re: my day job

still dreaming about transitioning to pro nature photographer(/artist/hockey player). i think i may be just about ready to leave that day job behind, having honed my craft this spring.

i followed this great blue heron for about an hour. when he finally flew right by me (2m away), i smoothly, deftly whipped the camera around on the tripod, with this fine result.

it's not just me

it turns out that i may not have imagined the not-so-subtle homoerotic nature of the statues in Lafayette Park, formerly Presidential Park, just outside the White House across Pennsylvania Avenue. even given the one with the naked boy standing next to the seated, muscular soldier, hunky torso bared, i was open to the possibility of a gay-free explanation for the assembly of monuments.

then i found out about friedrich wilhelm von steuben (who stands at the very top of the monument in the first photo from the top). according to wikipedia, baron von steuben began his career as a prussian military officer at a young age and ended up on this side of the american revolutionary war, eventually drafting the first training manual for the continental army. aaand according to ushistory.org, "at the age of 33, in 1763, Steuben was discharged as a captain from the army, for reasons that are only speculative."

do you see where i'm going with this?

*squeal*! the father of our military got kicked out of his first army for being The GAY. i can't begin to scrape the irony off the bottom of my clunky, comfy lace-up shoe. wikipedia says he was also kicked out of his next job (as some sort of lawyerly type) in southwestern germany for similarly anti-social behavior. he left his estate in utica, ny to two of his aides-de-camp, with whom he had an "extraordinarily intense emotional relationship." i wonder if they got freidrich's fire island beachfront property, too.

i haven't researched the other memorialized historical figures... there's a polish guy, a french general, and a couple of navy guys. be sure that i'll dish if i find exciting things. but for your enjoyment, below are a few more of the lafayette park statues that may or may not be gayish. as sculptures go, i think they're quite nice.

W T F ?!

saturday afternoon, right in the middle of the intersection between q street and connecticut avenue. for about three years. those who know me know how much car horns make my skin crawl; so i sat there, silently boiling, arms in the air. which, apparently, you can get pulled over for if you gesture to an FBI agent. because their top priorities should certainly include curbing gratuitous gesturing from vehicles in intersections.

squirrels are people, too

DSC_0914, originally uploaded by choofly.

people love to hate on them and call them big rats. but they're just trying to get along here in the urban jungle; for that matter, so are the rats. this guy had already filed away his daily acorn quota, and was just following us around to make sure we weren't going to donate more food to his cause. and while he sat on his couch, his workday finally over, he scratched his belly. see? he's just like you.

yes, i am *still* STILL angry

yes, i am *still* angry, originally uploaded by choofly.

i know, i know, i've whined about this for more than a month. but i just made a calculation: because it takes me 12 seconds to open each stupidly bubble-wrapped plastic pill package, in the next ten years, i will have spent just over one full day opening zyrtec-d pill packages. sure, one day in ten years doesn't sound all that much, but can you imagine how shitty that day will be? i will have cuts from sharp, jagged plastic, repetitive stress injuries, and a whole hell of a lot of whining to do, not to mention i will have dumped a mess of clear plasticky badness into the landfills.

what's more, i'm willing to bet that the meth addicts who are trying to squeeze that sudafed out of my zyrtec-d are willing to do that day. over, and over, and over again.

he's a beer man

milo made it his life's work (for ten minutes) to get to the top shelf in the closet today, and did it all by himself, except for me following after him picking up all the closet fallout. he shoved his bum waaaay into the corner of the closet while i was trying to photograph him, only turning around after hearing something drop to the floor. but as soon as i put the camera down and walked away, he came down and followed me allover the house trying to get my attention. am i cat-sitting britney spears?

...for those of you who may not know why little milo is a beer man:

from DC Dating Games:

i am surrounded by idiots

DSC_0737 (i love cheetahs), originally uploaded by choofly.

i fed my zoohead by venturing to the zoo just about weekly this past month. this boy cheetah and i are developing a connection; i'm sure of it. he likes to venture closer to the edge of the enclosure than the other two... at the moment i took this shot, i believe he was trying to tell me how annoyed he was by the other zoogoers.