It wasn’t that the songs were bad, or that the artists weren’t any good. It was that the entire contest was cancelled, and replaced by an abbreviated, bland but well-meaning tribute. Thanks, pandemic!
For 2021, apparently the show will take place no matter what. However, reusing any of 2020’s songs is against the rules.
Tix is a fallen angel, trying to do good, but chained to his demons. Gotta love the literal interpretation here.
In this post, I listen to all 39 of these new songs for the first time, and write my impressions.
And, so I spotted a Robin on March 13th, the first one this year. Unusually, late according to my parents.
I was able to stand there for quite a while, aiming my narrow aperture super-telephoto zoom at it, hoping my hands were steady enough, my focus was locked enough, the light was good enough, and so on.
But also, I got to observe the robin going about his business, mostly ignoring me as I crept closer…
In town, there are decks for sunshine and summer days.
Everywhere else has spraypaint borne of boredom and ennui.
I’m returning to this place, shortly after a snow storm on the third day of the new year.
I imagine most people discover the Geigertown Central Railroad Museum the same way that I did, by driving down Geigertown Road and noticing a collection of train cars off to the side.
To explain why the trains are here, we should begin with local train enthusiast D. J. Shirey.
This post follows directly on from the last one, describing some very hastily planned travel in Western Europe in the summer of 2018. For context, see the previous posts.
The city center, viewed from the Het Gravensteen
I’ve always preferred taking the stairs to taking elevators.
An elevator might never come, and can move at a lethargic speed if it does.
On foot, however, I can leap with the speed of a gazelle (and none of its grace), arriving to wherever I climb as an undignified, sweaty mess. But, a mess that didn’t have to wait for a stinking elevator.
I booked a bed in a hostel dormitory.
I think I may have tried to book an AirBnb or something, but virtually everything was already booked, and I fortunately realized that the site misleadingly increased my search radius to such a large area that the results it gave were countryside farms, far away from the quick city daytrips I was engaged with.
So, I bought a cheap padlock from the train station convenience store (along with some hair ties), and bounded the steps to a dormitory bed.
I looked at the reviews enough to feel confident that the risk of a bad experience was minimal, but not enough to realize that the hostel was at the top of a multi-story parking garage.
The single elevator, ponderously slow, cramped, and already occupied by motorists.
Throughout 2021, I plan to take part in 52 Frames, a collaborative creative exercise in photography with a weekly challenge, due at 11:59 PM each Sunday. Since there have been five Sunday’s this January, I have had five contributions so far.
I’ve collected them, along with my reflection on each, in this post.
