I won't think about that now. I'll think about that tomorrow.

When did the Greatest Generation become so great?
Ok, follow me here, because you are about to get a glimpse of how my mind works. And it's not pretty.
The other day I was scanning in pictures of railroad bridges, specifically the bridges around Harper's Ferry and the Thompson Viaduct (i think). These pictures stretched back to when the bridges where opened, some of which was before the Civil war and one of which was shortly after the Confederates blew the previous bridge up. Anyway, early pictures of these bridges are pretty, idyllic even. There were children playing on the banks of the river, trees growing, the town was pretty, everything you would imaging the good old days would be. Then I found one picture taken of the same bridge in the late 40's, early 50's. It spoke a few more than 1000 words. The bridge admittedly was old, but the trees where gone, the river icky looking, and there was an industrial construct in the frame. No more happy children, happy trees, or happy fish. Admittedly the train is a vehicle of industry, and maybe the trees were all elm or some other tree that has died out because of disease or human interference. And the radio tower looking thing was probably very important for keeping trains on time and not heading for each other. But I couldn't help thinking, "Wow, they really fucked up this."
Which made me wonder, what else did this group of people who were supposed to be this Great generation screw up? And who gave them that title anyway?
According to Wikipedia, you can blame that on Tom Brokaw. And the reason that he said that they where the Greatest Generation was because they fought WWII, the Korean War and because they build up industry. Umm, then can we blame Global warming on them?
What I'm really thinking about is how each generation thinks that they are going to fix, that they are going to learn from the mistakes of their elders, or that they simply are smarter than the previous generation and that they should all just fuck off.
But instead, no one learns, makes mistakes (some of them arguably worse than the previous generations mistakes) and it all becomes just a little bit of history repeating.
So what do we, The "Millennials," do? I don't have a clue.

Just don't screw with my idyllic scenery.

E.T. phone home.

Well, if today is Friday, then it has been a week since I slept in my own bed. And the next time I will do so will be on Sunday.
What I have been up to is spending time wit various members of my family. I spent Saturday helping my cousin with his Eagle Scout project and then spent Saturday Evening to Tuesday morning with my Grandmother. My grandfather is currently in Salisbury with my uncle on a business trip. Yes, Salisbury, England. So my grandmother and I hung out and watched movies. My grandparents recently got cable so my grandmother can indulge in watching her two favorite channels, Turner Classic Movies and the Food Network. Until now, the only time that she got to see these wonderful channels was when she visited Florida in the winter. She said that now she has no reason to visit.
My grandfather made the reservations any way.
And now I am at the beach. Why? Why not. The excuse was that we needed to wait for the electrician. Who came and went and told us that our dehumidifier needed to be replaced and did you want to turn on your water heater?
And tonight I'm going up to Villanova to visit my brother for Family Weekend.
And I have an idea, but I will tell you about it later...

I can't tell you that. It's classified

Is it a good sign when you are apply for a job in Shipping and receiving with a company you know next to nothing about and one of the questions is what grade of Government Security clearance you have?
Kinda worries me a bit. So if I disappear, now you know where I went. Or rather, what happened to me.
This morning i was going through pictures I've taken in the last three years. Some of them where quite fabulous. I get the feeling that I should invest in a high resolution Scanner. Especially if I will continue to insist on taking pictures with my analog camera. A lot of the pictures where from Australia, which is kind of heart breaking. I took all these pictures, trying so hard to take more than the average tourist photos. I mean when is the next time I'll get to go to Australia? But instead of being displayed they're stuck in photo albums no one looks at or still in the development folder. Poo. I admit I may have delusions of grandeur, but I do know that I'm not the next Ansel Adams or Cindy Sherman.
The only solution is to grow up, buy a house and cover the walls.

Naa.

