Weblog Wannabe

Nothing Too Exciting

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:50:52 -0500

Not being a conventional picture-taker, I feel like a big weirdo when I’m out and about shooting with some film cameras that look nothing like modern-time digital cameras. I said “like a big weirdo” because I already feel like a weirdo just by being me. That’s why I rarely go out to shoot alone. I have to take Troy with me because he looks somewhat normal and I’m hoping he somehow neutralizes my weirdness, or at least makes me look a little less weird. Why I care about what some strangers think of me, I have no idea.

I bought two African violets yesterday because they were on sale for $1.49 each at the grocery store across the street. I’ve had one African violet before the addition. I’ve had it for a little over a year and it’s been a really good plant, blooming every now and then. I thought I could adopt a couple more. I read that your age is measured by the number of African violets you have and that you should only have one African Violet for every decade you’ve been alive. I have three. I’m good.

You know it’s PMS-time when you feel blah for no apparent reasons.

Tired, Sleepy, and Can't Think

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:36:44 -0500

Since it’s late and I’m sleepy, I’ll just leave you with one of my favourite photos, taken on a roll of film that expired in 1977 and developed with coffee and washing soda. Goodnight!

Nothing

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:56:55 -0500

I have nothing to say here today. I tweeted a lot of crap, though.

(How’s that for blogging just for the sake of blogging?)

In Not Too Many Words

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:45:35 -0500

I hope that if there is an afterlife, it’s the one where we get reunited with the people we love who passed away before us. That’s the kind of afterlife I like to believe anyway. Troy’s grandma passed away this afternoon. She’d been missing her husband a lot ever since he passed away last year. I hope they’re having a lovely reunion.

Splish Splash

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:27:13 -0500

What is it about swimming that makes you sleepy? Is it the amount of chlorine that ended up in your eyes? I suspect so. Though it’s probably not. But it’s always the case, even when I was a kid. After a swim, all I want to do is sleep.

We started going swimming in an indoor, heated pool at a hotel in town last week. We’re lucky enough to have free access to the pool so might as well take advantage of it. It’s nice to be able to swim in warm water because even in the summer, the water in an outdoor pool, more often than not, is too cold for me.

I used to swim a lot growing up. My mother was a strong swimmer and she wanted me to be just as strong swimmer as she was. I think I didn’t disappoint. She always watched proudly as I swam laps at a hotel’s Olympic-sized swimming pool where we went for our weekly swim.

The thing about swimming is, when you’re used to swimming regularly, if you stop, you get fat. That’s what happened to me. At least I still have my swimmer’s shoulders. I never needed any shoulder pads. Shoulder pads only make me look like an American football player.

Getting Cultured

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:27:25 -0500

I had high hopes when we went to see West Side Story last Saturday since all the reviews I read about the show had been good. Someone who had seen a Broadway version even said it was better than Broadway. So yeah, I had high hopes. Sadly, it didn’t deliver. I don’t know if we were there on an off night or the casts were already burnt out since it was close to the end of the season, but it was just flat and soulless. I didn’t care about any of the characters. They simply couldn’t make me care, When one of the main characters, Tony, died in the climax, I felt nothing. I was so disappointed.

We still have one more play to see before the theatre season ends for the year: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. The reviews have been great. This one had better deliver.

We saw the actor who played Tony dining alone at our favourite diner one night. Wasn’t really how or where I’d expected to see him off the stage. He should’ve been dining somewhere in a more upbeat restaurant with a bunch of actor friends. But there he was. Dining alone.

“I’m surprised you didn’t throw yourself at Tony when you saw him at the restaurant. Oh wait, you’re already in love with Brutus.”

“Yeah. True. Besides, Brutus is coming back next year! Tony isn’t.”

There's Always Something

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:33:04 -0500

We had our home energy audit done today. According to the auditor, our house isn’t bad for a house this old (90 years old) but the basement really needs to be insulated because it’s a major heat leak. No wonder the main floor is always so cold in the autumn and winter. We have 18 months to do something about it in order to qualify for the government rebates/grants. We’re procrastinators so we’ll see. ;)

The Fall version of the ‘Roid Week began today. Troy helped me hack a Polaroid Land Automatic 100 camera we bought ages ago last night because I wanted to use it during the ‘Roid Week. The hack was to make the camera take 3 AAA batteries instead of some obscure and obsolete battery that I don’t think is available anywhere in Canada. We followed the instructions found here but not really to a tee since we couldn’t find the 4xAAA battery holder and had to use two 2xAAA holders instead but eh, it works. It helps to have an engineer in the household. It took awhile for me to get the hang of the camera, but I think I have now. In fact, I just bought more film for it off eBay. Oh to be a film junkie!

While others seem to have recurring dreams about being in love with, say, celebrities, I have recurring dreams about being in love with my own husband. It’s weird, as in “well duh!” weird.

Extra Hour My A**

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:59:13 -0500

There was an old lady trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en night in an old lady costume. Troy gave her the candies and she left and I was like, “Was it an old lady dressing up as an old lady?” and he confirmed it. It’s still boggling my mind. Stratford never fails to amaze me.

