His name is Geefer Giraffe (that's right, ladies and gentlemen G IS for Giraffe). And he's adorable. I figure if our child is going to end up as tall as his/her father, he/she may as well get used to comments about giraffes. And look how cute he is.
December 24, 2007
We bought our first baby thing
And typical of us - it's nothing practical. We've got to ease into these things...
His name is Geefer Giraffe (that's right, ladies and gentlemen G IS for Giraffe). And he's adorable. I figure if our child is going to end up as tall as his/her father, he/she may as well get used to comments about giraffes. And look how cute he is.
His name is Geefer Giraffe (that's right, ladies and gentlemen G IS for Giraffe). And he's adorable. I figure if our child is going to end up as tall as his/her father, he/she may as well get used to comments about giraffes. And look how cute he is.
December 21, 2007
How Mary Must Have Felt
You know - this Christmas there's a strong connection for me with Mary and her journey (go figure). I think we paint too pretty of a picture of her (as per usual with biblical characters - let's be honest). She was (to quote my Grade 8 drama production) "fat and bloated, and you expect me to walk where???" She was just a normal person, fit into the context of her society. Telling people that she was pregnant before she was married wasn't going to get better by saying "but no, it's GOD who got me pregnant"...SURE it was Mary - and God also got the other unwed mother pregnant in town....SURE.... She had to deal with stares, threats to her life (adultery was worth stoning, and being engaged was as good as being married), the stigma attached - as well as having to go through nine months of pregnancy. We forget about the TIME involved between the angel's visit and the birth - 9 months is a LONG time, and yet...scarily short...
So - poor Mary - and then, to top it off, at the end of a VERY long journey, she ends up giving birth - in a stable! And if there was no room for them in the inn, imagine how many extra animals must have been housed in the stable - all those people got to that inn somehow... Then there's the humour of our interpretation of the baby being born. It was a silent night, it was holy, there was only peace and quiet and into that peace and quiet and holiness, a baby magically appeared in a manger. Little Lord Jesus, no crying he made, and evidently, Mary's birth was painless and miraculously peaceful too (in our Sunday School drama Jesus appeared from behind a poinsettia - I said to a friend - I hope it's that easy for me when I give birth...Oh, there's my baby, behind a poinsettia). We make this out to be a beautiful serene scene, with Mary able to give birth without even knocking her halo off kilter.
Somehow, going through what I am right now, and looking forward to what I'm looking forward to, I think it was a little louder, dirtier, messy, with Mary yelling in pain, and the animals bleating a response at every contraction. Perhaps that tickled Joesph's funny bone and he'd laugh, which would only make Mary more frazzled. By making it into a holy event ONLY - we lose some of the humanity that made Christ's birth so amazing. Our Saviour, the Son of GOD, became a little baby - born the same way all of us are - he was helpless, and had to cry to communicate what he needed, just like all little babies. The awesomeness of Mary & Joseph's responsibility, to provide for the son of God when he was incapable of taking care of himself, that gets lost in what we look at in the story of Christ. His humanity is part of what makes our faith so amazing, and God's love for us so incredible.
Jesus came to rule over the earth, to change the world, to give us hope of eternity with our father in heaven - and he did it in a slobber covered manger, with the normal pains of childbirth promised to all women in Genesis, visited by the dregs of society (shepherds), to spend 30+ years growing up in a society that KNEW he was illegitimate. All this, so he could die an excruciating death. For me and you, and my little unborn baby. That inspires more awe in me than a silent, peaceful birth with a baby who freakishly never cries.
Merry Christmas - I hope it will be merry for some REAL reasons, and not only imagined ones.
So - poor Mary - and then, to top it off, at the end of a VERY long journey, she ends up giving birth - in a stable! And if there was no room for them in the inn, imagine how many extra animals must have been housed in the stable - all those people got to that inn somehow... Then there's the humour of our interpretation of the baby being born. It was a silent night, it was holy, there was only peace and quiet and into that peace and quiet and holiness, a baby magically appeared in a manger. Little Lord Jesus, no crying he made, and evidently, Mary's birth was painless and miraculously peaceful too (in our Sunday School drama Jesus appeared from behind a poinsettia - I said to a friend - I hope it's that easy for me when I give birth...Oh, there's my baby, behind a poinsettia). We make this out to be a beautiful serene scene, with Mary able to give birth without even knocking her halo off kilter.
Somehow, going through what I am right now, and looking forward to what I'm looking forward to, I think it was a little louder, dirtier, messy, with Mary yelling in pain, and the animals bleating a response at every contraction. Perhaps that tickled Joesph's funny bone and he'd laugh, which would only make Mary more frazzled. By making it into a holy event ONLY - we lose some of the humanity that made Christ's birth so amazing. Our Saviour, the Son of GOD, became a little baby - born the same way all of us are - he was helpless, and had to cry to communicate what he needed, just like all little babies. The awesomeness of Mary & Joseph's responsibility, to provide for the son of God when he was incapable of taking care of himself, that gets lost in what we look at in the story of Christ. His humanity is part of what makes our faith so amazing, and God's love for us so incredible.
