Chapter 1718: Wherein Dee has officially hit way too jaded

Photo? Has nothing to do with anything. As usual.

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I just watched a video. A video designed to elicit a very specific emotional response. It's here, if you're interested. A caveat, though: the cause is a good one, but the squeamish shouldn't watch the video while eating. Or maybe even while thinking about eating.

Anyway, if you watched that, how did you feel? Compassionate? Disgusted? Just plain ill?

I thought it was... interesting.

Yeah, I turned into Spock at some point during the proceedings. Is that normal? I mean, yeah I do have a zoology degree and I've seen some pretty gross things, but should I just have watched it and then read the write-up to learn more about the organisation? That's what I did. My mind basically went wow, people suffer from some pretty disgusting parasites. That was the extent of my emotional involvement.

Now, some may say that it's a pretty classic response to want to distance yourself from harsh realities and I suppose it is, but personally? I think I'll blame the internet, or at least modern communication. We see too much stuff. There's just too much of it out there. Is it so weird that eventually the brain just starts reacting without emotion?

Or is it just that this thing had too much of a build-up to the SHOCKING thing that we were about to be shown? Maybe I looked at it like a dare or something without realising it. Got my back up a bit. I dunno, and I need to get back to work so I don't have time to talk myself into some pseudophilosophy, although that might be fun.

It would all end with us deciding that yes, I am too jaded, though. I guess if you want to you can come up with your own middle to that conclusion. I need to go back to playing newsletter editor now.



Hmm. Maybe that's why I'm currently incapable of feeling...

No brain

It's been a couple of days of planetarium, and a couple of days (as usual) of not enough sleep. And I'm freezing right now. Not sure of the why on that one.

So, not so much blogging again from me today. The featured pointless photo? The deer highway behind my father's place. It's a former (well, maybe officially still, but nothing was ever done about it) road allowance through a vacant treed lot that's never been built on. It was kind of our playground when we were kids.

The big, out-of-place boulders are there because the owners of the lot got tired of one of the other neighbours using it as a thoroughfare for quads and other things that really shouldn't be run in town. I wasn't sorry to see the rocks appear, since I also wasn't sorry that the boys had to find someplace else -- and someplace more legal -- to play.

Yep.

That's really all I've got at the moment. I'd say I'd try for something tomorrow, but this week hasn't been very blatherable so far.

Ah well. At least there's a picture.

Pointless photo of the day:

That'll be it for today, actually. No particular reason; I'm just not in the right headspace to blather.

Later, then.

Hands-on learning

This mostly out of focus (do people still use the term OOF when looking at photographic catalogues? I found a slide collection review that I did for work years ago the other day, and with the amount of OOFs in the margins you would have thought that the photographer was incredibly clumsy) picture of my hand is incredibly pointless and therefore precisely fits the blog.

Except that it's not.

I was practicing, you see. I was trying to focus at the tip of my index finger. Now that you know, will you admit that I didn't do too badly for a one-handed shot while reclined on a bed?

And don't you just love my high-fashion comforter? It was made by a company that makes winter coats. It feels like a ski coat. It's pretty much as warm as a ski coat, too. Probably not a good thing in a south-facing apartment that tends to run at about 24C on its cool days.

Um, anyway. Fairly early in the post for a distraction.

I'm finding that relearning SLR photography isn't as easy as falling off a bicycle, to be honest. I've been away from it too long, and it's no longer instinctual. I have to stop myself from using an overhand grip on the lens, for one thing. I'd imagine that I'm looking pretty ridiculous to any chance observer: overhand on the zoom, suddenly remember that the camera gets no support that way, underhand for the focus, underhand for the refocus because I don't trust the first focus, half-press of the shutter, release the shutter and refocus again...

No wonder I never got a shot of that deer that I talked about yesterday, eh?

Thank Whomever for digital, at least. With the amount of photos that I've already had to delete, I would have given up on film photography a month ago for fear of defaulting on my car payments.

Thank Whomever that it's a pretty forgiving camera, too. The nice thing about multiple settings is that you can take baby steps. To be honest, for the first couple of months (and bear in mind that I haven't exactly been taking pictures every day. Did I mention yet today that winter is boring?) I barely took the thing off of autofocus. It was enough just to get used to holding a real camera again. I'm doing my own focusing a bit more now, but I'm still letting the camera control the shutter speed and aperture.

