of looking at this guy as the last post, so I’d better write something so he sinks down a bit. But what to write? It’s been one of those mornings where I’ve mostly screwed up. Example: I needed to trim a print down so that the margin would be an inch wide (on 24 x 30 inch paper) and somehow I managed to screw it up and cut it too close and have to reprint it.
While it was printing, I went to brush my teeth and while I was brushing them I heard some strange noise in the kitchen. Oh, no. This happened a few weeks ago and I had plumbers here with the snake. The kitchen sink was filling with water. With a mouth full of toothpaste foam, I started bailing it out with a pot and dumping it in the bathtub. I could just keep up with it and then just as it had started to fill up, it stopped and emptied out.
I finished brushing my teeth, and started to clean up the work area because I had more prints to do; and a hair wafted up and landed on the print I had just made. I got to it fast enough to remove it before it got embedded. Phew.
As I sat down to write this, a filled kitchen garbage bag that I had stacked on top of another bag tilted over and spilled all over. The cat came racing over, and before I knew it he was tracking dust around.
In other words, the day has started off with that feeling that I have, at least for the day, been put under a hex (think New York Mets). I haven’t been following them this year, but there were days when I was getting calls from friends about how great they were doing. And I was like, yeah.
And then an email comes from my 85 plus father saying that a consultant is installing Skype, and he wants us all to get Skype and webcams so that, as he says, “He can pop up in our house at any time.” I don’t know about you and your father, but this is not something I look forward to. In fact, the idea of sitting at the computer with a webcam on is absolutely the most annoying thing I can think of. I don’t mind writing; and I’m less partial to the phone; and to have a webcam installed – frankly – I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I’ll have to come up with some excuse for him.
Okay, I have more print trimming to do, and I’d better have another cup of coffee before I do this as I’m obviously not completely awake yet.
[Yes, indeed, this should be categorized under "Nothing to write about" but "writing anyway" - Editor In Chief]
About forty percent of the land area of my town is occupied by a cemetery. Last Sunday, Mother’s Day, the town was overrun by people visiting the graves of their mothers. There was a half-mile back-up on the main road, where traffic inched along all day long.
Your entry about Skype and webcams gave me an idea: grave cams. You install a webcam at the foot of each grave or on top of the gravestone pointing at the grave itself. Instead of wasting a whole day fighting traffic on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Memorial Day, you can turn on your computer and view your loved one’s grave remotely. It would be invaluable to those who moved too far from their relatives’ graves to visit.
By the way, your bad day conforms to the misfortunes-come-in-threes rule. The ruined photo was one, the clogged sink was two, and the toppled garbage was three. The webcam was a proposal that has not yet been realized, so it doesn’t count.
Therefore, you can rest assured that your misfortunes are over for the next three hours. If you want better luck after the three hour period expires, crush a cockroach into a thimble-full of paprika and blow it into a west wind. That should also help the Mets beat the Nats this afternoon.
.-= Lester´s last blog ..Mystery of Times Square Terrorism =-.
Lester, the grave webcam is a great idea except for the fact that it will be vandalized (i.e. stolen) or worse, you may turn into one of those paranormal investigators once something shows up that you can’t explain such as floating beer cans.
Maybe you could install a webcam in the
apartment of someone who is accident
prone.
That way they could have the bad hair day
and we could watch, and not need to
spill our own garbage?
Stephen
.-= Stephen Bray´s last blog ..Photography: Trees and Sky =-.
Dave – sounds like you’re having one of those days. The good news – they pass. The bad news – it hard to predict exactly when they will pass. If it’s due to planetary alignment you will need an astrologer to chime in. Any astrologers read this blog?
At some point you should create a diagram of your apartment and how you somehow have arranged to have both a living and working set-up in what I imagine is a small Manhattan apartment.
Speaking of layout and furniture arrangement. What about Feng Shui Dave? Ok I know what you’re thinking … but some people swear by it. Maybe the strategic placement of desk, bed, printer etc. could coax the universe into a delivering an abundance yet unknown?
http://www.fastfengshui.com/nlt_oct29_2005smallspaces.htm
http://fengshui.about.com/od/designbyroom/qt/fengshui_studio.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
Lester – classic … grave cams. You’re in rare form today.
Speaking of Feng Shui – when I had furntiture built for the apartment ten plus years ago – I made sure that just about everything was at least 24 inches wide. Even then when I could never do 24 inch prints in the darkroom – I was thinking that this was an good size to be able to store.
What I need to do is have the astrologer / Feng Shui person tell me about the meaning of 20 x 24.
The secret of living in this tiny one-room apartment, beside having the custom furniture, is to be light on your feet. (Think cat that follows you everywhere).