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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

kayak

Looking back at 2012: Finding the good in an awful year

January 2, 2013

No matter how bad things are, sometimes you have to sit back, realize it’s a blessing to be alive and smile.

This post definitely will have its ups and downs.

Last year when I did a look back at the year, I was in the same situation I am now — unemployed. But I still was optimistic. I had taken advantage of the year by being able to see things as I did my job search.

But as those months continued into 2012, it got worse.

I didn’t go see things as much. I canceled — understandably so — a trip to GeoWoodstock X (to be fair, it sounds like canning the trip wasn’t the worst thing. I hope to get back to GeoWoodstock some time in the future). I also didn’t do several things I had hoped to do, such as do a repeat trip to my Aunt’s house on the Jersey Shore.

Still, I’ve tried to remain as upbeat and as positive as I can. Despite knowing the end is near (or done if nothing has happened) to unemployment benefits, I realize I’m not even close to many others. I have a roof over my head, food to eat and family and friends who care enough about me to try and help or get my mind off things, if even just getting together for a slice of pizza or a beer.

That doesn’t take away from the negative thoughts I have in my head. I look at others who are successful and happy in life and wonder if I’ll reach that. I realize I chose a bad career path — or at least it seems — and I need to figure out something to do.

Hopefully, 2013 will be that year.

That being said, 2012 wasn’t a total wash. The reality is, I try and do whatever I can to try keep an upbeat attitude, if even just for a day or two. The lack of finances has made me look for more affordable things to do, especially in the local area. From photography to community events, I’ve seen a lot more of the area, which is a positive thing.

****

One of the biggest — and brightest spots of my year was Rattling Chains, a blog I created to cover the sport of disc golf. This was done as a hobby during my spare time as I wanted to see if a niche blog like that could work. Disc golf is an extremely fast growing sport, so maybe something like this could take off.

And, compared to my hopes, it did.

I had a fun year in disc golf, but would have liked to played more!

Since launching the blog in early March, the site has received more than 115,000 views. That’s not shabby for a small crew (there are 3-5 of us who write on a regular basis) and with no financial backing or gain. We’ve put out some quality content and that’s been something I’ve really been proud of.

At times, it’s been hard to continue. And there’s no guarantee we’ll make it. Who knows what life brings. But for now, we’re doing well and have a loyal group following us.

In other parts of disc golf, I didn’t play as much as I would have liked this year. Unfortunately the drive to get a local course failed, so that made it harder for me to play. Driving 1 1/2 hours to play a round isn’t smart in regard to time or finances.

That meant I also only played in five tournaments this year — two PDGA-sanctioned tournaments (I reached my goal of hitting 700 as a rating), two doubles tournaments (we cashed in one!) and one Ace Race.

I’ve also played a bunch of casual rounds — including one with 2010 world champion Eric McCabe. So, in the end, I think I improved quite a bit, which is something I wanted to do.

****

During this year, besides seeking a job, I was also seeking something else — peace.

The reality is, I have a lot of hate when it comes to some things in my life. I’m coming to terms with much of it and, I think, by the end of this job hunt, I’ll have come to total peace.

In fact, I really think I’ll face it head-to-head when I know my life is taking a better turn.

In the meantime, as I tried to shake it — I wanted to find some sort of peace. Kind of finding that place where I knew I could get away and just relax and not worry about anything else.

For those of you who know one of my closest friends Darren, you know he’s got his hands into so many things. That usually means when I get the chance to hang out with him, there’s going to be something different.

Finding kayaking was an important part of my year.

Kayaking was one of them.

Though I had always wanted to learn to kayak, I had never done it until this year. The first couple of times I went was with Darren. I used one of his kayaks and we paddled the local river. However, the kayak wasn’t truly good for me.

The next several times I went, I rented at a local kayak place. The owner was extremely helpful every time I went, helping me find the right kayak and showing me what I needed to do. The first time or two I went, I had to get the feel of it. From then on out, I got the “feel” of it within the first five minutes and I was all over it.

I still can’t do like others — have the legs out while chilling — but I’m sure that will come in time. I also need to figure out how to kayak for a couple of hours without back pain!

The one thing I truly found with kayaking?

Peace.

There is something to be said about being on the water with not many around and just coast, soak up some sun and listen to nature. It’s peaceful. You can get into a great place when out there.

I also held our area’s first water-based geocaching event. We had more than 30 people come out on a warm fall day, paddle a mile and a half to the event and enjoy everything.

