Ponderings and Musings

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”

Marcus Aurelius

This quote has been going through my head today. I read it a number of years ago when going through one of the many books I’ve read on Stoicism; it popped up again in a daily quote generator that lives on my “miniframe”.

It seems like society, and the mainstream news in general, wants us to focus on the negative. Everyone knows a car crash is more exciting than a high school graduation (just two random examples), and more exciting is what generates money via clicks and ad-revenue and the like.

But what does all the negativity pounding in from the outside do to our well being? How does it make us feel?

It makes me feel less than stellar.

If we are constantly bombarded by bad news we start to seek bad news. And if we seek bad news, perhaps we start generating bad news. We shouldn’t generate bad news. Look for the sunlight, even on the cloudiest of days.

There’s a reason I’ve stopped listening to news briefs and avoided the cable news networks and the like. Too many clouds that I can’t control obscure the sunlight that I seek.

If there’s one thing to take away from this random bunch of words, it’s this: find the sunlight and share the sunlight as much as you are able to do.

Here’s some photos from yesterday’s hike. They were taken with my iPhone 13 Pro.

If you took a gander at yesterday’s post about my latest hike, you’ll notice that it’s a video with not a lot of written dialog around it. In the video I talk about one of my core values. I believe we should give more than we take, and that extends to our activity on the Internet, we should do what we can to create more than we consume. It’s better to create content that shows the world who we are instead of focusing on consuming content that tells us who we should be.

Making the video, and then editing it when I got back home, was a lot of fun with me and helped me fill a creative niche. I’m going to be doing a lot more of that type of thing, whether it be making videos while flying, chasing storms, or just little snippets of every day life. As I was telling Earl yesterday afternoon, I used to do this sort of thing back in the ‘00s with a “flip” HD camera and some clever editing in the tools available at the time.

I know Apple and the other smartphone makers want us to use our smartphones for everything, including photography and videography. The thing is, I had a lot more fun playing around with my new GoPro Hero yesterday, a camera that’s designed to be a camera. I’m definitely an amateur at all this, but “use the right tool for the job” sticks out in my head.

When Earl and I were talking the other night about life in general, I mentioned that over the past few years he’s just seemed more relaxed and less concerned about opinions and the like. His response was simple, “when you’ve had cancer to remind you can die at any moment, the small stuff doesn’t really seem to matter anymore”. As I continue to read Stoic philosophy and the writings of Seneca, Epictetus, and the like, I am always reminded of “Memento Mori”, which translates to, “remember that you must die”. When you remember that no one gets out of this alive and any moment could be your last, you tend to not sweat the small stuff and focus on making the moment just be the moment.

For years I’ve been holding back on making practical effects laden videos and popping out “Bewitched” style because I was concerned I wouldn’t be taken seriously in my career or my aviation endeavors or I would be perceived as alarmingly immature for a man of my age. You know what? I’m still a kid with a vivid imagination in a 55 year old body. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Those that don’t understand will drift away. Those that feel a connection will come along for the ride.

I made a nine or so minute video of a hike up to Bridal Wreath Falls in Saguaro National Park. I had some fun with my new camera. I hope you enjoy sharing the experience with me.

My new pair of glasses arrived yesterday. While I should be wearing progressive lens, they don’t work very well for when I’m sitting in front of a computer, which is a good chunk of my time. So I have a couple pair of distant vision glasses and a pair for use in front of the computer. If we’re traveling somewhere, I’ll bring along my progressives to keep things easy.

With the advent of online, affordable optical companies like Zenni Optical, picking up a prescription pair of glasses for $30 is a no brainer. While there’s nothing wrong with my 1950s style “Gregory Peck” type glasses, at times they feel a little heavy. So I decided to go with a pair of aviators to add to the mix, depending on my mood.

I snapped a photo while pumping gas last night. The fuel cost more than the glasses..

For the upcoming storm chasing season I added a new (to me) GoPro Hero9 to the mix. Here’s my first video. It was a successful test.

On Saturday I did a solo hike in Saguaro National Park up to Ernie’s Falls. The hike involved many of the same trails I’ve hiked to get to Bridal Wreath Falls, but at the top of a hill I turned left instead of right. It was a great day for a hike and I had a really good time.

This is why I prefer to watch “classic” movies and television shows in their original black and white, instead of colorized versions.

This photo was taken during the filming of a first season episode of “Bewitched”.

When the black and white episode was colorized around the year 2000, the result was this.

The dark red lipstick on Elizabeth Montgomery in the first photo is consistent with her appearances in color movies of the time, namely “How To Stuff A Wild Bikini”. In addition, Agnes Moorehead was known as “The Lavender Lady”, she’d definitely be wearing lavender wherever possible.

It’s a shame we have the technology to colorize black and white film but then rely on folks that don’t pay any attention to what the actual colors were.

Waking up to lightning notifications and the rumble of thunder is a most excellent way to start the work week. Thank you, Mother Nature!

Earl suggested we enjoy the beautiful day and drive up nearby Mount Lemmon. I told him I wanted to do some reading and writing today, so I brought my computer along in case we found a place where I could do a few things I wanted to do. I found some inspiration at the Inspiration Point Picnic Area, near the top of Mount Lemmon.

‘Twas a beautiful moment.

It was about 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than the temperature at home, and it was quite breezy. I loved every moment of our stop there. The wind making its way through the evergreens was especially magical; I will never tire of that sound. In fact, I probably need to find a sound effect that replicates the pleasantries so if I’m feeling anxious at work or something I can spray some pine mist and listen to that sound on headphones.