news for you; strange for Jasper
It’s been a while since taking my last “artsy” photograph. Unfortunately, that’s because my Nikon is out of commission. There a few benefits to my dilemma: I am forced to find neat photos that I have taken in the past and would have, otherwise, never used in a blog post or attempted to share. And I am actively searching for a new camera in which to invest my money. One other thing that is true, aside to my camera being out of commission, is that I’ve applied for an associate’s degree program in commercial photography. Since I have major pride issues, the idea of announcing my future “lesser” schooling endeavors to a community full of genius-achieving “academics,” I tend to call them, was not so appealing. But that needs to be my old opinion, thank you very much. If anyone wants to ugde me based on my degree program well then that will have to be there deal.
Making a big and fancy announcement doesn’t have to be the focus of this post, even. Perhaps I just want to write about it to put it out there in the open. No longer does it need to be a secret or hidden from the world. So hear this world: “Jasper’s goin’ back to school!” The future is brighter 
Recently I have been in what feels like a deep trough depression. Many people say “What?! No way! You don’t ‘seem’ depressed.” It is possible that I have gotten so used to carrying on with “life” no matter how I feel that others do not notice or it is possible that the way I cope with depression is unique to me. Nonetheless, I am grateful to have had last week and four days therein to spend with my parents at the beach! Stay tuned for photos and re-cap for the beach trip for which I am ever grateful to my parents for treating me! Thanks!
What’s your big news of late? Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?
Happy Friday ~ Jasper …
PS. This lady’s taking the high school and middle school students camping!
positivity lately
“Positivity” may not be a word. Positivism. Positivism. Positivist. Those are words. It’s been said that I tend to dwell on the negative. As much as this may be true I do always find much positive in life and try to share that in conjunction with nay complaints I may express. So here are some of late: 1. I get to have rainbow sprinkles atop birthday waffles TOMORROW! 2. People tend to wave, smile and giggle, more, when they see me walking to work with Slayer…one lady even said “Oh, God bless you, bless you, bless you, blessings on you…” as I walked by her and her walking buddy yesterday. 
Above pictured is my birthday place mat awaiting it’s sprinkle-full waffle.
In other news, I am planning a FUN GAME for youth Sunday School, not this coming Sunday but, for next Sunday. After our camping trip to Hanging Rock State Park, which is going to be a blast, I’ve thought ahead enough to plan a super-awesome game as to not let down any youths’ fun high. The game is one version of “Two Lies and a Truth…” or is it “Two truths and a Lie?”…It doesn’t matter, I suppose, as I have nearly two weeks to plan execution.
My mornings have been spent in the quiet of the living room with back door open to eh beautiful breeze outside. Thank you, chilly NC April, for your pleasant company.
Thanks to my aunt, we are eating plenty of glamorous food, although this raw chicken pre-cooking does not look so tasty. Last night we began to watch “Babel” and made a unanimous choice to not, further, subject our evening to depressing footage from a movie who’s four sub-plots seemed to be headed in directions nowhere other than BAD. So we switched to this movie: Love’s Kitchen in the middle of the Babel scene where Kate Blanchett’s character is on the brink of bleeding to death.
No, that scene does not remind me of eating nor does the photo scene above wet my appetite all that much. Nonetheless, I thought I’d share the photos because I, quite, enjoyed the evening at home with Aunty Sharon and it did include the yummy asparagus and chicken featured in this post. To come, later I think, will be some movie reviews as I often end up watching random movies that I find interesting and think it’s be great to keep feedback from my criticism. If that’s not complicated {getting criticism of my criticism} then I do not know what is.
This was a breakfast of mine from this past January and it reminds me that, while my 50 gallons of free blueberries last season are all gone, blueberry picking is not far off! Bring on the blueberries, May. Just thinking of them makes me weak with excitment. Also, a “best of reel” from the office {my office} is soon to come so get excited!
Much love and happy Wednesday ~ Jasper Naomi
Wake-up call
Have you been reading the Hunger Games like I have?
