Hamarana

How long have I been busting to get a dSLR? How long have I waited? How much have I enjoyed the one I have? Short answer: long time, lots.

I’m going to have to sell it. Or put it in mothballs…. the RSI of my right wrist has become too painful.

I am thinking I am going to revert to using the Fuji for a while (since nobody wanted to buy it and now I am thinking thank goodness) and see how my wrist repairs. Last week I was thinking that it was computer use that was causing my problems, but I went all last week, and the weekend on the computer and not taking photographs and I was fine, but went Monday morning for an early shoot and I’ve had to have the wrist brace on ever since then. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that every Pentax camera session has been followed by days and days of brace and aspirin. Unfortunately, every time it happens, its longer and longer between shoots, and its really getting up my nose. I would rather be able to take photographs with a camera thats not a dslr, than have to wait for days between shoots because of the pain.

With all this typing-thinking… I think I have convinced myself that I have to go back to using a bridge camera which is much much lighter. Not as good as a dSLR, but I have managed to produce some pretty decent stuff, and the bridge cams are getting better all the time (thinks… why the hell did I not wait and get the Panasonic FZ28!!!!).

OK, Pentax K200D with Pentax 18-55mm and Tamron 70-300mm lenses and a snoot bag for the cam + 18-55, UV filters for both lenses and a circular polariser for the 18-55 (brings up the clouds beautifully!) on the market. I’ll also throw in my old camera bag. And a truckload of batteries. And for an extra $60, the rechargeables and charger too, and no, they cannot be acquired separately. Guess I will try the work intranet first and then hit the papers. And no, I will not FeeBay it. Asking $950, negotiable. Novocastrians can write to kyteflyer at gmail dot com and arrange to see/make offers. I won’t post it, the gear is too fragile to trust to Australia Post, so it will have to be sold locally or to someone willing to travel to Newcastle to collect it.

Change of mind, temporarily. I’ll use the Fuji for a while until the wrist recovers, then have a last shot at using it and keep all appendages crossed that its okay. I waited too long for this to give up now.

The problem with being me, is that although I do have little spendup times, generally I am painfully and tediously sensible, as many who know me well can attest to.

I really really wanted to get a new camera. And I will, it just is not going to be any of those I wanted. I was really excited about getting a decent tax refund, and had every intention of going out today and buying a superduper DSLR (yes I had changed my mind again, and had the money to be able to do that) but, instead, I have just logged out of my bank website after having just paid around $1200 in bills. Some were outstanding, most were not. Its just that time of year… theres just once in every year when it seems everything comes at once, and thats usually August/September, for me.

So… I am MAYBE going to get a new camera later today. There is an acceptable under $500 compromise, if there are any left now. Otherwise, its all going to have to wait until next year.

And I seem to have left my newish Olympus somewhere… or dropped it out of my bag… no idea… but now I have to go in to the office on my days off and search there, because there is noplace else it could possibly be. What a bloody pest.

[Edit] Camera found and new one bought. Obsolete (2007 model, now superceded by an 8100… not a lot of difference except MP) Fujifilm S8000fd, 18x zoom, 8MP, does macro and everything else I wanted it to. My 3 year old Olympus C760 will now go to live in a new home, depending on who wants it.

Its only good when you are young and healthy. There really isn’t much that’s scarier than being really sick in the middle of the night with nobody there to help. Especially if its not ambulance-worthy (ie life-threatening) and you just have to put up with whats happening. Been awake since around 2am and cannot return to bed, its not over yet

I’m heading down to the beach this morning. I am so ticked off about some work related crap, I need to go and take some photographs… or if its not such a great day for that, I am just going to go sit and look at the ocean. Its a wonderful way to settle one’s anxieties and anger. No more to be said, right now.

Oh… except… and a fat-laden McDonald’s breakfast would be good too. Shame about the weightgain and BSL boost.

