so here we are...

On Monday, I will be leaving New Jersey and starting a new chapter of my life in Chicago. I'll be going to graduate school there for biomedical visualization (which is a fancy way of saying "medical illustration," which is, y'know, drawing kidneys and stuff). I will be ceasing my daily photo activities. You will, however, still be able to find me on Snapshot Optimism, an occasional photoblog that I'll be keeping up, as well as JosyDoodle, where I'll show off my kidney drawings and stuff.

I am prone to enthusiastically starting projects, followed by enthusiastically forgetting about them two or six weeks later. But here, I wanted to prove that I could keep the ball rolling on something (that wasn't immediately crucial to my life, like work or school). With the exception of a few short out-of-town excursions, I've posted every single day since December 14, 2006--which, including today, makes a total of 606 posts on MCDP and 475 here on OTDP (which only started 4/30/07). I've loved it, I've hated it, I've been super-involved, and I've cared less, but I did it. I think I've accomplished what I set out to do here; I can only hope you've enjoyed the ride and maybe even learned something about Monmouth County, NJ. :)

Tomorrow will be my last (and 607th/476th) post.

I'll miss these blogs.

entertainment

For those who have found this blog by Googling "Things to do in Monmouth County:" I am as clueless as you are. My main source of entertainment 'round here is wandering around with a camera, looking for interesting things to photograph.

Here are some things I have done:

1. Bowling. (Often with bumpers for the second game, because I am just that spectacular.) I usually go to The Lanes at Sea Girt, but I've been to Memory Lanes in Shrewsbury, Shore Lanes in Neptune (which is on the Asbury Circle, which is not a fun circle to navigate), and Brunswick Bradley Beach Bowl (maybe that link will work if you have the latest version of Flash, which I don't).

2. Bars (and/or restaurants, grills, etc. that serve liquor). Not so much fun here in suburbia 'cos you have to drive home afterwards, so you really need to (ought to) watch yourself. Unless you have a designated driver, which no one wants to be. (The above photo was taken in the Brickwall Tavern, Asbury Park.)

3. Coffee. Only really works if there's only a small group of you, though.

4. Movies. Hey, it's something.

5. The Datebook. Go find your local print copy of the Asbury Park Press and leaf through it until you find the Datebook, which takes up the bottom half of a page and is usually printed in red or blue ink. A lot of the stuff is craft sales and "square dancing for 'kids' 55 and over," but it's worth a look. I have been unable to locate the Datebook online; you do need an actual physical copy of the APP.

6. Go biking. All right, maybe it's not a 'Saturday night with the gang' sort of activity, but it's healthy. Bob Lucky reviews and photographs several Monmouth County bike paths, and many of the Monmouth County Parks are set up for that sort of thing.

7. Walk around. This sounds monumentally stupid, but if you have nothing better to do, give it a shot. Red Bank, Asbury Park, local parks, and anywhere with a boardwalk can be fun places to do this.

Speaking of Red Bank and Asbury Park, here are some official lists of what's going on in various towns:
Asbury Park

Red Bank (see also the Count Basie Theater, Two River Theater Company, Improv Comedy Jam, and Red Bank Art Cinemas)

Also see Go Kids NJ, which sounds stupid, but you're never too old to enjoy a boardwalk or a festival or an aquarium. You can search for specific towns.

the fair! (4)

I know I already showed you the midway by night, but since I went to all the trouble of hauling my tripod out to the Monmouth County Fair, I thought I might show you something else. :)

So here we have the Zipper.

the fair!

You may or may not remember it from last year, but it's time for the Monmouth County Fair again!

People flock to the East Freehold Fairgrounds from all over the county. They can ride the rides, play the games, submit entries (art, crafts, homegrown vegetables/ flowers, and canned goods) to the home and garden tent, smell the animals in the 4-H tents, visit vendors, eat the traditional fair cuisine, watch all kinds of entertainment (including pig races, lumberjack shows, Bwana Jim, local artists, dog shows, etc.), and plenty of other stuff.

It's a five-day festival that sadly ends today, but I'll keep providing you with photos for a few days. :)

nagle's

Nagle's by night.

bottles

The side of Nagle's boasts a collection of old seltzer bottles.