Baby steps, yep. And trying to remember things like: if I have the camera off of the automatic settings, that means that I don't have an automatic flash either. It took me a few times of wondering why the shutter speed was so slow before I remembered to hit the little button that raises the flash. I so need to buy that book on the camera that I found on Amazon the other day. As much as this thing is pretty decent for hands-on experimentation, some of us still need a little book larnin' (which, incidentally, is what today's post title almost said. I'm having a problem with missing letters on this keyboard for some reason today) to get things into our brains.

Ah well. At least it's still fun to play, and since I'm not silly enough to expect much result outside of blogable snapshots at this point, I'm still many miles away from frustration. Next steps? Oh, maybe I'll put it on the tripod for a while and play with slower speeds. Now that it's a bit warmer I could be trying some night stuff too, although repeated shots from my balcony (or baloney, as my fingers would make it) get boring pretty quickly. Maybe by next winter I will have moved on to actually choosing my own f-stops.

Wouldn't that be something?





Not too many new photos to post this week, since yesterday I was mostly playing and deleted much of the result. Yes, even the ones of the ice on the bird bath that my dad was laughing at me about. You have to try everything, you know, or you'll never see what you come up with.

In my case, at the moment, an awful lot of OOF and nonsense, but it'll get better.

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Still on cameras (and I promise, this isn't about to become a camera blog. I'd have to rename it I Don't Know Eff All About Cameras if it was), I glanced the other day at an article that was saying that the smart phone is going to be the end of point-and-shoot cameras, since no one will want to bother carrying around one when they've always got their cell phone with them.

I suppose that's true, except that I think it would be a shame. I've had a lot of fun with my autofocus camera over the years, and even managed every once in a while to get some good shots with it. Smart phones? Convenient for sure, but maaan are there a lot of really bad photos floating around the internet because of them. Quantity over quality illustrated.

Illustrated badly.

Kinda fits, doesn't it.

I've said this before

So, yeah, déjà vu literally. Still, it's my excuse for the day, so here goes:

The problem with having not really blogged for a week (over a week at this point, I guess) is that when I do get a chance to blog I tend to go one of two ways. I either have so many ideas that I don't know where to start, or I haven't bothered to think of any ideas because I haven't needed them.

Guess which way today's going? You shouldn't have to, because if I'd had any sort of idea at all you'd already be reading it.

Sigh. I really feel the need to put something semi-substantial here, though. After all, my stats tell me that my two fans have been checking in, waiting. Why, I don't know. Pointless is in the title for a reason (as I've said repeatedly. Seems to be the theme of the post), and it seems to me that the internet is crammed full of other places to be pointless. Still, loyalty -- even to pointlessness -- should be rewarded. Sooo...

hmmm...

Well, there was a porcupine in the front yard here at Dad's last night. It scrounged around a bit to see what was edible, then squeezed through the hedge and ambled off across the road to see if there were better pickings at the neighbour's place. Across the road wasn't the best move because the hill's pretty busy and I might have got to witness the last act of Death of a Porcupine, but this time he was lucky and just waddled off into the sunset. Or would have, if it hadn't already been dark.

Today's pointless photo isn't of a porcupine.

I don't have a picture of the porcupine. It was dark, I was looking through a picture window, and there wouldn't have been any point in trying a long exposure.

However.

I also don't have a picture of the mulie buck who sauntered through the next-door neighbour's yard the other week when I was here. Here, outside with the new camera, taking photos. Of, erm, watering cans. And snow. And when the deer came through, I watched him.

While holding the camera.

Sigh, again. Especially since I had the camera set on autofocus at the time and wouldn't have had to do anything but point it.

See, there's a reason why I take pictures of flowers and spiders and, erm, watering cans. They give me time to think. Process. Maybe even frame a composition, although even that's not necessary in these days of digital editing. They're more my speed.

Let's face it -- I'm a slow photographer, and one who hasn't yet learned to remember that the new camera has a three-at-once setting. Come on, Dee. Point, shoot, shoot again. One of the six resulting shots might actually be something.

Or not. And it wouldn't matter anyway since it's digital and you're not wasting film. Try anyway, silly woman.

Incidentally, I'm the only one allowed to call myself silly woman. Just so you know.



Ah well. I'll figure it out eventually. And even if I don't, give it a few weeks (yeah, I'm all about the optimism today) and there'll be flowers and spiders and watering cans...

Oh, right. There's already watering cans. I suppose I should go out and take some pictures, then.

Maybe the buck will do me a favour and come back.



And stand still long enough that I can pretend it's a watering can.

THERE IS NO TIME TO BLOG

Sheesh. It's like I'm expected to work at work or something.

So... erm... have some neonised snow. Why? Does there have to be a why? It says pointless right in the blog title, after all.

