Nature, Stories, The Baboon Congress, Uncategorized

Not Feeling It

64 Comments

Today’s post comes from littlejailbird.

A couple weeks ago my friend from Vermont stayed a few days with me. The first full day she was here, she took the light rail over to the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul to do some research for a book she is writing, but the rest of the time (Tuesday mid-morning to Friday evening), we spent most of our time together.

Those of you who know me at all know that I have a strong tendency toward introversion, which means that I get tired out by spending lots of time with other people, even people I like. So you may not be surprised to learn that, after planning our activity for Friday, I went upstairs to bed and moaned to myself, “I really don’t feel like going anywhere tomorrow.”

But, because she is my friend and because one of the things we’ve always liked doing together is take walks, in the morning off we went to Wood Lake Nature Center. We saw some egrets and either two great blue herons or the same one twice, a turtle, a muskrat, and some egg masses that my friend got very excited about (one of the books she has written is about salamanders). So I ended up being glad I went, especially since one of the egrets was close enough that, even with my not-very-long telephoto lens, I was able to get a couple decent shots.

 

Also, the great blue heron flew in close enough that we got a good view of it in flight. I snapped some shots of it, not expecting to get anything very good, because I’ve never been able to catch birds in flight, but I just couldn’t not try and sometimes it’s fun to try even if you’re pretty sure you won’t succeed.

When have you been glad you went somewhere or did something when you didn’t really feel like it?

64 thoughts on “Not Feeling It”

  1. Last weekend. Like you, LJB, I’m shy and introverted. There have been times when I enjoyed being sociable, but not recently. The ravages of time and my health issues make it hard for me to mix with people who don’t know me.

    My college roommate intimidated me when we shared a room in 1960. His sharp wit terrified guys far more confident than I. Jack seemed worldly, and he made me uncomfortable about being a small town rube.

    Jack recently emailed to say that he and his wife, whom I’ve not met, would pass through Port Huron. Could I meet them for brunch? I thought of a dozen reasons that was impossible, all fraudulent, then decided I would not lie. Still dreading the meeting, I said yes.

    We met in a tiny cafe that sits below the famous bridge connecting Port Huron and Sarnia (Ontario). Jack has mellowed. He now seems as affectionate as he once seemed cocky. Katherine was friendly and easy to talk to. After three hours of friendly reminiscing I think of them both as dear friends. I’m glad I didn’t listen to the fears that so often have prevented me from enjoying frightening social meetings.

    PS: love your bird photos!

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  3. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    LJB, I am glad you got out of jail free for a day of photos. These are very nice–I am impressed with your eye. I thought maybe you would just post the pictures. Thanks for doing this.

    I did not want to have my picture taken a month ago, and you did a wonderful job. I am still getting comments on those photos, now on Linked In and my employer’s website. Comments are “Oh, my, you certainly don’t look your age in these pictures!” I did it only because I was forced to do so. It worked out. I just pretend that it cannot be me in those photos.

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    1. Thanks, Jacque. Now if I could only get someone to take a decent photo of me…

      I’ve tried two people (admittedly extreme amateurs) and am almost to the point of setting the camera on a tripod with a remote cable release and trying it myself.

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        1. because i think it might not be very good and if i do it in a place where there are other people, i will probably feel conspicuous and weird and that won’t help make a good photo

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  4. I, too, have this initial reaction to decline social interactions or new experiences due to anxiety. I am usually glad I go ahead and to them anyway. Gorgeous photos, LJB.

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    1. Regarding the heron photo, I am especially impressed you managed to get the exposure just right and that the sky is not burned out and the heron is not a silhouette.

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      1. Pure luck and a little judicious tweaking in LIghtroom, Bill. The main thing was I had my camera on the ready since the egret was posing so nicely for us. As we were shooting the egret, the heron swooped in and landed in a tree. So I swung the camera up and panned and shot the heron in flight (which explains why the tree is not very sharp). If it hadn’t been so close, it would have just been a speck since my zoom only goes to 135mm and the first two shots were not very impressive at all. The third was the charm. As to the exposure, I think maybe the sun was behind a cloud at the time which would help the sky to not get blown out. Everything worked together – if I hadn’t already been using the camera, I would still be fumbling with the lens cap and/or settings when the heron landed. I’m still not sure how I managed to get that shot.

