Starlings from Europe were introduced for insect control to North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and are still spreading at 22 km/year in Argentina. They have iridescent purple and green feathers tipped with white spots, but appear black at a distance. Large flocks roost communally at traditional sites, spreading out to pasture and urban feeding grounds each day. One of the commonest garden birds, starlings are easily recognised by their noisy, hyperactive behaviour. They are resident throughout New Zealand on open country, including most offshore islands.

 

Source: www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/common-starling

I was hoping to find a canyon wren at Oak Creek Wildlife Area, Yakima County, Washington but found this hyperactive little Pacific wren. Hiked about 1 mile of road. Snow after about .9 mile and turned around shortly after that. Weather was cloudy and cool and I even saw a couple of snowflakes. According to the calendar spring has arrived. IMG_4378

My first attempt in aquarium photography trying to overcome unique challenges that you won’t find pretty much anywhere else. The combination of the low-light without a tripod, thick & dirty glass, hyperactive kids, and floating debris can make getting a good shot a challenge.

 

This will be part of a series of my aquatic photography collection.

Cut off from the sea by the suspicious port authorities in Shanghai it seemed that the only way I was going to get out of China was overland. This was my ticket.

 

In Shanghai I had inquired of every traveler I met about the path ahead of me. I had heard tales of this magnificent and exotic railway adventure before... they called it the greatest railway journey on earth. The longest stretch of steel rail ever layed.

 

An Australian traveller named Mark told me that he had heard that there was a guy in Beijing who could get me a ticket.

 

I asked Mark how I could find this guy in Beijing. He said just go there and ask for 'The Crocodile.' Just go to a city of some ten million souls and ask for 'The Crocodile'? It sounded almost insane to me.

 

Ditching Mark after he made moves on my Chinese girlfriend and ditching my Chinese girlfriend after she got all worked up when a soldier who was following me took a picture of us together on the riverfront... I understood her fear in that time of Tienenmen Square and I knew it was time once again to get moving. It was time to move north to Beijing... the city they once called Peking.

 

Tsu Tsu Mei was a nice girl. She had told me to call her Eleanor... because that was what she called her 'American name.' I couldn't do it because she just didn't look like an Eleanor to me... I always called her Tsu Tsu Mei. And I think that she really liked that I did... it would have been easier to call her Eleanor I'm sure... but each time I called her 'Tsu Tsu Mei' she gave me this look... it started with a big warm vulnerable smile that made it seem to me that she was melting inside with warm thoughts and shaking knees.

 

That look always made me want to scoop her up in my arms and give her the same feelings right back. Whenever I said her name and got that look... it just kind of summed everything up right there in that moment. I really liked that. Sometimes I wished that it had gone farther but the way it ended is why I have the memories I do... and I hope she does too... we never hurt each other... never not once... it was the hard and cold government of an opressive authoritarian regime that broke both of our hearts there in Shanghai. It wasn't either of us... it wasn't our fault.

 

I was with Mark the Australian when I met Tsu Tsu Mei... we were tooling around Shanghai and we had just gotten on the bus after a tour of the Shanghai Waterpipe Factory Number Seven where I had just purchased a fine example of a brass opium waterpipe. We had seen the place while riding the bus and jumped off... the factory was really happy to have foreigners tour the place. I couldn't believe that there were at least six other water bong factories in Shanghai. Somehow we had found the seventh.

 

As foreigners we were pretty much used to talking in english right in front of people knowing full well that they couldn't follow our conversation... especially the slang riddled prose we frequently used. When Tsu Tsu Mei got on the bus and stood next to me I turned to Mark and said "man she is the most beautiful Chinese woman I have ever seen."

 

Before Mark could agree... Tsu Tsu Mei let me know that she appreciated the compliment... she smiled and said "thank you" in perfect english.

 

Shocked that my subterfuge was exposed at first I was a little embarassed... until Mark took that half of a second to start in on her. No way I thought... I was the one who paid the compliment... I was going to be putting the moves on Tsu Tsu Mei. I'm not sure Australian guys understand the concept of a good 'wing man' but Mark sure had some learnin' to do. He needed to watch the movie 'Top Gun' and take some notes.

 

Tsu Tsu Mei and I arranged to meet later that night in downtown Shanghai and proceeded to become great friends. She even took me to meet her parents... Norman Tsu... the first deaf technical drafting instructor in all of China and his 'deaf wife Janie.'

 

Tsu Tsu Mei's father Norman was sent to the United States to study technical drafting in the fifties. He went to Gaudellet University and he confided in me that he really liked it... that he didn't want to come back to China... he stopped writing home and corresponding with the government... he wanted to drift away... but they corralled his mother who was a widow by this time... and they made her write Norman a letter that made it really clear that it was in her best interests that Norman return to China. That's how China got its first deaf technical drafting instructor. Or how they got him back.

 

Norman always referred to his wife as 'My deaf wife.' Both of them were deaf and we passed notes to each other over a marvellous dinner... while Tsu tsu Mei just kept smiling at me and at her parents... unbelievable food Normans deaf wife cooked. It was a feast... and not the Chinese food I was used to... this was exotic and unknown to me. The Tsu's really went out and they've been in my thoughts many times since then.

 

The Tsu family was really good to me and things were moving right along with Tsu Tsu Mei too until that soldier decided that he'd turn our little hand holding session on the Shanghai riverfrint into a Kodak moment. I had seen that guy following me before... he was the tallest Chinaman I'd ever seen... a full head above the rest of the general population. I found great amusement in shagging him... going into a store and going out the back door. It was really like a game. Still... he always found me... he was on me for days there in Shanghai. And after he took that picture I realized that my company with Tsu Tsu Mei wasn't looked upon favorably by the authorities. She was terrified of the repurcussions. I knew that was it... I wasn't going to get her or her family inot any trouble. I was going to get out of Shanghai.

