Seeing the World in Color Again

Finally after about 18 weeks of seeing in nothing but black and white, I get to see the world in color once more. These last two quarters or so we've been encouraged to look at things as they would look in black and white. I found myself looking around thinking 'that would look pretty good. Lots of texture' or I'd think 'if I took that picture, I would have to do a lot of work on it to make it look good. Not worth the effort'. But for my final project in photo 102, my morning person instructor informed everyone that we can do color prints if we want to. This is so cool! I asked Og if she wanted to go with me to the wonderful melting pot of people (ewww! Gives a whole new meaning to soylent green) that is Pike Place Market. There are so many colorful personalities there, and then the things they're selling are pretty colorful too!

So, anyway, I finally finished my first color print, and after 11 tries, I finally got it! It took me so many tries because the negative had a bunch of yellow in it, so I had to work on getting that balanced out. Then there was too much red in it, so I had to change that. No wonder so many people are going digital! It's cheaper, and not as hard to work with.

M

Achooo!

I finally caught the cold that has been going around campus, and boy is it taking me for a ride! My cousin caught the same cold (probably from his work), so he decided to try that new Airborne stuff that my last photography teacher was raving about last quarter. It seemed to really work for him, he started feeling better about 5 minutes after taking the first dose, but all it did for me was make me feel like the floor was really far away. I kept going back and forth between lying down on the floor by the fire, and playing on the computer and talking to people on the phone. This morning I slept through my alarm, and got up by the time I usually have to leave. In my panic, I forgot that my class starts at 9 (not 8 like I was thinking). The other photo instructor probably thinks I'm a complete moron since I was waiting in the classroom for a class that wouldn't start for another hour.

God I hate colds. They always make me feel off. Wait, I always feel off...hmmmmm.

M

It's...So...Cold!

The middle of this winter had been wet, but not all that cold. It was so wet we were nearing the record of rainfall, but fell short of it by a couple of days. Some people were bummed (I was not one of them), others relieved due to their close proximity of a rapidly rising river. I was to the point where if we had one more day of rain, I was going to start climbing the walls and to my best Spiderman impression (that would probably have amused the cats to no end. They would look at each other and ask 'why is mommy climbing the walls?')

Now it's cold. Very cold. We haven't had much rain, but that doesn't matter. It's so cold, the second I step outside, my eyes freeze to my eyelids. I have to convince my body to keep moving in the original direction, otherwise, my feet would promptly turn around and head back up to the nice warm bed, and my body would attempt hibernation. The wind doesn't help much, either. The sky is blue, and the sun is bright, but its too...damn...cold!

You must excuse me, I have to finish thawing now.

M

Hap'Bird day part 2

I joined my family for dinner to celebrate my birthday last night. We went to a favorite Italian place where Mom and I had seafood, himself and the rest had meat. It doesn't really matter where we went, as long as Himself can have his meat.

After a wonderful dinner, I got to open my present from my parents. I had been hinting about a digital camera for a little while, and even went as far as showing it to my grandmother (the Grand Dame of the Universe). I really wasn't expecting this camera, but the way I looked at it, if I got it I would be ecstatic, and if I didn't get it, I would somehow make enough money to get it.

When I opened the present, I saw the yellow box that belonged to the camera I wanted. I tore off the paper as fast as I could (some of it was being really stubborn, so it took a little more effort. I was tempted to use my teeth on it.) and held my new camera in my hands. It's a nice, small camera that fits into my purse, but it's not so small that I accidentally push a button on it every time I pick it up. The other present was a memory card with enough room on it to take about 100 pictures without having to download any of them onto my computer.

Now I should be able to put all sorts of pictures on my blog. I can't wait. I have some pictures of my cats (Little Princess and Miss Thang are finally starting to get along a little better. Himself caught them both drinking out of the water dish at the same time) that I want to put on here, and some pictures of where I've been.

More later. I have a camera to play with!

M

Hap'bird-day to me!

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday, and Himself had to work pretty much all day. All was good, though since a friend of mine was more than willing to hang out with me and get lost with me on the way to a little shop I like to go to. This town (small city, really. I should know, I've been through all of it) is the ultimate maze near my house. Put me in the main city where I live, and I can find just about anything (on foot. Put me in a car and have me drive anywhere, and I can't figure my way out of a paper bag), but trying to find this little candle shop is like trying to find, well, a small store surrounded by one-way streets, and you're always on the wrong street.

I had three people sing to me over my phone. Two weren't half bad, the other was pretty interesting, since there were about four people in the room, and I'm not entirely sure they were all singing the same song.

I got my grade back for the last picture, and I finally got my 4.0! I took a picture of a really beautiful sunset (only after I took the picture did I remember that I have black and white film in my camera), and apparently my morning person of an instructor really liked it. I have been fighting for that 4.0 in this class for awhile now, and hopefully I'll keep getting them (now that I know that Morning Person really likes lots of contrast and detail in the photos we turn in).

Well, I have to go meet Himself and the Cousin so we can go swimming (warm indoor pool and hot tub...Life is good) before dinner. Himself is making his really good taco salads. Yum!

M

Running Start

I go to a very nice community college that has quite a few wonderful programs and some that are only so-so. Running Start is one of those programs that lurk in the middle, only showing off one side at a time. On one hand, Running Start is great for high school students who maybe can't afford college, and who want to be done with high school and their first two years of college at the same time. It's a great tool, really. On the other hand, the Running Start students get first pick of the classes, which makes it very hard for actual college students to sign up for the classes that they need to finish college. I guess someone on the top of the decision-making committee figured that real college students can continue to pay out the nose (ewww. Never mind. Keep that in your nose) for a longer period of time, just so high school students who decide they don't want to be in high school anymore can pick their classes first and graduate on time (hmmm, with that whole paying out the nose thing, picking classes just got a whole lot more interesting). Himself and I are in agreement on this one. Not all high school students are ready for college, and yet they passed a test, so they get to join the big kids at the big school.

A friend of mine from high school went through Running Start, and she loved it. It meant that she could go to a university right out of high school, and she wouldn't have to deal with high school anymore. We were signed up for the same year, but since she wasn't paying anything for her classes, she didn't have to drop out like I did. College got too expensive for me, and I was forced to drop out (unfortunately). She got to continue her higher education, and graduated with her AA right away. Now she's in an university and she's having a hard time coping with it. This is her second year there, and I'm starting to think that it may be her last year. She says that she's on the same level as all the other people in her class, but it's obvious that she's not. Miss Priss has the mental and emotional age of about 13. Not quite old enough to be away from Mommy, but old enough to be trying to rebel against everyone and be a real bitch. I love her and everything, but it's really hard to spend a lot of time with her because I always feel about 10 years older than her rather then the three or so years. She is incredibly intelligent when it comes to school. She is one of those people who get really good grades for doing nothing. On the flip side, I study my brains out (maybe that's my problem. The brains are supposed to stay in the head), but I usually slip by with a barely passing grade. Ironically, I married one of those people who do great in school (he's very proud of B.S-ing an entire paper once). The one bit of intelligence that Miss Priss is lacking is common sense. She doesn't always realize that she's offended someone until the damage is done and there is no turning back.

I know, really happy post, this one. Oh well. Stress will do that to you.

M