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    1. Thanks, BiR.

      Stay tuned…I just got a website up last weekend but I have not yet enabled the selling photos part of it (it raises too many complicated questions…setting up as a business, collecting sales tax (which practically gives me a panic attack), etc. I will also be having some work hung in a Mpls coffeeshop for a couple months starting in mid-November, so by then I have to be set up to sell.

      Of course, for baboons, just talk to me and you can get something for cost or near-cost. 🙂

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  7. Oh, yes, and the question – I can remember when teaching, not wanting to go to work some days – it just required so much energy to corral all those little (kindergarten) bodies. But once I got there and got started, it was (mostly) fine.

    I have anxiety before having guests, especially if I have to feed them. I want everything to be perfect, or at least downright wonderful. All the Thanksgiving family gatherings at our house would put me in an owly mood for days, but as soon as everyone showed up and we sat down to eat, I would have a great time. (This was when the family was still intact.)

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  8. Wonderful, wonderful!!! So glad you forced yourself out, LJB!!

    I only have trouble forcing myself out at night. Once I’m home from work, it’s hard to pry me from my house. But I am always glad when I venture out. I meet a friend at the Art Institute every couple of months for the book club there and even though I sometimes hope my friend will cancel, I ALWAYS have a fabulous time and they always have to throw us out at closing time!

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      1. It is on the website but buried pretty deep. One book per month..free tours are Tuesdays at 11 and Thursdays at 6:30. Docents get to design their own tours and sometimes when you’re done you think “how does that art connect to the book?” But you’re always getting to see art, so what the heck. Unless you get the older gentleman with the wire rim glasses, then skip the tour and look at art on your own!

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  9. Often the experience you have is predetermined by the attitude you bring and so generally when I don’t expect to enjoy myself I am not disappointed. I know there have been times when I was pleasantly surprised, but I can’t bring any to mind.
    The challenge is to work on my attitude. As Thoreau wrote in his journal, “In the long run, we find what we expect. We shall be fortunate then if we expect great things.”

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  10. Nice job, ljb. Was it deliberate that you chose the top photo so as to have cat tails at the top of the blog two days in a row? Love the drama in the heron shot.

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    3. As I chose that cat tail photo for yesterday and had received, but not viewed, LJB’s cat tail photo until last night, the appearance of two cat tail photos two days in a row is entirely by chance.

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    4. No, I would never be that on top of things, PJ. I submitted the blog post and emailed the photos to Renee earlier this week before I saw yesterday’s photo. I actually took the cattail photo a different day, a couple weeks earlier than the egret and heron shots, but at the same place, Wood Lake Nature Center. It seemed better suited to being the header picture than the egret or heron shots.

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    5. Well, it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the Trail Baboon site this AM: “OK, so we’re staying with the cat tail theme.” I guess it all depends which track or side rail your thoughts are off on.

      Right now I’m at home, thanks to a pinched nerve in my lower back, while I should be at a wedding. I’m sure I’d be having a much better time there than I am here, but my back is just too fragile at the moment to risk it.

      Highlight of the day: running into Linda at the West Side Farmers Market this morning. Sorry Linda, that I couldn’t stay and visit more.

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        1. And I ran into people at the powderhorn art fair yesterday morning, one of whom I hadn’t seen for about a hundred years. Back when we were teenagers.

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  11. 2016
    i want in the mood and didn’t want to talk about it but my hatred of whiners kept that side of me in a place that was daily trounced by my bubbly energetic self.
    i am good to go once i get going i just have to get going and 99% of the time that’s not a problem
    my favorite mood trick is to ask myself what i would be doing if i knew everything i tried would be successful
    i can fool myself almost every time
    i am so gullible…

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  12. I have never been a huge Tom Paxton or Janis Ian fan. I’m familiar with their music and songs, but only mildly engaged. Nevertheless, a couple of years ago I put in my name for a drawing for a couple of tickets to a concert where they’d share the stage at the Fitz. Wouldn’t you know it, I won? So we went, figuring that a night of live music has to beat whatever nightly routine we have at our house. As it turned out, we had a great time. Both husband and I came away from that concert with a new appreciation of what a giant Paxton is on the folk music scene and why. The chemistry between the two performers was genuine. We had a truly delightful evening despite our low expectations.

