NicoleB's blog/

I'm, I guess due to the heat, constantly tired.

I'm not doing much else than being on the Couch and read. Well, and take the dogs so they can do their business. In 52 degress Celsius that takes about all the energy you have.

Well, in September it's supposed to get a bit cooler again, we shall see.

Until then, I guess, you'll find me on that Couch .

Don't get me wrong, I miss you all, but I just don't have the energy to write anything that makes any sense .

Have a great weekend, you all!

Yesterday, I almost found a dead body on the beach.

Lucky me, I didn't go to the beach the last few days. Some time after Lunch yesterday I took the dogs for a quick walk outside and saw a bunch of police cars at the beach. The newspaper confirmed this morning that they found a dead Bangladeshi there. The second one for this week. The first one was found near Al Jahra.

I'm still shuddering at the idea of me finding him ...... They suspect that this was another case of illegal gambling....

Heute morgen war ich unten am Strand, ja, an DEM Strand und bin mit den Hundis etwas rumgewandert, habe den Sonnenaufgang beobachtet und fliegende Fische und einen springenden Rochen. Ja, wirklich. Das Teil ist aus dem Wasser raus gesprungen, hat sich gedreht und ist wieder ins Wasser getaucht. So etwas habe ich noch nicht gesehen!

Some times you just have to ask yourself "Will I live to be 80?"
I recently chose a new primary care physician.
After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing "fairly well" for my age.

A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't > resist asking him, "Do you think I'll live to be 80?"

He asked, "Do you smoke tobacco or drink alcoholic beverages?"
"No," I replied. "I don't do drugs, either."

Then he asked, "Do you eat rib- eye steaks and barbecued ribs?"
I said, "No, my other doctor said that all red meat is unhealthy!"

"Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, boating, fishing or
relaxing at the beach?"
"No, I don't," I said.

He asked, "Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?"
"No," I said. "I don't do any of those things."

He then looked at me and asked ........

"Then why do you give a shit?"

One rule of Islam is, I think, to show respect.

Well, most people here have a huge lack of that piece of information. Maybe they have been asleep when the Iman did preach about that part?

In the grocery shops over here you have a little counter where ne or two guys weigh you fruits and vegetables. Today I hit prayer time and as usual only one guy was weighing and there were people ahead of me. They moved that Counter in the middle of the hall, so now you have no chance to build a proper line (yes, I'm German ;), no, now all people just huddle around that counter.

Ahead of me were two women and one man. I waited behind the man.Soon one more guy approached with veggie bags in hand. Trying to squeeze in somehow, all eager to sneak his stuff in between ours. He was right opposite of me when another worker arrived to start weighing stuff, they must have sensed the slight impatience creeping up from everyone. It was during the turn of the guy in front of me that Mr. Sneaky put one of his bags on the scale, smiling happily. The worker weighed it, but put it aside, told him to wait and kept weighing the other stuff. That guy still didn't give up, giving me one happy smile after another. I couldn't restrain myself any longer and asked him, if he thinks that that is funny? He still smiled. I said "This is NOT funny - we are all waiting" The smile disappeared, but at least I got an approving nod from the guy in front of me and we could at least all finish our stuff in the right order .

I gotta say though, that at the bank machine the Kuwaiti people keep the law and order by letting women go first. Good law .

Except for stock market sites - we got a list for that already - what sites do you use to sell your pictures?

I'm looking for one, but I forgot the name and sure enough have not saved the link .

We have so far:

Cafepress

DPC Prints

Etsy

Exposuremanager

FanArtReview - sign up is for free, but everything else you gotta pay for

Imagekind

LuLu - free of charge

Shutterfly

SmugMug - quite expensive - and after half a year, not one single sales for me

Zazzle

Tell us about your experiences with them - please.

Other resources:

Digital Camera Resource Page - all kinds of useful links

DPreview - compare cameras side by side and much more

Photo Secrets - haven't read everything yet, but it looks quite nice

After looking around for a place once again, where I can sell my pictures without a big hassle and without a huge amount of cash input, I stumbled over my old zazzle account and found, after retrieving my password, that they have changed a lot over there. The Layout is much better and you can do a whole lot of more things. I have started uploading a few more shots there and create a few more new products and even landed 4 of them on yesterdays daily featured . And I found that in the last two months I had two sales activities. Something which has not happened yet on my SmugMug account, which I payed for.

So, I guess, in the next few days I will be busy, placing new stuff at zazzle and trying to sort them in a decent order. I need a place which I can put as an address on my card and pictures sales over here as a reference. And this seems for right now the better alternitive than SmugMug. You can simply do more various products with your stuff - and it's for free . OK, you still will not become rich and the main money part goes to zazzle, but heck, that's fine with me, still better than any stock market site so far.

Off to work ....

....this time I will be sure not around much in the next two weeks.

I have to prepare cards & frames for two special occasions. One Benefit thingy and one Boot sale here in the house.

I will try to find a Print service, but on the other hand I don't like the idea of being so limited and having to print many shots of the same motive.

Well, I still try to figure my way out. At least I'm back in business ;)

In September I will probably be able to do some sales days in the local schools here as well and that hopefully will open the doors to other Sales incentives.

Oh well, gotta get my lazy butt going ;)  See you sooner or later!

Miss you all, but am still busy ;) Gallery is growing and I'm working on a gallery on my blog as well. I guess, latest next week, things will finally cool down a bit again and I'll be here more often - yeah. Miss you all a lot!!!

Just in case someone wants a Poster, zazzle has a 30% off offer until the 31st of August.

;)

We have a nice, cozy 36-4o Celsius at 5.30 in the morning.
My windows are all wet and drippy and there are even droplets hanging down from the branches of the trees. You go outside and feel like being in a Bio Sauna.
Wonderful.
And the weather forecast says: 49 Celsius today. Hooray!

Glad, I don't have to go nowhere.

I only have an Interview with a Newspaper / TV station at 11 a.m.  They are talking about Expatriates living in Kuwait and how they spend their time. They found me via a Canadian friend of mine, who's a painter. She suggested to them to make an Interview with me about my Photography and my card / picture sales.
I'm a tad nervous, but hell, I've a) done that before and b) even had trainings via my former job for that. But that's a long time ago and was never about me or my photos ;)

.....seriously.....these temperatures are going slightly on my nerves and my brains.

Today it's a mere 51 Celsius out there. I know, Arizona has 46 too, I should quit bitching.... but I hate these hot temperatures. Mpf......I want to go out again, shoot pictures and do some normal stuff. I'm getting fat and lazy (yeah, I could use the treadmill in the Fitness room downstairs or go swimming, I know...)

Anyway, the Interview yesterday went quite alright. It was for the TV and not for the Newspaper (that comes later, or not, we will see).

Our Apartment turned to a TV studio for a short while and left me with a big headache after everyone left after 4 hours. I'm glad it's over. I'm not very good at such things. Always hated it, always will. Oh well.

And it's not like they were Interviewing me because my artwork is so great, they mainly do it, because they are desperatly looking for Expats (Foreigners lliving in Kuwait) that do something with their time.

They will send me a CD when they are finsihed editing. If it turns out not to be too stupid, I'll post it on here ;)

OK for now, I'll go back into hiding and try to cure taht freakin' headache. 1300mg Painkillers couldn't rid me of it yet. Maybe another 500-800 will do ;)