Hipstamatic HumpDays #5: The Fallen and the Falling...

Recently my uncle posted some photos of a cemetery in the fall, which always makes for stunning photographs. Autumn cemetery photos seem to evoke a certain emotion that's difficult to convey with words. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps it's the subconscious connection of the combination of the season in which arboreal and floral life seems to be fading away and the marble memorials that remind us of our own mortality.

These photos are nothing special. Danielle and I decided to stop by and take a walk through a cemetery by my house when we got out of class. I decided to snap a few quick photos with my iPhone because it's currently the only camera I own. My 35mm SLR is still a fantastic camera, but film is rare these days and I don't have the money to spend on the film or the processing, so I'm using this 3 megapixel camera in my phone until I can afford a digital SLR.

I really enjoyed the colorfulness of the leaves
on this tree...

I'm not big on taking photos of people, but I liked
this one of Danielle...



...and this will probably be the only photo of
myself that I'll ever post...



Bibliophile's Paradise

Well, this weekend I attended a "Friends of the Library" book sale at an expo center.  It was a monstrous building with wall-to-wall books lined up on tables... hundreds of thousands of books calling out my name. It truly was a bibliophile's paradise.  We went on Saturday because it was half-price day on all the books, so most were around $1.50! So, being the bibliophile that I am, I went all out.  Below is the list of books I acquired... in case you're interested... 

1.                  Mycenae – Dr. Schliemann



This weekend's book sale haul... seeing something
like this in front of me makes me smile...



2.                  Seven Pillars of Wisdom – T.E. Lawrence

3.                  The Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology – Pierre Grimal

4.                  The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art – Oskar Seyffert

5.                  The Works of Oscar Wilde

6.                  Moby Dick – Herman Melville



7.                  The Portable Cervantes (Don Quixote, 2 “Exemplary Novels”, & Cervantes’ Farewell to Life) – Samuel Putnam

8.                  The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo

9.                  Robin hood and His Merrie Men

10.              The Analects – Confucius



11.              Classics Greek and Romans­ – Meyer Reinhold

12.              History of the Peloponnesian War – Thucydides



13.              Tom Jones – Henry Fielding

14.              The Trojan Women and Other Plays – Euripides

15.              Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin

16.              The Mutiny of the Elsinore – Jack London

17.              The Sea Wolf – Jack London

18.              White Fang – Jack London

19.              The Theban Plays – Sophocles

20.              The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives – Plutarch

21.              Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott

22.              On the Nature of Things – Lucretius

23.              Rubaiyat – Omar Khayyam

24.              Essays, Poems, Addresses – Ralph Waldo Emerson

25.              Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon

26.              Utopia – Thomas More

27.              Selected Poems – Walt Whitman

28.              Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne

29.              Bulfinch’s Mythology – Thomas Bulfinch



Hipstamatic HumpDay #4: Sunrise... Sunset...

I don't have much to say, so I'll just add the photos... Is that okay? Good...



Just a sunrise... no clouds, just pure light... I liked it.













I recently purchased these books from a lady in a farmhouse
in the middle of nowhere... I paid $50 for them and,
after some research, my suspicions were confirmed...
all the books you see here have a combined selling price of
$450! War & Peace alone is worth $250!
It's a rare 1st edition Inner Sanctum edition..
Needless to say, I was quite pleased...





 

Quarry near Sparta, MO... Autumn is certainly in full swing!



 



I began with a sunrise, so naturally, a sunset seems fitting

for the final photo of this Hipstamatic HumpDay...



Hipstamatic HumpDay #3: Miners Rising

These photos have absolutely nothing to do with the miners...
I am, however, sitting here, watching the miners in the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile being rescued. As of the writing of this, 3 miners of the 33 have been pulled out.  The capsule used to bring them to the surface is called the "Fenix", named for the mythological bird rising from the ashes... very appropriate for such an occasion.  Two months in the bottom of a mine, with no sunlight... I can't imagine how I would respond to that. It makes me wonder, when they get back home, what their mental state will be... I'm sure there will be sentiments of not taking things for granted anymore, enjoying being outside, etc... but what other sorts of feelings will they experience in the coming days?  Either way, it'll be good to have them out...

