Tango Time

Want a tango lesson or demonstration -- just walk down a major street

or tourist district in Buenos Aires and you'll find one, like this,

in the famous Caminita District 'Bill Clinton ate here reads one

restaurant sign -- another restaurant: 'Hillary Clinton ate here'

(were they trying to tell us something about the state of American

Presidential marital relations?) Your good faith ratings and

critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harhsly or very

ceritically, please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please

share your superior photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

Beautiful work, John! Best regards, Ruud.

I can't think of any improvements - the photo is great as it is. The colours are good, your composition is marvelous - the couple, the girl at the right corner with two shadows, nice! Your wide angle perspective makes it interesting. Muy bien!

I find this one frustrating. It's full of things that I'd like to see but can't. I want to see the look on their faces, which is such an important part of the Tango. I want to see their shadows streaking across the sidewalk and dancing on the wall. There is another interesting shot within this shot, I'm sure you've noticed. The woman sitting with the shadow next her. The shadow looks apologetic and she looks as though she trying to decide if she is going to continue to leave him or give in...once again. The "speaker?" she is sitting on is too dark to tell exactly what it is, so my mind translates it as a suitecase adding to the feel that she is leaving. Of course, this is street photography, so you get what's there at the moment. It just feels like an "I almost got it" shot to me. With respect, Anthony

Wonderful color, Love the perspective. Angles of dancers, shadows and building.

Oh JOHN!

 

HOW THRILLED was I to see this!

 

I was on John Larsons portfolio enjoying his wonderful pictures and I saw he commented on one of yours and I quickly wondered what it was and then SPLASH this FLASH of colors just took my breath away!

 

ONE of my favorite pictures that you have taken lately!

 

The length of her foot on the left and her leg how it is seems to go on forever. It mimics the leg of the girl on the right who waits so patiently for her turn to dance.

 

I love how the shadow to the right of the girl on the right looks as if it is asking the girl in purple to dance but she is ignoring "him" as if she will only dance with the man dancing now.

 

I also love that I can not see the girls dancing face as it is not necessary for this picture as if hiding it would take away from the face of the girl we can see.

 

The foot of the man is perfect as it is right at the bottom of the picture. The shadow is interesting as it leaves you wondering where it is going with its lines from the legs. Like it has its own dance.

 

THE COLORS just bring this whole DANCE alive and makes you want to dance along.

 

Wonderful capture as always! ~ YEAH!

I'll tell you a secret.

 

I had this lined up for posting, either this one or another -- the one of the tango dancing woman and the dwarf likening that to the Moulin Rouge theme and the dwarf artist Toulouse Lautrec, using the dancer at right.

 

I got bollixed up in posting that one I forgot to post this one and lost the folder somewhere on my hard drive. That one told a story, and this one did not, so that one got precedence, that one being more 'interesting' and having something to 'talk about' instead of just being visually delightful, although it was more flawed.

 

So, I put this one away and still haven't found the folder on my terabytes of hard drive, but found my original shots in a minor review of some folders and reworked this. As to the double shadow, right, I cropped out a man who was walking into the scene and destroying it (he would have destroyed it entirely in another half second, so I cropped about a half inch or three quarters of an inch of a 8 x 12 (which is how I size them before reducing them, and I also make a HUGE blowup as well). I also often convert to B & W as well to compare and make multiple sizes of both, as most of my color shots work well as B&W shots because they are composed pretty well.

 

In fact, this one will go into my primary folder, single photo, color, as soon as I am finished making replies to critiques, response has been so strong -- it has overwhelmed me. I had posted this in a more minor folder, not anticipating the strong response -- wonders sometimes never cease, and I often forget the strengths of my own posts and overestime the strengths of some of my weaker ones.

 

Thanks for your kinds words; as you can see below your post, at least one other member didn't see it the same way (others did, however).

 

;~)

 

John (Crosley)

Life is full of choices and there are 'no do-overs' in street shooting as well as lots of other things. I could have tried to wait for another dance and hoped the woman would face the other way (and in fact saw them dancing this same step again from other distances, but she always faced the other way.)