 

I purchased a train ticket on a sleeper train for the seventeen hour ride from Shanghai to Beijing. How was it that I could go to a city the size of Beijing almost a thousand miles to the north and find this man called 'The Crocodile' simply by asking? It seemed completely insane... but such was the world I found myself in this year... for me, 1990 was the year of living insanely.

 

After seventeen hours of watching China slide by through the window accompanied by the soundtrack of nonstop kung fu videos on the train's television sets, I stepped off the carriage in Beijing, China's capital city. Which was a godsend because I could not have taken one more of those videos. The Chinese truly love them... they must be a part of their national identity... the way that the Japanese love Godzilla. Godzilla was a mechanism that helped the Japanese to cope with their loss of World War Two and the painful shock of getting Nuked twice. Even though Godzilla always stomps their cities to pieces they always triumph. It's like a morality tale with them.

 

When I was living in Osaka someone who worked in the studio that made the Godzilla movies decided to borrow the costume and wear it to a party where he caused it to be damaged to the tune of a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. I wish I was at that party. Hanging out with the Nigerians. That would have been epic.

 

The first european looking guy I saw in Beijing... I stopped him as was my custom in the orient and inquired of the conditions and opportunities there in this new city. Blonde hair in China or Japan had always meant 'help desk' to me. We vagabonds and adventurers always stuck together and usually became instant friends as long as there wasn't a woman involved.

 

Then I asked him if he had ever heard of 'The Crocodile.'

 

He said that he would take me to see him right now. Right then. Right there. Unbelievable. I'm not kidding. No shit. I couldn't believe it either.

 

I had found 'The Crocodile.'

 

The man walked me to a hotel a few blocks away from the railroad station. It was an old building that looked straight out of the 1920's, like just about every other building in Beijing. You could see that it was really beautiful at one time... maybe even opulent or exclusive... but it, like anything else that was once beautiful or opulent, it seemed to fall into despair and decay under the custodianship of the communists. That was the way pretty much all of Beijing looked. With brown air and trees and bushes that were different from all those I had even known. I always notice the trees and bushes in a new city. Here on the other side of the world the plant life and the vegetation was odd to me... just unusual enough to stick out in my mind.

 

The man knocked on the door and we were answered by a nice looking blonde woman on her early twenties. She looked kind of pissed off but invited us in still. My guide just turned around and left with little more than a gesture to the woman. I followed her into the room.

 

It had become a bit of a self entertainment for me to wonder why the man I was seeking should be called "The Crocodile." It intrigued me from the moment I had heard it and in my mind I came up with all sorts of reasons for the nickname. None of them pleasant.

 

The room was an illustration in contrasts... inside "The Crocodile" had rented two rooms... he knocked down the wall that had seperated them and completely remolded it. This guy was livin' cush. He sat on the edge of his bed playing with the tv remote control as if it had befuddled him... I could tell from body language that his girlfriend and he had just been fighting.

 

"The Crocodile" stood up and turned around to face me... the guy must have been six and a half feet tall... and immediately I could see why they called him "The Crocodile."

 

He wore these braces on his teeth... the largest mass of metal I've ever seen in a persons mouth. Communist braces aren't very pretty... but these... "The Crocodiles" mouth looked like it had been installed by a blacksmith... an angry, drunken blacksmith. Like hammered bars of hot metal hand forged around each of his teeth.

 

I had to make myself stop staring as he got right down to business. Croc asked me when I wanted to leave... he said he had one ticket and he wanted a hundred and ten bucks American for it. There'd be no negotiating I could tell that right away. I had a feeling that if I tried that he'd have just relieved me of all my dough right there. Probably my gear too.

 

We were in a bit of a funny situation for a couple of reasons... I thought the ticket looked fake... it looked worse than some of the permits and passes I'd forged in school. I didn't have a visa to enter Russia... and I didn't carry that kind of currency in US dollars. I wasn't too sure that the Russians would actually be too excited about me coming to their country either. When I expressed this to "The Crocodile" he laughed a powerful and boisterous laugh and told me not to worry about it... he'd just gimme the ticket on good faith... so I could try and get a visa and cash a travellers check or something to come up with the Dollars he wanted. Besides he said "I know where your seat is and when you'll be leaving and if you fuck me I'll kill you" after which he laughed another deep laugh and gave me a half hug. "I want my money by next week he said." and walked me to the door where he said goodbye and his girlfriend gave me another dirty look.

 

That was it. Absolutely fucking unbelievable. I'm in Beijing less than two hours and I found my guy and I got my ticket. Now I just needed a visa from the Soviet Consulate. He'd also tell me there if the ticket was real I figured.

 

But right now I needed a place to stay. That would have to be my first order of business. The Croc's hotel seemed a little too luxurious for my budget... I needed something 'dumpier.' Something where my kind'd fit in you know?

 

I walked out of the hotel and on to the street... pausing for a moment to take a breath of the sulfery yellow tinged air and feel the pulse of the street there...a moment to let the vibe of it all sink in. I could have gone left or I could have gone right but it really didn't matter because I had no idea where I was going anyway. It's like a rule with me... like walking on the upwind side of the street because that's where all the paper money blows. Go left.

 

My friend Joel... the guy who'd saved my ass from the knife weilding Yakuza that pressed certain death into my throat in that bar in Osaka... he told me that he went insane and that he would hear these voices in his head that always said the same thing... "look to the left Joel." If he wasn't crazy already he said that those voices would do it... he never understood the meaning of it. Stupid voices in your head... they never tell you anything good... like "stay away from that one... she's trouble." They're always all cryptic. You gotta try to figure them out and break the code. Joel said the lithium they gave him pretty much shut the voices down. I never had heard voices though. It would probably be fun for a day or two... just to see what they would say. I think if I had voices they would sound like Vincent Price on LSD.

