I am going to try out this Blogging thing once more.

Im giving this another shot, hopefully I can keep you all updated on my life.

The changes of an Indian summer

As I lay here in bed, I find that I cannot fall asleep due to the fact that I'm thinking about all of the lessons learned, experiences had, and decisions made this summer; add in the decisions I need to make still and it's no wonder I cannot sleep. This summer I; lived in Bakersfield, moved back to Costa Mesa, edited alot of photos, got back into my church (cornerstone fountain valley is great if you are searching ) hung out with my crazy Irish friend Alan, and decided to enlist in the navy. I also have a few engagements to shoot, and edit, along with a wedding possibly. I also need to edit all of my 1000+ china photos left from 2010. Oh sorry, did I gloss over he Navy part? to explain, I ultimately want to be the ambassador for the US to China, but the easiest way for me to do that is to join the navy. For the past seven months I have been testing and training for an officership but was just informed that the budget doesn't Llow for too many new officers, and unfortunately I would not be offered a spot this year. That sucks. I don't want to be in retail anymore. I hate it. So I've prayed, and contemplated, and sought advice from the four corners of the earth. Enlisting is one of my best options. Health care, school debt restitution, food and lodging, military experience, gi bill, world language expertise, and steady pay. Anyways, that's my news for the night. More photos to come soon! Ps, I love instagram. Pps, I'm stoked that fall is almost here -Kevin

Some of my more recent photography

Re-Assesment of the Future

I am realizing that I start all of my blog posts with what I fear will soon be my new catch phrase, "so I have not written in a while..." or a similar phrase to that effect. To be quite honest, I love blogging, but I hate typing, and so my blogs are few and far between, but as another of my catchphrases goes, "I will be writing more often now." I really do plan to start writing more often now though, as I have many events and coming up which I will be writing on.

so to list of the events which play a big role in my future,

I will be graduating from Vanguard University of Southern California with a Bachelors degree in Political Science and History on May 8th!

on May 10th I will be traveling to China for a month with the Vanguard Singers and band.

When I get back I will hopefully have a couple of Jobs to pay for the townhouse that me and some friends will soon be acquiring.

Shortly thereafter I will be taking classes at OCC and Coastline in order to; a.) Learn Mandarin Chinese, b.) take micro-economics, and c.) actually take a photography class.

I will also take the GRE in case I want to do grad school, but I had a revelation yesterday, and I believe that I found what I want to do with my life (or at least part of it.) I want to work for the state department as a Foreign Service Officer, and in order to do that I need to start a lengthy process ASAP. The first step is to take the FSOT, and I plan on choosing the Cone of Public Diplomacy. This will give me the chance to travel and learn about new cultures all while being paid to do it, and just think of all of the photography opportunities!

Suffice it to say that I have plenty of things to talk about in the near future, and that I will hopefully be writing more often. the purpose of this site is obviously for my photography, at least until I get my real photography site set up. Until then it will be my personal blog too, however unprofessional that is. What inspired me to start writing again you might ask? Well its all due to the fact that I was talking to my adopted sister Christina this morning and she mentioned her husband's site which I then visited and really enjoyed. I will be following his travels for sure, and you should too. go check out jordanemery.com

Hello my Friends

I have returned. and i plan on displaying my photography here. expect some big changes! its gonna be sweet.

apparently i blog in spurts

because i will be actively blogging for like three months then be gone for a while, then come back and repeat the whole process. but, i am trying to make a better effort of consistently writing. 

but yes, lets see, what news have I?

i am excited for my future, as i have so many doors open for me at this time. i can go to China, or i Can go to Belfast for Graduate School, or i could go try my luck with the FBI. i do not know. what are your thoughts?

I Want the Nikon D90. (my birthday is April 23rd...)

so, i love my nikon D100, but it is crapping out... the autofocus is dead, the lens mount is faulty and sometimes becomes unaligned, and the programing is sometimes wrong. ok often wrong... it is a good camera still, and i love it, but i really want to get a new  one that can do auto focus sometimes, that the lens wont screw up on, and i want to actually be able to work with the programed software on my camera. thus i have come to the realization that i want the Nikon D90. it has 12.3 Mega Pixel DX- Format CMOS sensor, a 3 inch 920,000 dot color LCD display, EXPEED image processing concept for continuos picture taking, and 26 FPS HD movie quality video capabilities. yep that is what i want. anyone wanna give me money so i can buy it? i think you do!! :)

The House Parable.

so a few recent happening got me to thinking, and as such i came up with this story, which i call the house parable, read it and make your own judgement, and at the end, i will explain why i wrote it. 

