Recent photos

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on October 11, 2010

Just thought I would post some of my work from recently. These are some of my favorites from my adventures (or misadventures) over the last few months.

I try to get out and do different things, find activities and explore the area a little more than I did when I was growing up here. My views and outlook on life have changed so I can appreciate the areas around us so much more.

Spanish Dancer at the Cultural parade

Looking down an ally

Bellydancer street performers at 4th Friday

Downtown Fayetteville, NC

Xenophobia

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on October 6, 2010

Dictionary.com defines Xenophoia as the following:

xen·o·pho·bi·a

–noun

an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

Wikipedia explains it a bit further:

Xenophobia is an irrational, deep-rooted fear of or antipathy towards foreigners.[1] It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning “stranger,” “foreigner” and φόβος (phobos), meaning “fear.”[2] Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity.[3] Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an “uncritical exaltation of another culture” in which a culture is ascribed “an unreal, stereotyped and exotic quality

Now, I am not here to give you a vocabulary lesson. I am simply giving some information needed to understand my latest rant: hate, fear…ignorance of cultures other than your own.

Tonight, on facebook, I had the joy of reading the latest in my pet peeve list. A status message by a popular “fan page” for my area making a very tasteless joke about the “Mosque at Ground-Zero” controversy. Now, I am far from the most politically correct person you will ever meet. I enjoy tasteless jokes on occasion and I am usually less than polished in my grammar, jokes or language but this pushed a limit not even I am open-minded enough to find funny. As a matter of fact I find it downright disgusting the way people think sometime.

I almost don’t want to copy it here, as to not share the vulgarity, but I fear I must in order to get my point across and to get some opinions on if I am being too touchy here.

The Mosque near ground zero, I say let them build it. But across the street, we should put a topless bar, called “You Mecca Me Hot”. Next to that, a gay bar called “The Turban Cowboy” and next to that, a pork-rib restaurant called “Iraq o’ Ribs” ? And a check cashing center called “Iran out of money”. Let’s see who’s r…eally tolerant!

Now, the ground zero Mosque controversy has been one that I have followed decently and have gotten into debates with a lot of people in my life about. Dad, facebook friends, twitter friends, message boards etc. I have come across a lot of great reads that have been passed along and the most poignant came from a friend who was going to post it to her facebook but worried about stirring up trouble. This particular piece described how it was being blown out of proportion and a lot of lies were being spread to stir up fear within American’s hearts by using the horrific scenes from 9/11 and the people who carried out these attacks.

People who called themselves Muslims but bent the religion to suit their whacked out thought process that the easiest way to show their xenophobia (our word of the day people, did ya catch it?) was to crash jets into buildings in the US. When thought about like that, how does someone not see that this practice leads down dangerous roads? Practices like making jokes based on the simple fact that someone is foreign to you.

This status message from this group is only the last in a string of videos, long-winded rants and political pundit speak that I have endured over the past few months and while I appreciate sharing of opinions and love a healthy debate, I have to wonder if this is actually a healthy debate.

While I would never take away someone’s freedom of speech, I just can’t seem to get over it when I read something like this. I can’t seem to find any sort of intelligent thought process in jokes like these. If you don’t want the Mosque built, that is fine. I can appreciate your stance on it but research, learn, talk and listen. At least do your own research and steer clear of hate because hate leads to actions like those of the 9/11 bombers.

We are a nation whose media outlets have capitalized on fear mongering. The nation we knew days after 9/11 is no more and we have given way to using that date as a scare tactic and justification for our racial profiling, cultural bullying and religious persecution.

Outlets like facebook, twitter and whatever else have allowed a certain amount of internet anonymity where people feel the need to show the worst of themselves.

I hope for a day when a bit more tolerance can be spoken.

/end rant

Business or pleasure

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on October 6, 2010

So I am trying hard at starting up KlutzyShutterbug Photography. I used this website/blog on my business card so I have struggled over the last few months to figure out if I am going to use it for business only or pleasure (Read: Rambling).

