Jasper

Went down to the farm today, 70 degrees, windy and beautiful.

Christmas in Indy

Some pictures I took from our trip downtown tonight.

Snowman

Dad and Emma were building a snowman and playing in the snow and I took a few pictures before my camera battery died. I played with a couple different croppings of similar photos, I wasn't sure which I liked better.

It's late

I was very eager to get out of Midland in the summer and I wasn't excited to go back last Friday and now I'm back in East Lansing and very happy. Ironically Angie is going to Midland this Friday right after I go back myself for a reunion of my high school journalism staff. I loved those kids a lot but I think I've moved on from my high school paper and it's going to be strange to see everyone again, because college changes people. I can't imagine what it will be like four years from now, but even a semester away from Midland can offer a world of change. The four days I spent at home ended up being a lot nicer than I expected but seeing people that still live in Midland and are just very naive as a result of living at their parents houses in a small white conservative town and going to community college made me remember why I was so desperate to get away from home. At the same time going back and going around town on my own I did remember that I appreciate it, it was a good place to grow up but the people will get to you after a while.

Tonight was a good night, watching Almost Famous which is always good no matter how many times you watch it and shooting hockey (we lost the game which apparently has become a pattern) and just being back in East Lansing. I've gotten really attached to here and I'm glad I'll be here for the next four or five or however many years it takes me to graduate. I love the people here. It's snowing a lot right now and I'm sitting in Angie's living room thinking about going to sleep but thinking about a lot of other things that will keep me from falling asleep for a while. My first semester at college went well and I love it here but there's a lot of things I need to do differently and I think it just takes time to learn about myself and living on my own and what my priorities need to be. I did some stupid things but a good friend told me at the beginning of the year to have no regrets and I'm not going to regret things, just learn from them.

Home

Walking

I've yet to find a better way to clear my head and properly sort my priorities than just going for a walk. People walk with a purpose too often. They walk to go somewhere or to get exercise but walking without caring where you're going can be really healing. I think I'm finally ready to go home, I need to to salvage old friendships that I neglected and let time heal some new ones. I watched the greatest movie I've ever seen today. The Go Getter. I highly recommend it.

Last day

I'm getting ready to go shopping with Krystle for the gala tonight, preparing myself for all the craziness that surely will go on, and am completely stunned that this semester is actually over. Even though I've been called crazy by a significant amount of people for starting as a first semester freshman, I can't imagine my college experience going any other way, and I'm glad I won't have to kiss the wall for another four or five years. I'm happy to say the State News takes over my entire life, and it's going to be incredibly weird to not be walking into work every day for a month. It's going to be more weird not to see everyone I'm used to seeing daily.

It's even weirder to know that I've been in college for a whole semester. These few months went really, really fast, and I'm worried the next four years are going to fly by before I know what to do with myself. I'm going home in a week, which will be the strangest part of this whole end of the semester experience, but at least I'll get to see Mag every day. My life at home and my life here are entirely different, so I'm interested to what it's going to be like going back and settling back into my high school life for a month. Sure it will be nice to see people, but part of me just wants to move on and leave it behind. I guess I should stop trying to grow up so fast, because if things keep moving as quickly as they have been, they'll be gone before I have a chance to appreciate them. Cheesy, but true I suppose.

Natalie is just waking up and we're playing Meet Virginia and being silly and I'm also pretty bummed that just now that we're getting along wonderfully we're leaving each other for a month. It took this long to get settled in and now I'm leaving, and I'm sad about it. I guess spring semester will just be that much better.

Snow and cats

Took the picture of the cats today while shooting a lady painting watercolors- she was lovely and her cats sat with her while she painted and it was really wonderful. The lady with the hood was waiting for the bus in the snow yesterday, I just thought it was pretty.

Dear Dave,

Untitled from Gabrielle Moore on Vimeo.

Thank you for being awesome.

Thankful

This guy works and lives at the mission. We talked about college and how he never got to go, and my aspirations of being a journalist. "Don't give up, look up," he said. I'm not much for religion, but he's right. Sometimes people like him are a lot wiser than people who have been to college for years. You can learn a lot from talking to people.

Heyy grandma.

I have a thing for feet, and Emma has cute shoes.

Even people in Indiana get to rely on the Lions to lose every year at Thanksgiving. Every year we go to the mission, every year the guys are watching the Lions, and every year they lose.

Not the best quality picture, but to me it's about capturing the moment.

Paparazzi shot?

The one thing I will always remember from volunteering at the mission is the purple door. My dad saw this shot and goes "oh nice doorknob picture!" but to me it's a symbol of the last however many years (I think we figured out it was 15?) going to the mission. How awesome is a purple door to a kid?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, a chronological list of what I'm thankful for today:
__ my mom can cut hair! Not that the lady from Douglas J didn't do a good job, but my mom always knows how to fix a slightly botched haircut, just in time for Thanksgiving pictures.
__ Mario Party! Along with watching football, my family has huge, intense, excessively skilled Mario Party tournaments where Dave generally gets first and I generally get last.
__ hearing from friends at school and home. It's nice to know I'm not forgotten when I'm in Indianapolis and they're still calling or sending text messages.
__ football. I'm learning to love football, or at least be able to tolerate/understand it, and now I'm able to join in with my dad/grandpa/uncles/cousins on the annual watching football on Thanksgiving tradition.
__ the mission. It's amazing to spend time with all the homeless guys there, to hear their stories and get a chance to serve them Thanksgiving dinner. It's a little sad to see some of the guys year after year, but you know, most of them are happier than I am. They know how to live.
__ my family. Of course I have to say this, but even though I think they're crazy and I generally look forward to going back to school when I'm with them, I love them and I think it's awesome we get to spend our holidays with everyone.
__ the piano man. I love our tradition of driving home from the mission, Dave and I and sometimes the others serenading everyone with a very awful version of "Piano Man." Music makes things beautiful, even when it's not very good.