 

Kind of Like the recently deceased author Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Nine (Slaughthauf Feunf) in which Billy, the protagonist, an inmate in a Thralfamadorian zoo, where he is to mate for the bodyless Thralfamadorians (whom he cannot see) bjut with teh lovely Vallery Perrine, whom he could very well see.

 

Billy, the protagonist, in this futuristic prison/zoo asks his bodyless hosts how the universe ends, and they reply that a Thralfamadorian test pilot pushes the wrong button and annihilates the universe.

 

Well, Billy speculates, if you know that, you can stop that from happening.

 

To which his hosts, in their out of body voices reply: 'He always has pushed the wrong button and he always will (in their view of the future). That's the way the universe ends'.

 

It's the same way with street shooting sometimes.

 

Sometimes you get it right (as best you can) on the first go-around, and other times it takes 90 shots or so. This was one of those when it took just one to get it as 'good as it was gonna ever get -- at least for me' I've been back to this corner and it never has been as good. (Apologies to Jack Nicholson)

 

I understand your frustration, but maybe you are getting too deep into the 'meaning' of this street capture. It does mean whatever you want it to mean, but it's just another photo to me, albeing it a pretty one, and one well composed and for me a 'success' on my limited scale of 'success' vs. 'failures.'

 

I just printed out 49 pages of thumbnails from Photonet on photo paper -- my entire portfolio, and it looks pretty stunning -- I've never done that, and this isn't even in it, plus another 48 pages of comments -- an entire book in itself.

 

I used to wonder why people in comments woule remark on the portfolio's size, and show they'd read the comments, and now I see it's a very sizable undertaking and requires dedication.

 

Your commnent is taken under careful consideration, and I'm sorry this disappoints you; perhaps others that disappoint me satisfy you more than I.

 

Is that possible? I'll bet it is unless you're an indefatiguable grouch, which I doubt.

 

I have occupied that territory entirely to myself (my assistant Anya will grin when she reads this and add a few choice words of her own such as 'old fart', I think from her perch in Moscow when she can muster the energy to stand after my running her ragged for three weeks.

 

I'm not sure that is a suitcase; though it might be; probably it's aa chair, as there is a restaurant in front of this tangoing couple and it's easy to steal a chair (I was sitting in one, leaning over down low, and almost sitting on the curb -- in fact, I think I got off the chair and actually sat on the curb for this one.)

 

I love my 12~24 mm Nikkor lens. One of Nikon's best.

 

Whether my photo frustrates you or not; this lens would not. Such photos seldom even need sharpening. It's a permanent fixture on at least one cameran now, instead of a middle angle lens, when I work a crowd, together with a 70~200 V.R. E.D. (vibration reduction) The former also is great for low light shooting, because camera movement is noticed so little at 12 mm setting; vibration reduction would be superfluous, in my opinion, generally.

 

And just look at the colors here, from the late afternoon sun.

 

Here'a a hint for understanding my photos; almost never do I boost saturation outside the camera. I will intentionally UNDEREXPOSE a photo to bring out saturation, and that's about it -- about 1/3 to 1/2 stop usually, especially if there's a chance a highlight might be blown such as on, say, a snowy egret, or some such or a beach, etc.

 

About the faces, the milongo (tango parlor) depends on asking your partner to dance by a 'look' across a room, so faces are very important in tango, but do you really want to know what this dancing woman's face looks like? She already is dancing and is NOT a potential dance partner. There is a difference, and I think you get the point. If I were photographing in a milongo, I would, of course, focus on the darkness of the parlor and the women's faces would stand out, especially one with a mysterious 'look' or 'inviting stare'.

 

Let me know some time when one I post does hit the mark for you, would you?

 

John (Crosley)

Ruud,

 

You're a 'color guy'.

 

So, I'm hardly surprised this would appeal somewhat to you.

 

But that it gets an accolade gladdens me greatly; you are not an easy critic to please.

