For those of you who have been following my facebook updates, you'll have seen that I'm in the process of moving my office to our other spare room. The room I've been using for an office is very dark, and has a teeny window that's more like a prison cell window (it even has bars on it!) and it faces into the neighbor's house. Am I being picky? Yes I am- I'm an artist, call it artistic temperament. :) I hate working in there, so I end up sitting in the living room anyway. So I decided to move the desk etc into the other room. The problem was that my desk is too big to fit in the corner of the spare room...that's how the desk ended up in the other room in the first place. I've tried everything rather than having to actually cut the desk, because I knew it would be a huge ordeal and a lot of effort, but in the end I managed to psych myself up for it Friday, and I singlehandedly moved everything out of my office, flipped the huge desk over, and cut through the wooden top. I then had to go buy another saw (the saw I bought had a picture of someone cutting metal but it was in reality mislabeled) to cut through the 1/8in hollow steel support beams underneath the desk. Since I had covered our entire bedroom in the contents of my office, I had to finish cutting the desk and getting it out of the room before we could go to bed. :) G had planned to have a game night last night, so I left them to the games while I hacksawed the beams and moved everything back. Good exercise that's for sure!
Today I reassembled the desk in the new office, and was supposed to remove a closet door so that I could carry on using the space in it without blocking the door. Unfortunately the screws are very old, and the head of one cracked right in half while I was trying to unscrew it. Great. I haven't decided what to do about that yet- the desk will completely block the closet, so I have to either remove the door or shut it forever. I considered cutting through the hinges with my hacksaw, but I'm not sure the landlord would approve. :) If the house were mine the hinges would be gone, and I'd remove the closed in closet and put shelves there instead. Ah well. I need to finish the office moving this weekend, because photography projects are starting to come in and I need to generate some new ones to pay for my awesome new website!
Today I'm off to watch the 6 Nations rugby match, England vs Ireland. I'm photographing next Saturday at the Cambridge rugby game but I don't know anything about rugby, so I better learn fast! :)
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
February 25, 2010
I was told by someone today that I am a "lively" person. Where lively means that I seem to be able to make the most mundane and boring things sound interesting. This after I was telling about my experience of having to wait at the stupid traffic calming thingies going through Stow. 4 traffic calming posts, 20 minutes waiting in long queues, true drama to be had- if you're me apparently. :) Whether its true that my flair for drama (which has it's negative sides let me assure you) means I can make the boring interesting in the retelling or not, I don't need it for this story that's for sure. :)
First, a little background information. Camera clubs are a big deal in England- seems like every village has one. A subset within camera clubs is something called an "AV Show" which stands for audio visual. Think photos set to music, with a few transition effects. That's basically all that they are, perhaps some funky text thrown in, and maybe a person with a droll voice narrating something boring. You've seen them on you tube- most high schoolers in the US have to make one of some kind.