Yes, I am a bit behind the times but I figure: now is just as good a time as any to begin! Anyway, someone was asking me, today, about how I managed to break my arm. I explained that I fell off of my bike but “[it's] okay, that’s how the cookie crumbles!” To which they replied “You were reaching for a cookie when it happened?!” I have been told that I mumble but I am pretty sure that the person just wasn’t paying attention to my story. The misinterpretation did make for one unique twist on how I broke my arm. Perhaps I should use that story from this point, forward.
In regard to this post’s title, I will say that the arm-breaking has been a wake-up call for fitness. Not excusing myself from getting an appropriate amount of physical activity has been interesting. Instead of riding my bike all around town, I try to walk as much as possible and then make sure to give myself needed rest and relaxation time. There are other stretches and around-the-house activities I can do to keep up with simple work-outs. I’ve been told that kids are great with making physical activity and fun a priority while simultaneously being able to take in an appropriate balance of food/calories for their activity level. It’s interesting to me that my disordered eating practices developed from what was otherwise a very natural and healthy relationship with food from when I was younger.
But just because I do struggle with some things, today, does not also mean I do not find happy stories in the middle of each day. Some days, there are more fun times than others. Until heaven, folks, stay tuned for more adventures from my neck of the woods! And have a very nice Monday ~ Jasper Naomi
all the single ladies
This morning I read this email from my inbox.
That’s right, this Saturday, April 7 th 2012, I shall run my first official marathon. Never, have I run a marathon distance (longest I have run was 21 miles) and I have run a few unofficial half marathon plus one official {San Francisco Half Marathon 2010} half marathon.
After I read that email, I sort-of wanted to distract myself and went ahead to make a little t-shirt mock-up for our family’s next reunion…what’dya think!? Georg and Arabelle are rockin’ Madagascar!
{edited to add: Kathryn and David: Heather and Georg’s kiddos!}
This was one of those “half-marathon” training schedules I proposed 10 weeks ago {cannot believe it’s April, already!} for my, err, marathon and ended up using this one (more or less)
And by “more or less” I mean, today I ran 8 miles instead of 3 and may have to bike 12 this afternoon because I am going to Chapel Hill. Alas, I will get LOTS of sleep this week (going to bed each night before 9 pm) and rest, like UBER rest, on Friday. It’s going to be so much fun!
That’s how excited I sort-of am about running a marathon this Saturday. At least my pretend face appears legit!
Did you get a load of my post title? Yah? This morning on my run, I was wondering about posing a question to all you ladies out there for advice on how to spend “fun” time as a single lady! My friend Elizabeth said that I should “tell” people that I am interested on being set up on a date if, indeed, I am actually interested. After that, I thought “well AM I actually interested?”
Has anyone ever heard Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results… “While I ran, I wondered: “Am I doing the same thing over and over with males {absolutely nothing} and expecting different results?” The few times I have flirted or acting, even the slightest or -worse- majorly interested, the fella’s seem to drop me like a hot bowling ball. Ouch. {for them or for me, I wonder which is worse?} Thus far, the best advice I have gotten is to eNJOY the single life while keeping faith that some day I can share some time with a guy who likes me back!
What is the best “single” life or EVEN “how to go about dating” advice YOU’VE heard, to date?
happy monday everyone ~ jasper
CGS youth venture onto the paintball front
Load up the ammo!
And don’t drop the paint balls on the ground or the referees will yell at you to “NOT LOAD THEM INTO THE HOPPER!” They take their work seriously.
Careful, these girls may look innocent but they’re fierce out there on the paintball battlefield!
Make sure the masks fit!
And do not be afraid of piglet-sized guard dogs.
Beware of welts. Big welts
And most importantly, have fun!
Lots of fun!
That’s what the pup was telling us, I’ll bet…”HAVE FUN!”
how to finish what we’ve begun
One of my favorite things, lately, has been turning “draft posts” into published posts! For some reason I just LOVE to begin things and then NEVER finis
Okay, okay, my “finishing things once I’ve begun them” change is not going to happen over night but where better to begin than SMALL with my little finishing-blog-posts-by-editing-and-publishing-once-I’ve-begun’them ain’t a shabby place to begin!