La-dee-da, la-dee-da

Well, its Labor Day Weekend, the traditional time for people to go back to school. And for the first time in... about 18 years, I am not among the students headed away from freedom and back to the classrooms. In someways, I'm really glad. No papers. No real deadlines. No last minuet panic attacks and getting work done just in time.
Well, really the only thing I miss about being in school is hanging out with people. So, Haha, suckers still in school. You enjoy your easy access to a multitude of friends, and I will enjoy my regular sleep schedule.
This weekend also marked my triumphant return to the Gill Family Tradition of my Uncle Jacks Crab Feast. I missed in the last four years because of school. It's an annual Tooie/Gill/Tilghman Family reunion. It's usually fun/amusing. I get to catch up on the latest of family gossip and hang out with my Cousin Catlin, who this year caught me up on High School gossip. The most interesting piece was that one of the people i know from high school is getting a divorce. And that sums up my weekend.

Snap out of it!

I love the Orioles. I do. And I mean the Baseball team, not the bird (which I have never actually seen, thanks to over development and global warming). And they are a good team, except when they play baseball. Let me explain. They have the skills and ability to play well. They have shown that time and time again. If I recall correctly they shut out the Yankees 12-0. Not bad. Then last week, They lose 30-3. To the Texas Rangers. The highest score in modern baseball history which goes back to 1900. It was a ridiculous game. I mean it was hysterical in its own pathetic way. I was at the game, cheering for the Rangers along with everyone else. Right after the Rangers finally scored their 30th run, My brother's room mate texted him with the fact that the previously held record was 29. Last night they lost after they gave up 11 runs in the eighth inning, making it there seventh lose in a row. In the same game they also had six, Count 'em SIX, Home runs. And they STILL lost. Why can't they play as a team?
It's a good thing I don't live and die by the Orioles.

After all, tomorrow is another day!

Have you ever heard of the 12 Girl Band? They're from Shanghai, and they are an orchestra of Chinese instruments. But they don't just play traditional music. They also play classical like Mozart or Nessun Dorma from Turendot, Jazz like Georgia on My Mind or Take Five, and Pop like My Heart Will Go On. It's pretty wild. The reason that I have them on my mind is that my aunt (who is a music teacher) gave me the bands new DVD and CD for my birthday. I like it, but I'm alone on that front. Oh well, I'll listen to it in my car, when no one is with me.
Speaking of my family, my sister has come down with Mono. Perfect timing to screw up the beginning of college for her. That's right, she is supposed to start at Hood in a week. She is planning on starting classes like the regular student, just move in a little later. By then she will have had it for almost two weeks. I don't know if she will be any better or not, but hopefully she will have figured out how to cope with it.
As for me, Life is going to start changing next week. Both my brother and sister will be moving out to college, and I'll be left here. For all of college's drawbacks (papers, homework, tests, classes in general) I wish I could go back. Maybe that's just because I haven't yet actually made any steps forward. I did hear about a job working for the NSA in there museum (YES! the NSA has a museum!). I would be cataloging and organizing all the recently declassified material from WWI and II. I'm going to call them up and find out how outrageously under qualified I am. But I'm going to keep my finger's crossed. Hey, there's always Medieval Times (Must enjoy wearing tights! It honestly says that on their job stuff)

Here's Johnny!

Shesh, I really ought to update more. To updated only once a month just looks like carelessness. But oh well. Better infrequently than never.
Have you noticed lately how these past few days have been terrible for the International film community. Two famous Directors and an actor died, each from a different country in Europe. Is it just the time of the year?
Lately I've been hanging out at the B&O Railroad Museum on Mondays. I'm scanning in old negatives that are decomposing and need desperately to be placed in freezer storage. Most are simply early acetate, which dissolves into vinegar and brittle plastic. It's not deadly, just smelly. But some of the negatives are actually Nitrate emulsion, which is highly volatile and degrades easily and toxicly. So if I'm not careful, I could poison myself. And people say museum work is dull and quiet.
The actual subjects of the negatives is not terribly exciting. The most exciting part is the question: Why did the B&O Railroad have pictures of cows, chickens and sheep? I guess the Railroad was involved in more that just trains.
But, Hey, Guess what?!? Last week I was Dog/Cat/House sitting for my Uncle Bill. During that time, I got a lot of reading done. The most significant of these books was some little obscure book that NO ONE has hear of called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I liked it. And I'm bursting to talk to people about it. But since there are people out that who still need to read it and don't want me to ruin any piece of it (my brother and Mother), I won't talk about it.