A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

blogging challenge

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: Friendship (4/28)

The past two years of my life have been some of the toughest I’ve been through.

My world shook hardcore on Feb. 11, 2011 when my position was cut at my job. At that point, I was arrogant enough to think I’d have a job quick enough. Not so. Fast forward to February 2013, I’m in the same situation. No job. Savings taking a beating and wondering what’s going to happen.

I know I’m not the only one in this situation. I know some people, in my field and out of it, have been out of work longer. I’ve applied for jobs in and out of my field, including employment doing just about anything. No luck. Maybe for some I’m “overqualified” (I hate that term — in this economy, nobody is overqualified), maybe in others I wasn’t what they were looking for. But in the end, I have nothing.

Over this time, I’ve discovered a lot of things — both about myself and about friends and family.

If this had happened to me thousands of miles from my home area, I’d have been truly screwed. I don’t know what I would have done or how I would have lasted. The support system has been amazing.

Here’s one thing, though. You truly see what friendship is about.

I’m sure, at times, I haven’t been the best person to be around. I don’t want to make excuses, but sometimes I can’t be blamed. After all, it really is tough to watch people your age, a bit younger, or slightly older, being highly successful and doing well. It’s not jealousy, rather a reflection of how your own life has unfolded.

Believe me, I’m not a happy person. Not with where I am in my life or the direction I have gone. I wonder why I spent so much on the education that is preached one needs to get ahead. I wonder if I am ever going to get out of debt. Hell, I wonder if I’m ever going to be able to pay my student loans.

So, at times, being friendly is hard. It’s hard seeing all the cheery and happy things online in places such as Facebook. Going to events around here is tough because it’s rare to not get asked about the job situation.

That’s where you really find out what friendship is about. And you know who your true friends are. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t blessed.

People who know me can likely attest to me being a proud person. Sometimes, my pride can probably get the best of me. I know this. For example, despite my financial situation, I still don’t like people buying me a beer, or not letting me pay for gas on a road trip. Or buying me lunch when hanging out.

Friends still insist on doing it. They don’t let your pride get in the way. Whether it’s something I mentioned above, a round a disc golf, a day of geocaching, or just sitting around and having a BS session on things not related to the job hunt, friends know what to do.

I try and show my appreciation and I hope I do. Believe me, when (yes, when) I dig myself out of this hole, I’ll be the same way.

I’ve had some emotional days over the past two years. Some have been anger, some have been sadness, some have felt like full emotional breakdowns. I’m sure everybody goes through these emotions in these situations.

But I’ve learned a lot about friendship in these two years. Whether the best of friends or casual acquaintances, you get to see who is true and who isn’t.

I have a new appreciation for friends and friendship and it’s the one positive I can take away from the past two years.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: The next thing I knew (3/28)

Three days in and I’m already stumbling on these themes?

Really?

I had been excited about this challenge again for a while because it was going to be a way to get the creative juices flowing again. The next thing I knew, Nicky at We Work For Cheese was posting them and I was staring in disbelief.

What in the name of holy hell was she thinking?

The last time this challenge happened, I breezed through it. With a mix of true-life stories, thoughts and other things, it was easy.

Not this time.

Today’s theme had me bouncing off the wall. What was I going to write about?

There was this time I was once in Florida. It was 2007 and I was there for a friend’s wedding. Quite a fine time. One day, a few of us started talking about parasailing. I’m not a fan of heights, though. So I wasn’t sure. Well, the one other person said he’d pay for it. And we’d be going up in pairs, so it’s all good.

Yeah, right.

Unless you are two smaller people, you aren’t going up as a twosome.

Regular-sized people need to be with a kid or something like that because the weight limit isn’t astronomical. So, I got stuck going solo. I wasn’t interested in it because of my height fear. No way, no how. Sorry that it was paid for, but I’m not going up, then crashing into the water. Nope. Not going to do it.

The next thing I knew? I was taking this photo with a point-and-shoot I purchased for this adventure:

Way up there.

Turns out it wasn’t so bad after all.

See, the point of this post isn’t just about the parasailing, rather realizing sometimes in life, you’ll do something, overcome fears and realize you enjoy something. I’d definitely be up for some parasailing again, sometime.

These are the things in life that can really be wild.

The view from the boat of others parasailing.

Was I nervous? Scared? Sure. Especially when the guy told you where to put your hands and not to hit certain spots, or you could be looking at a long fall.

That wasn’t something I really was interested in.

But when in the air, I stared at those carabiners and kept thinking about what would happen if those suckers gave out.

Next thing I knew…

Nah, they didn’t bust off. But I relaxed. Took in the sights and smells of being above water like that. And it was quite an experience. One I didn’t expect to have, that’s for sure. I figured I’d be white as a ghost when I came down. Alas, not so.

After all that worry and everything else, the next thing I knew, I had fun. And that is what it’s all about.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: Hold on (2/28)

Saturday’s are tough when doing a writing challenge because it’s always my “Snapshot Saturday” feature. So as with the last time I did a writing challenge like this, I’ll be doing Snapshot Saturday in the morning and then adding the challenge post sometime in the mid-t0-late afternoon.

Today’s theme is hold on.

I had some grandeur thought about blogging about going to an amusement park and having a friend talk me into going on just about every roller coaster.

Talk about holding on!

Then I thought about getting deep and talking about life and how it’s the wildest ride any of us will take and that is often requires holding on.

Or for those of you who have kids and how you should hold them at any chance you get.