When I first started this blog, it was a place to release some of my rambling…to save those around me from the incessant subject changing and random facts thrown at them. You see, if I don’t stick to one thought process, you will have to follow me all around the globe in my rambles before getting to a point. Bare with me.

So, I’ve decided that this will be both. I will ramble to my faithful readers and I will also share my photography work.Prepare yourselves for opinionated posts. (One will actually follow shortly..something that is bothering the piss out of me right now) But, will the opinions I share so strongly be bad for business? This is the question/study this blog shall bring forth.

I haven’t decided how I am going to go with everything. To people that know me, it looks like my photography is always taking a back burner due to either my laziness or life at the time. However, I think it is more the insecurities in me. Lately, I’ve found a lot of pride in my landscape/object shots. I have several that I want to get printed up and matted to sell. Maybe I’ll hang on people’s walls one day.

For now, you have my rambles. I’ve promised this in the past so I won’t promise again because I fear that it will curse me I guess…but I do plan to keep this blog up a bit better. I want to blog so badly but always find someway to put it off. So, here I am at the, 4th? 5th? stop on this “i promise to restart my blog and keep up with it” tour. Join me, won’t you?

Turn the funk around

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on June 16, 2010

Ok so I’m trying to turn the funk around. Trying to give up on expectations in people and trying to take my life one day at a time. If my mom’s death taught me anything it is to treasure the people around you and never let the people that truly love you and enrich your life go without knowing what they mean to you. There are days that I get so “funky” because I start to count quantity of friends. It is only recently that I’ve figured out quantity doesn’t enrich your life..quality does. Also, with this wonderful thing we call the interwebz and our progress in the smart phone industry (*coughs* Felice did you see that? *cough* haha) I can stay in touch with the wonderful friends I’ve made along my adventures in life.  Anyways, on to more…pointless rambling and over my funk. I’m not promising anything but I hope to not have to put my readers through anymore bellyaching about my lack-luster life…instead you get random ramblings courtesy of me being bored and sitting in public not wanting to cut on frontierville in facebook because the music is makes will make me the target of stares I’m sure. (was that the longest run-on sentence known to man?)

I have off this week and so far I’ve done a whole lot of nothing. Lazy days on the couch, some cleaning and lots of sleeping. Sleep is what I do best lately. I excel at it. If I were being scored I would be valedictorian of the Sleeper class o201o. The power is out today at my house. The Public Works Commission of Fayetteville descended on to my neighborhood around 8am and cut power as soon as the clock struck 9. I had recieved notice yesterday and planned accordingly so here I sit at Barnes and Nobles doing oh so important stuff.

There are people on laptops everywhere around me and stacks of books sitting next to them. They look studious or busy at work. I, however am writing on my blog, facebook gaming and twittering about my useless knowledge. I have the urge to cover my screen everytime someone walks by so they will think I am hard at work.

Who knows, maybe they think I’m sitting here writing the next great American novel or organizing my notes on my latest research into the cure for cancer.

Random note: There is getting ready to be a fight. There are like 4 plugs for about 15 people on laptops who are realizing their power only holds for so long. Like The Nerd and I who are keeping a watchful eye on our battery meter to see if we should find another free wifi hotspot with more wall plugs. So we moved. Not tables but places. We’re at Starbucks now but their wifi isn’t free until July 1. Otherwise its 3.99/2hours and we’re only here another 45 minutes. So The Nerd is trying to figure out how to get us on this AT&T network seeing as how we’re AT&T customers I am not paying for wireless access when I have it through them (and when I just left somewhere it was completely free.) I’m meeting a friend in an hour at Olive Garden for soup salad and breadsticks since The Nerd doesn’t really care for OG all that much I go with friends when I can. Although I would trade Olive Garden for my home in Hawaii back…and go back in time 3 years or so, knowing what I know now of course.