Jesus came to rule over the earth, to change the world, to give us hope of eternity with our father in heaven - and he did it in a slobber covered manger, with the normal pains of childbirth promised to all women in Genesis, visited by the dregs of society (shepherds), to spend 30+ years growing up in a society that KNEW he was illegitimate. All this, so he could die an excruciating death. For me and you, and my little unborn baby. That inspires more awe in me than a silent, peaceful birth with a baby who freakishly never cries.
Merry Christmas - I hope it will be merry for some REAL reasons, and not only imagined ones.
Last Day!
FINALLY the last day of school is here! It's been a long haul - and one very difficult class to add to the mix, and now I'm finally done!! (Well, for 2 weeks anyway).
Plans for the holidays...of COURSE not! Brad & I would never PLAN for our holidays, it just takes all the fun out of it!
Have I bought my gifts yet...or even started...of COURSE not! Brad & I do best with little to no shopping time left.
Have we decorated...of COURSE not!
What do I want for Christmas?
Well - we've been looking at things people have qualified as "stocking stuffers" in their advertisements. Evidently it's not cost that determines what goes in a stocking, it's size - so $100 gift certificate to a Spa? Stocking Stuffer. MP3 Players? Stocking Stuffers. The new iPhone? Stocking Stuffer. BUT if you spent $20 on a REALLY BIG stuffed teddy bear - now THAT would belong under a tree!
So - I'd love some fabulously expensive stocking stuffers. I've also decided that someone coming to clean my house between now and May would be wondrously amazing. Some Deb pampering would be nice (you know, manicures, pedicures that sort of thing), and I've discovered I'm running out of shoes that fit my ever swelling feet - that's right - even your feet grow when you're pregnant.
Other than that...Some energy - no more nausea (this week has been MUCH better than last) - sleep - less stress - students who are all positive and ready to work every class - there's lots of things I'd love to find under the tree if it was possible.
At the same time - I've had a number of students bring me gifts - and that's always so cool to me that they'd do that. And this week I haven't thrown up every day (it's amazing how doing that for a while changes your perspective of what a "good" day is). So there's good and not good.
In the end - it's the last day of school, and now I can finally move on to getting into Christmas mode - which is fun. And then - less than 2 weeks until my birthday - we can't forget about that of course...
I'd write more, but there's a few things I need to do, and some things I think need their own posts to say - so stay tuned!
Plans for the holidays...of COURSE not! Brad & I would never PLAN for our holidays, it just takes all the fun out of it!
Have I bought my gifts yet...or even started...of COURSE not! Brad & I do best with little to no shopping time left.
Have we decorated...of COURSE not!
What do I want for Christmas?
Well - we've been looking at things people have qualified as "stocking stuffers" in their advertisements. Evidently it's not cost that determines what goes in a stocking, it's size - so $100 gift certificate to a Spa? Stocking Stuffer. MP3 Players? Stocking Stuffers. The new iPhone? Stocking Stuffer. BUT if you spent $20 on a REALLY BIG stuffed teddy bear - now THAT would belong under a tree!
So - I'd love some fabulously expensive stocking stuffers. I've also decided that someone coming to clean my house between now and May would be wondrously amazing. Some Deb pampering would be nice (you know, manicures, pedicures that sort of thing), and I've discovered I'm running out of shoes that fit my ever swelling feet - that's right - even your feet grow when you're pregnant.
Other than that...Some energy - no more nausea (this week has been MUCH better than last) - sleep - less stress - students who are all positive and ready to work every class - there's lots of things I'd love to find under the tree if it was possible.
At the same time - I've had a number of students bring me gifts - and that's always so cool to me that they'd do that. And this week I haven't thrown up every day (it's amazing how doing that for a while changes your perspective of what a "good" day is). So there's good and not good.
In the end - it's the last day of school, and now I can finally move on to getting into Christmas mode - which is fun. And then - less than 2 weeks until my birthday - we can't forget about that of course...
I'd write more, but there's a few things I need to do, and some things I think need their own posts to say - so stay tuned!
December 08, 2007
The Life of a Photographer's Assistant
Brad's been doing a lot of work with his friend Greg taking pictures this holiday season. Greg's got a company that does things like Santa Claus at the mall & corporate gig's where you can get your photo taken on the company's dime. It's been very cool for him, he comes home with some interesting stories, and gets paid to take pictures that are a whole lot less pressure to take than wedding pictures are (given it's a full day event, and if your pictures don't turn out it's not a good thing...not that our pictures have ever NOT turned out, but still...it's a lot of stress). SO...this has been a lot of fun for him, and it's been good for him to hang out with Greg & the other photographers and assistants who work on these jobs.
This week Brad worked Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and has another gig on Sunday. I hope this means I'm going to get a nice Christmas present (ha ha ha). It's a pretty neat set-up Greg's got. Brad takes the pictures on a digital camera that connects directly to a laptop. From there someone processes them (crops them, puts on the company logo and a border or something like that) and then they print it right to a printer that's there, and within 2 minutes from the time you got your photo taken, you've got a picture in hand in a nice little booklet. Pretty cool.