 

So I went left after I walked out of the Crocodile's hotel. I usually always go left when I got no idea but this time I was especially glad I did.

 

I get about a block and right there smack dab... badda bing... I run into this guy I lived with in Osaka Japan... Mike Levine... a Jewish guy from Jersey. He had let me borrow a pair of his shoes because I could find any in my size in Japan. Mike's got this big smile on his face as he sees me... we hug and slap each others backs and talk about the fight that got me thrown out of the university in Japan that we both went to.

 

Mike gave me directions to a suitably dumpy hotel and we parted ways.

 

Walking down the street I saw a couple of American girls... who turned out to be two really granola looking lesbian backpackers from Nebraska.

 

I stopped them there and asked them where they were staying... they said they had no idea... I invited them to share a hotel room with me if we could find one... plus the thought of girl on girl action sounded like really good fun to me. I felt like I was really going to like Beijing. It seemed like an easy city. Things were looking good.

 

Was this my lucky day or what?

 

Shit, I been here for like two hours... I already met the guy I came to meet, had a ticket for the Trans Siberian, hooked up with two lesbians and there we found a three dollar a night hotel. Six yuan a night for each of us. What more greatness could god bestow on me? Another lesbian? A blind supermodel? That would just be asking too much I thought. Lady Luck, I've always said, she was indeed a friend of mine.

 

Never look a gift horse in the mouth they say... so I unpacked my gear in the hotel room... every bit of it... and spread it all around. I always unpack fully so if I get robbed they can't just take one bag and split... they gotta work for it... then I unscrew all the lightbulbs in the room so they gotta have a flashlight to do it well... and then I make some loud noise making booby trap... like a pyramid of empty beer cans behind the door... then they gotta have nerves of steel to finish the job. Never got robbed once. Never. I have come home more than a few times affected by some intoxicant or another and fallen vicim to my own booby traps though. It always scared the beejesus out of me.

 

The Nebraska lesbians unpacked too.

 

Time to get out of here... It was time to go have a look at Beijing.

 

I left the hotel in a hurry and jumped on the first bus I saw... it didn't matter where the bus was going...I didn't care... I was sure that I hadn't been there anyway. That's the great thing about exploring like that. A new city... just go anywhere. It's all new.

 

Sitting on the bus I was of course the only westerner riding it. The Chinese weren't as polite as the Japanese and they would just stare at you forever... sometimes with mouth agape even... and I found myself very much the center of attention... the center of attention was something I really didn't want to be. I kinda wanted to blend in really. That was going to be tough.

 

I started having what could only be described as auditory hallucinations on that bus... that happened alot to me in China... but right there it was bad... the cacaphony of Chinese voices started to filter itself out in my hyperactive mind and become english... I could understand things sometimes... I was certain that people were commenting on how intoxicated I was... they all knew it... they were all talking about me... looking at me... 'Is that American guy drunk out of his gourd or what?' I had to get off that bus. The sweat was pouring from my pores. It was getting to be more than uncomfortable... it was unbearable.

 

The next stop was my stop no matter where it might be... soon as it stopped I jumped off that bus so fast... I didn't even have a clue as to where I was... and I didn't care. Away from that hash house hotel and off of that bus...I just wanted my own little piece of contraband free real estate where I could sit and watch China go by and make amusing comments in my head to entertain myself.

 

This was my stop.

 

Before me was layed an enormous plaza... I had never seen such a large paved public space. It was gigantic enough it looked like you could lay down and land a 747 in it if you went from one corner to the next. It was so big and vast that the smog of Beijing obscured the other side of it from me. I didn't know what this place was, but it made me feel realy small... insignificant actually... which was precisely how I wanted to feel.

 

I stood at Tienenmen Square.

 

This was the old Beijing... the one that used to be before the extremely systematic exploitation of cheap labor turned the place into a giant pachinko parlor... this was the dirty, dusty and gritty beijing where products were pulled around on wagons by teams of horses who shit big piles in the streets that you'd go straight over the handlebars of your bicycle if you didn't look where you were going. I'd seen it.

 

This was the Beijing where the streets seemed impossibly large considering no one really owned a car... the Beijing where the old people all wore those navy blue or black or gray kung fu outfits and walked around stooping with their hands clasped behind their backs as if some ultimate power had ordered them to for all time.

 

This was the square in Beijing where less than a year had passed since thousands of students took a chance to try and change their world... this was the Beijing where tanks had rolled over them without mercy and their bodies were torn apart by the callousness of lead flying around at ballisticly high speeds and cruel random trajectories. This was the Beijing where their blood ran like rivers down the curbs and into the sewers where like the extinguishing of their tender lives for naught all was soon forgotten by a world more infatuated with its demand for cheap consumer electronics in attractive clamshell packaging.

 

The one year anniversary of the slaughter was approaching and here as if by accident I find myself in the place where history was made and so conveniently forgotten.

 

Here and there I could still see bullet scars, burns and other marks that told the tale of a failed movement killed in a single night of murderous debauchery.

 

It was eerie in Beijing. I couldn't put my finger on it. Was it just the intoxicant's influence? I couldn't place it until I found a nice grassy place to sit down and let everything stabilize. Let my altered mind stop spinning.

 

The young people were all gone.

 

The government had sent what looked like the entire youth of the capitol city to 'summer camp,' where they'd sing patriotic songs and watch lots of motivational films and learn the error of their ways. It was re-education for the entire young population... there was almost no one walking around that city bettween the age of fourteen and twenty one. It was spooky... strange mojo in a strange land. Like some kind of Twilight Zone episode.

