So yeah...I am doing a personal blog here, as a shout out to myself for this past year. I actually have felt like, now looking back on everything, that I have done a lot over the past year. Not only have I been able to get shit done work wise (regardless if I have found a full time teaching position at a university or not), I have solidly worked all this year, being either at the greenhouse OR at the elementary school where I am a Para (I am still applying for full-time teaching gigs, and I am still a member of the faculty at Radford University in Virginia AND Virginia Tech has wanted me to teach two classes there but those ended up not working out), and as you all know, the collection is going very well as I have been able to add a total of 34 portraits to the collection in 2018, a number that I am very happy with, especially since I didn't start shooting film until like April or May, so that is very nice. AND I have people already saying that they want to be photographed for the project in the coming year (2019) so that means that the new year will be off to a great start.
BY THE WAY, If anyone out there in SG land wants to be a part of the We Are All We Have Tonight collection, let me know and let's try to set something up for a shoot, no matter where you are in the world. Seriously.
In other news, I am also up for a fellowship because of this collection, which would be REALLY awesome if that actually happens. That means a lot of money will be able to go strictly to this project and I can advance it a whole hell of a lot than what I am doing right now. I will let you know more on that as time get nearer to the date that I find out.
And now for the transformation of myself. A lot of you know that I have been very unhappy with how much weight I had gained over the past few years since I had gotten one injury after another, which kept me out of cycling for almost two years (torn ligaments to dog bites to issues with muscles and a shit load more things that were just not going my way), but during 2018 I really put my foot down and kept myself as healthy as humanly possible and really started hitting the gym again to get ready for the 2019 mountain biking/short track/cross country (cycling, trust me I don't run) season, and I am no where close to where I want to be, but I am on a very good road to get there.
Here are a few before and after photos. First was taken Christmas Day 2017 at Sam's parents house:
That where I was when I began my journey to make myself better. That is one of my favorite shirts and it was becoming too small for me when it was an extra large, so year, I had a shit load of weight to lose Those pants were also I think a size 38 or 40 in waist. So, like I said, I started going to the gym (going there on average three times a week for the past almost six or seven months now) and played softball this summer and fall, and started really going at it hard on my bike again, and I know that I have lost body mass. I figured that since I am getting a lot of my muscle back, I am not going to be measuring my weight because I will not be going down as much as I would like since I am also working on getting my muscle back to ride my bikes again. Instead, I am going to be seeing how my clothes fit and what new I am going to have to buy. Today, I am happy to say that my pants are now at a size 34 slim, and I actually got some new workout shorts today that are a medium and they fit perfectly. I made sure that I wore my Less Than Jake shirt yesterday as well (under my ugly Christmas Sweater) so I can show the progress from that photo above to these here, exactly one year later to almost the hour.
Like I said, I am no where close to where I want to be, but I am getting there, slowly but progress is being made. I made sure that the room was the same for the bottom photo here actually that the first photo was taken in.
But yeah, things have happened this year, things have changed about me. I feel that I have come a long way in the past 365 days, and I look forward to keeping this progress going over the next few years, because lord knows I owe it to myself.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you a slight wellness update on me, to let everyone out there know how I am doing and show the progress that has been made in the past year and that I am in a much better mental and physical place all in all and to say thank you to all of you who I have talked to and who have supported me over the past year to help me get to where I am right now.
But yes, please let me know if you would like to be a part of the collection as I am wanting to photograph you in 2019. We will make this happen and everything will be amazing.
Much love and here is to a very successful 2019 -
Fast
(here is me in my ugly sweater yesterday. Gotta love it)