 

And you always seem to pick my best, too -- the ones I hold in high estimation (that fall within the genres that you seem to like most).

 

My very best regard. Remember me to the gallery set when you go shooting by and you are selling boxed sets of 'originals' with your autograph for tens of thousands of Euros.

 

;~)

 

John (Crosley)

This is a workmanlike photo that just turned out 'better' than expected.

 

When you shoot tens of thousands of photos and are continually taking chances as I do, some are bound to resonate, as this one did.

 

The late afternoon sun was a bonus as it brought out the colors with their brilliance. This maybe was only 3:00 or so in the afternoon, but with an early sunset (in the Argentine winter, which is to say, last summer, northern hemisphere -- I told you this one was a long time aposting)

 

Some photos just 'beg' to be posted and never eventually be overlooked, even if overlooked once.

 

This was one of them.

 

I'm glad you liked it/it seems others did as well.

 

I'm gladdened greatly.

 

Since I posted it 'on a whim' as I was going out the door taking my assistant Anya to the Kiev, Ukraine airport for a flight to Moscow (I'll miss her while she's gone a week or two, and I go off my own directions).

 

And on my return, instead of taking a direct bus back to Kiev where I'm staying, (my last day's tomorrow), I took a jitney bus to the nearest metro, stopped at a day/night market with two cameras and took 'street photos' -- what else?

 

I'm incorrigible.

 

And when I looked at one woman I shot a closeup of, I recognized her from another photo I previously posted (from a city of several million people). Some people just invite being photographed, and she had put up all resistance to being photographed, too, and I persisted, even hiding behind a lamp post, until her friends showed her photos I took of them that were good and she lost her shyness. . . . . (so many tricks of the trade, so many photos to take, and so little time . . . no, no hidden meaning.)

 

(By the way, I think Henri Cartier-Bresson gave up photography because (1) he did it all before -- he knew everybody, shot everything, and had been everywhere when modern history unfolded, and (2) I think his legs, feet and knees went out -- I'd be willing to bet).

 

No, I'm not comparing myself to him, with the exception that SOMETIMES I shoot street/he was its master, but NOT of color.

 

Thanks for the nice comment.

 

John (Crosley)

If I ever need a publicist, I'll give you a shout . . . you are the best writer on the service . . . excluding maybe John Peri, who is perhaps the most erudite writer on this service, bar none, and myself, its most prolific.'

 

I am PLEASED AS PUNCH to borrow your expressive nature, that this photo pleases, you, and also that you can easily articulate your reasons for why -- not just some sorta attaboy! Good photo! see ya around! etc.

 

But very real reasons why this particular photo resonates with you.

 

But Micki, perhaps it's your ebullient nature (I don't know you personally except through these comments), or perhaps it's the direction you choose to look, but I'd also be interested in 'how to improve' other shots of mine which you find more wanting; not everything I post is so pleasing to you, I am sure, though I don't doubt for a minute the genuineness of this as a 7/7 for you and won't try to talk you out of it.

 

I sometimes know that a certain photo cannot be more than a 5/5 ever. That's Ok, and some photos have minimal aspirations. Others have greater aspirations and although some may rate that photo a 3/3 or a 4/4, it's the higher ratings I look for. Those lesser photos won't ever get a 5/6 or a 6/7 or even a 7/7, but a photo like this one will, and when it does, I have to give it 'full faith and credit' to borrow a Constitutional phrase. (Micki's rights, I think, instead of state's rights).

 

I am always glad to see you return after an absence; you are a breath of bresh air in these sometimes dreary pages. I always enjoy your upbeat writing and your refreshing style as well as your superior observational powers -- matched (at least in writing) by no one I have ever read on this service, including myself). You have made a 'name' for yourself, in a very short time. Congratulations!