Stupid battery ran out and I had to finish this later once at home. Rant coming later about our lunch at Olive Garden. I really should get my name out there as a restaurant reviewer in Fayetteville. haha

In other news…

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on May 25, 2010

Along with everything else referenced I guess I should update that I have a job. I’m a working woman receiving taxable wages from an actual company for the first time in about 10 years. Well, I held a few odd jobs here and there but they’ve been limited time and/or for individuals–under the table.

I’m working with a company called News America as an in-store ad rep. Thats a fancy way of saying that I screw a screw driver to put up the little thingys that hold ads, fill up and maintain coupon machines and crawl around on my knees putting huge floor stickers down and making sure they have no air bubbles. Glamorous right? (Side note: did anyone else just sing G-L-A-M-OR-OUS? Well, I did…to spell it. Thanks Fergie! Who needs kindergarten when pop stars teach you how to spell? :P )

Anyways, excuse my randomness. Back to the topic at hand. My month is schedule by “ad-changes” and sets of stores I go to. In this, I drive all around Fayetteville and beyond putting up ads that, before this job, I barely knew existed.  I’ll take pictures one day. Maybe of my dining room or car that have become completely taken over with advertisements.

Today, my glamorous job entailed putting down a floor sticker that said (and I quote) “Wow! Nice Package!” with a man on it with 3 strips of bacon behind him. Seriously? I think it is lame but all I could imagine is some mommy brigade watching me put it down and then chasing me with strollers yelling about their innocent kids being subjected to sexual innuendo.

Also, do me a favor and don’t stand there to pull out those coupons just because you think its “neat” that the machine pops another out. Its really annoying to have to clean up discarded coupons from everywhere around the machine because someone got the giggles from a machine that dispenses paper. I know it isn’t the kids either so don’t try that route! I’ve had at least 4 adults tell me they do it for shits and giggles.

Cindy’s rant corner

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on May 19, 2010

rubytuesdayThis is my little piece of the interwebz and it the interest of full disclosure (AKA blogging about my life again), I have a rant/review. Before I start, allow me to say that the nerd and I are sort of a walking zagat guide for the “regular” person. We don’t eat at a bunch of 5-star places but we do eat out…a lot especially since we’ve been living back in NC.

Ruby Tuesday was our choice for lunch today. You see, I meet the nerd for lunch most days and considering where he works, there aren’t many choices around. Ruby Tuesday is one of the better but it isn’t far off from pretty bad. When we lived in Hawaii, it was good and we often chose it over other places but here it comes around once in awhile when we are tired of all the other places we’re wearing out.

Anyways, enough rambling and on with the review…

If you are in or around Spring Lake, NC be advised that while Ruby Tuesday is a nice choice for something other than fast food or mediocre buffet, it isn’t what it used to be. I don’t know if this is a Spring Lake and/or NC problem only…but the service has gone downhill for sure. The prices are outrageous for what you are eating ($9.99 for a chicken strip dinner with mashed potatoes) and the quality is only mediocre at best. Our bill for a lunch today was over $33…granted we had cheese fries but seriously I was disgusted to know we paid $6.99 for some fries that were over cooked, over salted and overly greasy with some cheese melted over them. While I did not have their salad bar today, it is a RT staple and never seems to disappoint. As long as you don’t catch them in between fill ups, the salad bar is sure to please your palate.

So if we were rating on a 5 star scale…Ruby Tuesdays of Spring Lake, NC gets a 3.

So, I fail again

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on May 19, 2010

butterfly_tattooAnd I’ll keep getting back up.  My blog started out as a cool idea that life just keeps stepping in the way of. I admire those that can update with any semblance of regularity and still have witty things to say day after day.

Let me fill in some huge gaps from the previous 3 months of my absence. Its likely that everyone that reads here already will be bored to tears as they already know but for anyone that I may reel in with my catchy word salad (or verbal diarrhea as it will probably be) heres the scoop.

