The boy who knows a lot about Star Wars

I took a bicycle ride this morning with Little Monster Boy along the Thames.  The sun was out but there was also a chilly breeze.  We kept warm by exercising, if I was walking I'd of been cold.  There was the occasional jogger as well, I saw them and thought of my knee which seems to be shot up at the moment.  I may never jog again with the way it felt after the first Sunday jog. (See earlier blog)  All the same it was nice to get out in the sun with no particular purpose.  Monster didn't say a great deal which was unusual, sometimes he can't help but blabber and  blabber and then I feel my ears are about to drop off.  He revealed how he likes listening to the radio.  Unfortunately it seems he enjoys sports (footy) when he does.  It looks like he is going to become another one of those men who talks nothing but football as though it is the only thing which matters in life.  I hope he doesn't grow up in that same tiring mould.  At the moment it is Star Trek and Star Wars.  He can't make up his mind which one to specialise in.  He knows more about Star Wars but can't help a liking for Star Trek as well.  For the time being the Simpson's is just something he must watch without fail but he does not talk about it.  However, he will rush home disregarding social niceties just to watch an episode.  His internal clock is gauged by the Simpson's TV times.  The short ride was enjoyable and I stopped a few times to take photographs.

I like taking photos and did so on this ride, whether is is sea gulls or blocks of flats I can't help it.  If I could I'd wear a camera on my belt all the time.  Instead I make do with my out of date mobile phone just so nobody thinks I'm a nob head for carrying a camera.  I know quite a lot about taking pictures, or so I think.  I know more stuff than the average picture taker, put it that way.  This knowledge and experience can more than make up for someone who has a great camera but just doesn't think about taking pictures.  It's not just about exposure and quality of image, it's also about being in the right position and the right place at the right time.  About having an eye.  I can see things the average person can't.  I know the automatic flash will kick in on a night picture and only capture close objects, I will then cancel the flash and hold the camera rock still using anything around me as an aid.  My knowledge of how light effects a photograph allows me to compensate exposures in different settings.  For example if I had to take a picture directly into sun light, in the snow, while it's raining, at night etc etc.  But I also like to take pictures of stuff others might think is boring.  Such as graffiti.   Many different subjects capture my imagination, it's a mix of eclectic images others would find puzzling. From Sparkling's influence I now understand it is better to have people in a picture who can be recognised.  If you see them the picture holds more meaning.  It becomes sentimentally important and more.  People are important and they like to see themselves as well.  Of course always their best side.

It's Sunday.  The bicycle ride was a bit like a holiday event.  Tomorrow I'm back at the Fish Factory.  I've already done part of a week but next week will be a full work week.  Unless I can get an afternoon off.  Only a few days ago I was in Poland, with nothing much to do other than sight see and enjoy food and drink.  Did you know Vodka is name after the Polish word for water, "woda."  Looking on holidays away is an odd thing, because the time away is viewed through different eyes.  Relaxed eyes.  For those who live and work in Poland there was no perceptual change to how they saw the world.  However, as a tourist there is.  You tend to see things through tourist eyes.  I miss Sparkling.  It doesn't even matter if I'm on holiday I miss Sparkling.  I'll just have to book another week off and head up North.  There's a bottle of Woda in Sparkling's kitchen which has my name on it.  It's called Red Oak.  A shot goes down very smoothly.  So the moral really comes down to frame of mind.  It doesn't matter where you are, on holiday or not on holiday, it's how you choose to see it which matters.

There's a saying I've heard a hundred times.  But even if I repeated it a hundred times it wouldn't mean it has gone in.  It has been understood, which takes something else completely. It is:

"no one can hurt you but yourself."

I think this is to do with our own perception of life and it's events.  A more formal saying has come from the stoic philosopher, Epictetus.  He said:

"We are disturbed not by things, but the view we take of them." (abridged)

I have been thinking a lot about this lately.  The concept and the words are simple.  Understanding them and putting them into action is not.  For example.  Monster Boy discussed with me his parents, how they would embarrass him at times, how his mum would think he was being sarcastic and punish him for his sarcasm by saying he could not play on his games' consul.  I spoke to him about parents and advised as he grew up he may indeed learn and know more than they have.  His decisions in life may be better, but they would always know how to get on his nerves.  They knew more about him than any other person in the world.  Once he understood this and accepted it he would feel better about it.  I don't know if he heard what I said, but he thought about if for a moment or two and particularly liked the bit about being smarter than his own mum.  As far as Star Trek and Star Wars is concerned is smarter than me as well.  Little smart arse.