A Beginning…

Well, the weather is getting warmer that now are in March already. I'm not sure if I can do more strolls outside. My last one was on February 2ⁿᵈ when it was rainy and cold; Life kept me occupied then after and I was not able to repeat the experience. In fact, I was already thinking of a panorama in some place, but to do it I'd need to be up early and I'm not sure if it would be safe because it is a place in between some houses. I don't trust my luck when it comes to dealing with people's mentality around here.
Anyway, for the coming few posts, I'd be going through some of these simple strolls that I've did in January and February, so far.

A Beginning

For starters, the strolls for this winter were a bit of a challenge, simply because I'm using different lenses other than what I used before (20mm and 50mm). As a starter, I've decided to use the Sigma 12-24mm, and on my regular or normal camera. Thus, no infrared, no ultraviolet this time.

Sigma 12-24mm DG HSM
the adapter hood is not shown

This lens has a diameter of 82mm and I can't fit any of my filters on it even though I do have step-down adapters. I tried to fit it once onto the front hood (which is an additive to the lens and not part of it) but for some reason, the ring did not click in. It seems that such hoods are made into a slight ellipse and not a full circle to be able to hold onto the body of the lens front, thus it was hard to put a circular ring adapter onto it. I didn't want to try further for fear of breaking something, but i assume that even if I was successful here, there would probably be a big chunk of vignetting which probably won't be fixed in post-processing. However, it is worth another try, some day, some time; Just not now! Anyway, I had one more trick in my sleeve yet.

Cokin flare filter

Vignetting from the tape

Funny thing that I've talked about
vignetting already and how it might cause problems that can't be fixed in post-processing; because, this is exactly what I did in fact, but with a different kind of filters here. This filter was the Cokin flare filter, which I purchased for cheap from a friend. The filter needs adapters to fit onto the lens but I don't have any of that. I've used it before several times just by fitting it onto the lens front and hold it there by improvisation! This time though, the filter fits nicely (sort of) onto the hood of the Sigma 12-24mm lens, but I needed to tape some edges to keep it in place and THAT what caused the vignetting (not the filter itself!).

开始
(the beginning)

For the beginning, I've headed westward from home and I've set the White Balance to "Fluorescent"; My favorite one at times of dawn or dusk (so mainly around the blue hours). Made some test shots just to gauge the exposure a bit (working in "Av" mode). The Beginning was processed from RAW, but later on, I've switched to bracketed shots and the whole work (almost) in these series to come was done in HDR. I didn't work in HDR for quite some time, and I felt the urge to do something crazy. Just to note, I used HDR (and still) for panoramas and other shots but typically I'd tone-map the image to make it close to reality, but this time I needed to do something "unreal".

藍色的背後
(behind the blue)

Moving along that neighborhood (facing south now) I've arrived at the playground just at the local grocery shop. It's such a suitable place for geometrical abstracts, but I've never thought of stopping by and taking some pictures here. Anyway, it was a nice opportunity to inspect the place and do some HDR spree. I had some clicks around the fence and I tried to stabilize my hands as much as possible (and I was shooting at waist level). The real struggle though came about afterward when processing such images, like behind the blue, as I was trying to "perfect" the geometry and make sure everything is parallel and straight; A theme that I will be struggling with a lot in the coming shots and later days as well.

Candy Gates

As I'm typing these words now, I''m trying hard to memorize the sequence of events as much as possible (it had been 2 months already). Ironically, as I'm doing this and going through the files, I've discovered some files that I didn't process at all for some reasons that I can't remember. Anyway, finishing from the fence, I've headed inside the playground (which lies on quite a small area) and the place was colorful indeed despite the harsh treatment from the sun all over the past summers. Honestly, I liked the place so much that I really wanted to go into these tunnels and structures (no wonder kids like them, it gives a sense of secrecy!) but alas, my body size wouldn't fit there, and no need for further embarrassment here (cleaning workers were around). The colors in this place reminded me of candies, hence the title of the image(s): Candy Gates; and I say images because things developed naturally into a series of such "gates".

Candy Gates 2

However, "colorful" doesn't necessarily mean "joyful" or "merry" - does it? This is one of the strong points for shooting HDR (or to be precise, shooting bracketed images to merge them into HDR later); it would allow you to control the mood of the image more than just editing the RAW file itself, but with some expansion with the capabilities to shape the light itself in the image. Thus, images like Candy Gates 2 would normally (maybe) look merry and colorful with all the tones of red and blue in this corner, but darken the image as if it was a Halloween scene and you have a reflection on some abandoned place that was once "alive". Not far from reality though.