For some reason, this sort of photos put to music show has developed an almost cult following here. A club night of AV shows is usually excrutiatingly painful in my opinion. :) But the goal of our speakers tonight was not just showing us a bunch of their AVs, but teaching people what's cool about them and how to do them. It's no secret that I hate AV shows, but I decided to give these guys my full attention since they did drive all the way from London. Turns out they are specialists in AV shows- they run a separate AV section within the Royal Photographic Society, which all of our clubs are members of. They have been doing them for over 20 years, they are judges of what makes good AV shows, they run AV competitions. But enough background. :)
The first AV show they had definitely set the scene- it was called Splendor of the Highlands or something (they always have these silly names) and I thought "oh cool, I love the highlands, how can you go wrong with that?" But there was a sliiiight problem. After the goofy Photoshop effects looking writing disappeared, the music started. But what kind of music? Scottish music? No. Believe it or not, the most traditional sounding Chinese music started to play. The music itself was lovely- beautiful Chinese melodies on violin, Chinese flute, and all sorts of things. But if you've heard that sort of music and seen any pictures at all of Scotland, you can see why they just don't compliment each other. :)
If I went on to detail them all for you I'd bore you to tears- that was all to set the scene for the shows that had American themes, which were the most interesting to me. :)
The Grand Canyon is like a British tourist hot spot- bet you didn't know that! my British fotog friends are always going to America to photograph- I've seen SO many photos of people's visits there. And it's an awesome place, but this show didn't quite capture the mood. :) They were his holiday photos, shot basically from the rim, mostly from the same spot but at different times of the day. He narrated it, and as the narrator is going on, with pleasant sounding music in the background, about how the canyon was formed, suddenly the music goes all sinister....and while the SAME style of photos, pleasant shots of the canyon, are going in the background, he proceeds to tell with a STRAIGHT voice about 2 photographers who met various dooms at the Grand Canyon! (Canyon of DOOOOOM!) The first guy's kids were the unfortunate victims when he was so eager to photograph that he forgot to set the handbrake and the car rolled right over the edge without him noticing it- the narrator made sure to tell us there were 2 little boys in it, and that the car burst into flames after it impacted. Uh, thanks for that? Ok sinister music over, pleasant photos, but this time the story is about a photographer who wasn't paying attention to where he stood, was too close to the edge and fell 300 feet to his death. Again, uh, thanks? The show ended with the narrator telling what a nice place the canyon was to visit. Need I remind you this is all done in the voice of a pleasant sounding retired British man. :) I almost had to leave the room because I couldn't resist the temptation to laugh out loud.
My personal favourite, though while it was playing I wished I'd sat closer to the door because I needed an escape route, was....suspense building......Shania Twain. That's right- Shania Twain. She apparently performed at Wembley Stadium a year or 2 ago, and one of these guys (retired British men) had tickets in like the 3rd row, and brought along his Nikon Coolpix to take photos of Shania Twain. I can't tell you Americans how HORRIBLY awkward it is (not to mention just plain WEIRD!) to be sitting in a room full of mostly retired British men, watching 10 blurry pictures of Shania Twain and her band being cycled over and over in various configurations, to the very loud "Man I feel like a woman!" playing in the background. It was one of those moments where you want to shrink into the carpet- I can't stand Shania Twain, I don't consider her representative of America, and that song isn't even good. The weirdest thing about it was that they all thought it was so cool! Guys around me were all tapping their feet! I like country, but I'd put Shania at the bottom of the list of truly quality country singers. And yet somehow her annoying voice singing silly lyrics was cool. Wow. Just wow. :)
And that dear friends was the culmination of the evening- Shania Twain's "Man I feel like a woman."
I had thought before tonight that I might try my own AV show- they keep nagging us to submit them for our Annual Exhibition. However, after tonight that thought has no been entirely rejected. Nothing will get rid of the image of a darkened room with my camera club friends all digging Shania Twain singing "Oh oh oh OH!" to a ton of blurry terrible concert pics. :)
First, a little background information. Camera clubs are a big deal in England- seems like every village has one. A subset within camera clubs is something called an "AV Show" which stands for audio visual. Think photos set to music, with a few transition effects. That's basically all that they are, perhaps some funky text thrown in, and maybe a person with a droll voice narrating something boring. You've seen them on you tube- most high schoolers in the US have to make one of some kind.
