I'm in Starbucks, doing a bit of work and listening to the conversation beside me, where a woman is talking the ear off a poor guy about how her whole life changed when she started to ride her bike everywhere (good for her), and then another pivotal moment where some acquaintance invited her to a movie at an environmental film festival (not as a date, from what I can gather, but a shared interest in water conservation), and she goes.

"Well OF COURSE, this is WAY out of my comfort zone! I mean it was at 9 pm on a FRIDAY. I don't go out at night, never mind to movies across town."

I started to mentally scoff at the ridiculousness of that statement, as it wasn't like he invited her to a rave or something, but then I realised there are plenty of things I don't do either, like strike up conversations with interesting looking strangers or go out for drinks if someone I've just met randomly invites me. I'm far more likely to protect myself (from who knows what) and make up excuses not to go, no matter the situation.


So I'm glad I didn't last week, when I went to Kits Beach and took some photos. Of the sunset, the logs, the washed-up boats, and a couple of guys having a couple of drinks and playing their guitars. Sure, I snarkily tweeted about them on my phone along the lines of: "stoners, beer, and indie music, ahh kits beach." But then one of them came up to me and asked me to email him my photos, and then they invited me out for dinner across the street, and I went. And had a great time. Until nearly 3am. And now I have two friends that I've only met once but feel like will be a part of my life for awhile, if only for lazy afternoons spent on the beach this summer (another thing I don't usually partake in, for who knows what lame reason).

There's no particular point to this, except that I guess it's kind of cool to expand your horizons, in whatever little way. Movies at 9pm, impromptu, incredibly emotional jam sessions in parking lots, moving away. Whatever.

Back to work.
xx
D

I got my camera! I am very much in love but have been far too busy to take any pictures that don't involve Elliot in bed at midnight. Hopefully soooon!

In the meantime, I've been working on a school project to redesign a newsletter into a magazine. I'm really enjoying it (this whole course, actually), though I find I'm constantly behind it in. I think what happens is that I decide to do all of the stuff I don't like first, because it feels like too much of a treat to be doing design, and then it's suddenly a week (or a weekend) away from being due! And this is a 6cr. 400-level course, so good marks would be nice in order to help out my poor GPA a bit!

Anyway, all that to ramble that it's been really interesting to see just how DIFFERENT every page of a magazine is. BAB is so set on a template that I'm totally used to that, and the other magazines I read regularly/semi-regularly (WIRED, Esquire, Dwell, print, Communication Arts, T+L, Conde Naste, etc.,) are all, I'm finding, actually very unique page to page. It's been an interesting challenge to work out what makes a magazine hold together when it's so different. Wired has a general style around their design (I do love them!), and used many illustrations in a similar vein, so that helps there. But some (many) use a variety of typefaces, two/three/four column grid layouts, colours, and who knows what else over the course of the mag. Granted most have 65+ pages to work with (compared to my 16), which might help? They certainly get more space! I'm jealous of the 5 pages of contents/masthead many seem to have. I'm giving myself 1 and a quarter, with the quarter already feeling a bit cheeky.

I do love magazines, though! It's been a challenge not to read every single one I've picked up for inspiration over the last several days.

Back to it...
D

I'm blaming the roughly 150F my room reached last night before I realised there was a heat vent above my bed, the landlords were cranking the central heating, and that for someone who keeps the heat on the 'don't freeze the pipes/3C setting' it was basically a desert.

But as I was falling asleep I had a minor 'wtf am I thinking?' panic attack regarding my trip. I think it had something to do with reading a 'how to live in Pakistan blog' full of all sorts of warnings just before bed (not that Pakistan is on my to-do list), and deciding at 4am in that weird semi-sleep state, that I was going to get raped and pillaged, not make any friends, get bored (!?), and all sorts of things while away. Even as I was falling back asleep, I knew I wouldn't feel the same in the morning--and I didn't--but I anticipate a fair few more 'uhhhh WHAT am I doing?!' moments between now and my ETD of September 10.

In other news, I sold a camera lens today--for my asking price :)--and between that, a bit of an unexpected check (gotta love them!), and the toonies I've been saving, I can *almost* buy a new camera! Hopefully I can trade in or sell my old body for the difference and get a new one soon. Like next weekend? Ohhh tempted!

I'm going to be getting a micro 4:3 camera. They're a new type of camera that fits somewhere between the dSLRs (great, but big, heavy, and bulky) and compact digital cameras (good for snapshots, can't interchange lenses, no real control, limited zoom). They also shoot HD. They're still relatively new, so there are only two major models--one from Olympus that came out in early '09 and one from Panasonic/Lumix (not sure when this one hit the market).

I'm leaning towards the Olympus with the 14-42mm kit lens (think 28-84mm) for a few reasons--it's cheaper, about $400 so, than the GF! and for me, the only difference that is a difference is the lack of a built-in flash for the Olympus (I know, right?) That said, I was thinking about it today, and I'm reticent to use my flash as it is--it's always a distraction/annoyance somewhere like a museum, you don't need them outside in anything approaching decent light (and a fill flash isn't going to fix a big lack of light on something far away anyway), you can't use them at sporting events, they're not useful at concerts, etc. I end up turning off the flash ALL THE TIME. It's not like I'm going to be setting up a studio shot that often, either, and there are other cameras in the house I could borrow for that if needs be. The one time I can see using a built-in fill flash--at a party/dinner party/club, I'd still probably have my pocket Olympus on me 80% of the time instead, since if that camera gets beer splashed on it or is broken or stolen it's a massive annoyance more than a $700 loss.

You can also buy an external flash for about $150, which still means your net savings isn't negligible.

It also has a WAY more awesome design. I'm in love with the retro look (there's a silver and black body, as opposed to the one in the link above, that I'd be getting).

It's pretty hard--there's no clear winner I don't think. I'd love to be patient enough to wait a year or so and see what emerges as the leader, but...!

mata ne!

d