Candy Gates 3

One thing, I might say, is common among all these candy gates shot, and that is that they would have done better if I had focused a bit and spent some time centralizing the camera to make the perfect symmetry. Maybe I was just a bit lucky in Candy Gates 3 and 4 (just a bit) but focusing too much in shooting such abstract scenes would defy the whole purpose of this stroll and this shooting session altogether; wouldn't it? Therefore, I was literally reckless when it comes to precision here. Also, pointing with precision here would really require a tripod in my case; These coffee-addicted hands are no good when it comes to stability AND precision together. One of them is allowed only!

Candy Gates 4

They Shall Pass

I arrived then on a bridge-like structure between two "towers" I think (or something similar). What I liked here is how the morning light seeped through. I have to admit here that much of the blueness in that scene, They Shall Pass, was majorly done in post-processing phase, but the play of light and shadow was still beautiful to my eyes in reality, as it is in the post-processed version. It was a struggle to shoot this vertically as I was holding the camera with one hand and pointing downward, while keeping the camera strip away from the scene with the other hand, and all of that had to be stable for 3 successive shots. I was lucky, actually, to find a suitable set from all these shots to work the HDR out and tone-map it. I had to do some cropping of course and some perspective fix.

Broken

Of course, it wasn't all sweet with such playgrounds; you'd definitely find something broken (well, things were broken). I have to say, though, that such a broken swing did initiate my juices for 3D anaglyph making (which I did). Beside bracketing for HDR, I've shot in fact a dozen or so of single shots in burst (continuous) mode while moving gently from side to side. This was in order to pick 2 shots for making an anaglyph later. However, as I'm typing these words, another idea came to my mind but no need to put it here just yet as I'm not sure if it will work or not (and I don't know even if I will work on it soon enough!).

Три Арки
(three arches)

Having enough from the playground, I've moved out to check on the rest of the neighborhood, which is not something new really, but what makes it "new" here is the element of using a different lens; A lens that I didn't use before in such strolls outside.
Just outside the playground, few steps away, stands a house with arches. Now, I like architecture photography but such an activity has its own allergies when it comes to places like where I live for privacy issues. People like their privacy and a stranger, who can be barely seen outside his home and don't have friends in the neighborhood, is always a suspicious sighting. Anyway, since I was in a haste and I didn't want to stay for a long time in front of the house, I've taken a shot for these arches on the house's facade. I thought to myself "I'll try to fix this at home." Fixing here was mainly in terms of the perspective. I sort of done this, somehow, as seen in Three Arches, but the final result was somewhat catastrophic, and I've spent a LONG time trying to fix the perspective. Perspective issues, specifically, are always better to be fixed on-location if possible. In this shot, there were two perspective problems: sideways and vertical perspective. As for the vertical one, this is natural because I'm shooting on the ground and not using a tilt-shift lens. As for the sideways, I was supposed to be standing directly in front of the arches, but alas, that didn't happen, and I had to do both corrections in Photoshop, and thus the resolution of the image did suffer so much. Originally, the image had more than 3 arches and more space on the sides and top, but all was gone in the process.

Jailing Shadows

There, at the same house, some shadows made a play on the outside walls (and I was lucky to have no car parking there!). The irony about the shadow (or shadows) is that it was formed by a small metallic piece in the corner of the cars shade, but the shadows were naturally magnified on the wall (just like how the projector works). The post-processing was in HDR first, of course, and I tried to tone-map the image to show or get a more dramatic impact. However, this was not enough and I had to do more to the contrast and sharpening in Photoshop (specifically to get that texture on the upper portion of the image). This one, too, had undergone some perspective (and distortion) fixes, as I was trying to make the verticals as straight as possible. The distortion caused by the lens itself is mainly due to the edges rather than the center, and thus with cropping the image to focus on the center subject, it wouldn't really matter much to fix the distortion for such images, and for such a lens, the Sigma 12-24mm DG HSM. However, I have to say that I don't quite trust the installed lenses profiles in my old PS, and from time to time I'd be looking forward for other reliant methods to rectify the distortion caused by my lenses. It can be done at home if only I have the proper chart and proper space to work within!