Back in January I tried to start this picture a day idea that I’ve seen floating around the interwebz. What I didn’t know is what the month of Jan would hold in store for me. Life had been a little hectic for the previous 6 months or so…The Nerd got out of the military due to medical issues and life began a whirlwind of changes. In those changes meant moving home. Home for us being Fayetteville, NC where most of our family resides in surrounding communities. Home also meant helping take care of my mom. See, she had COPD, Diabetes and a host of other health issues that required use of oxygen 24/7. Our first 6 months of being home were great and I felt like a “whole” family. My parents came to my house to eat, we went and did things and enjoyed being with each other. In the middle of this happiness were lots of stays in hospitals, trips to UNC-Chapel Hill for experimental drugs and days that my mom would barely get out of bed.

We got to spend our first Christmas together in awhile and host it in our home. Christmas eve my parents stayed the night here and we woke up to have a wonderful breakfast and lots of laughs opening presents. However, there was a cloud that hung over our heads. Mom had called Christmas eve to say she wasn’t feeling well and needed some help. Her color was odd, her breathing labored and her energy gone. We tried to get through Christmas thinking this was just a bad couple days for her and she would come out of it. On the 27th of December we admitted her to the hospital where she spent time in ICC and a regular room being given her different options.

Our next weeks were spent keeping her spirits up and hoping that there was an end in sight this time. That brings me to a picture a day for Jan 1-6.

On Jan 16, 2010 at around 2:45am my mother lost her fight. For her last 2 days we stood by her bedside…watching her fight and when she passed it was serene and quiet, her closet friends and family by her side and the nurses letting us have our time to say goodbye.

The days after are sort of a blur. The funeral process is not anything I care to go through again anytime soon and my house was flooded with flowers, food, friends and family. It is honestly times like these that I know things happen for a reason. I spent so much time panicking and stressing about our life changes but in the end, I was here to watch my mom drift out of this world…a bittersweet time I will carry with me forever.

So now you know why I’m so behind…yet again. I have realized there is a possibility that for me, in this moment, blogging could be quite cathartic and hopefully I can become a bit more regular…but don’t hold me to that.

A day in the life…day 5

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on January 6, 2010

Soon I will get more active…soon life will give me something to write about that might interest….anyone.

For now, you are stuck with pictures of my life.

flagfrontname

So, this one is old. It isn’t from today. I’m not cheating, I simply stumbled upon it and it reminds me: TAKE DOWN THE CHRISTMAS DECOEATIONS on the front porch and put back up your flags.

I also want to enter a photo contest that I wonder if this is good enough.

A day in the life…3 & 4?

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on January 5, 2010

I promised myself I would keep up and I am. However, last night, I was all prepared to photograph my day and I got a call from my dad late to say that my mom was having a bad night at the hospital so I went up there to keep her company through the night. I got the internet…about 2am with no camera in site.

I’ve slept most of the day, so even this won’t be riveting….but I am determined to finish….something.

adayinthelife 001So, here is my other unfinished “I’m going to get to it” project. Christmas decorations. I got the motivation to take them down, its just the storing them that is the problem now.

A day in the life…day 2

Posted By Klutzy Shutterbug on January 3, 2010

So, It is 9:11pm and I almost didn’t get my deadline today but I am stubborn and this is getting done this year! It doesn’t help that my internet is being so completely screwy that I can’t do anything. So here’s hoping that day 2 happens.

Day 2. We purchased a late xmas gift for each other. New laptops. We’ve wanted them for a couple years….being that our last ones went kaput early on so we decided to treat ourselves. *With the promise that the money spending slooooows down soon and we have to eat at home for the next 70 years.

dayinthelife2 002So not a very good picture. But that is one of our new ASUS laptops. More to come later when my internet wants to stop acting like a douche.

"Who is Klutzy Shutterbug?"

Self proclaimed klutz, amateur photographer, wife, daughter, friend and computer nerd. I ramble a lot and teach myself as much as possible. Passionate debater with many diverse opinions that I like to share....a lot.