RAY'S REPORTS

Crisis

Have you ever heard of the term “healing crisis”? It’s basically when you start to detox your body and then your body starts doing weird things as it is “healing”. Since I got kinda chubby during quarantine, I decided to quit being a slob and started making smoothies and eating better. Normal sounding.

What’s not normal is what happens next. At least for me anyways. Jan was fine, Feb was fine. In March I started noticing weight loss, but my body started doing weird stuff. One week it was zits. The next week it was muscle cramps. Then another week it was either headaches, or breathing problems, or psycho pooping, insomnia, irritability, fatigue, depression, etc. And it continues.

I know it is all for the better. Reversing all the damage is not going to happen overnight. This thought helps me keep it moving forward.

I think all the craziness happening on the planet that started last year kicked off a deep detox process. The tough part is that we didn’t initiate it, we just became the initiates. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially, culturally, galactically, etc.

I know a lot of people going through a lot of things and it doesn’t seem like it now, but it is all for the better.

Hope all is well with you all. I haven’t written anything in a while but the vibe is coming back. More to come.

Walt’s

LCVII

Delta

Phoggos

Bike

LCVI

Not sure if anyone noticing, but I have been cropping 4×5. I started doing it because it is the IG vertical crop and I decided I like it alot so I started doing it on my horizontal pics too. I haven’t been sure why I like it so much.

Today I realized it is the same ratio as 8×10. When you’re in the darkroom, your main paper size is 8×10. And since I was in the darkroom for many years, this ratio/crop factor must be nostalgia. I’ll take it. And I’ll rep it.

Rush

Rush to appreciation.

Usually the messages I get are something along the lines of patience and slowing down and smelling the roses. Today it’s like, “Let’s get your nose right on top of these roses like right now immediately please. Let’s honor these roses like TODAY TODAY. NOW PLEASE.”

Hurry up to relax. Hurry up to enjoy yourself. Speed up to chill. Speed up to gratitude. Thank yourself asap.

Seen

LCV

Maybe it’s OCD. Maybe it’s from eating too much bread. I was reading about how, just like a leaky gut, you can also have a leaky brain. There is a membrane around your brain that can get holes in it. Anyways, not sure why I have to shoot this spot so hard when I come here.

That is Luis and his dog. We started bringing beach chairs and camping chairs. Jason comes like every other time. I have been psyched on purposely avoiding people lately, but it is nice to meet with these dudes outdoors once a week to socialize. In this photo, I am on my way back from peeing under the bridge away from eyeballs on the bridge, on the street, and on the bike path.

No one calls it lunch club but me. We each bring our own food and whatever.

We hang out for about an hour. These dudes then go back to work. I made this day my errand day so afterwards I go to the grocery store then do laundry. UPS is right by here, so I do that before lunch. I do USPS on a different day (Tuesday).

Today, I showed up a little early so I went to the thrift store right by there. I bought a book for $2 but before finishing the transaction the cashier asked if I was a senior, meaning that I could get the senior citizen discount. Wow. A little gray hair goes a long way. Too long.