Colorful Past

Afterward, just after that house, I've arrived at the (in)famous house which, if you've been around this blog for a while, you probably have seen already shot in different styles with different lenses and filters. This time though there are a number of different factors, beside the falling metallic roof on the front door here, as seen in Colorful Past. The difference here is that I'm shooting it with a new lens, and no filter, and using HDR technique.
In processing this shot (from HDR), I've focused on the element of "livelihood" - that is to show how vivid the place is despite the apparent of the status; Maybe we can call it a "contrast in concepts", aided by that contrast in colors between the blues and the yellows/reds tones (as complimentary colors on the colors wheel). This image also was subjected to perspective adjustments and cropping accordingly. Here, though, the tilted lines (vertical or horizontal) could have been already there in the scene regardless of the camera tilt or distortion, but I still worked on making the vertical and horizontal lines as parallel as possible. HDR is not the end of the story of course, and I still had to do a lot of things in post-processing (beside the perspective fix that is), like adjusting the contrast and adding some blur or haze, as I deemed sharpening in such situation wouldn't add to the feel that I'm aiming for.

After The Rain

Then after the "haunted house", I came across, again, a previously-featured a corridor/alley/lane (whatever it's called) which passes in between two houses. I've shot this before in various lenses and filters as well, and this time it was the time for HDR testing. I have to say though that with such lens and without any filters, this scene doesn't seem quite interesting as before (adding to that, some objects and features had changed, like the wasted tire that was dragged further away!). Probably the only interesting thing here was the damp floor after the rain that fell the day before. However, HDR technique did help a lot in showing the details of the clouds (which would have been faint otherwise). Again, perspective fixes were needed and some work was put on highlighting the greens, specially on the tree in the background. 

Media Center

However, there is just that door before the entrance to that alley, which really caused a great deal of frustration for me. It was shot before (of course!) and in various lenses and filters, but in all cases, fixing the perspective for this door was/is/will be something troublesome, always. I'm not sure what's the secret about this door but I do think there are some issues in the architecture itself that I didn't pay attention to on-location, which makes rectifying the image is such a hard task to keep the verticals and horizontals as parallel as possible. The name, Media Center, comes from all these newspaper boxes on the wall. I really thought that this house was abandoned like some in the area (like the one I shot above) but turned out it is inhabited. These newspaper boxes actually were a deciding factor for me when I wanted to rectify the image, as I really wanted them in the image to add some element to the story, and because of them I had to change the whole perspective and cropping process to include as much as possible of them. Probably you can tell that I had to sacrifice one (or maybe two) boxes on the far right side. I tried to rectify the door and make its sides as parallel as possible, but yet there seems to be a bulge on the upper side or shade just above the door. Call me a perfectionist or some OCD'er, but I can't keep my eyes off such "discrepancies"; My eyes just go there automatically.

Media Center 2

After finishing from that door, it was time to go back. Usually, I'd take that alley and go out from the other side and walk back home (this is what I did in previous strolls in this area) but this time I just headed back on the same path that got me there already. The clouds were interesting, so just not to miss them I've shot something that I'm not completely proud of or something, but something for fun, as in Media Center 2. No rectification was required here as I didn't have a real goal or anything in this shot, but I was focusing mainly on the clouds and tried to highlight them as much as possible with HDR tone-mapping. In the post-processing (after tone-mapping that is) I've tried to add a tint of magenta as is usually seen when shooting using the Fluorescent WB (as this shot wasn't shot with it).

Восьмиугольники
(octagons)

At this point, my wandering was almost over and I'm already heading back home, but I still had some itch in my pocket (or my camera) and I passed the local mosque (just at the back of Media Center 2), where I shot Octagons. This time, the fence was high but still somewhat reachable, so I raised the camera with one hand to have a better perspective (better, not perfect!). Again, shot for HDR, but I didn't go super-crazy with tone-mapping, as I didn't like to have halos around the edges in this one. There was still some perspective fixing to be done as well as cropping to centralize the image (i.e. cropping in such a way to let the center of the image be a specific point or subject). In such situations, using a high f-number is a must (kind of) since I was shooting without looking and depending solely on the concept of hyperfocus (which better be done with higher f-numbers, f/8 and above).

At this shot, the stroll was over and I was already on my way back home. Processing the shots took me a while (of course) and I remember there was some delay because of some health issues back then. It was clear though that the Cokin filter (which was on the lens all that time) didn't do much for the shots, as I didn't have points of light in the images. Still though, the filter would accompany me later in the next stroll with somewhat good results I'd say.

