Because I have no other offering

I’ve plenty of images and tales to share, yet I’ve insufficient time in which to do so.  For that, I am bewildered by regret.

No part of me denies my job has insidiously impacted my writing.  That includes blogging, a minuscule part of my perpetual prose and poetry.

For priorities vex me at every turn.  First, and without denial, come The Kids.  They forever represent my focus, the crux of my every breath, the opening of my every petal and the reaching of my every branch.  For them, nothing rests outside of reach.  I would gladly suffer eternal horrors to ensure they know my love.

Tucked neatly behind them, both family and friends lie in wait.  I can deny no amount of insufferable neglect for the names writ upon that list.  How I wish to embrace each of them, to remark upon my love for what they give me, and to wish with them on every star we can consume with shared eyes rested next to each other.

My quest for enlightened success with novelist hopes then carries a banner seen above faces drawn by lamentable affection.  Dare I name one before the other, a friend here and a book there, or dare I imagine within me the visage of both, a landscape of devotions torn one from the other?

Yet even still I pen want after need after want after need.  Nary a soul or design escapes me without torment.  Too much I want to accomplish.  Too little I find of time.

Within the heavy yoke of survival I rest my weary neck.  The bonds of life drag me to and fro without concern.  At least in spite of my own.

I’ve partaken of no sustenance even at this late hour.  My flesh beckons for the nourishment it needs… and is denied.

I beg your forgiveness as I proffer this simple gift: a quote too often quoted and a picture too often pictured.  Let them sate your hungry heart for but a moment so that I might weep in need the passions unfulfilled in my own life.

Because I have no other offering. . .

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

— John Muir

A beautiful sunset over the lake (179_7939)

The coming maelstrom

I will once again enjoy the marvelous experience of being on call next week.

This information is offered as a preemptive notice of possible impact to my blogging.

Last time there were a few evenings when I barely had time to eat, so this little online journal fell way to the bottom of the list of priorities.

So it will be again next week if I hit any tumultuous evenings with work stuff.

Keep that in mind.

Until a sugar daddy comes along or I’m made rich with income from my novels, I’m afraid this work thing will undoubtedly cause the occasional interruption to an already unreliable blogging momentum.

Random Thought

A conviction of being in control is central to our sense of safety; yet the imposition of illusory control chokes the richness out of life. Omnipotence degrades authentic experience into shallow manipulation. The more endangered we feel, the more control we seek; the more illusory are the controls we strive to maintain, the more vitality seeps out of our lives.

— Stephen Mitchell

Excuse the breakage

It’s come to my attention that nearly all photos posted before this week have suddenly gone AWOL.

Let me explain.

Zooomr completed a major site upgrade this week and went live last night with a new version that—not to put too fine a point on it—should embarrass Flickr and Picasa and other image hosting sites.

But that’s not the point.

Within ten minutes of going live with the new version, they suffered a major hardware failure on their primary database server.

So at this point, the site is essentially dead—as are all of the photos they host for me.

Not to worry though, poppets.  It should be fixed soon.  As soon as it is, those images will reappear like magic.

Meanwhile, I’m using Flickr for temporary hosting until Zooomr is resurrected.

And let me say that I’m not at all turned off of Zooomr because of this.  Remember that it’s a global service developed by a teenager and run by two gentlemen who feel strongly about how important pictures are to the global culture of the internet.

They’ll grow, I assure you, as they’re outpacing the competition in leaps and bounds.  The latest version, Mark III, is, as I said, something that shames every other hosting service.  They can only dream of being as advanced.

Nevertheless, accidents and emergencies befall all of us at the most inopportune times.  So it is with Zooomr.  They weren’t live for more than a quarter of an hour before servers began giving up the ghost.

How rude!

When the dust settles, I’ll migrate the recent Flickr photos to Zooomr, after which you’ll be able to view the larger versions.  Until then, however, I suggest patience.