Weekly Photo Challenge: (No) Favourites

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: All-Time Favourites.

Favourites I have none. Wait. Regrets I have none is how the phrase goes. Except it’s not true. Of course I have regrets that the Daily Post rolled over and quit. Except— it’s more of grudge than regrets. So the opening line of this post should have been Regrets I have none, grudge I have some. Grudge I have all, y’all.

Let’s try this again. WordPress’s last Photo Challenge is on the prompt of All-Time Favourites. For a fact. I’m quite relieved, also for a fact, because I was half-convinced that the last prompt would be either dull and obvious (such as The End) and/or dumb and sentimental (such as Farewell). The Favourites prompt isn’t thrilling but is half-decent.

Except I don’t have even half-decent all-time favourites. I refuse to dig in the archives. What for? What would I find there besides old dry bones? I don’t need to go back to produce crappy photos as per my trademark.

Incidentally, for a few months at the start of this year, I was running (while refusing the fact that I was running) a self-imposed self-challenge of posting a photo a day on Instagram and then reposting them here in weekly batches. What’s interesting about it? Nothing, I didn’t say it was interesting.

I quit this thing sometime in April. I found that the idea was nice but the execution was— how to say it nicely? Shitty? That will do. While it was an excellent plan to practise mindfulness and presence and whatnot and take a photo a day, it proved increasingly difficult because I hardly ever go out. So I literally ran out of things to shoot.

Hello, are you still there? If so, good, because I just got down to the point. If not— well, good on you. You know what my point is? Nothing! I’m notorious for making the point that I have no point. In lieu of a point, here’s a mess of my Instagram pictures from April, as yet unposted on the blog.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unlikely

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: Unlikely.

Most unlikely things happen in airport hotel diners. Such as me finding myself in one.

My Perfectly Average Silhouette

WordPress’s Daily Post is being clairvoyant today. The prompt of the day is silhouette, which I noticed just after posting a snap of my own meagre silhouette on Instagram.

Relating to this photo and at other occasions, I’ve had curious discussions with people about my height. It’s no huge surprise that different parts of the world are populated with people of different heights, but I was a bit surprised that North Americans tend to regard me as tall. What the heck? It must be my slight built that’s misleading.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Beap69HhwAN/?taken-by=maraeastern

I checked some rough stats and confirmed that my height is perfectly average for my part of the world. And by perfectly, I mean perfectly, I’m right at the average (okay, so almost right there, I’m 0.78 mm/0.03 in off). You can check out the stats on Wikipedia, if you’re interested, but what I’m trying to point out is that an average US woman is 161.8 cm (5 ft 3 1⁄2 in), while an average Czech female, me, is 167.22 cm (5 ft 6 in).

I’m right where I’m supposed to be, height-wise, and I’m not only not tall, but even sufficiently short to be perceived by the average Czech male (180.31 cm / 5 ft 11 in) as tiny.  That much to statistics.

7 Days, 7 Instagram Snaps

I’ve been diligently taking a photo a day since the beginning of the year. It’s not like I’m doing a 365 Project. I’ve completed two and abandoned one two thirds along the way. It’s rather that I have no idea what I’m doing and I keep on posting it on Instagram.

Scroll down to view the evidence and read my elaborate photo descriptions. Or don’t, I’m not telling you what to do. I would, but no one listens to me, so I won’t. Or will I? I have decision paralysis, so decide on my behalf. Problem solved. Or not.

1 January: Went to see fireworks. Was so foggy that I couldn’t see where I was going, not to mention the fireworks. The fog-amplified noise nearly gave me an epileptic attack. I’m not even epileptic.

2 January: I’m trying to read. That would be commendable, except it’s so boring I mostly just fiddle with the Kindle app, which has a Dic(k)tionary. I don’t know how I managed to graduate as a Literature Major.

3 January: I went to the post office but I can’t remember what I wanted there. That much to documenting my life so I could remember what the fuck I was up to. Probably nothing as per usual.

4 January: My new yoga mat arrived. I ordered it specifically because of the box, which is cat-sized. Kidding. Kind of. The cat however approves, and she’s the queen.

5 January: That was a bad idea. I okayed Windows Update and had to take a day off because my Windows couldn’t even. After crunching for half an hour, Windows presented me with this. You know what. FY.

6 January: I was asked to get drunk and send nudes. I did get drunk. Nothing said.

7 January: Got a hangover, couldn’t stand sharp light, used a candle. I can do candles. Anytime. Also, none of this is true. Maybe. You wouldn’t know.

Weekly Photo Challenge: More Weathered

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered.

As per request, here’s another weathered snap from my hometown. I guess now is the place where I provide you with details about the image, what’s in the picture and what the heck it’s all about, alas, I have no idea.

I’m not very home in my hometown. All I know is that this is a detail on the facade of some building or another. Maybe a musician lived there in the Middle Ages, but now it’s a pawn shop. An appropriate downward spiral. Here you go.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered.

I’m fascinated with the American fascination with historical architecture. Where I live, everything is by default ancient, or at least old and weathered. Even the perfectly insignificant and uninteresting small town where I’m currently residing dates back to the twelfth century.

It has all the obligatory medieval props: remains of the city wall, cobblestones everywhere and the plague column. The poor clueless people built it to ward off the plague, rather than building a proper sewer system. Duh.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Cheeky & Cheerful

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: Cheeky.

 

Grungy Textures

Here are some gritty city snaps from my latest business trip adventure. Spending about four hours on trains and buses to get somewhere and another four hours to get back is only bearable when I spend time snapping everything.

Shot with my iPhone 8 and edited in Adobe Photoshop. Kidding. I don’t do Apples and I’m not a fan of Adobe either. Shoot me. Actually, shot with my Android-running Lenovo mobile, which is as badass as any Apple, and edited in Snapseed, which is, hands down, the best phone photo editing app around.

One of the many trains I’ve been

My favourite local graffiti

I’m bizarrely attracted to abandoned cigarette packages

(Not) historically valuable tile floor

Bad boys

Classic boot selfie

Weekly Photo Challenge: (More) Pedestrians

In response to WP Weekly Photo Challenge: Pedestrian.

Autumn Rain

It’s been raining, raining and raining, on and on and on. You get the idea. In case you can’t imagine it, here’s visual documentation. I’d never go out but I needed to replenish my Oreos supplies (they lasted exactly one day). *shrug*

That’s a lot of green

That’s how I found out my boots were not waterproof

Smurfs have been here

Glittery and slippery

Did someone lose a leaf?

Almost cute raindrops