I was ill today, so I really didn’t feel like going outside and capturing a happy image. In fact, I didn’t feel like capturing a happy image anywhere. I was doing my laundry in the evening when I took a look around, and (being in the mood I was in) saw the terrible shape the dorm laundry room was in.

I knelt down so the pipes that feed water to the washers were above eye level, leaving them looking not only rusty and decaying, but a bit menacing. Finally I could capture an image that explains how I felt at the time.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better, but I suppose the fact that my photographs change with my mood says something. At least now I know and recognize that!

It’s been getting warmer lately, so I decided that for today’s Project 365 photograph, I wanted to capture the beginning of Spring! I grabbed my camera after lunch and started wandering around campus, looking for a budding flower, plant, or tree. I stumbled upon this gem growing in the root system of a tree near Towers.

After clearing the garbage from the scene (the tree was right next to the dumpster), I grabbed my camera, squatted down, raised the viewfinder to my eye, and… got a phone call. Jennifer called to say hello! I talked with her for a bit, then got back down low, recomposed, and took the shot.

The first shot I took excluded the dandelion leaves growing on the right, but that didn’t feel right. Why should they get shunned just because some people consider them weeds? I recomposed and took this photograph, which turned out to be much more interesting. It sort of shows a duopoly between the soft, round plant growing on the left and the hard, spiny plant on the right.

I’m so glad that spring is here, I am quite tired of the dead, dreary winter that we had. I’m going to be spending a lot more time outside now that I don’t have to bundle up - in fact, I’m going to a big campfire the Residence Hall Association is putting on tonight!

After yesterday’s pitiful Project 365 sorry-excuse-for-a-photograph, I decided today’s had to be epic. Not just good, not only great, but epic. Lucky for me, it was foggy when I woke up this morning.

I didn’t notice it, being the groggy person I am in the mornings, but Jennifer called me and had me look out the window. I immediately got out of my PJ’s and into some real clothes, grabbed my camera bag and tripod, and went outside.

I went to Cardiac Hill, which has a particular tree I’m fond of due to its beautiful roots. The fog wasn’t quite as thick as it was when I had looked out the window, so I knew I had little time left. I set up the shot, framed the scene, and snapped the photograph. My first one was my best, but I got a couple more keepers out of the situation, looking at different angles.

I’d say I did pretty well for today’s Project 365 - I’m about twelve hours earlier than I usually post them! No idea what is coming tomorrow, but sometimes that’s for the best; Today’s photograph is proof of that.

For the past month, I’ve been in Texas with my grandmother and aunt. I flew down a few days after break started, and I’ll be flying back up to Missouri tomorrow afternoon. Though I’ve missed Jennifer and my friends at school, I’ve had so much fun while I was here.

When I got here, the house was all decorated for Christmas - including the traditional Christmas Ficus. I relaxed and got into vacation mode, and helped Grandma get used to her newish computer. Christmas came and went, with lots of family, smiles, laughter, and of course gifts.

The next focus became New Year’s Eve. We prepared snacks and games in the days prior, and when the night came we stayed up playing Trivial Pursuit Digital Choice (naturally, we used the kids’ questions). A few days later, we took down the Christmas decorations and the holidays were over.

I helped Grandma order and set up a network camera and netbook, and liked the netbook so much that I sold my laptop to get one for myself! I now own (and love using) an MSI Wind U115. 10-14 hours of battery life with VERY active Wi-Fi usage, music playing, and more.

I got a new client over the holiday, and it’s turning into a nice business-to-business relationship. It couldn’t have come at a better time either, with the interesting financial situation I’m in - but I’m still able to attend school, so all is well.

Overall, it’s been a very nice, relaxing, comfortable holiday. Depending on whether I get a job in Cape Girardeau that wants me to stay or not, I may come here again for the summer. There’s a customer service call center in town that’s always looking to hire.