Christmas lights

Natalie and I redecorated the dorm room- put up multi colored Christmas lights and the whole room glows and looks beautiful. It looks like Christmas and there's no other way to describe it. It's not Thanksgiving yet but this can be expected, Christmas showing up before the weather is even dropping below freezing. Well the weather is cold now and it's snowing out, and I suppose turkey day is close enough that Christmas songs and Christmas lights are now okay.

I've been sick for days, a terrible stomachache and chills, haven't been able to eat or sleep. Chris is sweet enough to spend time with me at night when I'm alone in the room feeling sick, last night he stayed until about midnight, laying with me until I fell asleep. It's nice to have somebody taking care of me like that. He was always really fascinated by the Christmas lights and kept playing with them last night- the reflections of the lights in his eyes would have made a really cool picture but he wouldn't let me take one.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and everyone is thinking about what they are thankful for- I think that right now I am thankful for growing up, living on my own and finding freedom. Of course I love my family, especially Dave, and seeing him is always the highlight of family vacations. He made a jack o' lantern this year that looks like a werewolf and burned me the new Of Montreal CD that he warned me not to listen to in front of my mother. He understands. She's his sister, after all. I'm thankful for him, for sticking up for me when my family gets on be about swinging liberal, and supporting things like gay marriage, abortion and Barack Obama. Tomorrow we will go to the mission and feed Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless people, and I will take pictures like I always do and meet awesome guys who will sit and listen to me brag about my stuffed elephant Peanut for hours (this happened when I was 7, okay?) and feel incredibly blessed not only to be as well off as I am but to get the chance to know these incredible people. I like that about photography, getting out there and sharing the stories of the common people who have amazing stories. Maybe I will bring along a video camera and make a little film about Thanksgiving at the mission.

This is beautiful

Traveling

My parents were the types that wanted their kids to see the world, and we did. It got kind of frustrating as a kid to never be around on weekends and breaks when all my friends were, but I was extremelly lucky to be able to travel as much as I did. I've seen so many places and a lot of it is what inspired me to write and take pictures and some of it, even, to be a journalist. I want to travel around the world, to be a journalist in third world, war torn countries and bring attention to the plight of those who need help. Sometimes you have to seperate being a good journalist and being a good person, but it doesn't mean you can't do good things as a journalist. I went on a mission trip once and realized that, due to my own lack of faith and confusion when it comes to God and things like that, I would never make a good missionary. My sisters will someday travel the world bringing the word of God to third world countries, but I've realized now that I'm going to travel the world bringing the stories of those people in the third world countries to the people that can do something to help. Because that's what journalism is all about, right? Storytelling.

There was a multimedia meeting the other day that made me think of that, and the topic of traveling comes up in that I'm going to Notre Dame tomorrow with the two soccer reporters to cover a woman's game. There's a chili cookoff for MPPA tomorrow and I'm bummed I'll miss my first MPPA thing, but the love of travel has been bred into me, even if it's just a day trip to Notre Dame. I'll enjoy it, I'm sure.

On another note, the quest to find myself is coming along slowly, but surely enough. Nights cooking chicken and pasta with good friends and riding bikes in the rain doesn't hurt. It's good for the soul. Everyone tells me I work too much, and I know it's true. I get so used to working constantly, to driving myself into the ground that these last few weeks, not being able to work has driven me crazy. I'm starting to work again and I like feeling needed, but I think in the time off I might have learned that spending a little time for fun and my mental health is never a bad idea.

The best mustache

The other day, I got to work about 30 minutes before a shoot I had of the guy who supposedly had an awesome mustache. I got there intending to set up lights and such before he got there, but instead, I arrive to Hannah and Krystle talking in the photo room. Turns out, the mustache guy was already here waiting for me in the studio. Turns out that this guy has the best mustache in North America, and he's going to Germany to compete in the European mustache competition. I was a little worried about shooting a guy who's only attribute was his mustache in the studio, but it turned out great. He was a totally interesting person and he had all sorts of awesome stories about his mustache.

He got inspired to grow it in India, and once it grew out everyone would compare him to the Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Once at a bar in Indianapolis (which is awesome, because I have a lot of family there, so we talked about Indianapolis for a while) a guy asked to take a picture with him and bought him a beer. He told me he thought it was the first time a guy bought someone a beer and didn't want to get into their pants.

Fake blood

Once in high school, a science teacher of mine told us that a new way to take blood, without needles, had been developed. Being one of those people who becomes queasy at the mention of blood and has to lay down in order to have blood taken at the doctor's office because I consistently pass out, I was interested. He proceeded to show us a clear substance that supposedly would draw the blood from your hand without any pain. I'm a natural skeptic, but I wanted to believe him, so I kept watching as he took his hand from the liquid after a minute then put it against a piece of paper that immediately turned bright red where his hand had been. I almost passed out before he started laughing. Of course it was all a joke using some variety of chemical reaction with the liquid and the paper.

I saw an advertisement for giving blood today and it made me think of that. I really wish I could give blood because I know how much good it does, but I have a hard enough time simply getting blood tests, so I can't imagine having to lay with a needle in my arm for several minutes. I feel like I should try to conquer my fear and do it anyway, but I'm no good to anyone if I pass out.