A Scenic World

Day Twelve: “Sister Winter,” by Sufjan Stevens

This photo is dedicated to all my friends. I wish you knew my friends - they are generous, thoughtful, beautiful people.

They have encouraged me to pursue all of my various interests, from photography to piano. They have gotten up at 4am to shoot the sunrise with me. They have listened with sympathy as I recounted the Year of My Great Tragedy. They have fed me and brought me coffee when they knew I was tired. They have chosen the gifts they give me wisely. They have introduced me to haunting songs and funny stories. They have filled my life with laughter. They have done all of this and much, much more.

Thank you, Mike, Jhimli, Sergio, Barry, and Courtney for the past few days. I must remember that I would be foolish to take our time for granted because, really, it doesn’t get better than this.

Happy Christmas :)

Day Eleven: “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” by Damien Rice

Day Ten: “The Holidays Are Here, and We’re Still at War” by Brett Dennen

I considered using an actual gun for this photo. I certainly have enough friends that could have provided me with one. But in the end, I decided to do the cliched tripod photo.

I have held a gun. I have a list of things I want to do before I die. One of those was to shoot a gun. So five years ago on my twenty-third birthday, my friend Jhimli arranged for me to go a firing range with one of her coworkers.

He explained how the gun worked to me, how the safety worked, how to make sure I only ever pointed it down and away whenever it was loaded. I put on my earmuffs and safety goggles and fired one round. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

He made me shoot another round, just to make sure I hated it as much as I thought I did. And I did hate it. I hated the fact that I was holding sheer, utter destruction in my hands. I hated that I could kill him if I’d wanted just by squeezing the trigger. I hated that I could accidentally kill him just by accidentally pulling the trigger. Either way, he would have been dead.

So yeah, I chose the tripod.

Day Nine: “Ave Maria,” music by Franz Schubert, performed by Chris Cornell and Eleven

This version of “Ave Maria” is definitely in my top five favorite songs of all time. I think it might be technically perfect. In fact, my devotion to this song led one of friends to believe I might be persuaded to convert to progressive rock. Alas, that did not happen.

I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired today for the picture though. Perhaps it was because I was trying to channel the feelings created by “Ave Maria” while listening to Cyndi Lauper.

Day Eight: “25th December” by Everything But the Girl

My grandfather died a year ago today. He loved to hear me play the piano. The music open on the piano is one of Chopin’s Nocturnes. Scribbled above the music is a phone number of an old high school friend. She’d moved and called me right before I went to Europe to give me her new number. We made plans to meet up after I returned.

She died while I was gone.