There once was a family who escaped from persecution in their homeland, and made their way to a great and open land where they were told they could take land and build a house. they decided after a few years to actually do this, and so build the house they did. it took a long time to establish the house, and they came upon many obstacles while building; but they finally managed to construct the house. they lived in this house, and prospered; the numbers of their family grew to be many, and the family added onto the house, making it even bigger. one day though, vandals came and burned the house, destroying much of it. many in the family managed to escaped the fire, but they were split up and scattered throughout the surrounding country not knowing who was alive or dead. they lived split up in their now much smaller groups for a while with families in the cities surrounding their home, planning to return to the home once it was safe and the vandals gone. but the vandals stayed, and the house was not safe to return to, so they lived amongst the other families for a long period of time. so long in fact that the house was taken over by the police and given to some foreign landlords, who let it out to renters to live in, even though they had no legal claim to the house. this went on for many years, until one day the family decided that they could no longer live amongst their neighbors, as they had overstayed their welcome upon the charity of others. the family decided to return to their great house, and to rebuild it to its former glory, but upon arriving there found to their dismay many strangers living in it, and the police claiming the rights to it. having no place to go they were determined to regain the house that they had built so many years before, and went to the police asking for the rights back. the police were inclined to return the house to them, but only if the landlords would allow it. the family struck a deal with the landlords, paying them a great sum of money for their house and land back, and then moved in. suffice it to say that the people who were currently renting living quarters in the house were not pleased by the news that these virtual strangers were moving back in and taking away the only place that they had, and so they resisted, fighting with the family who owned the house. it was a horrible mess, with many injured and much of the property damaged, and in the end the family decided to let the renters stay, but partitioned them off to a separate wing of the house; the east wing to be exact. the tensions remained high for many years, with scuffles and skirmishes happening periodically, the renters feeling abused by the family, and the family feeling that they always had to be on alert for fear of the renters causing problems. this unstable situation carried on for many years, with the problems becoming more frequent, and the damage more dire. the renters, jealous of the house that they felt was their property threw rocks and started fires, and even killed a few of the family members. in response to this, the family put restrictions on the renters such as less rights to travel through the house, less access to heat water and electricity, and eventually the issues became  so bad that the family built a wall separating the renters off from the rest of the house. note that the family did not have to allow the renters to stay in the house, as legally the house belonged to the family, but they allowed the renters to stay because they felt that the renters did have some rights in the place. the renters decided that they could no longer tolerate what they felt were injustices to them, and so mounted a full scale attack against the family, breaking windows, setting fires to the rooms  and generally causing a huge problem for the family which then shifted to murder of various family members. the family fed up with this violence went to the police for help, but the police turned their back on them saying that while they were the owners of the house, the renters had a right to be there, and since they were there nothing could be done about it. and so, with nothing left to do, the family decided to take matters into their own hands, against the wishes of the town they lived in, the family started to tear down the section of house in which the renters lived and both the renters and the city rose up against the family, but the family knew that if they did not get rid of the renters, nothing would  change and more people would die. and so it started by the demolition of the living quarters of the renters, and when that did little more than provoke more murders, the family finally fought back, killing some of the renters and injuring many more in their attacks. and still this miniature war continues on even today.

who is right and who is wrong? the family is israel and the renters are the palestinians.... anyways, it is probably clear that i think that israel has a right to the land of israel, and that in war atrocities happen. you cannot have peace without justice, and justice cannot be reached without the enforcement of law and power. 

Homecoming on the morrow.

Ireland has been amazing. a-feckin-mazing to quote the irish. from Belfast to Drumahoe, Derry to Greencastle, I have been all over the north, seeing beautiful sights, learning humbling history, and hanging with lovely people. i cannot express to you the feelings i have for this country, it has truly been a blessing to have visited these shores three times now. and the friends that i have made here are awesome as well. i will miss it, but i know i will see them all again soon. :)

school starts tomorrow... wow. i am quite excited for this school semester, as i have been recharged by this jaunt to the emerald isle. so many things are up in the air concerning this new year. and yah, i do not know what to say really. well i truly love life. 

also i think i am going to be going to Queen's University in Belfast for graduate studies. 

yep... well i will see you lovely folks tomorrow. :)

Happy New Years! - from Belfast!

a little late i know, but happy new years!! ireland is awesome :)