Shai Coggins

1. Thank you all for your comments, prayers and kind words of encouragement. I have yet to respond to your comments individually in the last couple of posts, but will definitely get to them in the next few days. Again, thanks! You are just such wonderful people. Your feedback always makes my day!

2. To those who want to know about my nephew and didn’t catch my Tweet… He has completed brain surgery yesterday. And, my brother said he’s doing well. There’s still biopsy, MRI scans, observations, etc to go through. But, so far, so good. We’re hoping that all will continue to go well from hereon. Thanks again for all your well wishes.

3. I’m doing much better, health-wise. Still recovering and there are still some aches and pains. But, at least I’m more mobile and able to do stuff again. Definitely feeling better.

4. I’m turning a year older tomorrow. And, I confess: I’m feeling icky about it. Meh. It’s not really “the getting older” part that gets me down. It’s a whole heap of stuff that stems from not-so-happy birthday memories, I think. And, I do tell myself that I should just be older and wiser to put those things behind me. Besides, no matter how bad some of my birthdays were, I should just be happy that I’m Alive. That I’m here… able to celebrate Life with people I love - and those who love me. After all, in the big scheme of things, I really have nothing to complain about. I am so, so blessed. Spoiled, even. Yet, still. Maybe from now on, I’ll take it as my special annual challenge to create The Best Birthday Ever. To squash all past birthday disasters. Either that - or start ignoring my birthday altogether. Heh.

5. Writing of my birthday, one reason I shared No. 4 is actually to thank everyone who already sent in their greetings, virtual gifts and hugs. Really appreciate you taking the time to do so!

6. Daylight Savings Time ends here in Australia tonight. It means, we get an “extra hour” as our clocks move backwards.

7. Ah, and No. 6 means I’m celebrating a 25-hour birthday for the first time. Haha.

8. Like most times when I spend any length of time away from the computer, I am way behind on responding to emails. If you sent anything in the last few days that need my attention/response urgently, please feel free to re-send and mark them urgent. I’ll do my best to get back to you soon. My Inbox is in such a mess that I’d hire an “email cleaner” if I could! Anyway, thanks so much for your patience.

9. Although I missed my daily blogging goal here, I am still doing my best to keep up with my 365 photo challenges. And, right now, I’m on Day 96 (I think). So, I’m almost at my 100 Day milestone. If you have any suggestions/ideas for that day, I’d love to hear about them. Doing these 365s keep getting tougher for me. In fact, I’ve been soooo tempted just to give up. But, right now, I’m hoping to still make it to 100 at least.

10. Writing of birthdays and such. I’m just curious to know…

Hope you all have a great weekend!

… when you get what you need…
… when you receive what you were hoping, wishing or praying for…
… when what you want is right there in front of you…

Will you recognise it?
Will you know it by heart?
Will you be excited, jumping, dancing?
Will your hair stand on ends? Your skin, prickling?

Or, will it all pass you by -
simply because you didn’t know what you want?
Never hoped, wished, or prayed for what you need?

Sometimes, I just wonder what I take for granted on a daily basis.

Gadgets, books, and art/craft materials are my biggest buying temptations. In the gadgets department, photography gear and craft gadgets are on the top of my list at the moment.

But, other than these ‘usual suspects’, I have the tendency to get attracted to certain items when I see them too. I’m always looking at and purchasing candles, for example. I love buying them in different shapes, sizes and scents. I even enjoy looking at handcrafted candles from different countries that I visit.

Teapots, for some reason, is another object that I find interesting. I’m not sure if my mom influenced me on this one. But, I definitely love the look of them. I’d be buying more teapots if I could. At this time, though, I only have half a dozen or so in my collection. The photo of the teapot you see here is from a trip to Malaysia. I have a teapot set from Thailand. And, I have a couple of others. But, I somehow haven’t bought any lately.

Other things I’d love to collect more of, but don’t have the money or space for include: watering cans, boxes, baskets, bottles, stationery…

I also used to collect stamps. I started when I was about 10. But, I somehow lost my drive for this over the last few years. Perhaps, the fact that I haven’t really been in to snail mail letter writing like I used to be may have something to do with this loss.

What about you? Do you have a collection? If you do, what do you like collecting? If you don’t have a collection yet, what would you be interested in collecting?

“Do not speak unless you can improve the silence.” - Author Unknown

Writing of quick meals and unplanned dinners, here are a couple of souvenirs from Friday night’s Chinese takeaway dinner:

Fortune reads: You have an unusual equipment for success make sure to use it wisely.