And I don't have time for this anyway.



Sheesh.

Internet? You still here?

Ok, like I said (briefly) last week, I wasn't going to be internet-around for a while.

I'm here now.

Sort of.

There's two problems with programming away from the office for a few days. One is that you have a lot to catch up on when you get back. The other is that you're likely going to be busy enough with unexpected things that have turned up while you were gone that you're very probably going to have the day of I'm doing things -- why don't I seem to be getting anything done?

I'm so having that day, and the blog is going to be shorted yet again because of it.

I really should think of something, though. After all, you've probably missed me terribly, right?



*crickets*

Yeah, thanks, internet.

What, then? Well, I could tell you about today's photo, but there's not much to tell except to say that you can do really pointless things with a camera that's not point-and-shoot if you choose to.

Apparently I choose to.

Also, and completely unrelated to anything, a word to my cable provider: Cable provider, I do not have a computer. I do not have a home phone. I do not have an HD television. Therefore, I have no interest in you fabulous bundle of fabulousness that combines internet, phone, and HDTV. I have no interest in the special low price that becomes the special high price after three months. I've had no interest for the 25 months (at least) that you've been sending me MONTHLY! EXCITING! MAILINGS! about the fabulousness of your bundle.

Stop it.

And maybe consider deducting the cost of all your pointless advertising off of my bill?



Oh, right. Then you wouldn't be a cable provider because they don 't work that way. My mistake.

But stop it anyway, all right?



Back to the Red Queen run now. Catch you later.

Mostly lack of post of the... week, I guess

Sorry, no pictures today, and I'm not in the mood to find you a cat gif. This is mostly just a note to let you know that I'm going missing for a few days.

Internet-missing, anyway.

I won't be around a computer for the next three days, and I'm not sure yet what's up with the weekend. So, that means general blog blankness.

Try not to miss me too much.

Pointless photo of the day, wtf edition:

Sorry, blog, but you're getting shorted today even though Sunday is often blather day. You see, I got a late start at doing an art (what? If Sarcastic Rover can do a science, can't I do an art?), and even though the art turned out to be pointless enough to be on this blog, it still ended up on the other one.



So, no blather here. And to top it off, weird picture too.



I got bored with my winter photos yesterday (because winter is boring) and put some of them through digital filters. You're... welcome? Hey, at least it's something. This blog has seen an awful lot of nothing in the past few months.

Catch you later.

Weeeird mood...

Yeah, I know. You don't usually have to put up with other people's gifs on the blog (usually you're just putting up with my own incredibly pointless photography). It seems to be that kind of day, though. Oh, and photocredit to Catleecious. No idea where they got it, but that's where it came from for me.

And why are we looking at a flying cat today? I'm not really certain. I just seem to be in an odd brain space. Slept in until 7:30, which for me is like saying I've been asleep for twenty years. I didn't play any ninepins, but I'm certainly feeling a little out of place. Guess my body's taking advantage of the weekend to try to get over this cold. I had an inadvertent nap yesterday, too, while I was waiting for my dad to get home. You want to talk about complete disorientation? Try being an insomniac waking up from a nap. I couldn't have even told you what day it was for a moment or two.

There's other bits of weirdness going on as well. A little while ago I found myself in tears because of something I was reading. Now, understand that being in tears is nothing unusual for me. I've been a crier from day one (I'll probably never have an ulcer, since everything that bothers me comes out so quickly). But even for me this one was a stretch. There wasn't anything particularly emotional about what I was reading. It was just a very well-thought-out, well-crafted piece of writing that made me happy.

So I cried.

Weirdo.

I'm blaming that on my cold, too.

I don't have anything else blather-worthy at the moment (like this even was), so I suppose I should go find some lunch. I don't know what you're going to find in the way of new photos on the blog in the next little while, since it snowed this morning (yeah, yeah, nothing like you folks east of us are putting up with. I fully admit that) and snow almost always takes me straight out of picture-taking mood.

Maybe I'll just start posting cat gifs full time. It's not like anyone else on the internet is doing that...



wah wah...

Oh so lack of post

I'm about to head down the highway (short work day today so that I'm not over my hours) and I have a full enough head that I really haven't bothered to think of a post. I got as far as saving this link and thinking that it was kind of neat, but then having someone like me who loves playing (however ineptly) with new art supplies -- my adulthood toys -- talk about the fact that one of the great art geniuses just used house paint... well, it just wouldn't go so well, I'm afraid.

Then I considered blathering about socks for a while. Seems to me I've done that this week, though.