Finale

So, the weather is getting warmer and warmer here, which is kind of sad (for me, I know lot of people hate winter). I've been already idle with my camera at the time of typing these words and I'm not sure what to shoot next. Going outside to shoot is something that I'd need to do in very early hours, and with the situation at home (and Mom), this sounds somewhat impossible at the moment.
For the current situation on the home-front, it feels as if something inside me has been dead. Maybe dead beyond resurrection. I don't know how I am moving or doing things around here, but all I know is that I'm alive, supposedly. fatigue and the turbulent sleeping pattern is the main theme for the current times of my life. I'm even typing this blog and finishing it after midnight. I consider myself lucky to finish this blog in time by the way, as I was running late and I couldn't force myself to type it down. It needed a great deal of power, and coffee.
I'm not sure what to expect or what to work for for the next few days or weeks, or even months, but the question that keeps ringing in my head all the time is: Could it really be that bad all the time from now on? Just to think about "Yes" as an answer to this, is quite terrifying…

Stroll VI…

Well well, it is May already, and seems that the weather in the morning is still promising to some walks, but we've been having some dust waves already like on and off (and sometimes flies would eat me alive!). Not sure where does this dust come from, but whenever it is red in color, it is usually from the north, from the southern parts of Iraq (which I think still suffers the consequences of the artificial drought caused by the regime back in the 1990s in retaliation to the revolt).
Now, I don't know if "dust wave" is indeed a term (we use it in Arabic though), but the conditions are not that of a "storm" either, so that's why I don't use the term "sand storm" because it's not really a storm, but dust particles hanging in the air. Sometimes it is followed by rains as well, specially in this time of the year before summer.
Anyway, it had been few weeks now since my last stroll but I'm also still processing the shots of my last stroll (I've been lazy a bit), and since I've used most of my "special" filters in strolls, maybe it is about time to get a tripod and try to shoot stuff with my ND filters or pinhole; Still thinking about it though because a tripod is a burden (and an eye opener sometimes, and I don't want to grab any attention to myself).

Stroll VI

This stroll took place on April 6ᵗʰ, and this one I've decided to go back to an old filter that I didn't use for quite some time: B+W 092.
Now, this filter is the first IR filter I've purchased before I even get a modified camera and I've worked with it as a "big stopper" for long exposures, but I don't recall I've worked so much with it AFTER getting my modified Canon 7D.
Essentially, in looks, images taken with this filter are quite close to those taken with Hα filter, but they tend to be less saturated. The difference in threshold between B+W 092 filter and Hα is probably in the magnitude of 30nm. Left to say that in this stroll, with this filter, I've used my 50mm lens.

Mr Chiller

So, for this stroll, I didn't go East or West, but rather South (which eventually lead me to West anyway). This neighborhood was visited before and I've posted images from (shot in Hα once) and probably if you are following these posts you'd recognize some scenes (some of them shot back in November 2020).
Anyway, on with the stroll with my first stop just around the corner with a cat that was ready to jump on me because I've disturbed his or her rest. Luckily it calmed down and rested while watching me taking a picture of him from a distance (maybe 3 meters or so). At that moment, I really wished that I was using my Sigma 70-200mm just to frame the cat's face as I wanted to catch that luster in the eyes as I've seen it, but alas! I had to satisfy myself with what I have. The final image, Mr Chiller, had been cropped to a great deal to focus on the cat with all that clutter in the image (and still). Channels had been swapped here with some saturation added. 

Tracks A

Tracks B

Not far off from that cat and a bit forward, I shot few images that I might as well call "the stinkiest images I've ever taken in my life so far." Track A and Track B were actually a set of images (focus-stacked) which were shot near some trash bins LOADED with garbage that seemed to me back then that it has been days since these bins were emptied by the trash car. The smell almost got me fainted and I couldn't stay more than 5 minutes (or even less) before I continue walking.
Here, working with burst mode as usual and f/1.4, I've made several shots which, because of the handshake, had a change in focal points across the scene, for this reason I've decided to do a focus stack for each set. Worth noting that the tire tracks were not quite clear to the naked eye but they were so when I processed the images. The images look B&W but they are not converted to B&W actually. Anyway, once I've finished this stinky job and walked away, the trash-collecting truck came along. It was Ramadan back then and working hours all over the country change accordingly and these morning hours were as quiet as a midnight in regular days, and in regular days, the trash-collecting truck visits around midnight mostly!

