My confession... I have an addiction...

This may seem a bit awkward... If anything, I don't want you to be judged...
Please don't think anything less of me...
This is quite embarrassing...
but I have an addiciton...
to books.

I have tons of them all around my apartment... every room has books in it... I've got a stack of Archaeology and Nat Geo magazines piled 3 feet high in my bathroom, I've got stacks of books in my livingroom with no bookshelf to house them... some even under my lamps because of lack of space. I hate clutter in my house, but I think book clutter is a different kind of clutter... what say ye?
 Most of the books I own, I haven't been able to read yet, but I've read a little bit in each of them...


Homer's Iliad taken with my iPhone
using Hipstamatic



School keeps me very busy with required reading. We're 6 weeks into the semester and I've already read Homer's Iliad and I have to have Herodotus' The Histories finished by next week, which, if you know anything about those books, is a LOT of reading... my Greek Civ professor is nuts! Next week, we'll read The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault, then we'll read Xenopohon's Persian Expedition. Reading all of that and taking a Critical Thinking class and learning an ancient language, Hebrew, is very time-consuming while working 40 hours a week...



Even so, I still feel the need to constantly buy books... even if I know it's going to be a very long time until I can actually read them.

I even subscribe to the Library of America, which sends me a beautiful American classic every month... it makes me happy...

and here's the kicker of the whole shebang: 

Lately, I've been having a few health issues and those closest to me have been telling me for months that I need to go to the doctor. I've refused because I hate spending money on doctors... why? because i want to buy books... Today, Danielle finally told me, "if you make a doctor's appointment, I'll get you a new bike pump and a new book..." immediately, my interest was peaked. I pulled out my insurance card and we got to calling doctor's offices. I set up an appointment and off we went to Barnes & Noble. To think that I wouldn't go to the doctor for my health problems until I was promised a book says a lot for my addiction...

By the way, I got TWO books I've been wanting for a while, one about Celtic myth and the other about Norse myth... neither of which I know anything about... other than what I learned from the Thor comics. Thor, son of Odin (the Zeus counterpart), god of thunder, I believe... big hammer... badass... and Loki, evil brother of Thor... that's it.
Anyway, they'll sit on my shelf until i get the chance to read for pleasure again after the semester is over...

Despite all of this, I'm going to try to get a video to you this weekend... no promises though... if anything, it may just be a conglomeration of various random things I've recorded over the last couple months, such as the Civil War cannon demonstration we went to at Wilson's Creek Battlefield recently...

Take care! Enjoy a great cup of tea (or coffee, but tea's healthier and tastier so nyah!), get outside (especially in this beautiful mild weather while it lasts! Try your hand at geocahcing, rent a canoe, go camping, ride a bike, or go for a hike! you can even go for a scenic drive! check out an article Danielle wrote about a weekend local roadtrip at http://wwww.examiner.com/road-trip-travel-in-springfield/weekend-roadtrip it says Springfield roadtrip, but it applies for anywere), just enjoy your life and relax and experience something new and cool as often as possible!
Peace!

Hipstamatic HumpDay #1 "In the Kitchen..."

Welcome to the first installment of Hipstamatic HumpDay!
I know I added a bunch of photos yesterday and I was going to start this next week, but i couldn't wait. This is going to be another collection of photos. I haven't decided whether or not to make these Hipstamatic HumpDays a post with a collection or a single photo. Which would you prefer? Leave your answer in the comments below!
Also, I apologize to those who are my friends on my facebook... you've probably already seen these photos.

These photos were taken while I was at work. I was letting the milkman into the dining commons to deliver the milk and decided to try out the old-timey look on the Hipstamatic app.. these are the results...
I love the combination of the low light, stainless steel, and nasty floors and walls.
These were taken with the Helga Viking lens, Float film, and no flash gel.

ALSO... I'm working on doing something a little different with A Cup of Jon videos.. not a major revamp, just something a little different on my end.  School is keeping me busier than I imagined... I haven't given up on the videos, but I just honestly don't have the time to edit... it takes about 3 hours of editing for a 3 minute clip, if that gives you any notion of the time required...  a new one will be up soon though...

Springfield Nature Center in Hipstamatic!

I recently read a tweet from someone I follow that stated basially that people use the Hipstamatic iPhone app because their lives look uninteresting unless they use Hipstamatic. It, of course, made me laugh because I've become a bit of obsessed with the app. If anyone is wondering what Hipstamatic is, it's an app on the iPhone that allows you to choose the "film" style, "lens" style, and "flash" style. You can mix and match to get hundreds of different looks in your photos. For this particular set, I used the John S. lens with Pistil film and no flash gel. The black and white photos used the John S. lens with BlacKeys SuperGrain film and no flash gel. I kept it simple this time because I was hiking with some friends and I think they were getting annoyed with my constant stopping to take photos. Next time I go alone, I'll experiment with other combinations. By the way, right now, I'm listening to Blues Traveler... just thought I'd let you know... so much talent...

Reid "thinking"?

Reid and Kaley...