Way too cool.

I don’t set resolutions or anything like that, but I’m really hoping to be able to afford a kayak and a roof rack this year. I can definitely see me going kayaking a whole heap more, especially if I don’t have to rent every time I go.

****

Speaking of geocaching, I had a decent year with that hobby.

According to my statistics, I found 539 caches this year, which is my highest total since finding 1,030 in 2009. Since then, I’ve founf 491 (2010) and 396 (2011).

I finished a monumental challenge in completing the New York State DeLorme Challenge, which is something I’ve worked on for several years. Two big one-day road trips helped me get to the final point, which was awesome. I was excited to share the moment with some friends and it was nice to know I completed the challenge.

It’s been fun finding caches and doing some DeLorme road trips this year.

The challenge final was also my 3,000th find.

I’ve also completed the New York County Challenge, but I have yet to go find the final.

During the year, I had the chance to hit up 13 events, including the first New England mega event, which was held in Massachusetts  We made it a one-day trip (it was only a few hours from me) and had a good time, despite the crazy heat.

Including the seven events I hosted this year, I have launched 16 new caches in 2012. One of those was also my 50th hide (I now have 59). I think I’m most proudest of that, because it’s always nice to put out new caches.

It hasn’t been all great, though. We had a geocache attack this year, stealing upward of 10 ammo cans. A good bulk of them were mine or one other persons. I wondered if it was somebody local or somebody coming through the area and stealing them. The worst part was when my golden ammo can was replaced (it was done by someone else), it was stolen a second time — and one of her caches that was nearby was also close. I don’t know if it’s somebody local, but I won’t lie when I say I think it has to be someone with some sort of a vendetta. Since then, however, it seems to have ceased. So we can hope, anyway.

In the end, it was a good year for caching. I had the chance to go on some really fun caching days and got to meet new people. Though I had to cancel two trips to mega events I wanted to hit for financial reasons, I still enjoyed the year of caching. In the end, it did what it normally does — gave me an out to forget things for a while and took me to some places I likely never would have found without the game.

****

This has been an interesting year when it comes to photography, which is why I’ll be breaking that down into more than one category.

First, professional wrestling. I’ve blogged about this before, but when it comes to photography, I’ve really found a lot of fun in shooting wrestling. Especially independent federations. First, it’s cheap entertainment (usually, tickets are $10-$15 for about three hours of action). Second, you can get some great images, be it action, close-ups or even the fans.

One of my favorite images this year in regard to wrestling — Brodie Lee. He’s since been signed by WWE and is wrestling under the name Luke Harper.

I have to say, I’m kind of shocked at how many events I went to this year. I took photos at 16 wrestling events and attended at least one other where I didn’t take any images. That’s quite a few. But I’ve loved the images I’ve taken. I also had the chance to tag along with a couple of indy wrestlers to a training seminar.

You get quite the variety of quality, too. Some is bad, some is good, some is awesome.

Either way, it’s a slice of variety that makes it fun to take photos.

I’ve also had the chance to get to know some of the personalities and am working on some writing projects with a few of them. In the end, I hope to talk to several others and make this one massive project — possibly a book.

After all, the photos only tell half the stories.

Though many people look own upon this sport, these guys (and gals) who do this really have some interesting stories to tell. Some are wild, some are good and some are bad. Some are downright tragic.

I am happy I’ve been able to shoot this sport. I’ve grown up a wrestling fan, so being able to capture these images has been awesome. That being said, one thing the training session taught me is being able to take photos at ringside is way better than being back in the crowd. Maybe in 2013, I’ll get that chance to get up close and personal to shoot the sport in a different light. I’ll look to rent a lens beforehand if that opportunity comes.

I didn’t use my favorite wrestling shot of the year in this post because it’s graphic and I want people to make their own choice if they want to see it. Note it’s bloody. If you want to see it, click here.

****

This year hasn’t always been the best for photography.

I started out the year with a bang being involved in the second year of the HooHaa 52 and taking part in the 366 Project.

Some of you may remember I completed the 365 Project in 2010. The project is where you take a photo every day for a full year. I finished in in 2010 and swore I’d never do it again.

My Feb. 28 shot for the failed 366 Project.

However, 2012 was a leap year, so …

Needless to say, I didn’t make it. I sputtered throughout the summer and forced myself to keep going. Once the fall hit, I really hit a wall. No job equaled fewer opportunities to travel around and taking photos in my immediate area was becoming a bore.

