makumaro.net

Stuttering

Start the day off at work with things I normally want to write about. Heh, usually by the time I come home, I’m too tired and only feel like doing feel good stuff like chatting online or just reading stuff. The mornings are just too rushed to write about anything. There are some bits of ideas that get written down but don’t get it to the final published post, so I’m a little unsure of what has been written and this is further compounded by the fact that there’s a vague memory I’ve told someone so it seems like I’ve put it down on paper (or in this sense, digital bytes).

Been having lens envy. Something I coined out of the blue. Lens envy is just looking at all the pretty glass online and longing to own pieces of them. So I’ve been looking at lenses a lot these days and finally understand to a certain extent why pros like the lenses they use. Often these are expensive lenses, and for good reason. Better build and better optics. My kit lens is stellar for the price, and can produce sharp pictures when used properly. I find myself taking more low light shots these days as that’s when I’m free to roam about. That’s where the uber expensive lenses come in, with their wider apertures for better focusing in lowlight (the wider apertures allow more light to hit the focusing sensors) and the optics being good enough at these apertures that you still get sharp, contrasty images. Well, this is all just speculation at the moment, as I’ve never handled a professional lens before, but it sounds about right in theory. My el cheapo 50mm lens is a favourite to use at the moment due to its low light capabilities and excellent sharpness most of the time.

Lens envy aside, I’ve been convincing myself that these are just tools of the trade. One still needs to go out and shoot pictures. My shots have felt lack lustre of late, with an abundance of technically correct but emotionally inadequate pictures a plenty. There is just no feel to my pictures, as they are of buildings, motionless flowers and even shots packed with people feel dry. Heh, I am still experimenting with compositing subjects for a good shot and feel a little frustrated at myself. One really does need to go through thousands of pictures to hopefully capture one brilliant image.

Nodding Off

There is the bad habit of me coming home, plonking down my bag and sitting straight in front of my computer, where I can be mesmerised by the things on my screen until I finally realise it’s time to go to bed. Today was to be the exception, but someone was using the bathroom, so a hot shower will have to wait a bit.

It’s been one of those hectic weeks. Work hasn’t shifted much, just that I had an assignment to hand in, plus some of the world cup matches were on. I always wake up reading about what happened and feel cheated I didn’t get to watch those matches myself. The matches I do get to watch, like England vs Ecuador, were totally lack lustre and terrible. The referees for the tournament have gone from bad to worse, where in one game, the referee dished out 16 yellow cards and 4 red ones. There were some funny incidents like in the Croatia match where the referee gave three yellow cards to the same player. You wonder at times how these mistakes happen.

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Suffering from slight exhaustion at the moment. Heh, haven’t had my coffee today. Apparently coffee keeps you slim. A nice warm cup of that and rest would be good.

Recess

It’s been one of those weekends. Heh, it’s a Sunday night and I’ve been struggling with my Foreign Exchange assignment. I’m not one with long attention spans but this is the closest I’ve ever come to doing most of an assignment before it’s due. Only 2 odd questions left, and I have another 4 or so hours to do it before England play Ecuador in the round of 16 for the World Cup tonight. Australia plays Italy tomorrow night and it’s one of the more anticipated matches. Australia is the odd team out in the this last group of 16. Barely has it reached to the group stages for 32 years, and now it’s among the world’s giants of the footballing nations. It’s an amazing phenomenon, and many countries have adopted Australia as the team to support besides their own nations. Heh, maybe it’s to do with Australia being home to the lovable kangaroo, or maybe it’s that never say die attitude. They have come twice from behind in their qualification matches against Japan and Croatia and now they will play Italy on the big stage. Guus Hiddink, their coach, has a legendary status now for changing teams and making them believe in themselves. He brought South Korea to the semi finals four years ago and it would be just amazing if he can do that for Australia as well.

Back to the assignment. Heh, Vyanne has helped a lot in getting me to focus on my assignment, and I’ve actually sat through long enough to work out the answers to the questions. It’s not easy for me, even if the concepts can ge be grasped. Sounds contradictory? Yes. I don’t say anything is easy until I can explain the concepts back to you inverted and inside out. Everything I know about the topic is hanging by threads now and I’m still trying to balance the ideas in my head to come out with proper answers.

Really should get back to it now. *breathes in*. Just need to hold out another four hours. Heh.

Note: Wanted to name this post Intermission, but I do have a post with that title dating back to 11 April 2004. The odd bits of things I remember.