Originally, I wanted to make them posts a sort-of-reader-of-my-0blog-working-encyclopedia-of-my-office but then I thought: “How boring” … So I have turned a collection of random coworkers into more of a little-things-in-life-tutorial.
Isn’t it crazy that February 2012 is, nearly, finished! My parents will arrive from Africa on March 6th and I have not seen them, in person, for over three years, now. It’s surprising to think about when I actually chat within and write to them and have more interaction with them than I do with other folks.
And the more I sort-of reminisce over how much I have learned, how challenging the year has been so far and how I’d like things to “look up,” I realize that 2012 is going to be a pretty swell year, after all, no matter what my life weathers.
Look at all these happy and smiling faces at my work…I mean it’s a nice place to work and all it just always gets me thinking….I am behind the camera so often and hear comments like “THAT BETTER BE A GOOD PICTURE”…but everyone covers their face when I try to snap a shot (how am I suppose to ensure “A GOOD PICTURE” when you are doing everything possible to make yourself look wretched…sorry folks, don’t send me hate mail 
)
But somewhere, deep inside everyone, is this desire to smile. To really smile. One day I will learn more and more of the endless depth to the human soul and spirit, I believe, through snapping photos and portraits.
For today, I’ll let others be the teachers while I am, still, very much, the student.
Sorry I have been MIA for a couple of days! Hopefully I’ll have some good posts coming up here soon! Happy Tuesday for now!!!!!!!!!! much love – Jasper
postcard writing and making for dummies!
Do you appreciate receiving or sending a hand-written letter? I LOVE to write letter, perhaps, even more than I love receiving hand-written letters! And, yes, this post is being categorized as “penship” not “penmanship” as I have decided to create a new word, entirely, for a new category
Back to post-card making! Collecting old scraps of paper and magazine clippings can be especially useful for penship 
… Now I am not ENTIRELY sure that all of my letter-recipients appreciate, what I feel are, my awesomely recycled materials-made postcards or letter, I know that I think they’re so much fun to send! Hopefully, the folks that receive my letters appreciate getting a letter in the mail…whether my crafting skills are stinky or not.
To begin with the letter-writing process, I like to get inspired! It doesn’t take much to get me wanting to write letters, but Pinterest can be a fun place for post-card, letter or package sending ideas…
Believe it or not, when my iPhone lost ALL contacts I said “eh, anyone important can just give me a call, no need to freak out…” but I cried after thinking “I just lost all of those home addresses to which I enjoy writing and sending letter! 
” Boo-hoo’d for a while over that thought! Not to worry, though I had JUSt backed up the iPhone to a desktop and system-restored that babay!
See my set-up, here, found above…Just take some time out of your day to sit down and try writing a letter to an old friend, a dear friend or even one who lives in the very same town as you! It’s fun to get the post man to deliver a letter for you, even if it is locally delivered! Also, find fun random craft accents for your letters – I LOVE to use baker’s twine for decorating mine!
My friend Hannah from New Zealand and I have been writing to each other for nearly 20 years (in August of this year, it will be twenty!) ever since my grandparents met up with her grandparents while traveling in Hannah’s home country in the Pourakino Valley (correct me if I am wrong, Hannah!
iPhone and cute plants are fun company for letter writing too…I’d better back up all of my addresses on hard-copy though in case my phone crashes, once, again!
So get out those pens and scrap paper and find addresses for friends while stamps are only $0.45! Yikes, I might have to resort to all email once the postage rates continue to REALLY rise!
On another note, Ashley’s post really got me excited about lots of random things, but Medjool dates and the date palm tree, especially! So fascinating! – check it out on some Wikipedia love!
And I might have cried like a little baby when I saw this video story from Twitter.