Maybe I was going to post about having one of the most amazing craft beers you’ve ever had and how you should hold on to it to really savor everything that is amazing about it.

No, there was no chance I was blogging about holding cheese.

In the end, I figure the best way to do this is post this —

Hold on for one more day. Things will go your way.

Yes, I went there.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: Cheesy (1/28)

I refuse to write about cheese.

Last year, the first day of this challenge, the theme was cheese. Straight up cheese. Not that there’s anything bad about cheese, but let’s be honest — this isn’t a cheese blog.

I like cheese, don’t get me wrong.

But there’s something, well, odd blogging about an obsession with cheese.

The soft feel and dreaminess of the Diana lens makes it a great addition to my digital setup.

I digress.

So I needed something else. And being today is Friday and I sometimes have my Foto Friday on this day, I figured I’d talk a little about photography. It stems from something I saw on Twitter the other day — somebody saying how there was no point in taking a pinhole photo with a pinhole lens on a digital camera.

I see the point. I can see where somebody might question it or think it’s a bit cheesy. I’m the opposite.

Before I go further, allow me to note that I grew up in the non-digital age. I remember using typewriters. I remember when film cameras were still the norm. And different films, at that. My first video game system was an Atari 2600. I used a typewriter. I handed in reports that were handwritten.

My first newspaper job was at a local weekly. When I first started, they had a typist whose job was to type up things people sent in that were handwritten or done on a typewriter.

Imagine that?

I remember when AOL was cool. Seriously. Dial-up was lightning fast. The sound of the modem was really sweet. Busy signals stunk!

So I’ve had a chance to watch technology grow. And during that time, I’ve embraced it. Especially digital photography. Living in a digital age, I’ve become accustomed to instant gratification with my photography. I can mess around or play with settings. I think of photos I’ve taken now and know there’s no way I’d be able to do what I do with a film camera.

The vignetting with my new Holga lens makes me think I took it with an actual Holga. Just without the developing and film costs.

That being said, I still love film. I don’t mind using my Holga. If any of you follow me on Instagram, you know I recently posted a photo of a film camera setup a friend sent me. It’s a body and many lenses. Funny enough, soon after that, my brother gave me some unused film that he and his girlfriend recently came across — two rolls of black and white and two color. So I have some film to shoot.

But here’s reality — it’s not cheap to develop film. I don’t develop my own film anymore and, in fact, I haven’t done it in probably more than 10 or more years. And honestly, I’d rather not get back into it. I have enough hobbies already and I don’t want to add film developing to it. Though, I will admit, I used to love it and I’m sure it would be fun to do it again.

Back to cheesy.

Over the past few years, I’ve purchased or received as gifts, three “lenses” for my digital camera. One is a Diana lens, one is a pinhole lens and the other, added most recently, a Holga lens.

The pinhole lens gave me the opportunity to take a shot like this, which I truly love.

And I love them all. Beyond that, I honestly don’t care if it’s cheesy.

I understand why people would question the pinhole. After all, the idea of many pinholes is the light creating the photo on the actual film. But this gives me the same result. Right away. On my screen. Awesome.

The Holga lens is freakin’ excellent.

And the Diana lens is soft and dreamy, just like it’s supposed to be.

Call it cheap. Call it cheesy. Call it non-traditional. I call it kick ass.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Days of Writing: Excess (7/30)

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one has a little of everything. 

Maybe it’s because I used to work in the traditional media…

… by that I mean newspapers.

But it seems, all of a sudden, that the world is in excess of newspaper/media terms. Any blogger out there uses these terms extremely loosely and in excess.

Let’s take, for example, the word breaking.

I follow many Twitter accounts. These accounts range from everyday people, bloggers, minor and major league baseball teams, pro wrestling sites, foodie people and many more.

It’s rare, however, that I can go through a day without seeing the word “breaking” in capital letters at the beginning of a tweet. Of course, this tweet leads me to the website which then has breaking news about something.

Here’s the problem — it’s not breaking news.

The news business is extremely competitive. Especially now, when the Internet keeps booming and there are so many online people trying to break things.

I respect this. I really do. Especially as somebody who has worked in the media and as somebody who battled to break actual news. But to see it used so loosely and in excess is maddening.

For example, when a website gets a text message from a major organization or company — one that is blasted to many people, both media, fans and whoever else — and then puts said text on the website without any additional details besides what is in the text — it’s NOT breaking news.

Breaking news means just that — you broke the news. Or, you are at least adding to some breaking news.

That a minor league game got rained out a few days ago has been re-scheduled for a doubleheader down the line is not breaking news. It’s something that you are telling fans.

Breaking news is something that many people will want to see or know about. A re-scheduled game is news of sorts, but not some “holy crap, that’s breaking news!”

The word is used in total excess.

It’s that way with many other journalism terms.

A press conference being called a presser is becoming a term used in total excess as well. The terms such as “lede” and “graph” and things like that are littered all over, too.

I didn’t like a lot of these terms when I worked in journalism. I especially can’t stand them now when people use them so loosely and in excess on their blogs and websites. Just because you use the terms doesn’t necessarily make you some sort of news entity, especially when the content is then littered with errors.

I’m all for citizen journalism. And I’m all for news sites and blogs. After all, I find them helpful and good to read. But breaking news in the news industry is a big deal. Let’s not use those terms in total excess — and save the rest of us from having to roll our eyes and have a deep sigh.

Or reach our breaking point.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!