Neighborhenge

Just before walking far away from the stinky place (and while the trash car approaching) I've noticed a turn where the sun was just rising from behind the houses at the end of the neighborhood, in a scene that reminded me of the "henge" where in such places the sun would rise (or probably set) forming straight beams. Anyway, Neighborhenge is not a perfect "henge" image but I just liked this flare. By the way, if the shadows here look so dim and almost like a solid, then it's just a monitor issue (I work with a calibrated monitor and I kept some faint details there in the shadows). I've shot several images here in vertical succession and merged them as a panorama. As I've mentioned already, the image might be just black solid but it depends on the monitor and its brightness (and correction) as there are details for sure in these shadows!

Дверь, Трава, и Ведро
(a door, grass, and a bucket)

Not far off from that bend, I've arrived at that old (haunted) house with the metallic door which I've shot many times before. This time though, I've shot several shots in portrait and then stitched them together. Of course, fixing some distortion issues and straightening some lines, all that calls for crops, and more crops. I was fluctuating between the original version and the channel-swapped version, but finally I've decided to use the channel-swapped version as the blue tint for the original somehow didn't appear to my mood (then and now). One would think that such an old look and such deserted place would fit into the blue scheme but I didn't feel like it. I've also darkened the image a bit from the left just to add bits of mystery and "spookiness" as if the image was divided between the light and the dark. 

Скрытый
(hidden)

Then comes Hidden. What's special about this shot is that, well, I don't recall shooting it. Or maybe I was aiming at the tree and didn't notice the window in the background. I really can't remember how or why did I decide to shoot this one. Anyway, I think I got away with some good abstract here. The original color for the leaves was turquoise-ish yet it was somewhat dull and lacking luster even with vibrance added to it. SO I swapped the channels and I think it is more refreshing (but maybe needs some further saturation). In case you are wondering here why I name some images in Russian, well, it's just my habit now as I'm learning Russian and trying to get the hang of it. I name in various languages really and not just Russian, but it's just what comes to mind first.

Under The Shade

It took me a while then after that random shot (which I cannot remember) to take another shot. A long walk heading west from that road, just at the back of some houses and passing some gardens; It was a nice weather back then (and without flies!). However, away from the gardens, the interesting part here was the "wild" plants growing in between the cracks. One thing made me happy here is that no one is mingling with these and plucking them for no reason. The plants I've seen are mostly of one type as far as I remember with tiny small yellow blooms (which became white with the infrared filter). Shooting at a low angle and using LiveView, I've tried my best to keep "something" in focus! I've shot many shots in burst mode which later helped me create some anaglyphs. Maybe not quite strong in effect but there is some dimension to them.

Unidentified (3D)

Unidentified 2 (3D)

As you can tell by the titles of these images, I really don't know what is it called, and I didn't check up and search for it online as I usually do. I think they might be probably some species of daisies; Well, in shape at least. I've taken loads of these flowers but many of the images were shaky a bit but I will try to check them back later and see if I can do something about it. 

Craobhacha Dearga
(red branches)

Then not far from these flowers I've passed some trees, which I've shot randomly actually. I'm not sure why did I shoot the branches but I'm guessing I wanted to check how the leaves would turn out. In the beginning I didn't pay attention to these shots but after processing a patch from this series I've decided to check them out and do something random. The shots were actually horizontal (or landscape) but as I went on processing Craobhacha Dearga I decided to rotate it and crop it (and I think I've used the golden triangle rule here). In the process as well, I've went far with the saturation (after swapping the color channels) and I've tried to make it as selective as possible so that it would affect the leaves only and not the whole image. Same thing with the sharpening at the end. It could be a good image for a background maybe? I think I'll consider uploading it to the stocks later on, but I have my doubts about accepting it since it has clear grains (in the original). We'll see about that later anyway.

A Night of Cacti

After shooting the branches, I've passed through some little gardens with many nice flowers (can't identify them as I'm not a botanist of course!) but I tried to shoot some of them in burst mode; I was trying to work quickly here as I didn't want to be noticed by anyone and cause me unnecessary problems since these basins or pots were private property even though outside of the homes, adding to that that my legs started to hurt a bit and I didn't want to bend over to the ground level to shoot (and the sun is even becoming higher now and inspecting the LiveView is getting harder). All in all, all these shots I've done for these flowers didn't turn as I wished unfortunately, but I might try to check them again later to get something out of them. Anyway not far from these, there was a batch of cacti which was high enough to shoot from waist level (and it was easy to focus on them with the lens AF on).
Here, I've used f/1.4 which is critical and so shallow, but since the nature of the shot is supposed to be an abstract, I didn't really care much where the focus would land. Of course, despite the name, A Night of Cacti, you know now that it was taken in early morning (probably around 7 or 8 a.m.). In the process, I've cropped the top ends of the cacti heads to focus more on the linear and sporadic nature of the cacti and add more to the abstract sense of the image. I think I've cropped that in 16:9 ratio.