So, after about 250 days, I called it quits.

I realize I only had three months or so remaining, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it. So I had two decisions — push as long as I could, or end it there. I decided to end it there, knowing I’d really get mad if I made it to December or something and then slipped.

Also, I think knowing I had completed this project in 2010 made it easier for me to call it quite.

The HooHaa 52 was also a failure. I was about 10 weeks shy of finishing. The reason there is the majority of people who joined this challenge had faltered. And others were using older photos or logging too many in a row. So I got frustrated and gave up.

That being said, Year 3 of the HooHaa 52 is starting this week and I’m more excited than I have been in the past for this challenge. I think we have a good group of people and have tweaked the rules to make it easier. Hopefully by this time next year, I’ll be telling you all about how I finished the project and how proud I am of the group and everything that got done.

****

Travel this year was limited. I hit up the Lancaster area early in the year for a couple days of disc golf. Same with a short weekend trip to Philly in November, where I also got to stay with relatives and see some relatives I hadn’t seen in a while.

The Cooperstown Winter Festival was one of the local events I checked out this year.

There were also the two days of 22-plus hours of travel and caching to fill the DeLorme squares. And I ventured a few places to play disc golf, usually day trips.

But things I had hoped to do this year — a couple of geocaching trips, a trip to the Vibram Open — it just wasn’t in the cards this year.

And I’m OK with that. I realize my time needed to be spent (and still does) applying and searching for employment. It’s part of this crazy part of my life I’m in. Throwing money out for big trips just isn’t justifiable, when I’m trying to keep my head above water with bills.

That being said…

What this year taught me was to find more things locally. Things such as area fairs or festivals that are low cost (or free) and things put on for the community. I had the chance to see different things in a different light.

I also explored more of the local area, through geocaching and photography, to try and get out and visit local parks and such. There are a few I missed and I look forward to checking in 2013. There are also many awesome state parks within a couple hours from here. They offer many things and after receiving an Empire Pass for Christmas this year, I plan on trying to visit as many as possible this year.

I got involved with helping people looking for photos of headstones via Find A Grave and did some personal photography challenges. I worked on geocaching things in the local area. There really are so many things in people’s local areas they don’t know about. It’s unfortunate it took me this long to realize it. I look forward to looking at things like this in the future though.

It truly is amazing how you look at things differently when you have to find more cheap and inexpensive means of entertainment.

****

In the end, the year featured more than I can put in this post.

It definitely had its ups and downs. Though a lot of the downs outweighed some things, the reality is I still am here on Earth, have good family and friends and am better off than so many others.

I also do believe things happen for a reason.

What the reason is that I’m going through all of this right now? No idea. But hopefully it will show its face in 2013.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site through this year and I hope to have many more things to post about in the upcoming year!

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

Filed Under: blogging, Entertainment, Geocaching, My world, Photography, Pro Wrestling, Travel Tagged With: 2012, 2012 looking back, 2012 year in review, disc golf, events, geocache, geocache events, geocaching, geocaching events, geowoodstock, hoohaa52, job hunt, jobless, kayak, kayaking, local events, pdga, photographs, photography, photos, pro wrestling, professional wrestling, rattling chains, rattlingchains.com, reflection, travel, unemployed, unemployment, wrestling, year in review

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Being out on the water can really be therapeutic

July 17, 2012

I’ve found there’s nothing like a good paddle to sooth the mind and body.

For years, I’ve said I wanted to learn to canoe/kayak.

Many of my friends did it. Whether for fun or for whatever, they did it. Some even went geocaching with the help of these boats. What a way to find a cache, eh?

Last year, I was at GeoWoodstock when it was in western Pennsylvania. This is the biggest gathering event for geocaching in the world. More than 5,000 people were there. I met a lot of fun people while there and a couple of them convinced us we needed to go do a 5-star terrain cache.

Normally, you would need a boat to do it. But the water was low enough where we didn’t need to, so we walked across the river.

Still, I saw many people on the water that day, just out kayaking and enjoying themselves.

On top of it all, I figured it would be a great way to get some exercise and work different muscles.

I had been in normal paddle boats and power boats before. And I recall a canoe at some point or another. There had never been a kayak.

Chilling with some friends while out kayaking.