 

John (Crosley)

I stated that this frustrates me because that's exactly what it does. So much so, that I chose to leave the comment instead of rating it. I do not rate very often. Only when something really stands out to me or when I see something that makes me feel that particulare photographer has attempted to reach outside of their normal bounds and has sucseeded at the attempt. I clicked on this with the intent of rating it because it stands out from the crowd. The colors, composition and their stance make this a very bold photo. I chose not to rate it because after about ten seconds of viewing it, I was frustrated as hell and felt that would effect my rating. It leaves me wanting. When I look at it, I want to see all of things that I mentioned. I don't think that I would it say it disappoints me though. Regardless of how it effects someone, it does have a strong effect that makes one think. That is what art should do.

 

Nice equiptment. It's true that the lens doesn't make the picture...but it surely gives you the ability to capture it. I just purchased a Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM. Also an amazing lens. What you can capture, hand held, with high quality glass and an image stablizer is remarkable.

 

I'm not so concerned with seeing what she looks like, just the look on her face. The eyes locking in the stare and remaining that way is half of the courtship in my opinion. It doesn't destroy the photo but I think it would be stronger with it.

 

I left my comment at 7:50am. It's Monday. I could likely give you a run for your money in the grouch department. Go easy on Anya. If she puts up with you, she may well be a Saint.

 

I'll always leave my honest opinion, when I leave one, you can be sure. And I think that many of your shots with the people in front of the painted walls are excellent, but you didn't hear it from me.

 

-Anthony

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I can give you a quick synopsis of my ratings and my absence lately.

 

I don't do nudity.

 

So... blah (like that one) ~ I'll be honest I did that one of the woman with the boobs because I though THAT was really GOOD and not nude. AND... the one of just the WOMAN'S breast was well done but I do not rate nudes period or even go to the crique forum without going to the area I am interest in because it is just not my cup of tea. IT IS, however ART and when in DC I had no problem taking my kids to go SEE some of the great paintings etc...

 

I JUST think that there is some REALLY, REALLY BAD stuff on PN. I also know that everything I say on the internet is traced one way or another and the last thing I want is for one of my kids to go ~ OH... there is MOM responding to THAT on a picture five years from now. Oh gosh, one year from now.

 

It's just not my thing just like rating birds is not my thing.

 

I also, in my huble opinion, since you do not do what my expertise is (PS) don't feel like I can HELP you unless you need to CROP something. SEE... you don't PS anything on the computer and that is where I rule.

 

I don't know diddly squat about how to take pictures (YET) and I come to your folder to learn. BUT what I DO HAVE is the 12 hours of ART I took at the UNIVERSITY of TEXAS and the thousands of hours of time I have spent LOOKING at every detail of CRAPPY pictures and some good pictures having to make them just righ to go into small publications for small newsletters and such.

 

SO... WHEN I see a newsworthy picture I SNAP TO as they say. WHEN I don't I think I just pass it on by like I didn't see it. I just don't feel the honor to judge, but maybe now I will. HA!

 

Seriously, I will consider what you said and not feel held back to make suggestions if I feel the need to.

 

 

______________

 

I did just notice while looking at this picture, is there a man looking at that window to the right?

 

BOY, I would love to see this blown up life size and study it!! YEP, 7/7 I see no flaws and I don't WANT to see the girls bottom and could care less what she is sitting on. The darkness is part of the charm of the way she is sitting.

 

All Smiles ~ micki

Again, well said.

 

I can only absorb what you've said, as I have nothing but admiration for your expressiveness and articulation.

 

If art was your forte, writing also now is.

 

And yeah, maybe that's a trunk she's sitting on, or a chair, or something, but who cares? I don't, but then that's why they make chocolate and vanilla.

 

Some minor things are important to some people. I look at 'lines' and composition in shots such as this; photo interpretation also is high, but I am short on speculation about the actors' motives, etc., unless there is a 'moral' hidden somewhere due to a 'contrast' within the photo. There is little here, except the dancer/nondancer contrast -- well, I suppose that's actually a valid contrast . . . .

 

But still it's not too strong.

 

I like better that their feet are split into wide 'V's and those V's are mirrored in her legs, also split into a 'V' shape, for repetition across the length of the photograph, tying its sides together.

