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.