For some reason, this sort of photos put to music show has developed an almost cult following here. A club night of AV shows is usually excrutiatingly painful in my opinion. :) But the goal of our speakers tonight was not just showing us a bunch of their AVs, but teaching people what's cool about them and how to do them. It's no secret that I hate AV shows, but I decided to give these guys my full attention since they did drive all the way from London. Turns out they are specialists in AV shows- they run a separate AV section within the Royal Photographic Society, which all of our clubs are members of. They have been doing them for over 20 years, they are judges of what makes good AV shows, they run AV competitions. But enough background. :)
The first AV show they had definitely set the scene- it was called Splendor of the Highlands or something (they always have these silly names) and I thought "oh cool, I love the highlands, how can you go wrong with that?" But there was a sliiiight problem. After the goofy Photoshop effects looking writing disappeared, the music started. But what kind of music? Scottish music? No. Believe it or not, the most traditional sounding Chinese music started to play. The music itself was lovely- beautiful Chinese melodies on violin, Chinese flute, and all sorts of things. But if you've heard that sort of music and seen any pictures at all of Scotland, you can see why they just don't compliment each other. :)
If I went on to detail them all for you I'd bore you to tears- that was all to set the scene for the shows that had American themes, which were the most interesting to me. :)
The Grand Canyon is like a British tourist hot spot- bet you didn't know that! my British fotog friends are always going to America to photograph- I've seen SO many photos of people's visits there. And it's an awesome place, but this show didn't quite capture the mood. :) They were his holiday photos, shot basically from the rim, mostly from the same spot but at different times of the day. He narrated it, and as the narrator is going on, with pleasant sounding music in the background, about how the canyon was formed, suddenly the music goes all sinister....and while the SAME style of photos, pleasant shots of the canyon, are going in the background, he proceeds to tell with a STRAIGHT voice about 2 photographers who met various dooms at the Grand Canyon! (Canyon of DOOOOOM!) The first guy's kids were the unfortunate victims when he was so eager to photograph that he forgot to set the handbrake and the car rolled right over the edge without him noticing it- the narrator made sure to tell us there were 2 little boys in it, and that the car burst into flames after it impacted. Uh, thanks for that? Ok sinister music over, pleasant photos, but this time the story is about a photographer who wasn't paying attention to where he stood, was too close to the edge and fell 300 feet to his death. Again, uh, thanks? The show ended with the narrator telling what a nice place the canyon was to visit. Need I remind you this is all done in the voice of a pleasant sounding retired British man. :) I almost had to leave the room because I couldn't resist the temptation to laugh out loud.
My personal favourite, though while it was playing I wished I'd sat closer to the door because I needed an escape route, was....suspense building......Shania Twain. That's right- Shania Twain. She apparently performed at Wembley Stadium a year or 2 ago, and one of these guys (retired British men) had tickets in like the 3rd row, and brought along his Nikon Coolpix to take photos of Shania Twain. I can't tell you Americans how HORRIBLY awkward it is (not to mention just plain WEIRD!) to be sitting in a room full of mostly retired British men, watching 10 blurry pictures of Shania Twain and her band being cycled over and over in various configurations, to the very loud "Man I feel like a woman!" playing in the background. It was one of those moments where you want to shrink into the carpet- I can't stand Shania Twain, I don't consider her representative of America, and that song isn't even good. The weirdest thing about it was that they all thought it was so cool! Guys around me were all tapping their feet! I like country, but I'd put Shania at the bottom of the list of truly quality country singers. And yet somehow her annoying voice singing silly lyrics was cool. Wow. Just wow. :)
And that dear friends was the culmination of the evening- Shania Twain's "Man I feel like a woman."
I had thought before tonight that I might try my own AV show- they keep nagging us to submit them for our Annual Exhibition. However, after tonight that thought has no been entirely rejected. Nothing will get rid of the image of a darkened room with my camera club friends all digging Shania Twain singing "Oh oh oh OH!" to a ton of blurry terrible concert pics. :)
Sunday, 21 February 2010
February 21, 2010
I think I forgot to update about the Chinese New Year celebration- it was such good fun, we had over 100 people there, and everyone really enjoyed themselves. I'm still learning how to get photos up here via Picasa, I can't seem to upload the new year party ones!
iHUB is going well- I've switched out of the women's study group in the mornings, which has given me quite a bit more time to focus on people in my iHUB group. As I've grown more busy with photography I just haven't had as much time, and being stretched thin between 2 groups isn't ideal. Cutting back has already been really good for me, though I do miss the ladies!