 

(nobody commented on that above, did they?)

 

Thanks Micki, ever so.

 

Have it your way (whichever way you like); you're a delight to have around, and I love it when you stop by; it always brightens my day. But you needn't be shy about criticism either, as that's part of the game. (that's not scolding)

 

(yes, there's someone in the window, right. Good eye, as always).

 

With best wishes.

 

John (Crosley)

AND... I have been finally starting to take pictures of people! EEEK

 

Did my first one yesterday and I think it turned out ok. I have been doing the husband but yesterday caught Andrew and another photographer taking photo's and realized that THEY were much more fun to photograph than the sunset or other stuff so that was what I did. Photographed them and their interaction instead.

 

It is because of watching how you do things and learning what you do I can do that.

 

Also some of the things I have done in my self portraits (the serious stuff) have been totally candid. One that I caught Andrew in the background and had no clue.

 

I really can't wait till I "UPGRADE" to a better camera but for now I am still learning but I will remember I can give you pointers where I see the need.

 

Even I feel like I am getting better, or rather my eye is getting better. Mostly I think that my mind is getting better and my "brain" is finally functioning better from dealing with those six months of stupid seizures.

 

I was also gone for several weeks because I was sick (pnemonia and several seizures). SO if you see me gone for several days I am resting. I'm still going on about 40% of what I used to be able to run on energy level but that is still alot better than what I was going on three months ago.

 

Sitting here typing is a BIG JOY! BUT, it still can take LOTS out of you.

 

I ALWAYS enjoy your work even if I don't say anything. ~ micki

You're probably learning the joy of staying slender the easy way -- topirimate which is branded as Topamax, which has the only side effect of taking away your spoken(and sometimes written) vocabulary, and then making you super skinny -- a great and very expensive anti-seizure medicine as well as one that works for a variety of other purposes.

 

Take away the side effects, and the person who does that and ignores the anti-seizure part will make a huge fortune (billions) in suppressing the appetite. I never have seen a fat topirimate user, and it changes the taste of things as well as the need to eat. I'm surprised that someone hasn't latched onto it already as the 'new' thing, but it does have side effects.

 

I'm sorry you have something interfering, and hope it can be controlled and/or cured, as I know seizures can rob you of energy, and make you confused, be they large or small (not from my own experience), and be sure to explore all disability income opportunities (including Social Security Title II, and be sure to have a Representative who is an attorney -- who is greatly experienced if you haven't worked for six months or won't as the government may owe you early disability Social Security, and Supplemental Security Income under certain income/asset circumstances, as well as any private pension for the disabled and don't take 'NO' for an answer -- see a 'greedy' attorney who undertands that those 'nos' usually have no basis and can be reversed.

 

(my two cents worth -- don't get cheated by anyone or bulldogged by anyone or make a gift to a giant corporate treasury by failiing to act properly -- be vigilant -- attorneys do such things on contingency fees.)

 

I'm glad to see your latest on the top comments page -- very nice -- and no ass kissing, really very nice.

 

That's the nice thing about a camera/lens combination, at a certain shutter speed, it doesn't know the user has the shakes or shimmies or is supposed to be disabled or not. It just 'is'.

 

Your 'is' seems to accord with a camera just fine.

 

With best wishes,

 

John (Crosley)

My internal med doc just about DIED when he found out what the neurologist had me on (twice the dose as most people). BUT, it was working. AND yes I have to MAKE myself eat. The taste is now not as bad. The other two meds make up for that problem.

 

I will say the TOPOMAX should NOT be used for any other purpose but neurology as it does have major side effects (and I really have none as it really is made for someone like me). IS NOT for everyone. I have seen people try to use it for weight loss and hurt their bodies in the proccess as it can cause other issues. It can cause kidney and liver problems in some people. If taken WRONG it can cause actual seizures in those that don't have them.

