Reading

• Candide, Voltaire: “I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life.” I adore this book.
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote: I just started this one because I left Candide in the van and needed something to read. I’ve seen the movie, of course, but so far I like the novella better.
• Robinson Crusoe, Danial Defoe: What was I thinking? I’ve finished five books since I started this one. I cannot get past the dialect and Randomly Capitalized words. But finish it I will if it takes another week!

Thinking

• that each day drags on interminably but years fly by like nobody’s business

Wanting

• my husband to come home and my kids to be happy

Listening (first five on shuffle)

• Ke$ha, thanks to C
• Billionaire, thanks to Echo who sings it 24/7
• Johnny Cash, because he always comes up in my playlists
• Pink, can’t get Glitter out of my head
• Gretchen Wilson

The elusive lightning photo. I love photos of lightning because it is so unpredictable. Uncontrollable. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment. Preparation is not my strong suit. Still, I think I’m getting better.  I wish I had the camera pointed just a little to my right because there were at least six strikes at the same time, lighting up the sky. It was pretty amazing.

In other news, my computer has died. The computer tech says I have to reboot my hard drive, erasing everything on it. I am so thankful to have posted all those pictures to flickr over the past few years.  No worries about losing precious memories… I should get my laptop back today, which will make all this online stuff a lot easier!

my first, 2006 and an accidental, 2009

It was hot. We played in the water. The end.

Not really the end, because a storm came. It hailed. The storm tore off screens and broke two windows. It was all very exciting and dramatic.

Submitted to Thematic Photographic: Summer

When I first saw this camera, I knew I had to have it. Thanks to ebay, I was able to get the camera, some lomography slide film and my book for summer school for less than the cost of the book alone at NMSU. That was the 27th of June (and yes, I’m keeping track). I had to wait for delivery (from Korea!) so my patience was already wearing thin. As soon as I got it, I started taking test shots: low light, bright light, still shots, moving subjects, moving camera, etc.  How exciting!

The problem was getting the pictures from my camera to my computer. I usually take my film in to Walgreens but they won’t cross process slide film. The only place that I know of in town that will do it is PDQ. The problem (of course there has to be a problem) is that I only have about $10 in spending money for the week. PDQ will process the film for less than $4 but the last time I had film scanned there it was insanely expensive. So my plan was to develop the film, have them sleeve it long and take the negatives to Walgreens or Walmart to get scanned.

Now might be a good time to mention that our air conditioner broke last night and it is the middle of the SUMMER in NEW MEXICO.  Also, our van doesn’t have air conditioning so every time I have to do errands it feels like I’m driving in an Easy Bake Oven. I blame the heat for my lack of good humor.

After ten minutes looking for a parking space and unloading my little monster, we discovered that Walmart’s photo lab was closed for maintenance. Grrr… We drove to Walgreens. The lab tech held my film between two fingers like it was tainted.

“What’s wrong with it? The color is all wrong.”
“It’s slide film. I had it cross processed and need it scanned to a cd.”
“We don’t process slide film.”
“I know. That’s why I took it to PDQ. I just want you to scan it.”
“You don’t understand. We don’t process slide film. I’ll have to send it off.”
“It’s already processed. I just want you to scan it.”
“You don’t understand. Slide film ruins our machines.”
“Your scanner? I’ve had slide film scanned here before.”
“No. That’s impossible. The machine doesn’t take slide film, only 35mm.”
“This is 35mm.”
“No. This is slide film.”
“It’s 35mm slide film that has already been processed. I just want you to scan it.”
“We don’t do slides here.”

OMG.
He finally said that he would keep it and get a manager to authorize it because he didn’t want to be responsible for the inevitable breaking of the machine. I practically had to grab it out of his hands. I decided to drive to the other Walgreens, the one by my house, the one with really great people who always remember me and never question my odd requests. The main road between the two stores was closed down and I had to drive in circles several times. At this point, I was really losing my cool. We were on back streets and traffic was at a standstill. We finally made it to the top of a little hill and I looked down just in time to see the medivac helicopter flying away from what must have been a very bad accident.

Suddenly, my frustration with everything went out the window. Things could be so much worse. I am incredibly grateful that I’m here and able to complain about the heat. I’m grateful that my family is healthy enough to annoy me. I am grateful that I was met with a smiling face at the second Walgreens and that they scanned my film right away.

Life is beautiful.

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.” St. Francis de Sales

My first roll on flickr: set | slideshow

Every time Mike goes out of town he takes the toothpaste. I have been using a sample I got in the mail because I always forget to buy more. Yesterday, I noticed that it was more liquidy than normal. In my head I swore at the kids for using it and getting water in the tube. Then I brushed my teeth. With cream conditioner. For hair.

• This picture was taken at Adventure Zone after Jon wrecked on the go-karts. He hit the gas instead of the brake and went straight into a steel column. His neck, chest and legs were bruised… not fun. The rest of it was a blast. It was my first time there, so I was impressed.
• Echo, at the grocery store: “Can you stay away from the Chinese cheese please? I like American cheese on my sandwiches.”
• I am not a night person. Walmart was hella crowded and I didn’t get home from shopping until almost ten. After I got home and before I went to bed, I did the following: two loads of laundry, made deviled eggs and a fruit salad for the funeral reception tomorrow, sewed Mikal’s dress, typed Mica’s eulogy speech, found photos and poems for the memorial video, put Butterfly’s hair in curlers, got the boys’ clothes ready, checked the kids’ hair for lice AGAIN, did the dishes, checked email and facebook, picked up film from Walgreens, wrote this blog post.
• Things I didn’t accomplish: taking a shower, ironing my clothes, painting my fingernails.
• I think we finally got rid of the lice. I had to cut almost ten inches off Butterfly’s hair because I couldn’t comb it out well enough. *sniff, sniff*
• I’m not even hungry, but I’m craving a steak…. rare ribeye with bleu cheese and tons of black pepper.
• Echo, checking out a vintage style bike: “Cool! That must be from the Nineteen-Oldies.”