So, since the camera was sitting here you get a mostly-not-bothered-to-focus shot of some of the random things on my desk here at work. A lot of books (yes, boys and girls, books still exist. Some of us use them, even), an owl pellet poster that I still need to have laminated (I'd hate to tell you how long that's been sitting there), assorted things that I need to edit, tracing paper, a hiking pack (think gigantic fanny pack. And for those of my two fans from over the pond, giggle &/or blush at the term fanny pack), and the envelope that contains "art" that I've done for work and is therefore not my intellectual property.

That sure makes me sound like a sell-out, doesn't it? Ah well, it's not like I'm selling out much.

On the wall, a piece of arty something that I did a few years back, and a photo of a burrowing owl that a former volunteer gave to me.

Such excitement. Wasn't this worth stopping by today?



Anyway. That's it for me, then. Oh, and since  I've mentioned art a couple of times and it's obvious to anyone who visits the other blog that art hasn't happened for a while, that's nothing but sheer laziness. I'll try to make it happen this weekend, if I get inspired. Ironically, this week's IF prompt is storm, and I happen to be in a part of the country (for a change) that isn't getting one. My sympathy to those of you who are.

Gotta go now.

Sorry, no socks today

I mean, I'm wearing socks, obviously (or maybe not obviously. But since it's winter in Alberta, you should probably assume that I'm wearing socks), but I'm not going to borrow the work camera again to take a pointless photo of them. You'd like them, though. They're red and white stripey, like the Cat in the Hat's socks.

Oh, no, not his socks. Does he even wear socks? I meant his hat.

Anyway, no socks today, so instead it's back to Weird Things in my Apartment.

echo echo echo...

These, obviously, are SD cards. Familiar to everyone, and not especially weird. The one on the left came with my old camera (yes, boys and girls, they used to supply memory cards with cameras. Tiny, tiny memory cards). The one on the right is one I bought at Wally World as an upgrade when they had a good sale (sorry, roll back). A whole 64 meg, and I think I paid about $30 for it.

No, not in the stone age. And you kids get off of my lawn.

So what's weird in this installment of weird things?

I've kept these cards.



The one on  the left wouldn't even hold one picture from a modern camera on the largest setting, but I've held on to it. I'm not a hoarder by any standard, but I've kept these cards.





If that isn't weird, I'd like to know what exactly qualifies as weird in your universe. Me 'n my socks have to go get ready for this afternoon's planetariuming now.

Quick pointless sock photo of the day:

Well, of course it's a pointless sock photo. My socks don't have points, so a picture of them won't have points either. Right?

Anyway, the socks. They're Christmas socks, and they're about to be featured in their first ever planetarium program.

Confused yet? Ok, here goes:

I generally do planetarium programs in stocking feet. It's not good for the fabric in the entrance tunnel to have a bunch of dirty shoes all over it, and besides, it's much more comfortable for me and my screwed-up ankle to not be bothered with bootage when I'm sitting on the floor pointing at stars and constellations. So, socks.

I try to make at least a small effort to wear non-churchy (that is, not very holey) socks when I do planetarium since the lights aren't off the whole time. Didn't quite succeed yesterday, but with the amount of sleep I got it was sort of amazing that I remembered to put on socks at all. Today's a little less sleepy, though, so I remembered to put on something in better repair before I left.

Christmas socks.

Fuzzy Christmas socks.

Fuzzy Christmas socks with polka dots that I have a feeling the ECS class I'm doing the show for today might appreciate. Little kids tend to notice things like that.

Especially when it's fuzzy polka-dotted socks on an adult...

Honestly, I kind of get a kick out of colourful socks. There's a makeover show on the not-so-much-learning-anymore channel that would have you believe that anything other than bland socks is an abomination, but what's wrong with having a little footwear fun? As I was saying to Wheat just now, especially in a business context goofy socks might be the only way that a man in a suit can show some individuality.

And around here in this much more casual office atmosphere, fuzzy socks almost demand to be seen during planetarium programs.

My planetarium programs, anyway.



I just wrote an entire blog post about socks, you'll notice. Did I mention the fact that I have a cold? I don't think that my stuffy brain could handle a heavier topic. Not even penny heavy. The pennies will just have to wait again.

Poor pennies. Nobody loves you anymore.

Back to work for me, now. Time to earn more pennies if I'm going to have more socks.

Pointless photo of the day, even quicker version:

Yep. I'm tired, grumpy, not feeling especially well, and still have another planetarium program yet to do this afternoon.

Maybe we'll talk about pennies tomorrow.

Or not. We'll see.