New ATS Media Member's Photos Thread

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Nice Pix Charlie! (BTW, That's the name of My Nephew!)
No Not 'Nice' or 'Pix', Silly Dude! Charlie!! LMAO!!!



a reply to: bluemooone2

Very Stephen Kingish! I lIke that! (SK Rocks!!)
Oh BTW, I like Douglas Adams too!...




a reply to: Raxoxane

Nice Pix here Rax! The Artsy one is very cool!! Oh, and what's wrong with a Mullet?! I used to have one, years and years and years ago... LMAO!!! Now I am just a typical Long Hair...




a reply to: Skid Mark

Where's Your Pic here Bro?! Did I miss it?...

a reply to: Raxoxane

Rax...I think you're gorgeous hunny!

Such soulful eyes...not surprised though, it comes through in your writing.
Nice to see you.

jacy

a reply to: jacygirl

Aaww thanks so much Jacygirl,big hug!

I had make-up on there,and my hair straightened and done in a style,cause we were at one of our favorite restaurants in this pic. They had fantastic trout,which we Love,such a great earthy taste.It's closed down since,but i've heard they're re-opening,which would be wonderful.The photo was taken in winter time,when one can live a bit here. Normally i just slap on some sunglasses and a bit of lipstick,and tie my hair in a ponytail - in summer here there's not much point trying to do one's hair nicely or apply make-up,the humidity just makes everything sweat off and hair frizz,so it's a waste of time.

Not sure if anyone is still posting to this, but I'm about to resurrect this post.



Just me playing my electric violin.

-foss

a reply to: fossilera

Applauded...

...coz...well...heck...Electric Violins are just ALL kindsa cool!!!


I mean woulda look at that...the shape of it wouldn't look outa place as some deep-space cruiser or even large docking station on DS9 or any other sheer awesomeness of Sci-Fi series/movie...

a reply to: alien

Not to make it sound any less amazing than it is - but that violin is also larger than a typical instrument. I have fingers that do not get along with a traditional 4/4 adult violin (in truth, I'm probably a viola player, but that instrument rattles my skull; may pick it up later). It's almost completely silent unless you are plugged into an amp.

When I get better, I plan on getting a neater version, or building my own

My traditional violin is about the same size - it's just a hair short of being a small viola. I love both!

And Thanks!

a reply to: fossilera

Foss! So good to see you! And doing something powerfully awesome to boot! Miss ya in The Shed

Apologies for the crap quality - wife took it on her ancient S3 not-so-smartphone (refuses to use the blardy S6 I got her last year as 'it's too complicated')...

My Dad and my now 6yr old boy.

I love this pic for so many reasons.


My Dad is/was the oldest of his siblings (5 in total).
He's the only one of them still living - not far off 80yrs old now and still pretty spritely for an old guy.

My Grandfather (his Dad) was a WW2 veteran, from our country's much revered and respected 28th Maori Battalion.
Lied about his age - like so many of them - went over as a young'un, came back - like unfortunately so many of them - by all accounts a *broken* man. As such my Grandmother and my Father pretty much shouldered the responsibility of raising and providing for the family.

My Dads first paying job - full time - was at 12 yrs old.
Dropped out of school and worked like a man to bring money in to literally feed the family.
When not working he tended the large gardens, hunted, fished, gathered...whatever it took to keep mouths fed and bodies clothed...

He gave his entire childhood/young adulthood for his family.


Part of that was he was raised 'old skool'.
He was raised hard.
Emotion wasn't of any benefit. It never fed a mouth. Never clothed a body. Never shoed a foot.
So you just sucked it up, felt nothing, kept going for everyone else.


Bearing in mind he was also - in some ways - expected to just swallow the overwhelming grief of what happened to his own father eventually and left him the only 'Man of the House' now fully responsible for them all.

Words were few.
Actions were everything.



My Dad raised me this way too.
Was all he knew.
Wasn't until literally 2 years ago - 42 years of me on this planet - that he first, as I can recall, told me he loved me.
I broke down in tears that day.
Tears for him...tears also of joy he said it...but tears of sadness that it'd taken so long for those words to be loosed from his lips.

Oh make no mistake I KNEW he loved me. Absolutely.
Only the self-absorbed impetuousness of my youth considered without it being said it never existed...


So...WHY do I love this pic so much???

Because this Man - this MAN - he is sooo a Man regardless of everything that everyone seems to define a Man by - has changed...
He's soft now.
He shares and shows emotions now.
He laughs...for no reason other than to savor a moment of joy...