The weather has been really strange here- right now there are big balls of hail coming down, and this morning we had snow. Bulbs and things are already growing, so it'd be good if the snow would stop, though it's so beautiful. :) It's a busy time at the Abbey between the snowdrops coming in and the house itself opening at the beginning of March. I've been photographing Lord Fairhaven's china plates, his paintings, and tons of other things that we want photos of for the signs and leaflets for when the house opens to the public. I've also been busy helping with the allotments project (think vegetable garden space for people, but all in one big field) and I'm looking forward to having a proper big space to plant veggies and to teaching people how to care for their gardens.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
February 16, 2010
Just now I had a funny conversation- I didnt mean it to be funny, but the "this is sensible" filter in my brain has been influenced by an entire day of very funny events and laughing with friends...including photographing people holding white pieces of paper (uh, NT regional orders!) lots of funny moments can be had with white paper and an eco loo... :) But back to the conversation:
G: "I know how to say 'the table is wooden.' in Chinese.
Me: "do you know how to say foot?"
G: "yeah..."
Me: "well then you can say 'my foot is wooden' so you'd be all set!"
G: "uh..."
Me: "oh, actually do you know how to say 'leg'? Then if you had a pirate peg leg you could say 'my leg is wooden.'
G: "umm..."
This didnt strike me as strange until he started laughing- after all, saying 'this table is wooden' seems boring and uninteresting. Whereas 'my leg is wooden' is obviously much more interesting, dont you think? My thoughts exactly. :) and if you ever DID have a wooden foot or wooden leg you'd for sure need to tell people about it, like driving instructors and stuff...ok maybe I was also a little sleep deprived too...
G: "I know how to say 'the table is wooden.' in Chinese.
Me: "do you know how to say foot?"
G: "yeah..."
Me: "well then you can say 'my foot is wooden' so you'd be all set!"
G: "uh..."
Me: "oh, actually do you know how to say 'leg'? Then if you had a pirate peg leg you could say 'my leg is wooden.'
G: "umm..."
This didnt strike me as strange until he started laughing- after all, saying 'this table is wooden' seems boring and uninteresting. Whereas 'my leg is wooden' is obviously much more interesting, dont you think? My thoughts exactly. :) and if you ever DID have a wooden foot or wooden leg you'd for sure need to tell people about it, like driving instructors and stuff...ok maybe I was also a little sleep deprived too...
Monday, 15 February 2010
February 15, 2010
I had my first UK driving lesson/assessment this morning. We originally thought we'd only be here about a year, so we only took the first part of the driving test, 2 years ago, which gave us a Provisional License so we could drive another 2 years. Well here we are, coming up on 3 years here in July (I still feel a bit shocked by that- in some ways so little has changed since our first weeks here) so we will need to get the next phase of the driving test taken care of before the Provisional runs out or else we can't drive here legally. Mine runs out in June, and I don't like to leave this sort of thing till the last minute so I booked a free assessment with a business contact of mine who teaches driving. Mind you I've never taken an actual driving test- when I was 16 it wasn't required, we only had to take the written part. I've been practicing what they consider to be good driving habits here though, for the past 2 years.
The driving lesson was very easy- I was relieved to hear him say that I should go ahead and book the test, with an hour or 2 or instruction beforehand, and I'd pass it easily. The goal is that you be a "safe" driver, and learning what exactly they mean by that is where it gets tricky. Anyway he considered me a safe driver already, which is good- only 60% of people pass the test the first time through, and 40% is a large enough possibility of failing!
I'll book the test for March I think so I can get it out of the way, and then I'll have a UK drivers license for life. That's right- for life. You don't have to renew it, or take more tests, or anything at all- once you have it that's it. I'm sure having a UK license will be helpful int he future, as most countries will allow you to drive if you have a UK one.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
February 7, 2010
A few days ago I heard something on the radio that was interesting. Well maybe my initial response to it was more interesting than the fact itself. They were talking about the Wandle River- that's somewhere in Cambridgeshire, not sure exactly where. There's been a lot of press recently on BBC4 about allotments- plots where people who have teeny yards can grow vegetables. Well some folks on the Wandle have turned the river banks into allotments and been successfully growing veggies there for sometime now. Anglesey Abbey is part of the NT scheme to create 1000 allotments this year, so I've been listening closely to the allotment radio thingies. Back to the story at hand...
