Three things for Friday

[nwhiker]

1. Today was day 3 of our Learn to Row class. OMG. So. Much. Fun. I suck, of course, but I am having a blast, hopefully I'll get better! Dh and I are not in the same boat, which is good. Both bow seats... which shocked the snot out of me because, not knowing any of us, the coach choses seats based on... size. The smallest person is typically in bow. And I'm still a bit shocked at that. Actually, a lot shocked. I looked around because I am short... I probably am pretty close to the lightest in the boat. This just does not fucking compute. Just does not. Even more shocking? I'm within a few pounds of being a legit lightweight rower. JFC. Anyhow, dh ended up in bow on Wed because we ended up short a rower and she decided to move him from 3 seat to bow. I was in one boat on Wednesday, and it wasn't great. She swapped dh and me today because the other coach, who'd been with my boat, said the Darkness was too big for me, which was true, half the time I was rowing towards my neck, not my ribcage. Today felt much much better. So far rowing starboard.

2. Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies. We've all seen it, right? And because I am an idiot, it's only now that that little laugh line is taking on a much more awful meaning. Dh and I were talking about what made Trump so irresistible to a large segment of the population, including members of the government, the judiciary, and certainly the media. And it's because they get to be part of something. It's like the reality that many bullies have their coterie of hangers-on. People who follow them, prop them up, help them... in exchange for the cookie. And in this case, the cookie is being on the winning side as vulnerable people are hurt. Getting the rejoice in the misery of others, in seeing people's lives ruined. Gloating as racism and misogyny run rampant. Hatred seems to be the most enticing cookie of all.

Started this yesterday, got distracted, LOL. Finishing Saturday, but keeping the original title!

3. We have so many photos from our astrophotography weekend. Dh took them. I was going to, but in the end, I was so freaking tired and out of sorts, I just hung out, helped my sister as much as I could, and did the support thing. And made loads of composition suggestions ("angle the camera a little bit further east so we can..." type things) and talked with him about exposure etc decisions. Part of it was because he is better with this camera than I am (I much prefer a more manual camera and that isn't a reality) so he got ahead of me in figuring how to set all the parameters especially in the dark, and while he offered many times to hand everything off to me and help me as needed, the photos he was getting were so awesome I didn't want to not get them so I could muck around. My plan is that next time we go to Bend, we'll go out again and we can do a low stakes photo shoot. Anyhow, I've downloaded and installed Adobe Lightroom and we have to pick the best shots and start mucking around with them.