 

Everybody's seen the picture of 'Tank Man,' that guy whose name the world doesn't know... the one who was walking home from the grocery store with a couple of plastic bags in his hands... the guy who became a lonely human roadblock for a column of tanks... I know I could never forget that guy... he had balls the size of watermelons that one. I woudda love to have bought that guy a drink or eight.

 

I was walking down that street and a momentary sense of deja vu made me stop... It felt like I'd been there before... it didn't take too long for the reality to hit me... I was standing in that spot. In the Tank Man's spot. The premonition came from looking at that photograph.

 

There was a pay phone there... on the side of the street... you can see it in the Tank Man picture... I thought my parents might like to know where in the world I was so I tried to call them from it without luck. Maybe they'd think it was cool that I was calling them from there I thought.

 

I wanted to feel the scene out... I wanted to let it all sink in a little bit so I sat down and I had a look around. It all began to unfold in my mind... the direction the tanks came from... the sounds they'd make... their squeaking tracks rolling on the asphalt echoing in the canyon of concrete buildings... I could see the crosswalk he was walking across when it happened.

 

I stood up, still painting the scene on the canvas of my mind with the brushes of my imagination and I walked towards the crosswalk... just as he did that remarkable day.

 

Man... sometimes even I have a hard time putting things into words... sometimes feelings, emotions and perceptions are just too powerful and swift to get a grasp on.

 

Surveying the scene where this historic collision happened from the street... it was so much different than the picture we all know... that was shot from high above... it's got a whole different tone than the lonliness and isolation that the street level offered. Just like in the square where I had felt so small... even the street there was massive in width... one of those subcompact cars flying through the smog could have crushed me like a bug. The thought of standing my ground in front of a column of many ton armored tanks with their diesel engines shaking and belching thick black smoke and rumbling in anger... I'll tell you this... with the greatest respect that I can muster... that guy... at that moment... he took on the entire world. He was a bad ass motherfucker who said 'hey... I don't like what's going down here.' and he backed it up with his hundred and fifty pound body alone in the streets. He never even put those grocery bags down. But for a moment, that man stopped the world. He stood his ground. He stood our ground. He stood for everyman that day.

 

I didn't.

 

I didn't even chance stopping where he did. I didn't want to stop a bus.

 

When I got across the street I walked back towards Tienenmen Square wondering what happened to the guy.

 

These thoughts were crisply punctuated when I found the remains of a completely flattened bicycle. It had been run over by something pretty heavy because it was as flat as a bicycle could conceivably become. It even had a curve to it... a lot of parts were gone but the frame, the handlebars, even the rims were crushed flat. I picked it up, still thinking about Tank Man and I realized what it meant.

 

Something inside me wanted to take it home... to show my people... people born and raised with a freedom fought for by others... I wanted to show them what we pretty much let happen here... the great crime that we ignored. It was a strong symbol to me at least of an oppresive government that lost it's temper on it's own people.

 

I'd never get that flattened bicycle home, but I carried stashed inside the tubes of my backpack messages that people had asked me to carry out of the country to a place where mistakenly so they thought good and decent people might give two shits about the treachery bestowed upon them in their quest for what we have but could really care less about. A freedom so strong... a freedom so deep that it was a part of me wether I was conscious about it or not... a freedom that formed the person I was and carried me on a long and mostly accidental journey to a place where youth was cut short for having the audacity and lack of patience to demand a more tolerant society where people would count for just a little more than cheap labor.

 

I promised myself I'd remember what happened to them. I promised myself that on June 4th, 1990 that I'd say a prayer there in Tienenmen Square. I'd recognize their martyrdom to the cause of freedom and I'd pay my respects on the anniversary of the barbarism of their all powerful and vicious central authority.

 

When that morning came with its sultry brownish orange sunrise, three hundred and sixty five days after the blood letting, when the flag of a nation was raised over it's most proud square... I was the only person that wasn't Chinese standing there as a witness to at least offer the the quiet contempt of my heart and the objection of my soul as a counterbalance to the disgrace of the murder of these children.

 

There were no television cameras or satellite trucks... no journalists fixing their hair or taking notes on those long pads that they carry. Nothing.

 

I carried no sign or banner... I spoke no message of objection. I sought to instigate nothing.

 

I stood there in Tienenmen Square as a witness.

 

A witness to what the rest of the free world was so selfishly quick to forget.

 

Two days later I'd board a train that I'd get off of in another world... where a wall that represented hate and anger and mistrust would be falling, hacked to pieces bit by bit by a people celebrating a new freedom and unity.

  

Alright, the false-color to b&w monochrome conversion of this was a breeze cause the things I cherish or want were already there, so it was more like keeping them intact.

I like all the details, but there are still spaces / places for the eye to rest (like the meadows retracting into the distance, becoming smooth etc.) providing a balance, so that the panorama does not become too hyperactive with that sort of sky.

 

I also had a nice chat with the people and the lovely dog there as well as shocking myself twice on the electric fence while crouching unter it making my tripod touch the wire. Apparently my IR camera didn't mind..

 

The original is a 286MP 360° mercator projection, consisting of 43 individual photos, cropped to ~2,3:1 aspect ratio, 20116 x 8673px which is ~174,5MP.

  

Nikon D90 (APS-C, fullspectrum mod)

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di ll VC HLD

Hoya R72 (720nm infrared pass-filter)

ISO200, 24mm, f/6.3, 0,4sec

tripod, panorama head, remote (ML-L3)

A tiny, hyperactive migrant. Seen at Lake St. Clair.

Often we don't see the night shift. Typically I'll do a few chores which take me outdoors after dark. I prefer the night to be dark so exterior electric light mostly stays switched off.

 

I've become very accustomed over the past thirty something years to using a head torch: first a heavy halogen bulb job, then small LED versions and occasionally a powerful LED version which far outperforms the highest expectation of my earliest versions. Still, I pick up the lowest lumen version first by preference.

