do what you love, love what you do

8 nights to go until i'm in canada :)

today was extremely stressful but also very exciting.

it started off like it often does this time of year. dragging 3 tired kids out of bed to attend the last couple of days of school is just about one of my least favorite things to do. they are grumpy, and rude, and demanding. its a horrible way to start the day.. everyone at their very worst. one day more day of this and then its officially summer holiday.

the kids have exams all this week.. which makes things even worse, they can't concentrate. alex is just now realizing the expectations i have for his grades aren't going to change, no matter what he actually achieved this year. alex is a chronic under achiever. he has the capability of acing every class with very little effort. it might actually take great effort to do badly in his classes. most of the classes he had this year were not new to him. its not the academics that gives him fits.. its following rules.

i have a rule in my house. you have to achieve a 80% or better.. bare minimum or... give it a 100% effort and then we can worry about the grades as they come. there is no mercy for slacking off on school work and then bringing home crappy grades.

growing up.. my parents didn't voice any expectations for my academic achievement. matter of fact i can't even remember them ever attending a parent/teacher conference, or commenting on a report card that i got. i was blessed with a talent in music that helped me get into a college.. and then the grades mattered to me, so i did what i needed to do to be proud of myself.

i know that ultimately the grades aren't what matters in life. its your effort and rewards for your efforts, and consequences for your lack of effort that will probably shape your life much more than what a silly report card says.

that all being said... alex will probably have a very long summer of having to answer to me much more than he would if he would have taken responsibility for his own behavior.

alex has made great strides in the social arena tho.. he has the sweetest girlfriend and has a group of loyal friends that are in the band with him (gotta love those musicians!) in the past, i always thought alex would be struggling socially for the rest of his life. academics came so easily to him.... he never ceases to surprise me. he is so very talented in music.. and seems to realize it. maybe thats the direction he'll take in life.

hannah has worked her butt off this school year. she had a very hard transition from kansas to michigan. she didn't fit in with a group of friends right away (for a teenage girl that could be the worst fate of all) so, hannah did concentrate on her school work. she also made a huge effort to get involved in the community volunteering her time. about 3 months ago she stared a journalism class, and then was put on the staff of the high school yearbook.

this has turned out to be the very best turn of events for her. she really excels in journalism. she gets so excited about stories and writing them that her enthusiasm is contagious. she was made financial manager of the yearbook next year, which is a huge honor for someone who isn't even a senior yet :)

sam did great in school this year. 6th grade is the first year where the kids typically get letter grades and he really likes to see tangible evidence of his efforts. so he was very motivated for grades. he earned a 4.0 or all perfect grades this year *mom smiles proudly*

he will be so happy when he is able to be on the basketball team next year. they didn't have a 6th grade team. basketball is HIS sport. sam and i love to go to our local professional team's games as well. thats something that we share a lot. even if we can't get tickets for the game he and i will sit, glued to the tv and cheer the Pistons on :P

oh.. darn.. now i remember why i started this blog :/ i got a very exciting phone call today. i've been trying really hard to figure out a way to earn money doing the things i love to do. music and photography. music is a hard business to earn a living at. i love to teach, but building a teaching studio takes time, and the best advertisement is word of mouth. before we moved to kansas i was teaching 25 students a week. now i'm just working on building that up again. i play jobs, but often they are for the church and even if they are paid jobs... they just aren't steady enough to depend on at this point.

that means turning my efforts to photography. portraits always sell, i mean.. who wont by a picture of their kids ;) but.. i don't actually have studio space. i have all the studio equipment i need, and its fairly portable (with a small army of helpers) again.. just working out of my living room booking friends and friends of friends for portraits just isn't steady work. the occasional wedding or party helps, but doesn't really come along that often.

i've been working on some new photography skills. my friend markus from austria is a real whiz with the camera. i swear he knows more about my cameras than i do.. and he doesn't even own the same camera! markus got interested in doing panoramas and then going one step further doing 360 degree panos just for a hobby.

i thought it was so cool that i just wanted to learn out to do it too. i bought a nodal ninja ... no its not a fighting guy.. its an attachment for my tripod that helps the camera stay in the right place to reduce the distortion when i take the pano images. anyway.. after doing a few panos i realized that this could really be a marketable thing.

because i have moved so many times, i know how important it is to weed out the unsuitable houses before you ever take a trip to see it in person. seeing a house on the inside, by way of a virtual tour, or 360 pano is a great way to see whats going on behind those 4 walls and a roof.

i've been milling this idea around in my head for a while now, but today i actually did something about it. i got a call from a sister of a friend that is selling her house on her own. she was looking for a better way to market her house, and then she was told about my photography.

i agreed to go to her house on monday and shoot 4 rooms 360 style, and then give her the links to the panos.. and she is going to use them for advertising.

i wont make a lot of money on this particular job, but its a foot in the door. once i get a few of these under my belt, then i can take my services to the larger real estate companies and show them what i have to offer.

i have a temporary hosting site, thanks izz ;) but will eventually get my own domain name and website to host the images. i'm still figuring out how it should look and how it will work, but i'm pretty excited about it.

markus agreed to be my technical support although he swears i don't need it. i think its all in his plan to eventually come to the united states and visit his friend in colorado

this is something i've wanted to do for a long time, and i really think there is a need for it. its only a tiny foot in the door.. but i have big plans :)

a very dear friend gave me just the moral support i needed to take the steps to get started with this. i'm not sure this will be the thing that makes my life more financially secure, but at least i'll love it while i'm working on it.

"do what you love, love what you do" (its not just a company kippy, its a way of life!)

for anyone that hasn't tried a brand of clothing called "life is good" you should.

sorry for the long rambling blog.. without pictures :| soon you'll see at least a few 360 panos here tho