It was an extremely early start to the day, given the clock change overnight.
I had originally thought of sitting all the kitties down and explaining that breakfast would be an hour later today. But I couldn’t quite translate the whole concept of daylight savings time to Meow-speak.
In any event, I had slept like shit so there was no real inducement to staying in bed.
Besides which the thought that ran through my head was along the lines of a death-bed conversation with the devil.
“Neville, my boy, you’ve been a good servant over the years and steered a lot of impressionable young souls in my direction. So, tell you what; have an extra hour of life for your troubles”
Then the question I asked myself was what would I do with such an hour, if I had one. I certainly would sleep it out nor park myself at the PC. So, the clear choice became let’s take that extra time and shoot somewhere you haven’t before.
I drove down the St Pete side of the bay and just outside of Fort De Soto, found a bridge that gave me a view over Tampa Bay. My intent was to find something that included the Skyway Bridge and sure enough, there it was in all its glory, lit up in darkness in the distance.
I had to deal with an unusual complication on the bridge that cost me many blurry images; the wind was so strong that it kept shaking the camera on the tripod. But knowing that, I just kept shooting anyway, hopeful that some would come out.
There was also a magical moment that got away from me because I wasn’t ready. Out of nowhere, a gorgeous Osprey floated little more than five feet above my head. Unfortunately my camera was in manual mode and on a ten second timer, so I knew I had no shot.
I just looked up at him and he down at me and for a moment, our eyes locked in mutual acknowledgement.
Such is life, sometimes.
Anyway, I have attached a number of shots at the end of the blog that more or less show the progression through the growing twilight. I hope you enjoy.
The thought for this blog emanated from the whole extra hour gift of earlier and it extended into the whole idea of how we use our time on our life-journey.
Some folks imagine that they will live eternally in the clouds after this life is over, others imagine they will come back for another round reincarnated as something more intelligent, no doubt.
I, on the other hand, look at this life as our one shot. I have voiced before how I believe our journey should be devoted to improving the lot of those we love, those around us, and the world we live in. So I won’t repeat all that stuff again.
But now I want to point out the value of the time itself and how we use it.
TV used to be the huge distraction from life turning so many into couch-potatoes. Now it is the internet and the phone that manufactures vegetables on an even larger level.
The future, if you consider the direction of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and ventures like the whole Metaverse folly, is being shaped to take even more of us away from life’s reality and consume our time in endless escapes.
Their argument is that feeding the brain with different experiences is a good (and profitable) venture. Gamers and surfers flock by their millions to experience this altered reality oblivious to the sheer waste of their real-world time.
Getting out and breathing the air, watching the colors of a sunrise or sunset, walking a trail and experiencing nature on a personal level … these are the real pastimes that enrich our life experience.
Of course, if humans become distracted away from the real world, then they also become oblivious to its demise. Which feeds the coffers of major corporations and their evil henchmen in government.
Government voices on the left are rarely heard when they try to point out damage to the environment; not listened to by the greedy bastards that put profit ahead of planet and unheard by those idiots who walk through life with their headphones in.
This is why the real change of approach must occur at a grass-roots level where people look only at their own life journey and ask themselves how many hours do they want to live versus how many do they want to escape from life.
If your focus is on escape rather than life, then let’s hope you do come back next time as a something slightly more intelligent. A worm, perhaps.
… just a thought.
