Spring, Flowers, & Grumpy Day Grouchiness

I've been very busy. I sometimes feel like blogging is more of a chore than a fun hobby. On those days, I'm usually too exhausted to add any new posts. There is a positive outcome and reasonable excuse, pertaining to my delayed blogging posts- The pictures I've taken over the past few weeks have accumulated. This means I have quite a bit of catching up to do, friends. My excuse for neglecting my blog? Er...Well, I just did. I guess that isn't really a good excuse but I forbid myself to lie on blogspot. My full time job as an associate foster parent trainer/recruiter has incurred more overtime than I document on my weekly time sheet. Not because I don't like getting paid, mind you. I just forget how many hours I've worked. Most people would likely think that's weird...or just plain stupid. My job isn't a 9-5, regular clock-in and clock-out kind of occupation, though. I get phone calls for work, anywhere from 6AM-11PM...not every day, thankfully. Still, the line between my personal and professional life is often blurred. I care about my job, but it can be hard to remember how long I've been on the phone or how much time it took to finish up the paperwork that turns into a mountain by the end of the week. I'm not going to bother with paragraphs today. I'm just going to do this post as lazily as possible. For that, I apologize. I am not truly sorry, though, and my apology is offered more out of politeness than genuine motivation. I'm tired. Here are some flowers. They're pretty, aren't they? Of course they are. They're pink flowers. Pink is the best color and flowers are happy little bloomy things that people freak out about all the time. I'm one of those people. Flowers make me giddy. I am not alone in this, as the growing floral industry's profits continue to grow...like flowers. :) I took these photos at a baby shower. My aunt handed me a fancier camera than I knew what to do with, but I think I looked professional. I like to think I looked like I knew exactly what I was doing at that baby shower. I took tons of pictures. These are my favorites. There were others that were good, but they featured people. I like taking pictures of people, but it's trickier. People move around and make weird faces and criticize the picture when it shows how they look. Flowers don't do that. Flowers stay in one position, never wavering. Flowers don't ask to see the picture you took of them. Not that it bothers me when people do that, because I do it, too. I'm overusing commas today. I don't know if anyone really knows the rules for commas. I think people make them up as they go. I always thought you could use commas if you wanted readers to pause at a certain point. I'll ask my sister. She's an English teacher. I wonder if she makes up comma rules, too. No matter, flowers are more simple than people. Flowers are easier to understand than correct comma usage. The paragraph boycott I implemented has gotta go. It's getting on my nerves and that means it's getting on your nerves, too. It's been a hectic, crazy, stressful, and tiring week. Flowers will make it better.

I want to win a photo contest. I have entered a few, but haven't really pursued a career of photography. I just point and shoot. Then, I post my favorite pictures on the internet. I don't watermark them, which is dumb of me. I get annoyed when photographers watermark their photos, but I totally understand why they do it. It's to keep people like me and you from downloading their artwork. I have accepted the likeliness that I will not become a famous photographer. I'm too sporadic in my ambitions to stick with just one. I write, work, blog, sell on Etsy, travel, drive, interview, do paperwork, and a trillion other things besides photography. Photography is a hobby that, if I were a rich girl (cue song, nahnahnahnananana...see, i'd have all the money in the world, if i were a wealthy giiiiiirl....) Sorry, it just happened. That song has to follow those words. Anyway, if I were a rich girl.. I'd be a professional photographer. I'd spend a fortune on cameras, lenses, equipment, and props- on top of the pile of money I'd spend on art school. However, I am not a rich girl. I am still paying student loans for the college years I spent taking classes I didn't feel passionate about. I sometimes think about going back to school. I'd make more money if I did. Not as a photographer, though. In social work, one tops out fairly early- even with a Master's Degree. Still, one can't move up to the top of the social work ladder without a degree. I'm okay with that right now. I am doing work that is making a difference. It's more rewarding than money- to me, anyway. Not that I'm superior to others who choose to obtain every college degree and credential afforded to their occupational field- I just think degrees are sometimes put before a person's intelligence, capability, and quality of work. Still, a degree is a prerequisite for most jobs. That's frustrating for people like me. I have this perfectionism and analytical nature to figure out just about anything I want to learn about. If that makes me sound conceited, I guess that's what people will think about me. I don't stop until I have figured out a problem or learned how to do something. I'm an introverted thinker, whose brain is continuously spinning. Eventually, I will solve what I set out to solve. It's exhausting. I wish I could be blissfully carefree, sometimes. I'm a worrier, though- When I take on something, I want to be the best at whatever the something is. I work hard. Unfortunately, my blog suffers when I do that. My photography ambitions became a hobby when I realized I'd either have to take out tremendous loans or risk getting a degree that didn't guarantee a job. I suppose I'll figure it all out someday. For now, people can just download my pictures. Not that I encourage it, friends. I just know that it's going to happen. I don't give permission, but I'm not coming after you picture-stealing cleptos. I don't have the time. I thought about entering these flower pictures into a photo contest. It never fails that some professional tops my entries. Good for them. They have loans to pay off and I need to get better at this whole picture-taking thing. If I sound more negative than usual, I am. I don't really have a good reason. Just feeling grumpy today. I wonder if floral shops sell flower baskets for grumpy days. I think grumpy day should be a Hallmark holiday, if not a nationally observed special occasion. Valentine's Day stuff is all over the place. What about grumpy cards and balloons with smiley faces turned grouchy. Oscar the Grouch balloons would be funnier. He should probably be the mascot for grumpy day. We could combine Halloween traditions of dressing up by walking around in trash can costumes. Flowers should still be pretty on Grumpy Day. They should just be sold in trash cans with Oscar The Grouch balloons. Pink flowers and green Oscars would go well together. :)

I doubt that Grumpy Day will work out. People like happy holidays. People like flowers that aren't in trash cans. Oscar The Grouch isn't liked by everybody. He's too grouchy. Pink flowers are good enough for Valentine's Day, baby showers, and all sorts of other occasions- They just haven't been made the official trademark for Grumpy Day....yet.

My blog is all over the place. Pretty soon, flowers will be all over the place. Spring is almost here. People get all twitterpated in the spring. Flowers make the grouchiest people smile. Pink flowers make everybody happy. They make you forget about all the things that stress you out. You just turn into a simple caveman and say things like...Oooooh, look at this pretty pink flower. It smells good. I like flowers. Thanks for the flowers. Smell these flowers. And that, my friends, is the stuff of life. Those stupid, simple flowers. They require no thought. They aren't a problem to solve- unless you're a gardener. That's one job I'll never take on- Flowers are the solution for my Grumpy Day. I hope they are for you, too. :)