Another Bird Photo and Health Update

I added another snapshot of a bird in our backyard to this year's collection of bird photos...  well, this bird is really in our neighbor's yard on his Frisbee Golf basket, not our backyard.  I did shoot this photo from our backyard though.  This is another photo from my initial test photos that I shot about a week or two ago but I just got around to editing it.  

This was really a test of the autofocus system while using a new lens adapter but I feel the need to point out the negatives and positives of this image as a whole.

I could have used a bit more light on my sparrow's face.  The sun was high and behind the bird so that was a problem.  I'm not too fond of the bird being perched on a Frisbee Golf basket either.  I would have preferred it being perched on a tree branch.  Plus, this sparrow is looking out of the frame which forces the viewer to wonder what he is looking at...  not a good thing.  You want your subject looking into the frame, typically anyway.  There are exceptions to this rule but this is not one of those exceptions.  

The good things start with the fact that this tiny sparrow was quite a distance from me yet my camera and lens locked on with crisp focus.  That is great news for this new inexpensive lens adapter allowing me to use my old Canon lenses on this newish Panasonic camera body.  I'm liking that I can see feather detail at this distance.  The background is thrown far enough out of focus that there are no distracting elements in the background that pull your eye away from the sparrow so I'm liking the background separation.  Plus, this background is smooth with a great out of focus quality.  Sometimes backgrounds get a jittery look that is very distracting but this photo is a nice smooth background and that is a very good thing.  And, I happen to like the warm color of this image.

The past two or three days have been kind of lousy for me due to my health.  Lousy health (breathing problems and pain) has kept me awake for much of the past few nights.  This makes for exhausting days spent mostly on the couch.  I've attempted to accomplish a few small things but didn't have much success.  Generally speaking, I'm feeling pretty lousy...  low energy...  just "not feeling right" sort of thing.  

We've had rather lousy weather over the past week for the most part so being stuck on the couch wasn't a terrible thing.  Today, however, was a nice day outside but I couldn't find the energy to do much besides sit at the piano for a short while and then sit at the computer for a short while.  I slept through most of the afternoon.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  

EDIT:  May 8th, 2024 - I awoke this morning feeling exhausted yet again.  As I was pulling out my medications so I can take my morning dose of medications for my systemic mastocytosis, I remembered that, about a month ago, I started taking a new "cholesterol absorption" drug.  

Under my breath, I said, "Hmmm...  I wonder if...."

So I went to Medline Plus to check the list of known side effects.  Under the heading below, I found:

"Some side effects can be serious. The following symptoms are uncommon, but if you experience any of them, call your doctor immediately or get emergency medical help:"

Listed under this heading were quite a few symptoms including: 

Extreme tiredness

Dizziness

Lack of energy

I've been experiencing all of these symptoms, possibly more, in recent weeks and this has been my primary complaint in recent weeks...  "I'm too exhausted to do anything.  I get out of bed exhausted."  I've also had a few unexpected bouts with dizziness too.  Some other listed side effects might be clouded by my "typical daily" symptoms but these three side effects really stood out as being my major complaint over the past two weeks and not prior to starting this new drug.  Also, I had this exact complaint before I read anything about this drug's side effects.  I didn't seek out the side effects until I had a firm description of my current chronic problems.

This is the primary reason I didn't start on this drug back in January when it was prescribed.  I knew I should be feeling well enough to be able to notice any serious side effects.  I was still dealing with tons of serious symptoms due to COVID, secondary infections, and Long-COVID when I was prescribed this drug so I held off starting it until a month ago.  I am still dealing with Long-COVID symptoms but the three side effects listed above have been my main complaint in recent weeks and I started taking this drug about a month ago.  

So, I'm going to stop taking this drug and see what happens in the coming week.  If the drug is the cause, then I should feel a bit more "normal" by mid-week next week.

I am of the opinion that anti-cholesterol drugs and statins are among the most pointless drugs on the market today.  There are probably worse classes of drugs but these are really pointless.