I sometimes think that in our culture we are conditioned to believe that we mustn't do anything unless there is a solid tangible return on investment that directly benefets our material wellbeing. It is almost frowned upon that we put in more labor, more time and more of our creative drive than is necessary to turn a profit. We are building a house within the confines and strictures of this philosophy... a philosophy which lends itself only to short-term thinking. Worse, I suspect that this cultural norm might mean that all of our relationships are only transactional; our purpose in accommodating others is so that we might gain, so that we might be accommodated in return.

Of course, it may all be biologicaly rooted. I'm not unaware that it might be our nature, shaped by millions of years of evolution. I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine and all of the other related pro-social behaviors can probably be reduced to a biological imperative that benefits our species. I suppose that my question is whether we can go off-rails and choose to be a people who think in terms of centuries and millenia; to spend our time under the Sun not only seeking our own pleasure, but making choices and doing cool and epic shit that we might not see the fruition of?

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit in.” — Greek Proverb.

Like many people, I am deeply disappointed that so many of us looked at a high-profile rapist, liar, and known cheat and were like, 'yeah, that's my guy'. The hypocracy cuts especially deep when you think that his base is largely made up of evangelical Christians. Anyway, I'm about half-way through my own grieving process; today's update is that I am leaving all social media platforms with possibly the exception of LinkedIn... though, I may still decide to 86 it later. I have already terminated Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, TikTok, and The Grainery. Reddit is next on my list. I have also signed out of YouTube and deactivated the app from my mobile. My subscription to Spotify is also terminated.

What's next? Well, I don't know. I'm angry and hurt and my worst instincts are winning at the moment. I'm still sober, though I'm seriously tempted to buy a bottle of whiskey. My friend's haven't been much help because it probably looks like sulking from the outside. It's okay for me to feel my feelings and to indulge them for a little while (though, not forever). Sarah, I get a pass even though I am the 'least affected' of all of us in this. I'm human too.

The Satanic Temple is looking for volunteers and advocates. I applied about a half-hour ago. If we don't already have one, I'd like to start a chapter here in Roswell. After the tears and the rage fade away, there will be real work ahead to protect vulnerable people and to fight the fascists and theocrats.

I'm safe, and there hasn't been significant damage in my immediate neighborhood. Saturday evening into Sunday morning, the water reached my doorstep, but never crossed the threshold. Today, I had time to survey some of the damage. The heaviest scarring seems to be localized between College and 6th Street. I didn't venture far from Main, so most of what I saw is only a smaller fraction of the total flood damage throughout town. I'm also aware that Dexter had considerable flooding as well. The road to Artesia seems to have collapsed, cutting off access on 285.

I don't keep up with this like I want to. Too much has happened in the course of these past couple of months and I don't care about detailing the specifics. Sarah will be visiting Roswell for a little while. I'm leaving Saturday to go pick her up. A new aquaintence moved here a few weeks ago from Michigan and I have been helping him settle in... though he's managing pretty well on his own. The imposter syndrome that I experience fairly regularly along with an impending sense that I'm underperforming and about to be called into an office soon still lingers. Otherwise, I'm kind of excited for our scheduled rebrand this coming Thrusday evening. I have a new design that I am proud of and, if time permits, I'd like to unveil it with the new logo.

Well, I am thouroughly exhausted and sunburnt. Yesterday, a group of friends and an additional number of new associates floated the Pecos River from the Old Clovis Highway until just before 2nd Street for what I have been told is a total of 19 miles. We completed the journey in approximately five hours. Thank you Josh for lending your spare paddle board. It was my first experience piloting one and by the end of the trip, I felt comfortable standing and rocking.

In total, a mix of twenty-one or twenty-two seasoned and novice members of our relatively large group made it safely to the take-out point with few incidents and no injuries.

Today, Rüdi introduced me to an idea that we are going to implement in our photography together; to dispense with the post-processing workflow entirly. It goes something like this: A single prime lens, no RAW files, no cropping, no post-processing whatsoever. We are limited to what the camera produces natively with all of our choices baked-in to a single JPEG file. Eventually, our images will be compiled into a series curated around a theme and then, finally, published as a single contact sheet.

Another dimension that I want to add to my own process is a campaign to collect and properly dispose of whatever garbage that I find. Who knows, maybe I can enlist the help of other photographers and this can become a whole thing.

^^^ For context, my first theme will center around street garbage and other human-made detritus found in the urban and natural environments.

Yesterday, after work, our team gathered for an IT dept luncheon at a local restaurant followed by some introductory "jolf" practice. Normally, I lounge at home on Fridays, but I was feeling energized and so, after finally getting home, I decided to make a short camping trip... partly because I want to test-pitch my old trail tent and partly because I need practice using my RGND filter. The truck is usually packed with equipment most of the time anyway, so I only had to pick up schnacky schnacks and water. Apparently, there are abandoned missile silos, a remnant of the cold war, within driving distance of Roswell, and so I went to check them out. Plus, they are in the general direction that I wanted to travel anyway for a photo idea that I had been visualizing for a few days. Short story even longer, I didn't bother staying the night anywhere, but I did find a semi-cool composition of Capitan and the setting sun during the waning hours of a dust storm.

https://www.gtripp.com/portfolio/new-mexico?pgid=ldz57twr-3cb993_6adead0c525b44ea99516aa94bb447dbmv2.jpg