I may just have found my new home. Somebody... please talk some sense into me!

Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

My pirate name? Black Prudentilla Bonney. Find your pirate name here.

It seems appropriate to be given a pirate name, and to be developing rock star attitude all in the same week!

A little background.

I've always been afraid to sing. In 4th grade our music teacher told my sister to "mouth the words" instead of singing in the Christmas concert. This didn't phase my sister at all, in fact, she probably sang louder just to get even. Me? I stopped singing.

Fast forward to 2004, and East Village karaoke with Michael, Alex, Joanne, Melissa, Franny and Bill. I didn't sing that night, but I loved it. Next thing, I found myself singing along with my MP3 player. Out loud. On the subway.

In a fit of absolute bravery I called this guy advertising guitar lessons in my neighborhood and started taking lessons. My strategy for guitar, as with photography: impersonate a brave person... then grow into it...! It's 6 weeks now, and my teacher tells me to develop some rock star attitude.

Here's what I've learned/am working on:

• The Clash - Death or Glory
• The Cash Brothers - Raceway
• Blue Rodeo - Hasn't Hit Me Yet
• Blue Rodeo - English Bay
• The Clash - Clampdown
• Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
• The Distillers - City of Angels

On Monday (Labor Day) I woke up at 1:30 AM to go out and photograph an event called Jouvert, which is a pre-carnival parade around Brooklyn. What I'll know for next year is that it actually starts at 4 AM, not 2 AM, but that's just experience. I felt really comfortable prowling around at night photographing the action. Since it was so dark, I parked myself under a NYPD light stand and tried to catch people as they came into the light. That's why the pix are so surreal.

I got home at 6 AM, slept for 2 hours, and went back out to photograph the West Indian parade. I got a few good shots, and I got over feeling like a complete imposter with my fancy lens. But I'm still obsessed with the pix I didn't get....

At one point in the parade I had to decide if I was going to jump over the fence and get into the middle of the action, or continue to shoot from the sidelines. I chose to not jump. I wasn't sure I could get over the fence (I'll need to practice that), and I didn't want to get in trouble with the cops.

My immediate goal is to get a press pass, and then I don't have to worry so much about wandering around past the barricades.

I rented a lens for the weekend from Adorama. For the measly sum of $27 I have the use of a $2,000 lens for four days. Great, eh? I had hoped to stalk some birds around Green-Wood Cemetary, but alas the birds were too fast and the lens too short. This is, of course, completely insane because the lens is a 70 - 200mm and weighs an absolute ton. I'm going to have to start lifting weights, or something, before I try and rent a 300 or 400 mm. Sigh.

To console myself, I spent my time in Green-Wood visiting some of my favorite angels.

I witnessed the reading of the names of Iraq's war dead at Union Square yesterday. It took hours, and took place against a visual backdrop of a thousand pairs of combat boots and shoes, each labeled with a soldier's name. It was incredibly moving, but did it make the news? Not really, as it doesn't really fit into the 20 second clips that they stuff in between the advertising. Sigh.

Although fatigue is creeping up on me, today may be the most important day of protests. There will be events in Harlem (2PM), and the Garden (7PM), and Union Square (veterans vigial all day; candlelight gathering after 8PM). I'll look for you there.