Its a royal pain in the behind. I often wake early because of cats, or the alarm because I need to go to work. But early morning waking when I can’t blame cats or alarm and I actually am NOT in the mood for going down to the beach is enough to drive one to complete distraction. As if I am not already distracted enough. I am reminded of the hilarious Nightmare Song from Iolanthe (a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta for those of you uninitiated). The introductory lines are about unrequited love, but the body of the song is the thing (and never refers to love again which is something of a puzzlement, I think G&S must have had brainfarts there)

Love, unrequited, robs me of me rest
Love, hopeless love, my ardent soul encumbers
Love, nightmarelike, lies heavy on me chest,
And weaves itself into my midnight slumbers….

When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is taboo’d by anxiety,
I concede you may use any language you choose to indulge in, without impropriety;
Your brain is on fire; the bedclothes conspire of usual slumber to plunder you:
First the counterpane goes, and uncovers your toes, then your sheet slips demurely from under you;
The blanketing tickles, you feel like mixed pickles so terribly sharp is the pricking,
You’re hot, and you’re cross, and you tumble and toss till there’s nothing ‘twixt you and the ticking.
Then the bedclothes all creep to the ground in a heap, and you pick ‘em all up in a tangle;
Next your pillow resigns and politely declines to remain at its usual angle!
Well, you get some repose in the form of a doze, with hot eyeballs and head ever aching.
But your slumbering teems with such horrible dreams that you’d very much better be waking;

For you dream you are crossing the Channel, and tossing about in a steamer from Harwich,
Which is something between a large bathing machine and a very small second-class carriage;
You’re giving a treat (penny ice and cold meat) to a party of friends and relations,
They’re a ravenous horde, and they all came on board at Sloane Square and South Kensington Stations.
And bound on that journey you find your attorney (who started that morning from Devon);
He’s a bit undersized, and you don’t feel surprised when he tells you he’s only eleven.
Well, you’re driving like mad with this singular lad (by the by, the ship’s now a four-wheeler),
You’re playing round games, and he calls you bad names when you tell him that “ties pay the dealer”;
But this you can’t stand, so you throw up your hands, and you find you’re as cold as an icicle,
In your shirt and your socks (the black silk with gold clocks), crossing Salisbury Plain on a bicycle:
And he and the crew are on bicycles too, which they’ve somehow or other invested in,
And he’s telling the tars all the particulars of a company he’s interested in,
It’s a scheme of devices, to get at low prices all goods from cough mixtures to cables
(Which tickled the sailors), by treating retailers as though they were all vegetables:
You get a good spadesman to plant a small tradesman (first take off his boots with a boot-tree),
His legs will take root, and his fingers will shoot, and they’ll blossom and bud like a fruit-tree,
From the greengrocer tree you get grapes and green pea, cauliflower, pineapple, and cranberries,
The pastrycook plant cherry brandy will grant, apple puffs, and three corners, and Banburys,
The shares are a penny, and ever so many are taken by Rothschild and Baring,
And just as a few are allotted to you, you awake with a shudder despairing…

You’re a regular wreck, with a crick in your neck, and no wonder you snore, for your head’s on the floor, and you’ve needles and pins from your soles to your shins; your flesh is a-creep, and your left leg’s asleep, you’ve cramp in your toes, and a fly on your nose, some fluff in your lung, and a feverish tongue, a thirst that’s intense, and a general sense that you haven’t been sleeping in clover;

But the darkness has passed, and it’s daylight at last, and the night has been long..
ditto ditto my song
and thank goodness they’re both of them over!

Yep. Nights are like that, sometimes.

It occurred to me this morning as I was waking (I have my best thoughts when I wake) that its not very hard to love someone. What’s hard is loving someone and not expecting or demanding anything in return. Its a lesson worth learning.

Good company, good gossip, good environment. Thats the makings of a fine lunch which was had with a couple of friends on Queen’s Wharf in Newcastle, yesterday. The restaurant, Blue Water Pizza, sells gourmet pizza, as well as many other dishes. I had something called a Calypso wrap, which was pieces of chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion and chili sauce, wrapped in lavash bread, with fries on the side. It was yummy.

All in all, a pleasant place to be

And no… you don’t get to hear/read the gossip