Well, one of the computer technicians is moving to Edmonton, and I expressed a willingness to help out - a little extra cash for me would be nice too, and if I don't help, then I don't see Brad for many MANY nights. So, Greg said he'd be up for that, so on Tuesday we went to a swanky (and I mean SWANKY) party at an exclusive club (if you're not a ka-gillionaire, don't bother trying to be a member) and I learned how to crop, edit and print pictures from Tim. Last night, I was on my own, and for 6 hours Brad took pictures & I printed them for people at a nice hotel in Vancouver.
A few things I (and Brad at times) discovered:
Rich people are just the same as everyone else - it's us poor people who put them on a pedestal and they probably couldn't care less about it (especially when you're a ka-gillionaire).
We work well together - communicating well, talking to the clients in a similar way - keeping each other informed about what's going on.
Drunk people say "I love you" more than non-drunk people.
Having a stomach bug (or food poisoning, I'm not sure which), and being pregnant is NOT a nice combo when processing pictures for 6 hours. I think I lost 90% of my body's water last night one way or the other, and I felt what felt like contractions (I don't think the baby likes me having a bug). I did it, and it was manageable (mostly), but I sure didn't eat anything, and called the nurse's hotline when I got home. BOY was I relieved when she told me that kind of reaction is NOT part of a normal pregnancy - I sure wouldn't want to experience it more than once!!! She gave me some good advice, and I'm feeling somewhat better this morning, which is nice.
One of the coolest things about the evening, though, was at the end when we were cleaning up. We chatted with Greg and he said that I was incredible (worth a million dollars was one of the phrases he used) and that he'd never seen someone pick this stuff up so quickly, or be so capable within an evening. He really appreciated that he didn't have to come over and problem solve all night long, but that I could figure things out and make it happen. That felt good to me. And when we asked him how much I should be making the invoice out for, he said "Normally for someone starting out, I pay $**, but since you're so great already, you can bill what I'd charge someone who's been doing this for a while ($10 more than the previous number!!). I said to Brad later that I got a raise before I even started working! I was pretty excited about that, and Brad was pretty proud of me. And if I can do that well as I leave my post to throw up and I look like a ghost - imagine how great I'll be next time! (And Greg has said he'd like there to be a next time, which is cool).
I'm glad this is still something that's mostly Brad's gig, but it's fun, from time to time to help out and be a part of things.
Love to you all.
This week Brad worked Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and has another gig on Sunday. I hope this means I'm going to get a nice Christmas present (ha ha ha). It's a pretty neat set-up Greg's got. Brad takes the pictures on a digital camera that connects directly to a laptop. From there someone processes them (crops them, puts on the company logo and a border or something like that) and then they print it right to a printer that's there, and within 2 minutes from the time you got your photo taken, you've got a picture in hand in a nice little booklet. Pretty cool.
Well, one of the computer technicians is moving to Edmonton, and I expressed a willingness to help out - a little extra cash for me would be nice too, and if I don't help, then I don't see Brad for many MANY nights. So, Greg said he'd be up for that, so on Tuesday we went to a swanky (and I mean SWANKY) party at an exclusive club (if you're not a ka-gillionaire, don't bother trying to be a member) and I learned how to crop, edit and print pictures from Tim. Last night, I was on my own, and for 6 hours Brad took pictures & I printed them for people at a nice hotel in Vancouver.
A few things I (and Brad at times) discovered:
Rich people are just the same as everyone else - it's us poor people who put them on a pedestal and they probably couldn't care less about it (especially when you're a ka-gillionaire).
We work well together - communicating well, talking to the clients in a similar way - keeping each other informed about what's going on.
Drunk people say "I love you" more than non-drunk people.
Having a stomach bug (or food poisoning, I'm not sure which), and being pregnant is NOT a nice combo when processing pictures for 6 hours. I think I lost 90% of my body's water last night one way or the other, and I felt what felt like contractions (I don't think the baby likes me having a bug). I did it, and it was manageable (mostly), but I sure didn't eat anything, and called the nurse's hotline when I got home. BOY was I relieved when she told me that kind of reaction is NOT part of a normal pregnancy - I sure wouldn't want to experience it more than once!!! She gave me some good advice, and I'm feeling somewhat better this morning, which is nice.
One of the coolest things about the evening, though, was at the end when we were cleaning up. We chatted with Greg and he said that I was incredible (worth a million dollars was one of the phrases he used) and that he'd never seen someone pick this stuff up so quickly, or be so capable within an evening. He really appreciated that he didn't have to come over and problem solve all night long, but that I could figure things out and make it happen. That felt good to me. And when we asked him how much I should be making the invoice out for, he said "Normally for someone starting out, I pay $**, but since you're so great already, you can bill what I'd charge someone who's been doing this for a while ($10 more than the previous number!!). I said to Brad later that I got a raise before I even started working! I was pretty excited about that, and Brad was pretty proud of me. And if I can do that well as I leave my post to throw up and I look like a ghost - imagine how great I'll be next time! (And Greg has said he'd like there to be a next time, which is cool).
I'm glad this is still something that's mostly Brad's gig, but it's fun, from time to time to help out and be a part of things.
Love to you all.
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