April 09, 2004
The Effing Endorphins Are Back
I love my new camera. So much. Um. Yes.
SO MUCH HAPPINESS.
!
I was thinking about being more articulate, but I ended up writing out a bunch of related adjectives that didn't really add much.
Like I said before, I don't really know anything about cameras or photography or anything artistic, really. "But Sean," you say. "Don't you have a degree in culinary arts?" Yeah, well, technically. But to be honest, I've never been particularly impressed by my artistic side, even in the food arts. I think I've gotten better, over the years, or maybe just more confident, but I'm still not comfortable with the presentation side of things.
This is where my camera comes in, though. You see, it takes shitty things I take pictures of, has a few drinks of something on the rocks, does a little ditty and dance, and, voila, MAGICAL PICTURES download to my computer. Color me impressed.
Oi! And it has SO MANY FEATURES. Things I've always wanted to try, but couldn't because regular film is evil and unvegan. Stupid veganism and ethics and Living the Good Life. Where does it get me? WHERE?, I ask. Yeah, ok, a good night's sleep once in a while. I was being rhetorical, anyways. But the features-- THE FEATURES! This is where the happiness comes in. I can do the thing where the thingy stays open for a long time ("adjusting the shutter speed") and do the thing where the thingy gets really close ("zooming in") and do the thing where the thingy goes from looking like my world without contacts to looking like my world with them ("manual focus"). So many features, so much time.
Wait. No time. NO TIME. I need to be writing, not playing with my AWESOME camera (or blogging, I guess). Yeah, I already admitted I'm a loser at this school business. Really, though, avoiding school to be happy and capture moments of beauty? Yeah, there's a choice...
Anyways, it doesn't matter. I was finally able to start writing, and, if I stop taking so many daylong breaks, I'll be done soon. Then, MORE HAPPINESS.
Other happy things on the horizon:
- The NEPSA annual meeting at the end of April that Meg told me I should attend. Generally, only grad students and faculty go, but Meg likes to buck the system a bit, and she didn't think it'd be a problem if I went. I'd try to explain why this is exciting, but I'm afraid it'd come out like, "Hey! Look! Papers on amazing topics like 'The Political is Personal: Third-Wave Feminist Perspectives on Power' and 'Democracy and the Soul: Emerson, Locke, and Internal Matters'! [Meg's paper] How awesome is that?", which probably doesn't look exciting at all, and, further, makes me look like more of a dork than I am.
The Thing about the conference, though (because there's always a Thing), is that it's in Portsmouth, N.H., which is, like, two hours away. Being the Poor Student I am, I can't stay there, and I'm not sure if I want to drive there and back two days in a row. Decisions and revisions. We'll see.
- Easter! I don't know; it seemed like a good excuse so I can make chocolates instead of doing my coursework. I win again.
- Birthday cake and champagne and whatever the hell else I decide to do/ have tomorrow. The time is now, and I'm already planning it out.
- The Joy of Being Alive. But I don't want to brag [any more].
Posted by Sean at April 9, 2004 11:18 PM
Comments
Portsmouth!! I live right near Portsmouth! Well, North Hampton, if you want to be super-exact, but yeah. Portsmouth is right nearby. Exciting! When's the conference? I might be going home for a weekend sometime soon, so lemme know.
What kind of camera do you have? I have a reeeeally old film camera that used to be my Dad's, but I never use it. I have a Kodak digital camera that's three years old and is horrible and dying. I need to get a new digital, but I'm not exactly sure which one... I hear good things about Nikon Coolpix. So we'll see.
Posted by: Jen at April 10, 2004 06:31 PM
The conference is the 30th of April and the 1st of May; it's a Friday and Saturday, though, and you probably don't have Gobstopper weekends like me, huh?
I've heard really good things about the Coolpix, too, especially the 4300... mostly the things that I scream out because it's so awesome. I looked around a bit, and it was the cheapest of the top 4MP cameras. It doesn't record sound if I make movies, but I'm holding out that I can make Liene food in exchange for wickedly awesome subtitles; otherwise, OMG IT'S SO AWESOME AND NOW I WANT A DIGITAL SLR AND PHOTOGRAPHY CLASSES AND COOL THINGS TO TAKE PICTURES OF!
Posted by: Sean at April 10, 2004 08:33 PM
What's a Gobstopper weekend? Does it change colors and flavors and all that good stuff? :p (I'm tired, so to me, that was funny.)
I think I saw one of the Coolpix 2000's or 3000's at Wal-Mart for pretty cheap a little while ago, probably somewhere under $200. However, Wal-Mart is evil. Yeah. Food in exchange for subtitles? Awesome.
By the way, what is your photograph of? It looks yummy.
Posted by: Jen at April 11, 2004 12:04 AM
Heh, well the colors and flavors only happen when I-- wait, um, no, no that's not it. I only have class two days a week, and Liene once described my four-day weekends as Gobstopper weekends.
Yeah, Wal-Mart is the devil. But they have cheap stuff. But it's cheap becuase it costs your soul. Life's full of complex choices, sometimes.
The picture was just of a vegetable stir-fry. Well, maybe not "just," because it was pretty good. It's sort of my staple menu item; well, it, and cous-cous.
Posted by: Sean at April 11, 2004 01:21 AM