 

ABOUT this (my) disability. MY SS said I didn't qualify because I had not worked enough for the last 10 years. Hmmm could that NOT be true? Curious. I of course can NOT work and would love to get something because I can't. My choice not to work for the last 10 years was because I homeschooled some and did lots of volunteered work and moved five times with a husband who was in the military.

 

Maybe you know something I don't know. hmmm ~ micki

E-mail me.

 

John (Crosley)

Topomax (or Topamax) extends the pain-relieving effect of other pain relievers, including some really powerful stuff. It's not to be overlooked in any pain management situation, especially since it can ease the transition from full pain dose to partial pain dose of powerful meds, or, in many cases, alleviate the sudden spike in pain that often accompanies the diminution of effective serum (blood) levels of pain relievers in those who take them, causing them to have to dose promptly and on an emergency basis, sometimes more unwisely -- in other words, Topamax is an extender of certain other pain relievers and has wonderful affects, and not least of those for those in pain who are overweight and have no kidney/liver effects. But it does cause 'going blonde' -- a term I hate -0- a certain sort of vacuousness of tongue (and sometimes of pen) caused by inability of the mind to find in its fund of words certain expressive words, even when they're 'on the tip of the tongue' -- supposedly blondes are dumb, which in my knowledge is far from the truth and I HATE blonde jokes, but that's the saying: 'Topamax makes you go blonde if taken at a high enough dose' to the point where you can look at a clock on the wall and know it tells time and has a name you should know but can't call it a clock (that second, if you'll excuse the pun).

 

As you lose your fund of words, however, you get skinnier . . . and a tradeoff sometimes makes skinnier come and pain go away without other drastic side effects, including the 'blonde effect'.

 

Them's the facts, as I know them.

 

John (Crosley)

Great use of wide angle lenses (extended legs).

Thanks for the compliment; this was a photo made for a 12~24 mm Nikkor wide angle digital only (DX) lens on my digital camera, with me sitting up close (I think I was on the curb, though there were chairs immediately behind me, and I started on one).

 

Notice that there are 'THREE SETS OF SPLIT LEGS' in this photo -- the two of the pair of dancers on the left, and the pair of split legs on the rightmost dancer echoes them -- a touch of repetition -- for a 'theme' of split legs.

 

Look for this in my 'threes' Presentation -- the presentation on 'Threes in my photography, when I ever get the chance to update that. I frankly need a staff of about six or seven to keep up with my work. (I have one worker already, from Moscow, a wonder, who sometimes travels with me and keeps me honest -- no excessive Photoshopping and offers HONEST critiques all taken in good humors.)

 

I need a bunch of university externs who need extra credit to help burn through my hundreds of thousands of photos to find 'gems' like this one that have been passed by.

 

Thanks for the comment; hope you don't mine my little remark above.

 

John (Crosley)

nice wide angle one! (with care for the feet) the sitters are 2 the dancers are 2 the walkers are 2 :-) I laughed at the comment about who cares - vanilla & chocolate :-)) (do i get any sense of unsharp mask?) I can hear the music... :-)

It must be the STUPAmax! I mean the drug I take :)

 

YOU are absolutely right the thing on the wall is called a watch. OH wait that is the thing on the wrist. HA!

 

Now you understand why after getting OFF the drugs that I was on two months ago (I was STILL on the HIGHER drug of TOPOMAX) slowly I have been able to be more "WITH IT" in the expressive department and my pictures have even been what I consider better.

 

And yes, I am NOT a blong (I was born blond) but my short term memory is shot because of both the stinking brain AND the silly meds I am on. Of course I do lose a whole day sometimes and the JOKE is I remember clearly EVERYTHING about ten years ago but can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday.

 

Welcome to my word. E-mail is on the way ~ micki

Yes, 'that's why they make vanilla and chocolate' -- the ultimate agreement to disagree and still stay friendly.

 

I agree with the statement about twos, and if I had a presentation about twos, I probably would post this there, also, but I'm a 'threes' sort of guy.

 

Unsharp mask -- not necessary, and not even 'smart sharpen', with the famously sharp Nikkor 12~24 mm f 4 DX zoom. Try one, you'll never put it down (literally or figuratively).

