Night 9,994 – February 5, 2010

The drive home from the city was slow today. Fridays are usually busy buy today was worse. Maybe because of the impending snowstorm or maybe it was the leftover Wing Bowl rabble. I jumped off I95 and took a back route down Chester Pike. While stopped at a traffic light I noticed a man on all fours at a bus stop shelter. A younger guy in his late twenties or early thirties. He was crawling on the ground trying unsuccessfully to stand up. He was spectacularly intoxicated and his face was strained with an expression of oblivious concentration. Mouth open, such a bad look. He made it to the side of the shelter and pulled himself up on his feet. Once he was standing he wobbled and his knees buckled but he seemed satisfied being successfully erect. As the light turned green and I pulled away, I noticed an open case of Bud Light bottles by the opposite side of the bus stop shelter. The man was shuffling toward the beer bent at the waist, reaching.

When I see things like this, I wonder why I still drink.

Today’s photo is one of my first Holga photographs of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade. It was morning, about 9:00AM and very cold, low thirties. This guy was barely dressed, drinking, drunk and dragging his son with him, initiating the young man to the true Mummers experience.

Night 9,995 – February 4, 2010

Today was my father’s birthday. He died in 1984.

Tomorrow is Wing Bowl Day in Philadelphia. An embarrassing display of drunkenness and boorish behavior by middle aged men who should know better. The event glorifies gluttony with a bunch of overweight men eating as many chicken wings as they can in a short amount of time. The Wing Bowl draws about 20,000 spectators, most of who spend their time leering at scantily clad girls young enough to be their daughters. The doors open at 6:00 am and the Wing Bowl is used by most as an excuse for skipping work and early daytime drinking. After the event most spectators continue drinking and go to strip clubs. A final note to illustrate the class of this event, the guest celebrity personality is Snooki form the reality show Jersey Shore. These two links have information on Wing Bowl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Bowl

http://www.610wip.com/Wingbowl-18-Headquarters/5791083

Today’s photo is Steel Pier, in honor of Snooki.

Night 9,996 – February 3, 2010

I know I’m a day late and more than a dollar short. I’m still obsessing on the new Philadelphia law requiring chain restaurants to list caloric content information on their menus. See: Night 9,998 – February 1, 2010. This could be the end of my sandwich life as I know it. I love good sandwiches. Of course this does not affect my favorite sandwich shops. My current favorite is Paesano's Philly Style. The best pork sandwich in Philly.
http://modomiorestaurant.com/paesanos_philly_style

The link below has nutrition information for some chain restaurants. I’m interested in salt as much as calories. Tomorrow, I will try to check out a Primos Hoagies in the city to see if the menus have calorie information,
http://www.citihealth.com/provider_article.php?hc=0&art=1153&pr=0

Today’s photo is Pats Steaks in South Philly. Pat's King of Steaks was founded by Pat Olivieri in 1930. Pat had a modest hotdog stand at the base of the famous Italian Market in South Philadelphia. One day he decided to have something quite different for lunch, so he sent for some chopped meat from the butcher shop. He cooked the meat on his hot dog grill, placed the meat onto an Italian roll, and dressed it with some onions. Just as he went to take a bite, a cab driver who ate a hot dog everyday asked what he had there. Pat said that it was his lunch. The cabbie insisted that Pat make him one. The cabbie took one bite and said to Pat, "Hey.....forget 'bout those hot dogs, you should sell these." The steak sandwich was born. As the years passed, both employees and customers alike demanded change....cheese was added.
http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/

Night 9,997 – February 2, 2010

Happy Groundhog Day. Urban Stillife was accepted in the Tyme Gallery Photography Expo X Juried Exhibition. It was a full and busy day with work and school. I hope to have something real to write tomorrow. Today’s Photo is Italian Market in Winter.

Night 9,998 – February 1, 2010

Philadelphia now requires chain restaurants to list the calorie content of food items on their menus. Philadelphia's ordinance covers chains with at least 15 other locations nationwide, or about 720 of the city's 5,800 restaurants. This is a good thing and I believe it should be a federal law. See the following link for the news article.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100131_Phila__s_new_law_is_going_into_effect_.html

This won’t affect most of the sandwich shops I go to, but it will affect Primo Hoagies. I’m going to check out the Italian Diablo and see how many calories I’m putting in my stomach.

Photo of the day is Geno’s. A toy camera photo of the famous South Philly cheesesteak shop. The new law won’t affect this place.

Night 9,999 – January 31, 2010

An uneventful Sunday as I spent a lot of time studying “The Legend of Good Women” by Chaucer. Last year I decided to change my occupational direction and become a high school teacher. I intend to attend Villanova University this summer for an accelerated one year Masters in Education plus Teachers Certification program. In order to be eligible for this program I needed to take 6 college English courses. I’ve already completed four and I am taking Critical Reading and Chaucer as my final two this spring semester. It is a big change as I’m running my own business while I’m taking these courses. The challenge will increase this summer when I start school full time. I expect the reward to be satisfying and I intend to be working for the Philadelphia School District teaching high school in the fall of 2011.

Today’s photograph is my second submission to the Tyme Gallery Photography Expo X Juried Exhibition. The title is 52nd Street Sitting. This is another Holga toy camera photograph. I photographed this young lady in the 52nd and Market Street area of Philadelphia. I have a few good photographs of this area and I intent on taking more for a project called Fifty-Duce Philly. I expect everybody reading this blog to hold me to this.

Night 10,000 - January 30, 2010

I’ve decided to rededicate this blog and hopefully spend more time and effort on it. The truth is, I intend on spending more time and effort on my life and record it in this journal. So far, my life has been about 20,245 days and I figure I have at least 10,000 more days to live. Although the first two thirds of my life has been eventful and satisfying, it’s really only been eventful and satisfying to me. If I died today, I’m sure my family and some friends would be very sad, but I have done nothing to leave my mark on the world. I would be just a speck that lived and died. Hopefully this blog will help me perform the highly unlikely task of making some small difference during the last third of my life.

I will count the nights down backwards and record my thoughts, intentions, events, feelings and actions. This should help me stay focused on making my last 10,000 nights worthwhile. At the very least, I hope to improve my writing. I will also post one photograph a day. I don’t see 10,000 good photographs being a problem.

Today I entered 2 photographs in the Tyme Gallery Photography Expo X Juried Exhibition. This one is titled Urban Stillife. It was taken early one morning in an ally behind Sansom Street in Philadelphia. An inter city toy camera take on traditional still life photography. I’ll post the other photograph tomorrow. The jurors will make their decision by Monday, February 2 and I should get my rejection notice a few days later. Twenty-five dollars of drinking money…wasted.