 

Last night I headed out as the household was retiring, and about to put my foot down, realised I wasn't alone. It was a near thing, and I did that levitation thing that you normally can't do until there's a venomous snake under your intended footfall. Tonight is was this little friend. I suspect I've seen them before.

 

This small — about 40mm long — pobblebonk frog was on their way to work; if you put it in human terms. They burrow during the day and come out at night. Their population crashed coincident with recent droughts so it's a delight to see them around and evidently recovering.

 

Theirs is a most excellent single note call — no annoying croaking, rasping, barking or shrill screeching involved. They simply say "bonk", which because it's the male mating advertisement call, could reasonably be followed by a question mark. They should not be confused with their smaller cousins of the same genus who go "pok" — Limnodynastes peronii — or the smaller again annoying cousin — Limnodynastes tasmaniensis — who makes a call like the rattle of a burst of machine gun fire.

 

Obligingly, the Limnodynastes dumerilii is not a hyperactive or scaredy fellow. This one waited for me to find a camera and to return, equipped with that same head torch to illuminate the scene, and provide tangible proof to the doubters that I really was on my hands and knees; talking to a frog.

Testing the objectrecognition of the OM-1

Such a twitchy hyperactive bird. Always feel great if one pauses long enough for a "snap" shot. This beauty landed so close, waited just long enough for a couple of pics.

One happy (and hyperactive) family

Unlike the hyperactive songs of N. Parula or Cerulean the lethargic song of the Black-throated Blue describes it perfectly "I-am-so-lazy". Magee.

One of the most hyperactive vireos I've ever seen - this bird was all over the place, behind the Nature Center at mile Square Regional Park, Orange County, CA.

ANOREXIA:

[] You have dry skin.

[] You eat one meal.

[] You're very weak.

[x] You hate yourself.

[] You starve yourself.

[x] You have low self esteem.

[] You use laxatives.

[x] You need to be more skinny.

[] People always say you're skinny, but you think you're fat.

[] People think you are too skinny.

Total:3

 

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVE DISORDER:

[x] Your mind is all over the place.

[] You are hyper most of the time.

[x] You barely pay attention to anything.

[] You can't cooperate well.

[] You talk all the time.

[] You need attention 24/7.

Total: 2

 

BIPOLAR DISORDER:

[x] You can act wild at times then the next day you are depressed.

[x] You are very irritable.

[x] You are antisocial.

[] You have very high self esteem sometimes.

[] You are abusing alcohol, drugs, or sex.

[x] You have thought of or attempted suicide.(thought of, not attempted)

Total: 4

 

BULIMIA:

[] You throw up all of your food.

[] You throw it up even when you don't feel sick.

[] You have no control over how you eat.

[] You use laxatives.

[] You have overly exercised to where you almost fainted.

[] You always say you are fat, when you aren't.

[] People think you're way too skinny.

Total:0

 

CONDUCT DISORDER:

[] You are a bully.

[] You threaten other people.

[] You often find yourself in fights.

[] You have used a weapon that could cause injury to others.

[] You are cruel to humans or animals.

[] You have raped or molested someone.

[] You destroyed property on purpose.

[] You always lie.

[] You stay out all night.

[] You have/tried to run away from home.

Total: 0

 

DEPRESSION:

[] You are always sad.

[] You find no hope in your future.

[x] You find no longer excitement over the activities you use to love.

[x] You always find yourself around the house all day.

[x] You have low self esteem.

[] Everything bad that happens is always your fault.

[x] You always seem to be weak or have physical features hurt.

[x] You are failing school.

[x] You have thought of or attempted suicide.(again thought of not

attempted)

[] You have/tried to run away from home.

[] Hope is no longer there for you.

Total: 6

 

AUTISM/ASPERGER SYNDROME:

[x] You are socially awkward

[x] You have trouble focusing on things

[x] You usually have trouble sleeping

[] Sometimes you have a lot of energy

[] You have trouble talking or you can't talk at all

[] You flap your hands when your excited

[x] You daydream 24/7

[x] You get upset easily

[x] Sometimes it feels like no one cares about you

Total:6

 

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER:

[] You have daily rituals.

[x] You have disturbing thoughts or thoughts you hate.

[] You have to do a certain thing until it feels right.

[] You have to keep things in a certain order.

[] You have harmed yourself.

[x] You have to check some stuff over again.

Total: 2

 

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER:

[x] You repeatedly have flashbacks of horrible moments or memories in

your life

[] You repeatedly have dreams of horrible moments or memories in

your life.

[] You sometimes think the event will happen again.

[x] You can be/are antisocial.

[] You have lost interest in the things you used to love.

[] You have not had a lot of sleep lately.

[x] You worry about dying at a early age or dying at all.

[x] You can have angry outbursts.

[] You act younger than your age.

Total:4

 

SCHIZOPHRENIA:

[] You often have hallucinations.

[x] You have strange, unusual dreams or thoughts.

[x] You can be confused about reality and fantasy.

[x] You think people are always staring or talking about you.

[x] You have extreme anxiety or fearfulness.

[] You do not take care of your hygiene like you should.

[x] You are very shy.

[x] You often talk to yourself.

Total:6

 

i have depression n AUTISM/ASPERGER SYNDROME n SCHIZOPHRENIA

- Julia Child.

 

| facebook | 500px | ferpectshotz |

 

As a child during my early teenage years, I was a bit of a handful for my parents to manage. And then when my dad had to take a work assignment that only kept him about half a year with us, my mother had enough and demanded my Dad do something to set me right. Her solution was to send me to military school, but my dad decided to give me one of his old Pentax cameras and couple of rolls of film. I am pretty sure she was very suspicious of this practice, but the methodical aspect of film photography made me calm and helped a lot in adjusting my hyperactivity. Plus the extreme high cost of developing film contributed to my thriftiness as well.

