what's the secret word?

class was good today. i got to wander and take photos around the building. inspiring little session. i was in the type of floaty-mind, create weird things mood. a girl that hadn't gotten her camera yet approached me so that she might accompany me on my shooting mission in order to learn the ropes of the camera functions together. i guess she wasn't really feeling my floaty-mind vibe, so she went off very sweetly and found someone with a camera, and mind-vibe, that better aligned with hers. i experimented with aperture priority and manual focus settings, as well as intentional non-focus, and paid attention to surface patterns, shapes, colors and light instead of subject matter. found some interesting angles and perspectives. i'm excited to incorporate what i learned today into future image creation. we were assigned our first mini-project today, entitled 'every day', based on the ideas of photographer byron wolfe.

i am to take several photographs each day for ten consecutive days, inspired either by something i didn't expect to see or something that encompasses what my daily life is like, choosing the best one from each day and show in class. pretty basic stuff. here are a couple that i shot today:

later on, mom picked eddie and i up for shabbat dinner at karen's, which was an event unto itself, as the conversation cycled through god, causal determinism (which commonly accompanies general god-talk), jesus christo, photography, israel, the bible being a man-made text, evil, pure evil, masturbators, the fact that i should in fact, get an advanced degree in journalism if i actually want to become a photojournalist, cookies, acupuncture, passion, llalalalalalalalalallalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaala. i have difficulty in god conversations, in which i don't feel as if my opinion will be considered as a contribution. i know what i believe, and unapologetically so and i very much enjoy an involved debate with others educated on the subject who would actually be curious to question my beliefs without judgement, no matter what position taken. but for this part of the evening, i felt it was wiser to just not say anything at all. proselytizing ain't my bag. the rest of the table talk was pretty interesting as my cousin's husband was a philosophy major, turned terribly unsatisfied graduate student, turned photographer, turned photo lab manager/graphic design student. good advice and words there. made me think a lot about how i may tint my future. adi came by and brought me such a great birthday present:

the story attached reads as follows: when he and his younger sister moriah were around 12 and 9, respectively, and i was around 5, they got a real kick out of the fact that they could get me to say anything they wanted. so they taught me the secret word. and in order to make sure that i remembered this word, they would (of course) test my knowledge in front of our parents and grandparents at family functions.

"what is the secret word, sally?", they'd implore, eagerly awaiting my response.

"diarrhea crap!", i'd joyfully reply.

sick bastards. the painting is fucking genius. i can't believe he made it. we spent the last hour or so looking up teddy ruxpin, lite brite, and giant cork sculptures on the internet.

on the way home, i had an interesting insight into my mother. i have difficulties with her sometimes. i get frustrated. all the reasons were flooding my immediate consciousness in the back seat of the mini-van on the drive back to our house. then, all of a sudden she said something that made me realize that no matter what she does to drive me totally bonkers, above all else she would do anything for eddie and i. in her eyes, her love for us is one of, if not THE thing, that makes her life important. so i breathed, and relaxed, and the rest fell quiet. so i was pretty thankful for that moment. good day. good book to read. i'm goddamn sleepy. i'm worried about gammy, but i pick her and ira up tomorrow for our family birthday brunch. we'll see everyone. i'll tell her about restorative stem-cell procedures. we can't give up. goodnight.

p.s. i'm super excited because i ordered edgard varese, the mothers of invention, and plastic ono band on vinyl and the new beach house is on its way! fuckkkkkk yes.