BBC 4 was asking these folks who created allotments on the river banks what it was like to have them, was the soil fertile, etc etc. Then they went to a bend in the river where apparently there'd been a lot of crap washing up. Yum- garbage and veggies together! :P Just as I was pondering to myself how very truly disgusting that idea was and how fortunate that the allotments in Lode are NOT by a filthy nasty river, I heard the guy they were interviewing say "We clean this section of the river every month. Just last month we found 4 safes, 6 motorbikes..." I kid you not that the very first thing that popped into my head was:
"WHOA- hold up!! 6 motorbikes? 6 motorbikes! 6 people didn't want their motorbikes? If I could manage to get my hands on one I could take the whole thing apart and fix it! I wonder if I could buy spare parts here- heck maybe someone ditched a bike in the river Cam! Do I know someone who dredges out the river?"
I can't believe that I actually thought that. There are at least a million reasons why this would not be a good new hobby for me- not the least of which being that I already have enough hobbies!! I don't need to spend 3 hrs a night stripping down a motorbike! It would be good fun that's for sure- I'd love to learn the ins and outs of an engine like that. Hmm on second thought, anyone else want to learn how to strip down, rebuild, restore, then drive a motorbike that was dumped in a river? Come on it'll be fun! ;)
BBC 4 was asking these folks who created allotments on the river banks what it was like to have them, was the soil fertile, etc etc. Then they went to a bend in the river where apparently there'd been a lot of crap washing up. Yum- garbage and veggies together! :P Just as I was pondering to myself how very truly disgusting that idea was and how fortunate that the allotments in Lode are NOT by a filthy nasty river, I heard the guy they were interviewing say "We clean this section of the river every month. Just last month we found 4 safes, 6 motorbikes..." I kid you not that the very first thing that popped into my head was:
"WHOA- hold up!! 6 motorbikes? 6 motorbikes! 6 people didn't want their motorbikes? If I could manage to get my hands on one I could take the whole thing apart and fix it! I wonder if I could buy spare parts here- heck maybe someone ditched a bike in the river Cam! Do I know someone who dredges out the river?"
I can't believe that I actually thought that. There are at least a million reasons why this would not be a good new hobby for me- not the least of which being that I already have enough hobbies!! I don't need to spend 3 hrs a night stripping down a motorbike! It would be good fun that's for sure- I'd love to learn the ins and outs of an engine like that. Hmm on second thought, anyone else want to learn how to strip down, rebuild, restore, then drive a motorbike that was dumped in a river? Come on it'll be fun! ;)
Saturday, 6 February 2010
February 6, 2010
I've been busy at the Abbey this week, and catching up on photos still- I did quite a few today in fact. Otherwise it's been quiet here! With Z away this weekend and G still away, I've had the house to myself all weekend- it's a bit strange really! :) I got the wardrobe moved upstairs today, so tomorrow I'll be rearranging my office, getting stuff sorted and put away, and now I have the spare room cleared out so there's proper space for a bed for guests. Anyway that's all very mundane, but it's easier to work when things are properly tidy and orderly, in my experience anyway. :)
Next weekend we have a big event at StAG for Chinese New Year- it's like the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving, in that everyone usually goes home to see their families. It's a good time to meet with people and share the good news with them, and to celebrate. Pr for many new friends to come, and for chances to invite and encourage old friends to come along. Farther ahead it looks like some friends will be visiting at the end of March- I'm really looking forward to it!
It's nearly bed time now, so I'll keep it short for today!
Next weekend we have a big event at StAG for Chinese New Year- it's like the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving, in that everyone usually goes home to see their families. It's a good time to meet with people and share the good news with them, and to celebrate. Pr for many new friends to come, and for chances to invite and encourage old friends to come along. Farther ahead it looks like some friends will be visiting at the end of March- I'm really looking forward to it!
It's nearly bed time now, so I'll keep it short for today!