Heh. That cracked me up. Seriously? An unusual equipment for success? Hmmm… And, I wonder how on earth I’d ever use it wisely if I get to figure out what it is?

Ah, well… This other one, I like -

Reads: New experiences and new friends will enrich your life.

Not so much a fortune for me but a reminder. New experiences and new friends are things I wish to have and long for. And, right now, I really am enjoying the process of creating these experiences and friendships.

This year has already opened a lot of new relationships for me, both online and off… And, I’m really enjoying it. And I’m very grateful. That’s why I know I should continue to be open to all sorts of experiences and people. Not to get used to too many ’same ol’, same ol” stuff.

Anyway, is it just me - or do folks really order fortune cookies because they love their taste? Or, is it just for the sayings and/or experience? I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy eating ‘em. The ‘fortunes’ are just funny sayings to me. Something to have fun with and all. But the cookies themselves… mmmmmm… yum!

Hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend!

Dandelions always remind me of childhood. How I used to pick them and blow the spores in to the wind. Making wishes, for every spore.

I don’t know if that was something I learned from someone. Or, if it was something that I made up.

Anyway, even now as an adult, I still get the urge to pick dandelions and to make wishes. And right now, I have a massive wish list that can use up a bunch of dandelions easily.

Other than world peace, protection from recession, health for family, friends and yourself… what do you wish for right now?

In any case, here’s a song for you…

My Wish by Rascal Flatts
(some of the typed text in the video can be wonky, but no biggie) -

Daily blogging’s hard. Especially when you have so many things on that Daily To Do List.

Sometimes, all I really have time and energy for is this -

I

‘ya!

That’s why I keep on going.

Hope you’re having a fabulous weekend!

“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” ~ Mary Dunbar

WARNING: Totally off-tangent rambling. I’m just way too exhausted right now to write a longer, more riveting post. Right.

Well, I just thought I’d share with you this self-portrait which I did a few days ago as part of a photography challenge (via a group called Utata) and as my day’s submission for the 365 Days project.

For the challenge, the idea was to create an image based on 3 elements:

1) There must be an umbrella in the shot.
2) The photo must be indoors.
3) The final image must be in cinematic ratio.

The picture you see here became one of my submissions. Turned out that it made it to Flickr Explore’s Front Page. At one stage, it had the rank of #12 in the “interestingness” archives.

When I was submitting and thinking of a title, I just thought of the obvious - “Umbrella”. Then, Rihanna’s song popped in to my head -

Ever since, the lyrics of the song just got stuck in my head (don’t you hate it when that happens?!) -

"When the sun shines
We’ll shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be your friend
Took an oath
I’mma stick it out ’till the end
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella…"
(Lyrics from Rihanna, "Umbrella")

Anyway, a few days later, I found out that Mandy Moore also did a cover of the song. So, this didn’t help either -

And, of course, there’s this version by Australian Idol, Natalie Gauci (which I also enjoyed when I first heard it) -

Hmmm… what do you think? Which one do you like better? Or, don’t you like the song at all?

In any case, now that I’ve blogged about this, I’m hoping that I’ll finally get this song out of my system. But, if you have any other tips on how to cure the ‘Stuck Song Syndrome’ - I’ll be more than happy to read all about them.

Oh, and yeah, I’ve received some questions about how I created the “Umbrella” image. If you’re interested to read more about some background info on the photograph, please read on…

Nutella?

Well, okay, maybe not.

I don’t want to break my daily posting (Over 40 days in a row now. Woohoo!). But, my hands are tied at the moment. Feeling really overwhelmed. And, I haven’t managed to prepare anything in advance. So, let me just leave you with this photo (yes, I’m loving Nutella on crispbread at the moment) - and this food for thought:

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” - Abraham Lincoln

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, here are some ideas from around the blogosphere…

1. Create a punch collage. Something I really wish I can do one of these days…

2. Visit a Farm School. Or a zoo, an aquarium, etc.

3. Organise Your Home Office Paper. If you feel like tidying up.

4. Create Heart Art. Just because it’s fun.

5. Throw or attend a Forest Party. Not really sure how it’ll work, but it sounds like fun.

6. Take photos of your pets. With style, of course.

7. Start your own silly faces photo project. Because humour in photos can be really cool.

8. Pick up the Exercise Habit. Something I struggle with. Ugh.

9. Learn how to fold a towel monkey. Or a towel cat, towel elephant, etc.

10. Bake Fluffy White Cupcakes. Just because.

So, what are you doing this weekend?