 

One of the special things about that old Pentax was a certain look, it managed to nail when the light was just right. Recently when we had family visit us, we took them to San Diego Zoo and walked by the pink flamingo exhibit. I took a couple of shot with my D500 and 70-200 f4 combo. While processing, certain images caught my eye as they looked exactly like the outputs of my old Pentax. Needless to say bought back a lot of old memories.

Two little pinkies running back after after playing with the cold mist of the waterfall. Two almost hyperactive lively girly girls that have all the fun in the world and look beautiful. Do I have to tell you that they put a smile on my soul?

 

Skogar, Iceland

 

(The Icelandic expression "bleikt pils" means "pink skirt", but to a Norwegian ear this will sound very much like a Norwegian translation of "pale beer", with a slightly different meaning...)

 

An tumblr

As you can see in this video, Pete is extremely hyperactive and gets so out of control. I've had to really work with him to calm him down, LOL.

 

Cav on the other hand, is his same self, always making sure Pete knows who the boss is. Sometime I'll get a video of him putting Pete in his place, although Pete is no chicken.

 

I love when Cav has his winter coat. He's so fuzzy and soft.

 

Heading out to walk with my neighbor Jaci. I'll catch up with you all later.

This quilt I made for Pam (Uberstitch) in MIni Quilt Swap. The theme was circles, and I love it!!!

I wanna thank Pam for the picture because I was so anxious to sent this for her, that I forgot to take a picture!! (this is one of the problems of hyperactive people!!) :)))

 

And the pattern is from Suzan (FlossieBlossoms), a pattern that I fell in love in the moment I saw!!

 

Este quilt eu fiz para Pam (Uberstitch) , onde o tema era "circulos", tema que eu adorei"

E quero agradecer a Pam pela foto, porque eu estava tão anciosa para mandar o quilt prá ela que nem fotografei ele pronto, para ter uma lembrança! (esse é um dos problemas que pessoas hiperativas tem hehehe!!)

 

Ah! E este projeto é da Suzan (FlossieBlosssoms), que eu amei assim que vi!!

Of course, our hyperactivity can keep us adrift on the surfaces of ourselves and unable to reach deeper levels of desire. So we need to prepare the way of the Lord, as the Gospel says, through attending to our own mystery first. It is never just our own mystery: it is the place where God pitches a tent in our deepest self. Here in this space our map to faith begins. Here our spirit can blossom into wonder before the mystery of ourselves. ‘I thank you for the wonder of my being’, says Psalm 138. Through such human openings we glimpse the greater mystery of God’s self-giving to us in Christ. When we take time to pause and listen to our hearts, in the surprise of silence we find ourselves encountering more than the mystery of our small life. We experience our desire for something more than outer living. I would say that here, so to speak, we run into God and can become in a sense everyday mystics.

--FAITH MAPS Ten religious explorers from Newman to Joseph Ratzinger Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, chapter 3:

Karl Rahner: the magnetism of mystery

/**********

Christ is the evolutionary juggernaut....

propelling humanity ever forward....

as strange as it appears...

in weakness...

we are strong.

 

A man on his Cross...

time has no hold...

  

-rc

Petite body like warblers and tits Section General; mouth fine, short and sharp.9 cm

Is super hyperactive children.(2700 meters last until 5 days on mountain)

  

Phylidonyris novaehollandiae

 

During last five years Waterways , VIC changed it's appearance, there used to be plenty of wetlands and bird life, remember one fine afternoon walked along the wetlands and photographed few birds.

Always exited to see this hyperactive little fellas.

 

Sigma BigOS + D300s ,sunny day, middle of the winter.

A hyperactive Bewick's Wren in the desert south of Tucson, Arizona.

Daytime shots of koalas invariably feature closed eyes, confirming that the subject is engaged in doing what they are best at ... sleeping. Lucky I found a hyperactive one!

Acrobatic and lively finch (with that beautiful forked tail) I didn't think this one would ever stop long enough to for a photograph

 

Fortunately patience prevailed and he took a 'breather'

 

But it wasn't long before he was back to his hyperactive 'self'!

Ruby-crowned kinglet... earlier this week I saw my first one of the season. These fast little guys start coming through in mid-September and often stick around through October and part of November. If I’m lucky, I’ll see a couple during the winter as well. They’re one of my more exciting bird species to photograph because of their hyperactivity and unpredictable behavior. One second they can be foraging in the canopy, and the next bouncing around in your face. Their curiousness tends to know no bounds, a stark contrast to their golden-crowned cousins (which I am just as excited to see), who often remain quite indifferent to the world around them while foraging.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are not that uncommon in the forests nearby, but they rarely visit out in the open at the Nature Center. This hyperactive little fellow paused for a few moments before it was on its merry way.

This week has been awful. I’ve been such a bad contact and maybe I’ll keep being until the next week.

I don’t know why I feel like the time goes TERRIBLY fast. But seriously.

Last week I lost 5 exams because of being ill, I’ve done 2 of them and tomorrow I’m having another one that I didn’t counted. So now they are 6, minus the 2 that I already did, 4. And the one of tomorrow, 3.

However, I feel that the times is going terribly fast for me.

I feel that I lose so much time in school, in the damn bus back home, in the dentist. AND I WANT TO DO SO MANY THINGS!! *cries* I want to write; I’ve been very inspired lately, I want to take pictures; I have new ideas for this weekend, I want to design; I haven’t opened photoshop TO DESIGN in something like… 5 months. I don’t want to forget everything about photoshop.