Have a happy Wednesday…it’s nearly 5 am here and I am sick in bed with fever…about to fall back to sleep….
rubber band balls for dummies
So my home gym consists of Netflix-stremed exercise videos, a jump rope, running shoes and an indoor poor + slide plus 2.5 lb free weights. Right now, though, I m in the process of making one new addition to the home gym! A medicine ball!
Don’t mind the iPhone and nail polish, they’re just for good measure. Literally! The rubber-band ball continues to grow as I continue to add pound after pound of rubber-bands to the ball!
YOU get a vote, too! How many pounds, more, of rubber-bands shall I add to my rubber-band ball for making my home-gym-medicine-ball? 1? 2? 3? 10lbs more?
All it takes is more and more bags of rubber-bands to add to the ball!
For tomorrow! “Postcard writing/making for Dummies!”
tips and tricks for making flower balls
1. buy push pins…LOTs of push pins
2. find little scraps of paper or cardstock and cut little flowers. cut LOTS of little flowers …
3. purchase Styrofoam balls from craft store. LOTS of Styrofoam (or oasis for floral arrangements)
4. fasten paper/cardstock flowers onto Styrofoam balls using push pins
5. find ribbon…LOTs of ribbon
6. using push pins to fasten ribbon to flower ball, find yourself in flower ball heaven!
bojangles
My cousin Daniel just returned from Africa and after church this past Sunday he headed for bojanges “4 piece.” Really, I could not believe that he ate of that plus the biscuit but he did! oh Daniel! He thought I was such a nerd for trying to document everything on my iPhone…I’m just not used to eating Bojangles…however, I was a bit proud of myself for actually eating a spicy breast, yes, skin and all and some coleslaw!~
of course he chose to watch football while eating fried chicken!
mission accomplished! okay, so it might have been an easy mission! have a happy Thursday and Friday! – jasper naomi
the crafty one
so I’m thinking of making these little psuedo-diy craft kits for the faint-of-heart-diy-ers…what’dya think?!
also… here’s a little scavenger hunt for ya…if you can even BEGIN to guess what I’ve been up to this week! … that is, in between writing papers…seriously…don’t EVEN ask …
Wednesday…
for real?! bacon?! answer: yes
not enough heme ?! big frowny five minutes from this photo when turned down by the red cross collectors …
that’s ok! cuz iron …
+ vitamin C …
= happy jasper donating blood to ARC very very soon!
craft time …
tea time …
bar making time …
looks gross i know! …
but they are yum yum tasty! …
just relaxin’ … shootin bbal up side a school …
happy friday! ~ mucho love-o – jasper
only nineteen
broken lens motor? bad lighting? no problem!
So the title for this post was supposed to be a spin-off of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen…only seventeen…” except Ciara is nineteen … And there ya have it!
shipments
Upon my friend JD’s arrival back home from his 3 week stay at the hospital, he was waiting for a few packages. Some of his packages were for business and some were for pleasure (Costco shipment). After days of waiting, JD decided to track the packages. To begin with, I was not really listening to the list of stops his packages had made, “Duluth, Minnesota…Columbia, South Carolina…Pike’s Peak, Colorado…” But it did not take long for his rattling off delivery-stops to catch my ear… “Jackson Hole, Wyoming…Sacramento, California…Costa Mesa, California…”
“hehe.”
That is all I could think. Can you imagine all of those stops if you were JD’s packages?! How tiring. Here is a photo of one package arrival. JD ordered wine and I wanted to celebrate the package’s arrival with a shoot.
stumps
I have some super exciting ideas for my new room in Nevada!
One idea comes all of the way from North Carolina! I packed two tree stumps in my car, ousting many other items from the trip. And get this: Pottery Barn’s October 2009 catalog includes my idea! Mwahaha! For only 5 cents plus fuel costs for moving to Nevada, I have my very own versions of Pottery Barn’s “Rustic Wooden Accent Tables” retailed for 199$ (small) and 249$ (large)! Soon I will include a photo of my stumps in my new room. They put pottery barn to shame.
