silly hobbies and puzzles and thought experiments

Recently Diana of Our City Lights wrote about how she sometimes thinks she has silly hobbies for a 30 year old, like toy cameras and playing guitar. I, at a youthful 29, have never thought that cameras and guitars were silly. In fact, I am under the impression they are cool. What do you think?

Anyway I commented on that post something like "what would you rather be doing, building a puzzle or something? LOL" and then it hit me: I would rather be building a puzzle! Any of you have any recommendations for good um, puzzle brands? Or something? Is there such a thing as a better quality one? I know nothing about them except it's easier if you start with the corner pieces and I haven't done one since I was about twelve years old.

***here comes a famous Nova segue***

Speaking of puzzles, check out these illustrated videos of famous thought experiments! I found these via Yes and Yes, which you all should be reading for so many reasons if you aren't already.

Diana F+ camera and friendship bracelets. Together at last.

Q: What do you do when you have too many friendship bracelets and not enough friends? 

A: Tie them all together for a makeshift camera strap of course! 

I love my Diana F+ camera, especially since Erin sent me a 35mm back for it, but the strap it came with? No thank you. It's a stiff hard plastic that is awkward and sharp. So I cut that bitch off and made my own very soft and kind of silly strap. But let's be honest here, Diana cameras are not meant to be taken seriously in the first place, are they?

Lomo Action Sampler photos of Tank the dog.

After the Rob Zombie and Slayer pictures, there were still a few photos left on the roll, and you know, you can never have enough photos of a handsome bulldog, right?

That last one's an action shot. 

How could anybody ever say bulldogs are ugly? hahaha Okay yeah I know how. But still, lookatthatfaaace! Awww. I wuv my doggie.

LOMO SPINNER 360 photos!

Mon dieu, mes amis. I was so confused when I got these pictures back from the place in the mall. Since apparently "getting film developed" is now the equivalent of "eating a dodo egg omlette", it takes weeks to get my pictures back. So I did not remember taking a ton of crooked weird-angled photos of...sand. And the driveway, and out the car window. 

 Actually this one's kinda cool on its own.

What on earth was I doing? The subject matter said to me that I was probably just testing a new camera but which one?

I was feeling quite disappointed until I noticed that some of the pictures seemed to go together. Wait...the LOMO SPINNER 360! Since I don't own a film scanner, I chose to just get the film developed regularly, because I figured I'd still get the gist of the amazingness this way. And I was right.

What am I talking about, you ask? Spinner what what what?

It looks like this:

Pretty much, what you do is pull that little cord at the bottom, hold it out and it spins all the way around, photographing everything as it goes. It feels solid as hell and is a real great camera, all in all.

I'm not sad that I ended up trading this away to Erin, because I got a 35mm back for my Diana F+ camera that I NEVER used and suddenly use all the time, so it was a good deal. But now I realize the sheer radness of that camera.

Alright, without further adieu, the photos I got back. Please remember this was a trial run at this camera, with a little practice a person could get some great shots! (Click for a larger view)

And then this one goes the other way:

Today...

...I will try this camera for the first time. Wish me luck!

fisheye, snowman edition

 There hasn't been snow around here for months now, just rain rain rain. And wind. And a little bit of sunshine here and there. The last time it snowed, the kids went out with their neighborhood friends and made this snow man. Not only is it creepy as fuck, it also was made to...poop. They dug a hole through the mouth and out the back and "fed" it pinecones. And named it "doo dude". I believe that's its baby (or perhaps dog) beside it.

You can't make this shit up.

These were taken in February, shared today.

I LOVE PRESENTS :)

Something amazing happened at work on Thursday.
My friend Chris Hold had been by on my days off and left a bazillion presents for me. And a grateful dead bear for Ryan. But who cares about that, do you want to see what he gave me? Forgive the weird lighting and background, I did this photo shoot beside my bed just before I went to sleep last night. :)

Yeah! Four new cameras AND two new (dusty, apparently) lenses. Guh, how much fun is this going to be? I'm especially intrigued with the first one.

Thank you Chris! You rule so much it's not even funny. And all you blog readers out there, check him out for real! He tattoos at Sacred Heart (at Nelson) in Vancouver. He's funny, well-spoken, and way too smart for his own good. Interesting man.

A little fisheye!

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ALSO, check out this giveaway on A Beautiful Journey! You can win a pair of TOM's shoes. YES PLEASE!

I don't even think I'm supposed to be a girl.

 I took that picture on one of my days off last week, as kind of a visual 'to do' list, I suppose.

That old black nailpolish, I swear it must be from when I was in high school...ten years ago! But I decided to put it on the other day. The bottle was nearly empty. And inside, it was all globby and barely liquid anymore. It was more like the consistency of jam with little bits of strawberry in it or something.

But I guess I really wanted black nails, so I just totally went for it. And the result was...special.

Hahaha!

I let it dry like this and then kind of scraped off the excess black under the tap, running warm water over my hands. It probably took a good three hours to fully dry, and seriously, if you smell my hands* they still smell all chemically. Four days later. I think that'll be the last time I use that polish.

*Please don't, that's just weird.

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Hey, on another note, thanks everybody for saying nice things about my dead dog and my feelings. It really feels good to know that strangers out there all over the world care enough to be kind to someone they don't know. Your words really did make me feel better. :)

We're off to see the wizard of ... nevermind.

We have a busy weekend up ahead.

Ryan's oldest boy is turning twelve, and to celebrate we are taking him on a trip somewhere awesome for a few days. Since I hate stalkers ruining my good time in a new city I'll tell you where we went once we're back. Hint: it involves the kid going to a concert and us staying in a really cool hostel. I can't wait to tell you guys more about it!

For now though, here's a few more photos I took with my grandma camera: the Canon AE-1.

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Punk rock* bathroom graffiti!

(As always, if you click the picture you can see a larger version.) 

(Oh, and these are just photos of the photos, so there may be a bit of a glare on them.)

I'm still working on the manual focusing of the camera, so I know these are weird and blurry in the wrong places. I think they're charming, especially when I'm holding the photos in my hands.

*bathroom graffiti may or may not actually be "punk rock"

The first round of photos from my grandma's old camera.

A few months ago my grandma sent me her old Canon AE-1 camera. 

It's big and heavy and takes 35mm film, and it is so fun to use. 

Here are a few of my favorites that I took at the end of December and the beginning of January. 

Needless to say, I will be using this camera all the damn time. Even my mistakes look cool.

And um, I'm never scanning them so sloppily again, haha.