أَنْـقـاضْ
(rubles)

Afterward, I've arrived at a location which I've visited before, and the shot I've taken here with B+W 092 and 50mm lens is probably the "top" from this series; For me, not for other viewers! The scene was captivating already with the quality of the light coming down on the tree at the end of this narrow alley (probably 2 meters wide or less). However, of course I wouldn't be able to shoot the whole scene with a single shot using 50mm lens, thus I've shot several images in vertical order and stitched them together here. There had been at least 2 images that had been omitted from the stitch as they were blown out and with not much details, in addition that big portion would be cropped anyway in my trials to rectify the vertical and horizontal lines (well not much of horizontal ones actually). The other big burden in Rubles is the work with gradients and layer masks to emphasize the light quality more or less as much as I've experienced it in real life.

Transitional
Staten Island (2012)
Click to enlarge

This shot actually reminds me of somewhat similar scene I've shot in the Scholars Garden in Staten Island back in 2012! Where some tree was receiving some bands of light and shadows. The difference here though is that it was a door back in 2012, and it's a corridor or an alley here. Well, beside the fact that the new image is in infrared of course.
Not far from this location and in fact directly to my right at that spot, I've glimpsed a door that I've always wished to shoot, and I thought it's about time to shoot this one (and break my fear a bit, specially that house looks deserted and not inhabited).

大門
(the grand door)

Here, again, several shots were taken in a vertical sequence and then stitched together. The hard part was, though, aligning and fixing the vertical lines which I think is still not done correctly in The grand door. Also, because of some cut in portions of the door from right or left (can't remember) because I wasn't far enough to have more space into my shots, I've decided to focus on the central portion of the door and try to be "geometric" with my abstract. The 50mm lenses usually don't show so much distortion (just a tiny bit) hence the term normal lens but I'm not sure why it was hard to fix and align the vertical and horizontal lines here. Probably the door itself wasn't straight? Could be! I was inspired by the design of the door and the golden color (after swapping the channels) to name the image in Chinese. Too bad the door wasn't red though! Anyway, I've based my corrections in the alignment mainly on the central portion of the door and till this time of typing this blog post, I still feel that the image is tilted to the left; Yet, using the guide lines in Photoshop, it seems all is straight and correct! My mind is playing tricks on me? Could be (as always)… Another annoying fact about this door is the fluorescent lamp base on the top which apparently was not quite centered with the door but at this point was way tired of working with this image to close it out or fix it in any way.

At this point, this concluded my stroll on April 6ᵗʰ with my 50mm and B+W 092 infrared filter. However, the processing is not yet over with as I'm trying to finish those images I've taken in later strolls and then I might go back to the old strolls like this one to see what I can do with the discarded images. Quite often they might be good for some form of artwork not quite attached to photography. I'm not sure how often now I can stroll out but for sure I need more ideas (and other usages for filters or lenses)!

Finale

As summer approaches, I'm wondering what will I be doing in such a period. Some suggested that I travel, specially that I'm a retiree now. However, such a dream is on hold for unknown time period. What I want is peace and tranquility, and not travel. Traveling is good for sure, and I would find some peace and a change of scenery is certainly good for the soul. Yet, all of that won't do a thing if the inside is as turbulent as an ocean in a tropical storm.
Fatigue and mood swings had taken up a big portion of my will power these days and all I want to do is to stay in bed. In whatever time I have left in the day, I'd most probably spend it musing on astrology and charts, even though I know it doesn't pay much nor I would go anywhere with it. It's like a drug that keeps me numb a bit for the time being. I need to kick myself out of it, but how?
I need to think of something to do indoors. The weather in the morning is still "graceful" and might allow for some walks here and there before the sun even rises up (which makes it hard for special filters like IR or UV) but nevertheless, it is something to seek (I hope!). I just wish for one thing at the moment: Something to block my antennae from receiving bad vibes to calm my mood swings down…