Waiting Around

91 Days 2023, Issue 3

The Waiting Game

So much of this week has felt like a spot in the back of the line, waiting on who-knows-what to finish up god-only-knows so we can all move on to I-really-couldn't-tell-you. It's simultaneously restive and irritating.

For me I think it's that this is the last few days before everything kicks into high gear again for the next few months. By this time next week, I'll be neck-deep in meetings, appointments, rendezvous, and tete-a-tetes. I'm tired just imagining it. And yet, there are good things happening, too. A little bit of travel, a lot of seeing people I genuinely like seeing, possibly even a little bit of forward progress on all my schemes and plans. But that's next week. This week, I'm still waiting.

And that means it's hard to get anything done, even when that thing is just picking up the camera and going outside. You may be familiar with the old saw, if you need something done, give it to a busy person? It's a truism, isn't it? Right now, I'm not busy so absolutely nothing is getting done unless it's taking place in a made-up galaxy several hundred thousand imaginary light years from here, accessible only through my t.v. screen.

I try to tell myself to take it slow and to enjoy these moments of calm before the storms but at some point, for me, anticipation turns to dread and I just want the future to hurry up and arrive so I can see how bad it's going to be. Nobody ever said I was an optimist.

All of which is to say that I think I made a mistake when I outlined this series' constraints. I had said that I wanted these photos to be taken during my daily life, especially as I move around between jobs and commitments and social engagements. The idea was that I would make time to stop during my commute and take pictures along the way. And that's great. It's already brought some interesting developments.

But last year, during the summer 2022 run of 91 Days, the most important element was simply getting up and moving. In other words, the goal was to get out and walk, the camera was incidental. And I kinda forgot that.

So I'm amending the challenge. I'll still do the shots en route, but I'll also make more time to go for walks, even around my neighborhood. I'll make sure I'm moving everyday, that I'm out of the house everyday and that I'm taking pictures wherever I happen to be, but I'll work harder to make sure that I have perspectives even if it's my same old walking routines.

Maybe then I'll be able to catch my breath.

Index:

• 15 March - Fab Four - Penny Lane is a series of Beatles-themed bakeries in Tochigi Prefecture. Aside from the fab food and faux-Italian villa styling, they play music by the Beatles. And only music by the Beatles. Whether because of or in spite of that fact, going to one of the bakeries for lunch is always a treat.

• 16 March - Sunset Power - I know, I promised there would be fewer power lines in this series, but sometimes they're just so dramatic, so, ahem, powerful, I just can't help myself. Anyway, it was sunset and I had had a brain fart and forgotten to put an SD card into my camera so this was a last minute shot before I lost all the light.

• 17 March - Rust - These are the steam vents on the back of the gym I go to. The exhaust lines below the vents are hard to see during the day, but at night, with the light reflecting off the condensation, they make really interesting patterns. That's all.

• 18 March - Attempted - I'm not happy with this shot. I am happy with myself for actually planning an attempt at getting this shot. By which I mean I read the timetable, got myself in position with a tripod and everything, and then realized, after the train had passed, that I didn't like the framing nearly as much as I had thought I would. You'll see variations on this shot again, I'm sure.

• 19 March - Ground Up - The colors are finally starting to pop and it's a little bit like everyone is slowly letting out a breath they didn't even know they'd been holding. And by everyone, I mean me.

• 20 March - Prayer Hands - Every year, my wife and I tell each other that this is the year when we really get out there and clean up my father-in-law's grave. This year we actually did that. It was good and felt like we could finally check a couple of things off our long list of things to get to one day. This is not the grave, by the way, this is the monument / alter for those who had no one to purchase graves for them.

• 21 March - Weak Contrast - Yet another glimpse of the colors starting to show. White flowers are showing up everywhere, but, on grey days like today, they fade into the background all too easily.