10 Day Life is Good Photo Challenge Recap

Now that I’ve finished the 10-Day Life is Good challenge, I want to share the thoughts behind my image and video choices.

Day 1. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Michaela Quinby.

2019-11-16 Tenaya Creek Brewery 20th Anniversary – I had just been nominated by Kimberly Rodgers and had attended this event the day before so it was an obvious choice as far as visually communicating things that make me happy… maybe a bit too happy at times.

Day 2. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Jennifer Bispo.

2019-11-17 Dancing EV3 & Marty – One of the surprising things about my current small robot obsession is that prior to doing robots at Full Sail Labs (summer/after-school camps) I mostly limited my tech stuff to webpages and blogs. I know, very weird. One thing about robots or the people working on them is that you will almost never visit a lab and see a completed robot. They are always being put together or pulled apart, and sometimes they work on the robots too.

Day 3. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Jennifer Quinby.

2019-11-19 Fitzgerald STEAM Lab – We’re right in the middle of a “Build-a-Robot” project that mixes paper robot bodies with LEGO bottoms (wheels or legs) and I was adding cardboard rectangles to the bottom of the robot bodies. Next year we’re going to begin with milk-carton bodies…

Day 4. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Debra Aarens.

2019-11-03 Deb’s First In-n-Out Burger Experience. One of the wonderful unexpected joys of being with Deb (besides being in the relationship itself), is getting to share new experiences with each other… like enjoying In-n-Out Burger or Canter’s Deli.

Day 5. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate ______.

2019-10-24 Fitzgerald STEAM Lab WeDo Robot Build time-lapse video – If this looks like semi-controlled chaos, then your impression is correct. Humans learning is rarely an orderly, quiet process. The irony is that these students are learning how to build and program little robots, little robot that are very limited, unable to adjust for themselves and can only do what you specifically program them to do. Human are virtually the exact opposite.

Alas, when I invited my friend to participate she rejected it as one of those online needy pleas that tend to waste ones time… oh well, that’s when I changed the wording from “challenge” to “challenge/celebration/opportunity.” My impression was that things online are so messed up so often that it’s a good thing to encourage each other to share the things that communicate the idea that “Life is Good.” The rejection really felt like a miscommunication.

Day 6. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge/celebration/opportunity… 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Rachel Decker.

1959-11 Long Beach nap in Mom’s arms – I love this image of mom and me. Not a lot to explain, except that I feel fortunate and lucky to have grown up feeling my mom’s affection even if we never talked about it.

Day 7. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge/celebration/opportunity… 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Carson Steimle.

2019-08-01 “Yesterday” by Joe Bustillos at Bunkhouse Saloon Open Mic – One thing that I try to challenge myself with is doing these open mic nights. There was a very long stretch in my life when I did not perform in public and barely played guitar at all. Not a very good practice to deny one’s voice (or voices) of creativity. Alas, by mid-year my voice tends to suffer from colds and having to shout enough that I don’t participate in open-mics when I probably really need to. Gotta correct that error.

Day 8. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge/celebration/opportunity…. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Ailyn Marie.

2010-05-14 STS132 Atlantis Launch – One unanticipated joy when I moved to Florida was getting to watch (and record) several Space Shuttle launches and the launches of other space craft. Having been a space nerd as a kid I regularly drove to Kennedy Space Center even when there wasn’t a launch, because I love the space program and the message of what human can achieve when challenged.

Day 9. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge/celebration/opportunity…. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Kathy Craven.

2008-11-26 Things I Never Thought I’d Hear at Work (Full Sail University) – My first Thanksgiving in Florida, I really got close to these amazing people in a wonderful creative, challenging, innovative learning environment. We did some great work and also had a lot of fun along the way.

Day 10. I was nominated for the 10 day Life is Good photo challenge/celebration/opportunity…. 10 photos, 10 nominations. Every day I share an image that is meaningful to me (without an explanation). Today I nominate Gregory Thompson.

2017-03-24 Happy – Sometimes I wish I could be this happy… all she needed was to hear her favorite song and she couldn’t help but do a Snoopy dance. We do battle every day and work to correct the wrongs in the world, but we forget to find and share joy, then, what’s the point? I am unable to approach life in a frivolous or thoughtless manner, but I can learn to remember to include a little joy as often as possible.