Check that.
microwaves
Sometimes I wonder about microwaves.
I feel badly about the number of microwaves I have thrown away. The Dawson family had six microwaves in their garage at one point. I’m quite positive that each of those microwaves went to the landfill. Microwave companies make a killing off of consumers heading to the local Wal Mart to purchase a 15$ microwave. Ask ANY ONE of your neighbors for a microwave and I am sure they have a spare one for you. They might even have two just collecting dust in their garage. I won’t venture to say that microwaves are evil or hateful, even. I’m no communist. But they surely will DESTROY whatever you put in them. Really though, think of your healthiest little friend. It’s usually a cute little bean blonde who jogs all day long and shops at the farmer’s market. Her name is, most likely, Tori. And she says “I like to eat all organic foods.” She smiles and giggles and is super cute. Could you imagine her saying “…and the fastest way to cook all of my food is in the microwave.” What?*&%!!? She would never say that. If anything, she might say “yeah, the fastest way to DESTROY my food is in the microwave.” Am I especially inappropriate to call microwaves evil? They are, indeed, a wee bit destructive. Kids put shrink-wrapped packages full of Peeps, chicks and bunnies, both, into microwaves across this globe and watch them EXPLODE! With entire cartons of eggs, too! I suppose I am being somewhat or, even, exorbitantly subjective about this, for children destroy toys and animals with fire and b. b. guns, daily. I mean, no one is calling fire and b.b. guns evil. Wait.
I think we could all go on about microwaves. When you really think about it, there are certain things that should just not be pt in the microwave. Putting wonderfully and lovely dishes of deliciousness into the microwave seems so backwards. Why ruin wonderful treats that are food? One of my Sierra Sportbike Association friends, Luke, uses microwaves for the right reasons. He heats up the knee grip-pads that suction to his bike in the microwave. Those grip-pads can handle the waves that are micro and destructive. Lusciously fresh asparagus…delicately harvested oats…lovingly crafted thai noodles…succulently fresh new potatoes and heirloom tomatoes
… DON’T put these in that microwave!
field of dreams
This past weekend I spent both days, all day, at the Reno Fernley Raceway.
How does one get there? Well, when I asked one of the sportbike racers for directions, he said “Drive to Las Vegas…and 400 miles before you get there, turn right. “It’s true! The raceway is in the middle of nowhere. Like a field of dreams for sportbike lovers. A desert of dreams, if you will.
The Sierra Sportbike Association is like a family. Fun, helpful and they all LOVE bikes!
On day two of my desert adventure, SSA instructors Steve, Eddie, Alan and even “team manager,” Luke, took me ’round Fernley’s track! On the front straight I went 135 mph…not nearly as fast as Andy Roddick’s new service record clocked at 155 mph!
I couldn’t even move more quickly than a tennis ball. Here is a photo of Alan and his wife. Alan is Scottish and his wife is super nice…and super hott…I’m quite sure all of the dudes are jealous of Alan. Cool people.
Here is a picture of Justin Macina. He races with AMF. Nice dude. Fast, too.
Most of the guys camp out on Friday and Saturday nights. Sport-bikers Chad, Josh and Harold took their sweet race-home to the track. I like to call it Chad’s trailer a “race-home” because, one, he only uses it for camping at the track and, two, each interior window awning is lavishly decorated with checkered-flag, felt curtains. I would describe the decor as “appropriate.”
Chad also takes his dacshund, Stan, to the track. Since Chad’s trailer is air-conditioned, Stan spends most of his time indorrs. Stan will come outside for lunch, though. Stan is fairly stubborn and Chad claims that “Stan can sit, lie down and roll over on commad,” but I do not believe this. I look into Stan’s etes while urging him to “sit,” but he will not. Chad says “it’s because Stan is so stubborn,” but isn’t it possible that Stan is just really unintelligent, not dispobendient? Harold calls Stan a “Nazi” because he listens to neither Harold, nor me…and both of us happen to be jewish-born. Who knows?