I WANT/NEED to read. I want to, and I have to. Les Miserables has more than 1000 pages, I’m in the page 100. The letters are super-small, the book is HUGE and, everything would be okay if (I actually like reading long books, that is not a problem) I didn’t have a test of it in… something like a month and a half. All my classmates are going to read the reduced version (600 pages), but I denied myself to do that. SO, I HAVE to read it. And also want to write, to photograph, to design AND TO BE HERE, on flickr, on tumblr, losing my time, making new friends, whatever.

I don’t know what is going on with me.

I’m so anxious. So hyperactive and time simply goes SO fast.

Hsajghsjakghsajga

 

Forgive me, I’m such a complainer. Seriously.

And this picture is from… a week ago.

 

And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU To my dearest Karen and her testimonial (my first testimonial) ♥ I thank you already but, I wanted to thank you again :) You’re a beautiful person Karen. And now that I want to write you, times goes terribly fast DDD:

 

PS. She's Champi, my grandma's cat :)

 

Do not post or blog this anywhere

GSDs K2 & Kennedy Perfectly Still Focused On Sunset Boating Scene For 30 Seconds 6 Photos HDR - IMRAN™

German Shepherd Dogs are truly the best breed, that I have loved having since I was a two-year-old. This is actually an HDR photo from 6 handheld pictures taken with my Nikon D850 over 30-seconds.

Both dogs stood so perfectly still. Even the one-year-old hyperactive K2, on the right, was amazing in his focus and stillness. He and Kennedy were so focused on the sunset boating scene, there is hardly any motion artifact in the vibrant photo. The photo has an almost painting-like feel to it, but if you look closely you can make out their individual fur strands.

It was taken at my blessed home dock on Tampa Bay, in Apollo Beach, Florida this weekend. I love that the red sunset gave their coats a more vibrant tint.

 

© 2021 IMRAN™

This juvenile turned up and wooed the locals with it's hyperactive character. Not one for keeping still it would follow ducks as they stirred up food for it to eat. It would also spin around, dart across the pool and fly to the other side.

  

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a...

 

Key information

 

These small, delicate waders are adapted well to spending a lot of time on water. Unlike other waders, phalaropes have lobed toes which enable them to swim strongly when on pools or out at sea. They spend most of their time in the water but can equally run about on land. The duller coloured male looks after the eggs and young after laying. As a rare UK breeding species it is a Red List bird. They are listed under Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

 

What they eat:

 

Mainly insects.

 

Measurements:

 

Length:

17-19cm

Wingspan:

32-41cm

Weight:

27-48g

 

Population:

  

UK breeding:

22 males

UK passage:

 

Where and when to see them

Small numbers of red-necked phalaropes breed on the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland. Birds are also seen on passage in the autumn, usually along the east coast

 

Chakra 1 - Challenges that can waken your Root Chakra include travel, illness, financial problems, or anything else that threatens your sense of security.

 

An underactive root may manifest itself in weight gain, sluggishness, low self-esteem and worry..

 

Sings of an overactive Root Chakra include preoccupation with money and shopping, as well as an excessive need for control

 

Chakra # 7

Hyperactivity in this chakra manifests itself in over-intellectualism, delusions of grandeur, even psychosis. Signs of deficient energy are difficulty thinking for yourself, apathy, and spiritual disconnection.

  

$$ - Random fact about me.... After I graduated from high school, got my associates degree in paralegal studies and started working in a collection law firm down town. I worked there for 6 years.

Name: Arrow

Species: Floatzel

Age: 16 And A Half

Height: 4ft And 11in

Weight: 1 Stone

Birth Date: 18th January

Straight/Bi/Gay: Gay

Crush: Abusul

Friends: Emo Abusul Shaymin Kitto Jake

Family: Ace ( Brother )

Powers: Water

Likes: Abusul,Pillows Butterlies,Soft Things

Dislikes: Water Heights Being Confused Spiders Rats Mice And Hamsters And Fear And Jigglypuffs.

Personality: Silly And Hyperactive

Bio:

Arrow Was The First Pokemon Gemma ( Me ) Caught In Sinnoh. When Hes Was Little He Admired Pokemon Taller Than Him And Still Does To This Day. Arrow Adores Soft Things And Abusul But Will Scream Like A Girl If He Sees A Mouse Or Hamster.

Must have been plenty of lerps around, cos these guys were high as a kite.

(Clare)

Chalkhill Blue / polyommatus coridon. Yoesden Bank, Buckinghamshire. 24/08/16.

 

A little frayed round the edges - both of us!

 

I've long wanted to visit this site, renowned for its chalk grassland flora and butterflies, so I set off with high hopes.

 

My timing - perfect for immaculate looking Adonis Blues and Brown Argus, too late for prime condition Chalkhill Blues and too hot (recorded as the hottest day of the year!), for sensible souls to be attempting butterfly photography!

 

I was not disappointed with what I saw, all my target butterflies plus other species.... but every one ridiculously hyperactive. Any perching was fleeting and/or done in a tangle of vegetation. So, not the image making day I had dreamed of at this wonderful place.

 

I left with fabulous memories of sightings, but not many 'keepers' image wise.

In truth, like this Chalkhill Blue, I suppose I felt a little frayed around the edges :-((

* Elevated mood

o Racing thoughts

o Hyperactivity

o Increased energy

o Lack of self-control

* Inflated self-esteem (delusions of grandeur, false beliefs in special abilities)

* Over-involvement in activities

* Reckless behavior

o Spending sprees

o Binge eating, drinking, and/or drug use

o Sexual promiscuity

o Impaired judgment

* Tendency to be easily distracted

* Little need for sleep

* Easily agitated or irritated

* Poor temper control

Very beautiful but hyperactive.

Sorry for the bad focus.

I was in the right place at the right time to record a very quick sequence of the Little Egret catching and eating a decent size fish.

 

The little egret is a small, hyperactive ‘white heron’ with a slender black bill. Little egrets are scarce annual migrants to New Zealand, arriving in autumn and departing in early spring, with some individuals remaining over summer. They are usually seen as single birds, with the largest New Zealand flock being five birds.