I frickin’ hate DST.

It’s NaBloPoMo time again. Let’s see if I can come up with something worth posting every single day of the month.

Busy Bee

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:01:07 -0500

Was busy working and now it’s time for bed already. Maybe I should just turn this blog into a photoblog. The thing is, some days I do feel like rambling and that’s when this blog comes in handy. But most of the days, I just don’t know what to write here. Anyway, to the two people still reading this blog, thank you for sticking around! :)

Meh.

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:56:43 -0500

Don’t really feel like writing. Been feeling kind of blah. Tired of being told I’m a bad person by folks back home in Indonesia for not being religious. Tired of being judged by people who don’t know the whole story. But I haven’t grown tired of the picture above. I think it’s pretty, even if I say so myself.

It's weekend!

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:54:56 -0500

Not much time to write so I’ll just leave you with an overexposed polaroid shot above and a link to Ikea Heights, “a melodrama shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store without the store knowing”. They say it’s a melodrama, but it’s actually more like a comedy.

Have a good weekend!

In 2109, my personal robot attendant will...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:41:29 -0500

Hello, 2109-you! What does your personal robot attendant do for you each day?

Make money.
It doesn’t have to get a job. It just needs to be able to make something that no one can live without and therefore is highly profitable. You know, like making other personal robot attendants.
Do the dishes.
I hate doing the dishes.
Clean the house.
I hate cleaning, too. I wish the house would clean itself.
Do the laundry.
Why not?
Cook.
I wouldn’t mind searching for recipes if the robot would cook me whatever I feel like eating. Especially Indonesian food. I really don’t like cooking.

Seriously, if you had a personal robot, wouldn’t you indulge your laziness?

Time Machine

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:46:22 -0500

I got a roll of film developed today. I started shooting this roll two years ago and I had been carrying the camera to so many places that when I got the negatives, I had no idea where most of the shots were taken. Now that I’ve scanned a few frames, I know that some come from a fall fair we went to in 2007 and some more from our trip to Winnipeg in February 2008. There are still more to discover.

Scanning this roll of negatives is kind of like going on a time machine and it’s exciting because I have totally forgotten taking some of the shots and the reason why I found something so interesting that I had to capture it on film. It’s too bad that I didn’t start scanning earlier. I really want to check out every single frame, but alas, it’s bedtime already.

Haven’t seen anything interesting on my Facebook homepage lately so I’ll just leave you with a link to fontcapture where you can make a font out of your handwriting for free! It kept me amused for a fraction of the day. It’s sad that I’ve kind of forgotten how to write with my hand. My handwriting doesn’t look like the handwriting I remember anymore. Damn you, Internet!

Developing B&W film with Caffenol-C

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:50:21 -0500

I’ve been wanting to try developing film with Caffenol-C for awhile (the fact that it’s environmentally-friendly really appeals to me), and last week, I finally did. The first roll I developed turned out to be a dud since it came from a totally experimental pinhole camera. I had no more exposed roll to try to develop so I took Troy and my Holga camera for a walk downtown and shot a roll of Agfa APX 100 film. The result is what you can see above. It’s grainy, streaky, unevenly developed (the last two are largely my fault) but hey, it really works! Next time I’m going to have to try it on a roll of properly exposed film, as in shot with a SLR camera instead of a toy camera. Over- and underexposed negatives just don’t scan very well.

Anyway, if you’re interested in my Caffenol-C recipe, this one’s for you:

5 tablespoons of Maxwell House Original Roast instant coffee
3 tablespoons of Arm & Hammer’s So Clean Super Washing Soda
2 Redoxon Vitamin C Effervescent tablets (I used the lemon-flavoured ones)

Mix with 500ml water, or use two glasses with 250ml of water in each to dissolve the coffee and the washing soda separately. Once the coffee is dissolved, throw in the vitamin C tablets. It will get frothy on top but I’ve found that once you mix it with the washing soda solution, the froth disappears. Develop for 15 minutes, agitate every 60 seconds, and then stop bath and fix as normal. I use tap water for stop bath and Ilford Rapid Fixer for fixing. If you know of a source of sodium thiosulfate (the active ingredient in fixer) that can be found in supermarkets, please do let me know! I’m almost out of fixer.

Another green b&w film developing solution I’d like to try is the one with mint tea and baking soda. It’s supposed to work and smell better than Caffenol. People are complaining about how the Caffenol-C solution smells like death. It’s actually not that bad. It smells like a tuna sandwich!

5 Good Things Friday

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:47:19 -0500

It’s a long weekend (again)!
Getting excited about the darkroom process again, or rather, alternative darkroom process, and I’m talking about wet darkroom, not digital.
Anticipating the arrival of several rolls of old, b&w, 35mm film in the mail from the Old Film Project on Flickr.
Having spent more time with my dear husband this week as he was working from home all week.
Autumn is just around the corner. Soon winter will be here again. Yay!