 

It's one of the few really sharp zoom lenses in Nikon's repertoire -- the others being the 70~200 f 2.8 and the 80~200 f 2.8 as well as the 200~400 f 4, all of which I have and swear by. Also the 17~55 DX f 2.8 is not only expensive, and heavy, but also sharp. Those are my 'sharp' lenses -- sharp enough not to have need for unsharp mask if I remember to clean them (same applies to 'smart sharpen' though with the teles, I routinely use 'smart sharpen' at 1% and 99, when doing JPEGs, but never with conversions from NEFs with all sharpening being in the raw conversion and none after -- not ever.

 

So, though this may have looked 'overly sharpened'; it's not. It's just a contrasty scene, taken with a lens that preserves contrast excellently. No need for them 'artsy fartsy Adobe tools' to make that lens any better.

 

Good try, though.

 

I dare you to try one -- the feet were sheer good luck, I think, though today I shot a crowd of people getting on and off a bus -- seven shots in all, while holding a camera over the crowd.

 

I got the entire crowd perfectly, including the horizon of the bus seat occupants' heads, as though I actually had been looking through the viewfinder, so well were each of the seven framed.

 

And I didn't just fire them 1 through 7, but intermittently, and changing position. That's partially 'luck' and partially knowing one's equipment.

 

See my shot in 'Black and White From Then to Now' folder taken overhead (over my head) of President Nixon and wife Pat and entourage -- one shot, came out perfectly. Some things just come naturally; others you can never learn. (Like how to win at Pac-Man and subsequent games . . . much to my embarrassment.)

 

Thanks for stopping by, Billy.

 

John (Crosley)

Yes, it's a wall watch -- a clocky sort of thingy, if you know what I mean . . . and how the words stick on the tip of one's brain, just waiting for a chance to . . . stick there . . . and embarrass one's self.

 

But it's entirely reversible, so no permanent harm done -- not like tardive diskinesia from those drugs like Haldol and Thorazine when taken to excess, like Michael J. Fox has (tardive diskenesia).

 

That's permanent and disabling in itself.

 

I don't promise you a prompt or an easy answer, but I once praciced the law of Social Security. It does not require a license, as well; anybody can practice it as a Representative, but those who do, for the most part are fools and they lose case afer case, because the hearing judges are attorneys and eat the untrained Representatives and their clients alive, with benefits ultimately denied. Good attorneys often win 95-100% of their cases, but they seldom take cases of insufficient earnings, and I urge you to put nothing in writing until we have a 'conversation' - talk to no one and write to no one.

 

You may be surprised at what you discover (or not).

 

It's been a long time, except for one fairly recently for a friend, but SSA hearings kept my trial skills up, since it's a rare attorney who ever actually had a jury trial (the hearings are before judges and they're supposedly nonadversarial, but the judge has the task of 'developing the record' and some are hostile to claimants, which makes an attorney all that more valuable.

 

It's like lowball poker -- the more able you are to represent yourself, the less disabled you are.

 

Best advice to someone going to a Social Security disability hearing with, say, back problems, is 'go garden the day before until you can't stand it, then try to sit still for the hearing, and you'll be in such pain the judge won't be able to stand even watching you squirm' The 'sit and squirm' test has been 'outlawed' but it still lives, and judges are people, you know (contrary to popular belief).

 

Also, Social Security hearing judges hold their offices for life, they can only be impeached, like a President (Nixon ought to have been but he saved us the trouble and another likely candidate is fiddling around making war, until he rides out his term, protected by a thin margin in the House from being impeached, or he would be.

 

(S.M. -- sado masochism, in case you wanted to know -- it's the common use of the initials. It has no part in my life, but I do know those initials.)

 

Remember, however, you cannot take advice from me, only hear suggestions then vet them with someone 'up on the law' or risk doing things yourself.

 

Best wishes; I'll be traveling soon, so any response may be delayed if an e-mail does not come promptly.

 

John (Crosley)