Our Day: 8.30.15

Sunday. Zach took Quinn to meet up with a friend at the park in the morning, while D and I walked to the store for a few groceries (and made a quick stop by Starbucks on the way back). After coming back home, Zach arranged for a game of TA with Donovan and Andrew. They play through an online server, and then also Zach will call Andrew and have him on speaker phone as they play. It's kinda fun listening to the three of them talk strategy (and D try his hand at banter) as they play.

Quinn and I hung out around the rest of the house, snacking and playing on the xbox.

I've been looking for ways to kickstart my creativity, so today I put a fresh roll of film in my yashica and took a few photos outside. This is the camera I got almost a year ago, and I haven't used it a whole lot since then partially because buying and developing 120 film isn't cheap but also because I've felt a little intimidated by the camera-- it is fully manual; the waist-level viewfinder with everything in reverse is a mind-trip to use for composing and focus; the fastest shutter speed is 1/500th of a second; and the minimum focusing distance is about 3ft. All these factors mean that in many ways this camera requires a very different shooting approach and thought process than what I normally use. But it's a fun challenge, and I'm wanting to spend some time exploring and getting more comfortable with this new format (which will include not letting weeks or months go by between shooting and developing...). 

Zach is kind of like a lizard or a cat, one way he relaxes on weekends is to sun himself on the porch while reading The Economist.

D spent a little time this afternoon setting up a small minifigure battle.

We all walked down to Pizza My Heart for an early dinner, then stopped through the park on our way home. We also picked up a gallon of ice cream (we were almost out at home, *gasp* that is a tragedy even worse than running out of chocolate-covered almonds) to have for dessert back at home.

grace in small things #16

• Earlier this week the boys and I checked out the Lindsay Wildlife Museum for the first time. They had several gorgeous birds (who are injured, and so permanent residents of the museum), including these beautiful owls who at right by the window so we got a nice close look at them. What is it about owls that makes them so awesome? 
• This morning we "interviewed" a new sitter who seems totally awesome, I'm crossing fingers that he will work out. We've had mixed luck with finding steady sitters in the past, I'm trying to make a point to find good ones and USE THEM on a regular basis.
• This afternoon I managed to run two (TWO!) errands that I've been meaning to get around to for weeks (ok, months). It feels like a major triumph. 
• Looking back at my goodreads, I realized that I have read over 11 books so far this year (counting adult books, that I've actually finished all the way through). Which is a pretty dang good number, for me at least. I always feel like I never have enough time to read, partially because the list of books I want to read is so ridiculously long (and partially because I'm not exactly a fast reader to begin with), so it's fairly amazing to realize that I am actually reading a good number of books.

faux-retro fun and camera lust

The other night I was on the phone with Jeremy and he mentioned that he was thinking of getting a polaroid camera. So the next day out of curiosity I started browsing cameras on ebay and found The Impossible Project website, and SHOCKER I'm kinda getting the itch to try out old school instant film as well. I had an newer instax camera a few years back, and it was fun to play with, but I'd unfortunately gotten a model with automatic flash that ALWAYS went off even when you didn't need it and my disdain of on-camera flash lighting kinda ruined it (natural light snob? Me? Well YES actually, yes I am), so I think I eventually passed it on to a friend who really wanted one. But it would be fun to give instant film another shot (har), doing better homework ahead of time to make sure to get the right kind of camera this time, and have fun learning a whole different style of photography.

I've also been eyeing mirrorless micro four-thirds cameras that I'm hearing so much about. A couple weeks ago we went to Lake Tahoe for a week with a bunch of my family, and I rented a canon 24-105mm lens for the trip to have a bit more flexibility than my trusty primes provide. It was interesting shooting with a zoom lens for a change, and was more convenient in many ways, but HOLY CRAP I'd forgotten how heavy and bulky that combo can get.  I quickly found myself wondering about these lighter, smaller options that supposedly offer near-dslr quality. I don't know how serious I am about it, but maybe I'll try renting one sometime to play around with.

Anyway, as my photography wishlist grows ever longer, for now I'm sating myself somewhat by re-downloading the ShakeItPhoto app and having some faux-retro fun with that. And trying to remember to use the cameras I already have before lusting longingly for new ones. #photogwoes

experiments with film #5

 I took these pictures sometime back in the spring, took my sweet time going to get them developed, then found out that my local walgreens no longer does one-hour processing (sob!) so I had to wait a whole week then forgot to pick up the film before going out of town so they sat another extra week and THEN FINALLY I picked them up and was able to remember what I'd even photographed to begin with. I really should shorten my shoot-to-develop time, I can't even remember what film this was (I think fuji superia 200? Or maybe 400). That or keep better notes...

introspective

I stumbled upon that first link on twitter today, and it led to the others below, and they kinda relate to each other and kinda not just each struck a chord with me or called out to me in some way. I've been feeling rather introspective lately, indeed it feels like this whole past year has been one of reflection, questioning, examining, and just spending a lot of time inside my own head pondering everything. I've got a birthday coming up in a few weeks, and I may write up a Turning Thirty-Five post as it nears, but for now I wanted to throw these on here for sharing and safekeeping.

18 Things It Took Me 38 Years to Learn

38 Life Lessons I've Learned in 38 Years

Stop Trying to be Happy

The Parent I Aspire to Be