He has patience now...the amount of stuff he just lets slide that my kids do, which previously IF we'd have dared done it woulda be our ASS!


He is every bit what I hope and pray I'll be as a father...
Every bit an example I seek to follow.
My only additional wish is I do it sooner...

a reply to: alien

What a beautiful dedication to you father

If I'm half the father mine is, I'm doing OK, to be as good a father would be my wish, I'm at that stage where my kids are setting out into adulthood.

The world is still large, and they will now find their place in it, so far, so good.

To quote Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

One of my favourite poems

Cody

a reply to: alien

What a wonderful tribute to your Father!
Your description brought tears to my eyes!

So much of what you describe reminds me of my parents both gone now.

'Hard Workers' doesn't even begin to describe accurately enough the type of people they were. Both born in the early 20s.
Your Father and your son both look very happy, genuinely happy, not just smiling for a photo.
There's a twinkle in your Father's eyes.

I hope you show your Father what you have written here. Most of my feelings for my Mother have been expressed after she's gone and I regret that. We/I was so busy in the day to day act of taking care of her physically...I never told her.

Make sure you tell him!

I've been on ATS for a couple of months now and I thought there may be a use for a picture of my 62 year old face.
Mostly to help people turn me into the authorities or create local wanted posters.
The many computers and racks of servers behind me help create the computing power necessary to force a camera to take my picture.

a reply to: Errollorre

Love what you have done with the place. LOL!!

I have a question about your picture.

Behind you, just above your arm, behind the frosted glass, it looks like either a creature with glowing eye's with it's mouth open, or it looks like a young man's head wearing sunglasses.

What exactly do you do there.

a reply to: crappiekat

LOL I tried to see it but all I see is the caged front of yet more servers.

My employers wonder what I do also.

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
Make sure you tell him!

So much truth there.

My Dad and I had a bit of a 'falling out' over a decade ago...we didn't talk for a few years...seems we're just as stubborn as eachother...

I took issue with something he said - he took issue that I took issue - I took issue that he took issue that I took issue - he took...well...you get the idea...

Wasn't until he had *a bit of a scare*...well, how he put it was "bloody Drs getting all jumpy for nothing"...mild (though is there really anything mild about one?) heart-attack saw him in Hospital for a while.
Kinda the smack BOTH of us needed to pull our heads out of our butts and bury that crap before I buried him...


We talk regularly - though to be fair it's never a lengthy conversation, doesn't have to be, we both say what we need to and that's it. Again so very similar.

The other reason I love this photo so much is it was taken when we visited him and Mum earlier this year.
He spent heaps of time playing with our kids and in particular showing my boy all around his workshop out back where he carves our traditional walking-sticks etc...letting our boy have a go at carving and encouraging him to just carve whatever he wanted.

My boy actually ended up 'ruining' one carved panel that Dad had been working on for the last 3 years...yet my Dad didn't seem to mind. Didn't get angry. Indeed, just this weekend we visited them again...and there was the panel hanging on the wall of the lounge...complete with my boys *carving* (ie: huge chunks taken out of the intricate designs Dad had done over those years). Hanging up, proudly displayed.


When we left to return home my Dad commented how proud he was of the father I've become.
Told me he was most proud that I was not the father he was...
I told him "Actually Dad, you know what I'm most proud of? I'm most proud that I am..."





...like you say...NEVER leave that stuff unsaid...

a reply to: alien

Everything you said resonated so deeply with me!

When my Mother was living with me, my daughters being teenages would occasionally do some pretty "teen-agey" stuff LOL.

Mom would say "Don't be so upset...it's not life or death"..."Be patient, be kind". "Don't say anything in anger." "They're young and learning and pushing boundaries". "It's normal". She was always so right...

a reply to: fossilera

Hi Foss,

That is a pretty cool electric violin. I can't remember ever seeing one like that.

Is it lighter than a wooden violin? It must sound different, yes?


You look so serious in your picture. I take it your reading the music.

a reply to: alien

Wonderful story.

You made cry. Good tears.

Thought I'd be brave and say "hello" to everyone here, so, hello!



Even though I'm certain those aren't real "orbs" by the computer, I'm sure that they would like to say "hello" too.

a reply to: kaelci

Awwww!
No need for 'bravery'...you're a doll!



*Hello Orbs!*

a reply to: alien

You've made me cry this morning with that post..... but it was a "good" cry. sniff.