Now for the photos:
This is a bit of a random collection of my shots through this week, but here ya go:

John Q. Hammons Fountain from the
Duane G. Meyer Library at Missouri State University



Reading Herodotus and enjoying some hot tea on my
balcony during a perfect autumn rainstorm



I recently bought a new corner bookshelf and,
as I was going to bed tonight,
I was quite taken with the way the light
shone through the curtains,
illuminating the books and my guitar







I have no idea why I took this, but I thought it interesting
the way the Hipstamatic app made my comforter look



Hipstamatic HumpDay #2 Strong Hall

This is a collection of a few photos of Strong Hall at Missouri State University. I took these while waiting for my philosophy class to start. They were taken with the Hipstamatic app and arranged with the Diptic app, which allows you to arrange several images into one image. The second photo is the same location, but with color. I thought they looked neat, so I decided to share them.

I'm still plugging away at Herodotus (yes, I'm an excrutiatingly slow reader...), but I have to have it finished before Tuesday.  Then we'll start reading The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. Luckily, next week is Fall Break, so I'll have plenty of time to read it comepletely before it's even due!  Then, in a couple weeks we start Plato's Republic, which I'm very excited about!

Please don't forget to watch the new Cup of Jon video! And subscribe to this blog if you'd like! It helps me know I'm doing something right.

And if you think I'm not doing anything right, you can let me know that as well! 

Well, I'll leave you all alone now... Have a great day!

 Peace!

A Cup of Jon Super Powers (#7)

450 Bottle Rockets!

Good morning! This is a video a few friends and I made a couple years ago for July 4th. We tied about 450 bottle rockets together (sans sticks) and lit them all... what ensued was mayhem. If you're uninterested in seeing the process or hearing our banter, skip to 6 minutes and watch the lighting and insanity.  If you're one who doesn't think it looks like much, right after we lit it, I sprinted to about 25 yards away and the explosions were still beyond the scope of the screen. It was a fun night and my friend, Jason, wanted me to upload it, so I did... Enjoy! ...or don't... but enjoy it!

The Doctor

I'm about to gripe:

Today, I went to the doctor. Basically, it cost me $40 for him to tell me what I've already known. I have high blood pressure because I'm so stressed. Also, he told me what my spots are... Tinea Versicolor. I take two pills and it's gone, but the spots will stay for about a year. No big deal, I don't really care that they're there... I may end up missing them, actually. They're a great ice breaker!

Me: "Hi, I'm Jonathan."

Girl at school: "Hi, I'm (insert random and unconnected name to anyone I know)."

--awkward silence--

Me: "I have spots! See?"

This happens all the time as I'm sure it's happened to you as well. Anyway, he gives me the prescriptions and I say, "I have one more quick question." And he replies, "Well, you're out of time."

Is it just me? Or does that seem quite rude to anyone else?  I was the only person in the entire doctor's office. The waiting room was empty before I came in and after I left... all the doors down the hall for the exam rooms were open and empty. I was the only person and he didn't have time to answer one quick question.  Needless to say, I'm going to find a new doctor. I won't give my money to someone who doesn't care about me...

Mom, you asked for a cup... here it is!

As for the high blood pressure, he gave me a prescription for my stress, not for high blood pressure... the prescription and info page says, "for stress".  This seems odd to me and I refuse to take it. I guarantee it's a placebo to make me think my stress is going away, when in reality, I've only convinced myself to relax because I just took a stress pill.  In my opinion, this sort of issue should be handled in a different manner.  He should have sat there and said, "Hey, stupid! Stop being so stressed! Relax! Take care of this issue inside your head and you'll be fine! Exercise more! Eat better! Stop getting so upset about everything!" I would have responded to this better, believe it or not...

Basically, my first doctor's visit was pretty useless and I don't plan on going back until something else is wrong... it's a serious waste of money to keep going back. My high blood pressure can be fixed by me. I don't need a doctor for that. As for my stress, I just have to live with some amount of stress because of my work and school schedule... and people pressuring me to make videos I don't have time for... just kidding!

Camping this weekend, hopefully...

Danielle's out of town, so it's party time!

I may go camping by myself... I've never actually done that.  It should be perfect camping weather too... clear skies with a low of 37... it's going to be beautiful!

Anyway, have a great day! Drink some tea, get outside, try a new food you've never tried, take time to think about something meaningful and examine why you do the things you do, read a book, and enjoy your life!

go. see. do. live.

Peace!