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
February 3, 2010
Making headway on the photo editing- it's funny going through all my photos en masse though, because sometimes I forget that I've taken something, and sometimes I think "Wow, what a great shot!" As if it wasn't mine and I was looking at someone else's work. I think that's one advantage of film- you have to wait for it to come back developed, where as digital you see it instantly and process it so quickly. I actually have time to prep some images for the curves competition and get them in before the deadline, which is tomorrow I think. I haven't entered one competition this year- I've been too busy!
It's been grey and cloudy here- warmer, and I did see the sun for at least an hour today, so no complaints there. The snowdrops are up at Anglesey Abbey, and I went along on a tour to get some photos but it started raining! Believe it or not people here always have umbrellas- always. Big golf umbrellas too- so my colleague who was giving the tour carried on like it wasn't raining, and everyone looked at the lovely snowdrops, and it was really funny actually. I suppose in Wales if you stopped for the rain you'd never do anything. :)
It's only 2:30 here- I've been getting so much done that the time whizzed by. Last night I was up till nearly 1 working on photos- you have to strike while the iron is hot in my opinion. At least that works for me- if I had as much work now as I had in engineering school I'd be lucky to get half a day off each week. Having gone through 5 years of that, where I had to increment my time into 10 minute blocks (including on the bus) so I could maximize the work I got done, I feel so blessed to be able to choose my own hours. A kind friend once told me while I was in my senior year that she thought college students had more free time than they'd ever have at any other point in their lives, and I nearly died- I was killing myself 12 or 14 hours a day working virtually non-stop save potty breaks and scarfing some food, how could it ever get worse than that?! :) Turns out that engineering school can be the exception. They train you to be disciplined, and to never see any problem as impossible to solve- which is why engineers often end up as successful doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.We're like well oiled machines by the time they're done with us. :) And I had the advantage of coming from a hard working family- before I even hit college I'd helped run a business, worked long hours at it, and kept up with my school work.
I've tried to explain all this to various people that I come across here who think I'm a nutter as they'd say. :)
Ok that's enough procrastinating- back to work! If I keep at it I'll have all the photos processed, uploaded, and sorted (all 40 sets) by the end of the week, and then I can spend the weekend goofing off. :) I don't have it all that hard- Monday I woke up early but took a half holiday and stayed in bed till noon! So don't feel bad for me. ;)
It's been grey and cloudy here- warmer, and I did see the sun for at least an hour today, so no complaints there. The snowdrops are up at Anglesey Abbey, and I went along on a tour to get some photos but it started raining! Believe it or not people here always have umbrellas- always. Big golf umbrellas too- so my colleague who was giving the tour carried on like it wasn't raining, and everyone looked at the lovely snowdrops, and it was really funny actually. I suppose in Wales if you stopped for the rain you'd never do anything. :)
It's only 2:30 here- I've been getting so much done that the time whizzed by. Last night I was up till nearly 1 working on photos- you have to strike while the iron is hot in my opinion. At least that works for me- if I had as much work now as I had in engineering school I'd be lucky to get half a day off each week. Having gone through 5 years of that, where I had to increment my time into 10 minute blocks (including on the bus) so I could maximize the work I got done, I feel so blessed to be able to choose my own hours. A kind friend once told me while I was in my senior year that she thought college students had more free time than they'd ever have at any other point in their lives, and I nearly died- I was killing myself 12 or 14 hours a day working virtually non-stop save potty breaks and scarfing some food, how could it ever get worse than that?! :) Turns out that engineering school can be the exception. They train you to be disciplined, and to never see any problem as impossible to solve- which is why engineers often end up as successful doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.We're like well oiled machines by the time they're done with us. :) And I had the advantage of coming from a hard working family- before I even hit college I'd helped run a business, worked long hours at it, and kept up with my school work.
I've tried to explain all this to various people that I come across here who think I'm a nutter as they'd say. :)
Ok that's enough procrastinating- back to work! If I keep at it I'll have all the photos processed, uploaded, and sorted (all 40 sets) by the end of the week, and then I can spend the weekend goofing off. :) I don't have it all that hard- Monday I woke up early but took a half holiday and stayed in bed till noon! So don't feel bad for me. ;)
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