A few weeks back, I went with my friend Darren. He has several kayaks and got me into one. Let me say that it likely wasn’t the best kayak for me to start with. Within moments of getting out into the river in our town, I flipped and was dunked.

The water felt good, but it still sucked. After all, I figured this was going to be a breeze.

We paddled for a while. I wasn’t having the easiest time with it, but I soon got my balance and was doing OK. We didn’t go too far, though. Maybe a quarter to a half a mile – tops.

The following day, the two of us went again and this time we went about 2 ½ miles. We had to get in and out of the boats a few times because of low water, which kind of made it tough. But I got the hang of it. We went through some light rapids and enjoyed it.

Over that time, Darren had met Brent, a disc golfer and the owner of a local kayak and canoe rental place. I, too, met Brent and I soon realized that the way I was going to learn to get better at this was not just to hop in any old canoe, rather one that fit me both with size and experience.

Two weeks ago, I finally went at it. With another friend, Tavis, and his kids going along (Tavis, like Darren, Is much more experienced on a boat than I am), we went to Brent’s place. (If you are in the Oneonta area and you read this blog, I highly would recommend going to Brent’s place. It’s in Portlandville, his rated are extremely affordable and he has a dock right on the river for you to launch from when you rent a boat).

The main part of the day was spent paddling back and forth near the shop. We’d go up a bit, head back and then wander down river and back up. We did this for an hour or two and it was a nice way to get my feet wet, so to speak.

Just me and the water.

In reality, water only got into the boat once that day – when a motor boat went by and didn’t mind the no-wake rules. We got caught in a wake and rode it out, but some water came up over.

We went again this past Sunday. Darren and his wife, Jodi, joined us. This time, it was a ride a bit longer – about 1 ½ miles up to a railroad trestle. It was an enjoyable paddle and I was a little more daring. So much so that I took a wet sack from Darren and dared to bring my iPhone with me, thus giving me the chance to take photos.

I’m not brave enough to bring the good camera stuff yet. Maybe sometime, but not yet!

We hung out near the trestle for a bit, enjoying the scenery and the peacefulness. As we started to leave, I kind of broke away from the few of us who had settled back for a bit. I didn’t do this to prove a point, but I wanted to see what I felt comfortable doing while being out by myself.

What I found was one hell of a soothing experience.

The serenity of being out on the water in a kayak is really amazing. The sounds – such as the water being cut through by the front of the boat or the sound as you paddle through the water. Then, if you paddle for a few moments and then just coast, it’s so peaceful to hear the water.

No people. No cars. No phone calls.

Nothing.

Just the sound of the water.

It’s freakin’ awesome.

At times, I’d coast and dip my hands in the water. On a day where it was in the high 80s and the heat beat down on you, little things like that are really nice.

Some of the others dangled their feet over the side of the kayak. I’m not quite that brave yet as I still rock the kayak a little bit when I’m in fully and paddling, so I’ll have to work up to that.

Darren floating.

I really think that this is one of the best ways to relax. You can just sit back, relax, listen to nature and enjoy everything around you.

Unfortunately, this won’t be an everyday thing for me.

I can’t afford a kayak of my own right now, so renting is my only option. Even with the affordable prices at the local place, I still have bills to pay and with the current situation, I have to be frugal as possible. I can do it here or there though and I will because I was amazed at how much stress leaves my mind and body when coming down the river.

The best part of this is I know what boat I would like to eventually purchase. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later as I truly think this is something I could have fun doing on a regular basis.

There’s also a lot of room for improvement and having a boat would make that easier to accomplish.

I need to feel stable in the boat. There are times when it kind of leans one way or another and I get a little spooked. I think once I get past that, I’ll be more daring to think about bringing my normal camera – though that would also be easier to do once I can afford a sack for the DSLR. Good ones are out there, but they run about $150. I could also get waterproof housing for the camera, but that would cost me upward of $1,500.

I also need to learn a few things about turning and paddling in general, which will come with time.

In the end, I’m quite happy I finally got out paddling. It’s an amazing way to lose stress and get in touch with nature. And, it’s a great way to get some exercise. In this day and age, who can’t use extra exercise, right?

If you’ve never paddled, I’d encourage you to do it. I just wish I had done it long before now as it’s one heck of a fun time!

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

Filed Under: My world, outdoors, Photography Tagged With: kayak, my life, my world, outdoors, paddling, photography, relaxing, sports, water

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A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Bingham A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. All in all, four dogs walked away with balls! 

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