Peeking through the windows of this place (after hours), I really need to go inside sometime. Little apothecary bottles line the inside wall, which kind of fascinates me.

kaboom!

Fireworks at Joe Palaia Park for the USA's Independence Day! Viewed from a slightly distant supermarket parking lot with all kinds of trees and power lines in the way.* I had loads of company in that parking lot--many families threw little tailgate parties for the event. Due to the limited visibility, though, I heard sarcastic teenagers-who'd-been-dragged-along comments, like "OH MY GOD! THE FIREWORKS ARE AMAZING!" when the explosions didn't quite clear the trees.

*Okay, technically, I was in the middle of a field that I probably shouldn't have been in. Okay, technically technically I wasn't in the middle-- I was about 12' away from the edge of Route 35. But I did park in that parking lot.

fireflies!

You may or may not be able to see, but this nightscape is full of FIREFLIES! (Or whatever you call them. I grew up calling 'em "lightning bugs" but slipped into calling them "fireflies" at some point. Either term is acceptable around here.)

Some of those fireflies might be the same ones, as this photo is actually a composite (of like 10 of the FOUR THOUSAND PHOTOS--okay, more like 40-- that I took. I've been trying to photograph these guys for a few days now, but my camera's longest shutter speed is 4 seconds [and highest decent ISO is 200], which... just wasn't enough. Google confirmed that this is a supremely tricky task that's virtually impossible with a shutter less than 60 seconds. So I gave up and cheated).

belmar bound

Spring Lake train station at dusk. I was actually trying to get a picture of the last glow of sunset, but by the time I'd jogged up the street (in shoes not intended for jogging), that last bit of pink had disappeared.

I make no apologies for the lens flares/moisture on the lens.

Guess what! Yesterday, when I was in Ocean Grove for a concert, I saw some kid taking the exact photo I'd already posted yesterday. Ohhhh well, we always knew I was unoriginal! The sky wasn't nearly as awesome yesterday, though. His loss.

night fishing

Two guys (one of whom you can almost kind of see in this photo, right on the corner of the pier) fishing in Ocean Grove, aroundabout 10PM.

Now--one thing about my Fuji S700--its slowest shutter speed is four seconds. Four seconds in nearly pitch-dark (especially when the widest aperture is only f/3.5) is... well... not enough. Thank God for GIMP!

doomed

OMG ALIENS ARE COMING TO PROBE ME!!!

...Either that or it's the underside of a Belmar streetlight.

congregation

I am so incredibly bored of all these flora and architecture shots. So here's something a little different. Cliched, overdone, yes yes yes, but still fun!

snow!

This is the reason that everything-- "everything" being Monmouth University classes after 6:00 and my band rehearsal-- was cancelled this evening.

No, New Jersey isn't totally unfamiliar with dealing with snow. But this is the first "real" snow we've had all winter, so we need to shake the rust out of the salt machines and snowplows.

(Those of you who've had 4 feet of snow in your area and object to me calling this a "real" snow... I'm sorry. I feel for you. Move to New Jersey.)

lights

I know this image is a little abstract for this sort of photoblog, but it's kind of pretty, isn't it?

rainlight 3

It's Christmas every night at Monmouth University!




P.S. ARGH! And just when I thought, "Hooray! Zooomr is back online!", they take ALL THE REST OF MY PHOTOS offline and say "Yup, they'll be back within the month." The MONTH! Good gravy! Guess I'll have to be a jerk and set up ANOTHER Flickr account.

on the move

Man oh man. I hauled my tripod around and got several neat photos last night, but unfortunately, NOT A ONE was taken in Monmouth County. So here's a shot of Spring Lake station that I finally got around to salvaging.

Heineken Sushi

Sushi made from beer? Beer made from raw fish? The mind boggles.

Found at Klein's Fish Market.

celebration!

Since yesterday was the official "theme day," here's a celebratory New Year's photo.

...We in New Jersey would NEVER play with sparklers, and certainly not while DRUNK. Heavens. We're all law-abiding citizens here.

C7

Merry Christmas.

(C7 is the bulb size.)

abstract

It's Christmas eve, which clearly means it's time to create abstract light paintings using the Christmas tree.