the scriptorium

Thursday, August 31, 2006

So the second week of school is all but over. I have my photography class today, in about an hour and a half, but here I am on campus already. I try to get here early so that I can get a decent parking place, and I can (theoretically) use the time before class to study. Today I appear to be studying Blogger. :^) As you can see, I've included a photo of a Canon AE-1, the camera that I am using for photography class. I've played around with photography for years, and even won an award for one of my photos since coming back to school, but it's always been either point-and-shoot or digital (which still is point-and-shoot, I suppose). Anyway, I've a cool story to tell about cameras. I was apprehensive about taking photography until now because of the expense. The university doesn't supply cameras for the class, so there was the distinct possibility that I would have to drop $300 for a camera. Then Alan was good enough to allow me to borrow his AE-1, which he had used about 10 years ago for this same class. I have such good friends. :^) So I'm always a bit apprehensive about borrowing expensive, technical things from folks, because I'm afraid that I will break them or lose them or something like that. Anyway, I took my first roll of film on that camera from Alan, and all went well, considering that I've never used that type of camera before. Then a couple of days ago, my supervisor at work, with whom I used to go to church, called me into her office and told me that one of her fellow church members had approached her and asked if she'd like a camera that she was no longer using (my supervisor sometimes does wedding photography on the side). Gail told her that, no, she had all the camera equipment she could use at the moment, but she knew someone who could use it--me. So now I am the proud and excited owner of a Canon AE-1 of my very own. She even gave me a flash unit to go with it. (We will not be allowed to use the flash for class, but it'll be nice to have for personal use.) Now I don't have to worry about breaking or damaging Alan's camera. Very cool!

Speaking of Alan, he will be flying out for Ireland this afternoon. I'm very jealous, but I hope to be able to experience it vicariously through him. He's planning to blog from there (probably from the pub, lucky beast), and to post photos. I can't say enough how excited I am for him...

And, speaking of international travel, I am hoping to take a trip of my own at the end of the year. I am planning to go to London (the one in England!) just after Christmas for a two-week study abroad class, the History of Graphic Design. We will be staying at a "four star" hotel, as the brochure puts it, and visiting various museums and design houses, and I think we will be visiting Stonehenge (in December!). The only rub just now is money. I have a little over half the funds right now, and need to find ways to raise the rest fairly quickly. To that end, and just because I've been wanting to downsize anyway, I am selling some of my "stuff". I hope to be able to have a yard sale (if any of my friends with yards will let me borrow some space for the sale...), and I am selling my stereo system. If anyone would like to purchase an "old school" stereo component system, in great shape (since I'm never home to play much music), let me know. It's a JVC with separate amp, tuner, turntable, CD player (single disc), and dual cassette deck. It also has a set of AR 100 watt speakers. I will entertain the notion of selling components separately, but obviously I'd prefer to get rid of the whole deal at one time. So that's my little commercial for the day...

I see that I am getting terribly long-winded, so I think I'll sign off for now and maybe do some actual studying...

posted by #Debi at 8:49 AM | permalink | 0 comments