I wear this bracelet, a family heirloom, from my grandmother that has a hebrew inscription meaning “life” on it. It looks like a siezure bracelete and I tell people that if I have a seizure, people will know I am jewish. I digress.
I think Stan is a real cutie…just brainless…not a Nazi. I wish I had a picture of him for you! I’ll take one the next time I see him!
I hope Chad never discovers this blog, for I am about to comment on his biking leathers.
Many bikers chose their riding leathers according to aesthetic appeal (leathers can be found in different shapes, colors and sizes) and some bikers chose leathers for their pricing or quality. Chad rides a Kawasaki sportbike, colored with the make’s characteristicly bright-green shade. He also has riding leathers to match. We are talking inky-green, full-body riding leathers. If Chad has a girl friend, I can imagine his dialogue as such: “Babe, I am going to get bright green bike leathers. They will match my Kawasaki perfectly. All will call me ‘Green Hornet.’”
Funny, Chad’s handle on the Sierra Sportbike Association’s message board is “Green Hornet.” Awesome guy…just all green. I rather like the leathers. I promise.
great music
Last week I was able to help out with a highschool youth group. Afterward, leaders and some of the students head to Buffalo Wild Wings to hang out. We had so much fun. Meeting news friends and sharing in laughs is all part of my experience in this new city, Reno, NV. Friends, Ursula, Ashley and Dan shared many funny stories about their year of living together last year. Dan said, at one point during our late-night snacking, that he had never seen Ursula “laugh [that] hard in a long time.” We were all in stitches just sharing stories. One time Dan, Ursula and Ashley were moving this couch into the house from the back yard and Dan made a funny noise when the couch hit his hand. The actual story wasn’t too funny, but Ursula, Ashley and Dan laughing about it had us all giggling.
At the end of all of these stories and laughter, I asked “why did you all have to stop living together.”
They replied, “the lease ran out.”
For some reason, this tickled me too.
I was asking all of them about good music that I should listen, for this crowd is into some really awesome artists. That night I went home and bought a Red Umbrella album per their recommendation and it is SO GOOD.
zen gardens
Has anyone read the book “The Shack?” 
If you have not, you should. There is one chapter where one character (and I won’t spoil who the character is for those of you who have not read it) works in this garden. In Zen Buddhism, it’s believed that theses Zen gardens, Japanese gardens, are living works of art, growing and changing with the seasons. I like the way the garden in The Shack represents the garden of a human’s life. Playing with this little zen garden brought this AWESOME book to mind. Read it. You’ll like it.
websites
I’m trying to figure out how to or if I would even like to market my photography.
Website?
Business cards?
What’s your vote?
Here’s one business card template: any suggestions?
is it too simple? not enough info?
special visitor!
I wondered who would be the first friend to visit me in Reno, NV after moving here from Greensboro, NC. And I wondered how long it would take to get someone to visit.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am PLEASED to announce that after my arriving in Reno on August 28th, 2009, I will only have been visitor-less for 43 days because Wesley Johnson is coming to visit on October 1oth, 2009!
I would like to call myself visitorless for only 22 calender days because Wes called today to tell me that he bought the ticket. So I count this as the day that I did not have visitors up until!
Wesley does not know what he is in for! Here are some ideas of what were are going to do…
- hiking at Spooner Lake, NV
- camping at Lower Sardine Lake and day hiking to Upper Sardine Lake
- swimming in the coldest water: Lake Tahoe!
- countless scenic overlooks
- photo op at Sand Harbor (Lake Tahoe)
- swimming at Pyramid Lake
- running around and playing at Donner Lake – jumping off of the piers into the lake!
- possible casino adventures in Reno
- countless cool places to eat…all natural foods…world class cuisines
- hiking along the Truckee River (white water courtesy of Lake Tahoe’s alpine waters)
- wildlife in Nevada’s deserts and all over California’s high Sierra mountains
Are you getting excited yet Wes?!
- it’s Wesley Johnson, the fine cowboy!