Pygmy Nuthatches

San Gabriel Mountains

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa

≠=======================≠

These hyperactive little birds are so difficult to keep in the viewfinder and focused.

Out of about 20 shots I made, only two have a sharp bird

Always love to see these hyperactive little guys... awaiting their spring return, which should be quite soon!

Turaga Teridax was already against having a hyperactive miniature Manas crab racing around the catacombs of his hideout under the island, let alone the second that appeared not long after. But alas, seeing how his sons have grown so close to these little pests, he couldn't bring himself to banish them. He really cares too much for his sons.

 

TIME FOR CRAB YEAR 2

Last year, I made the white/orange Manas crab and he was very well received, this year I made the black/yellow variant to go alongside his menace of a sibling.

She was hyperactive, never staying still for more than a moment.

(Clare)

This fantastic mite was actually found last February scurrying about a Phidippus audax's silken home where I suspect it was feeding on nearby elongated springtails. This little guy was an absolute pain to shoot - although I eventually managed a 5-shot stack of this hyperactive (yet obviously occasionally cooperative) beauty. The image is a severe crop from the Venus 60mm 2:1 macro on a full set of extension tubes - yielding ~4-5:1 magnification.

 

I was initially stumped as to what the hell he/she was, but after a bit of hunting - discovered the mite belonged to the genus Erythracarus. Long story short, I had our lab request the revision of the genus - only to be amazed that the paper had been written by Jurgen "Peacock Spiderman" Otto! Within hours, Otto himself commented on my post and identified my mite as "Erythracarus pyrrholeucus". Small world!

 

----------------

 

Head's up! We are now offering a 500 dollar discount on the Belize workshop! Email our event coordinator Kendra ( kendra@abbottnature.com ) for more information! Registration ends July 5th!

 

If spending 8 days in the jungles of Belize hunting for crazy insects/spiders sounds like your idea of a good time, more info can be found here: sgmacro.blogspot.com/2015/02/macro-photography-workshop-b... or sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/bugshot-belize-2015-tickets-15981376...

  

Despite the fact nearly all my photos are taken when he's outdoors, playing & exploring our local woods & farmland, this is how Flynn likes to spend the vast majority of his time: asleep on the end of my bed, on a big pile of blankets. I did have to be sneaky to get a picture of him snoozing though, as if Flynn notices me fiddling about with the camera, he assumes something exciting is going to happen (a walk? playtime? treats?!!) & instantly perks up!

 

Flynn had to be taught to relax & be calm in the house - there was definitely a point when he WAS that stereotypical hyperactive pet border collie (he'd go out & play for 2 hours, come home & be pinging off the door frames, barking hysterically)! However, once he realised the world wouldn't in fact end, if he stopped moving for more than 2 minutes, Flynn quickly became a big fan of sleeping!! For much of the day, he's as quiet & lazy as any happy house cat.

 

Like I'm sure nearly every pet owner does - I wish I knew what his dreams are like. I'd guess dog dreams are very different from ours - filled with scents perhaps, rather than mostly just pictures? My favourite moments are when I'm sitting up in bed, reading, or browsing online & suddenly, I hear the distinctive thump, thump, thump of a wagging tail. I look up & Flynn is fast asleep but his tail is wagging away happily :)

Beach week series :))

Cousin to the Ruby-crowned Kinglet , the Golden-crowned Kinglet is another lovely small hyperactive bird of the shrubs and trees. Skamania Co, WA, 15 Oct 2020.

The koala is a low energy animal that makes a slug look hyperactive! Most of the time it relaxes, and when it is tired of relaxing, it takes a nap. Life is good!

 

Sydney, Australia

 

Dec-05 7R402404

Catatonia

is a syndrome of psychological and motorological disturbances. In the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) it is not recognized as a separate disorder, but is associated with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (catatonic type), bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental disorders, as well as drug abuse or overdose (or both). It may also be seen in many medical disorders including infections (such as encephalitis), autoimmune disorders, focal neurologic lesions (including strokes), metabolic disturbances and abrupt or overly rapid benzodiazepine withdrawal.

 

Patients with catatonia may experience an extreme loss of motor skills or even constant hyperactive motor activity. Catatonic patients will sometimes hold rigid poses for hours and will ignore any external stimuli. Patients with catatonic excitement can die of exhaustion if not treated. Patients may also show stereotyped, repetitive movements. They may show specific types of movement such as waxy flexibility, in which they maintain positions after being placed in them by someone else, or gegenhalten (lit. "counterhold"), in which they resist movement in proportion to the force applied by the examiner. They may repeat meaningless phrases or speak only to repeat what the examiner says.

  

Bad day. Bad bad day.

My friends went to Chicago today to go see the Lion King and eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Where am I at? Sitting on my butt in my room. Why? Because I'm too effing poor to do crap.

 

Then Garry calls this morning on his way home from work and tells me that he had been asked to go into work tonight. We were supposed to take tonight and tomorrow night and celebrate our anniversary. Is that going to happen now? No. Did he even bother to call me any time in the last seven hours? No.

 

Haven't eaten anything yet today because the spot doesn't open until 6. Thankfully that's only a half hour away...then I can finally eat something. Will probably be crap because this school could care less about those of us stuck on campus during the weekend...but it's something.

 

However, I do like this picture. I have high expectations for how it'll do...which sucks cause, with the way my day is going, this thing will be totally ignored by everyone. *sigh* but I still like it...so that's good at least.

I should take more photos of Filou. Compared to photographing the Dragon this a quite relaxing activity because Filou isn't as hyperactive as his little cousin. He always thinks twice before making his next move and even if he walks towards the camera, he does it in slow motion.