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  13. I did this solo trip to dharamshala last year when my parents wanted me to come back to singapore after attending a friends wedding. And even I wanted to chicken out but I went there anyway and then I did a day hike which also I did not want to do. And turns out it was the best decision of my life as I discovered some great things and met some amazing people along the way.

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    1. welcome aranab
      i guess that means always listen to your parents and do everything they tell you huh?
      i have had some great days by myself with no particular plans when you just enjoy the moment and a chance to be with your thoughts.

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      1. AHahah no that means do not listen to people. Because had I listen to them and came back I would not have had the experience. And yes it is absolutely amazing to find time to be just on our own with our thoughts. But with so much noise and internet it is tough 🙂

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      2. Listen to our parents? Well, maybe. I can’t imagine how things would have gone if I’d done that. I have read, though, that arranged marriages work out better than marriages chosen the usual way. Or that is what I remember the research says.

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        1. If that’s true about arranged marriages, and it very well may be, I suspect it’s not because one’s parents are wiser and more insightful about picking one’s spouse. Parents, after all, are just other individuals with their own limited scope and personal baggage.

          More likely, in my opinion, is that persons entering into an arranged marriage, if it is to succeed, are prepared to look for and find the most admirable, lovable qualities in their partner and expect to accommodate what they find in that person and, in turn, to be accommodated to.

          Contrast that with the idea of finding the perfect partner, the soulmate, who is so ideal that no accommodation will be necessary.

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        2. I heard once someone explain that very neatly. I forgot the exact wording but it goes something like this. “in arrange marriage the love builds up as they grow together and forced to fall in love and end up being in love till the end. But in love marriage there are no obligations. It is by choice and you stop loving anytime.” Something along those lines which made sense.

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      1. Hahaha I would. But my writing is so uncouth when it comes to writing full sentences and paragraph that I am constantly in fear of not conveying the awesomeness of the entire journey. 🙂

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  15. Hi- Several new names on the blog lately. Welcome!
    Great photos!

    We had a tough time getting excited about going to DC a couple weeks ago. I think deep down we knew it would be good, but we could not get excited about it as we packed. All I could think was missing my bed and I should be doing oats and just all that stuff that gets in your head.
    By the time we left for the airport we had a better attitude about it all. And it was fun; glad we went.

    Daughter never wants to go to plays we suggest. Once there she LOVES it, whatever it is. Course it helps we choose wisely.

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  16. Having never travelled outside the country, and rarely even within it, I felt great trepidation impulsively booking a flight to Kenya, even knowing that a dear friend would be there to receive me. Many had warned me about jet lag from 18 hours in the air. After all of the effort to get to Kenya, I worried that my mood or my body would fail me and ruin the experience.

    Just the opposite occurred! No jet lag at all, and plenty of energy to last the ten days in Africa. What helped immensely was our effortless, non-stop dialogue for hours each day, much of it springing from my insatiable curiosity in all things Kenyan. Deb was my own personal guide with a 25-year wealth of knowledge.

    Would I do it again? No, but I’m thrilled and proud that I had the wherewithal to step this far out of my comfort zone just once.

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  17. ‘m having a different though slightly related issue this weekend. A friend suggested that we go see the Wonder Woman more and go out to dinner this weekend. For two days in a row she has canceled. I don’t really have much interest in the movie, but I’d like to see my friend and have a nice chat over dinner. Thus far, not happening.

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  19. sometimes when you find a way to make the best out of a situation you don’t want to be in, you realize that you were meant to be there for a reason. great pictures!

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    1. With me, it was not so much a straightforward “I don’t want to be here” feeling, but more a mixed feeling of the tiredness that an introvert feels when being with someone for several days and yet wanting to be with them because we’re friends and don’t get to see each other very often.

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  20. We introverts always find it hard to go out and mingle with people. It takes intentional effort to do that. But there are many times I forced myself to seek the company of the people I love and have not regretted any of those.

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