I've retouched some of my photos and slowly getting them up online. It's a change from just writing. I need to back up my photos and get them retouched any way, so finally getting started on that project. This avatar for my friend Zyed is part of that project. Zyed's photos are part of a series of portrait studies I did of just him. ^_^

They were mostly shot on black and white Fuji ASA 200 on my Nikon F75. (Don't ask me about F-Stops, I didn't make note, or if I did, I forgot.)

Let me know what ya think! More to come later...

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I found this poem in my Writers Cafe account...
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Stare into the void,
Into the darkness
Of all past and present

Blind as a bat
Deaf as a snake

Floating
Falling

“The center cannot hold…”

Do things really fall apart?

You are my validation.
I need your affirmation.
Of my existence.
That I should be who I am.

You are my deliverance.
I need your approval.
Of my being.
That am doing the right thing.

You are my hope.
I need your faith.
Of what I'm able.
That I can achieve destiny.

I have a number of French songs in my Finetune play list. (Check it out it's at the side bar!) One song that struck me was Les Mots, Les Gestes, which means "the words, the gestures" by Hélène Ségara. It's a mellow song. I loved the lyrics so I translated them. MY FIRST FRENCH TRANSLATION!!! Ok, maybe it was another midnight madness, but I hope you enjoy it. And please let me know if there are stuff that were lost in translation.

It took a bit of time for me and yes, I took help of online French-English dictionary as well as Google Translate and Babel Fish but they don't really give good results. They get confused with the feminine/masculine forms, especially when it comes to the possessive stuff. If you're studying French though, I would recommend that you listen to the song. There's a lot of transitive verbs. Of course, I'm completely lost when it comes to 'em transitives. So here are the translated lyrics.

Original (French) Lyrics: E. Aerts Music by: R. Lable Album: "Coeur de verre" (1996)

She writes in her diary
In a school notebook
She writes by the flame
Of a perfumed candle
The secrets of her soul
The hidden feelings she held
It's her invitation to the ball
While life dances on
She writes that it hurts
Draws a heart, the initials
In her diary
She writes about all the wounds
That she had taken for all the promises
The words, the gestures

She writes in her diary
The evening is her juke box
She writes and the sand
Which stabs her in the eye
Then she makes the veils
And sometimes, the day the surprise
Puts down at her table
Among her childhood dreams

She writes that it hurts
Draws a heart, the initials
In her diary
She writes about all the wounds
That she had taken for all the promises
The words, the gestures

She writes in her diary
In a school notebook
She writes by the flame
Of a perfumed candle

She writes that it hurts
Draws a heart, the initials
In her diary
She writes about all the wounds
That she had taken for all the promises
The words, the gestures
The words, the gestures

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Written with Zyed
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(When will you realize that I cannot be fit into a mold.)

There is no cup,
no retainer,
no shape or form.

It is only the abstract that exists
It is only the essence.
It is only the being.

There are no words,
There are no gestures,
No standards, no fixtures...

It is only the fluidity of my soul...
The flow of my emotions.

It is the abstraction that is me.
The intangible.
The illusive.

Language is only an accessory.

Let the silence speak.
Let's be primitive.
Let's undo the rules.

Don't hold me.
Don't mold me.
Don't fix, don't shackle.
Don't measure me up --

I wanted to write this post for a while now. Somehow life seemed crazy and I wasn't able to really have the time or the quietness of the mind. When I started "Notes Above Ground", I had a very clear picture. I wanted to shut down my other blog -- Stream of Conscious -- partly because it was under a pen name, and partly because I wanted to write more than poetry. That blog was all poetry. So what's the deal with this blog? Here goes:

Notes Above Ground is my PERSONAL blog. That means it's about things that I'm really interested in. That can translate to anything under the sun but I'm narrowing down that into loosely 'concentrated' areas.

This is a place that I jot down notes, thought processes, and keep references. They might be of use to others too. So here's a list of things that you'd be able to read about here:

• Photography
• Social/New media
• The Internet/Web 2.0/Web ++
• Book reviews
• Movie reviews
• Blog/Site reviews
• Travel
• Food
• Writing, writing, writing

Did I mention writing? ^_^ Click here to read my bio.
Enjoy the ride. If you want laughs, visit my other blog Confederacy of the Dunces. If you're a film buff, check out Brooklyn Young Filmmakers.