27 dresses which wasn’t that bad.

so that was our weekend, a fun filled weekend, it was a good 5th year anniversary. ohh i forgot to tell about the cake, Talia’s mom bought us a cake a 2 tier cake we finally ate some of it last night it was a whipped cream banana filled cake. ill have to post some photos when i get the chance. 

side note: i just met a guy on a rode trip to seattle he started out in dallas…i think thats what he said. and a lady is sitting across from me reading her book. and to my left is a father and his toddler son, he looks to be at least 2. he is really well behaved. he sounds like chloe, he keeps saying huh? after every little thing. the ladys phone is ringing. 

man im hungry… i wish i had enough money to go to the dennys down the road. i could go for some eggs, hash browns, and some coffee…

they do have free soda here and sometimes they have free popcorn. there doesn’t seem to be anything appetizing in the snack machine. doritios, candy, cheez it’s, stuff like that.   

man i just remembered i forgot my lunch at home. well i guess its better i would have no place to keep it. 

well i guess i should end this post i dont want it turning into a huge ol’ post of nothing. 

 

hope this email finds you and your car working well…

man im seriously hungry….