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...
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Well, it doesn't seem like I'm doing much good on my "resolution" to post more often. Life just has a way of getting in the way, out of hand, however you want to put it. I've been spending this weekend so far trying to get ready for school, which starts tomorrow. I feel woefully unprepared for this semester. I only remembered on Friday that I never got a parking permit arranged, so I finally did that online yesterday. But now my books are ordered (the ones I know about), the school supplies are bought (the ones I know about), and most of the dirty, nasty cleaning jobs that I've been putting off all summer are done.
This weekend is the Woodland Art Fair, a tradition for me every year. I go to get inspiration, talk to the vendors, people watch, take some photos, and maybe even buy something. I was all ready to go yesterday when it started raining like a hurricane or something, and continued most of the afternoon. I was rather philosophical about it, thinking, "Oh, well, there's always tomorrow." So I did chores and tried to finish a book that I've been reading. Well, I was wakened just now by another big rainstorm. I wonder if the artists are even going to try setting up today, that is if it ever stops raining enough to do so. What a mudpit it could be! I guess they (and I) will just have to play it by ear...
In other news, my friend Brian has posted for the first time in about six months. He has listed his Top 10 Albums for us, inspired by me, no doubt. :^) He's always been rather sproradic about posting, to say the least, but always has something good to say when he finally does post. He's had a pretty good reason for the 6 month delay, though--he's been courting. He's married now, you know, to a lovely girl named Paula. I think they'll be very happy together...
Thursday, August 10, 2006 Here's a nifty little item that I found in the latest Seventh Avenue catalog. I'm not sure how I end up on these mailing lists--I guess if you request one catalog, you end up with all of them... Anyway, what this is, is a turntable that you can plug into a computer with its USB plug. You can use it on either PC or Mac to transfer your LPs into mp3s or CDs. It also plugs into your regular stereo. Cool, huh? Someday when I have $250 lying around and can't possibly think of anyplace it could go (it could happen...), I may have to order one of these...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Well, Andrew, you ask for it, you get it...
Andrew is in the middle of posting his “100 Albums That Changed My Life” posts. I believe his countdown is at about 61 at this point. So far, except for the punk stuff (not bad, just unfamiliar) we have fairly similar tastes. Anyway, I had told him that I would get him a list of my Top Ten. One hundred is a daunting task, even for Andrew, but ten is somewhat more manageable. At least in this case, I’m trying to narrow it down rather than come up with enough material... So the deal, as I understand it, is to list 10 albums that have had an impact on my life (good OR bad) and a brief blurb as to why. I’ve managed to get the list together, finally, and here it is (in no particular order):
1. Billion Dollar Babies Alice Cooper, 1973 I never actually owned this album--it was the property of the neighbor girl, Johnna, who lived up the road from us when we moved to the country in the summer of 1973. She was a couple of years older than me and therefore oh, so much cooler. She introduced me, via songs like “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, to the wide world of music that lay outside the realm of the Jackson 5, the Osmonds, and those little hotties the DeFranco Family. This was truly my “coming of age” album.
2. Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary, 1962 No, I wasn’t musically aware when this record came out, even though I was alive. I grew up with this album in the house. I can’t really remember if my parents played it all that much, but once I was old enough to develop a bit of musical taste, I played it quite often. In fact, I "borrowed” it from my parents years ago, and never quite got around to returning it. If you’re reading this, Mom and Dad, it’s still safe and in its same pristine condition that it was when you lent it to me. (The cover’s a bit worn with age, though...) Anyway, it’s a great reminder of childhood and a bit of a simpler time...
3. Cat Scratch Fever Ted Nugent, 1977 When I was in high school (I guess I would’ve been a junior at this time), my brother was a freshman and determined to become a rock star. To that end, he got Mom and Dad to buy him a bass guitar so he could learn to play. (The theory, I think, was that the bass would be easier as it had fewer strings.) His bedroom and mine shared a wall, and in the evenings he would don his massive stereo headphones, plug in the bass, stick Nugent on the record player, and “teach” himself bass by playing the title track over and over again, while singing along. The result for me was hearing only the bass line (played as well as you might expect) and my brother’s off-key rendition of the song. That was enough to put me off Nugent for years...
4. Live Bullet Bob Seger, 1976 This album seemed to form the “ambience soundtrack” for my dating life in college. “Turn the Page” was makeout music (although the lyrics are not romantic at all, the sax solo was very nice...), and Katmandu was a primo party tune. There just wasn’t a bad song on the record, IMO. Of course, being all tied up in the good memories of being out on my own for the first time probably has a part to play in that...
5. Love Songs Beatles, 1977 This is actually the only Beatles album I ever bought. I never needed to buy more; everyone else always had their copies going. I actually bought the album to get myself better acquainted with the Beatles. Of course there were the TV appearances and everyone playing their music, but I wanted to explore the lyrics a bit more, and this record came with a book of the lyrics to the songs on the album. Bonus! My favorite song on the album is “Norwegian Wood”, if for no other reason than the guitar licks that are so blatantly Beatle.
6. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles, 1967 One of my fondest memories of my first year in college is going to see the movie version of this album (yes, the one with the BeeGees) at the theater in downtown Richmond with a bunch of girls from the dorm. We liked it so much that we hid in our seats once the film was over so that we could stay for the second showing as well. The girl who lived in the next dorm room over owned the album, and we’d play it over and over. One of my best memories is the morning that we sneaked into her room (she liked to oversleep), put the album on at full force, cued up to that rooster crow in “Good Morning, Good Morning”. Very funny!
7. She’s So Unusual Cyndi Lauper, 1983 I just LOVE Cyndi Lauper! This album has always just spoken to the fun, playful side of me that I hope never grows up. I wanted to be Cyndi then, and still do to some degree. I longed for the courage to dye my hair pink and dress in bustiers and crinolines and dance around in the streets. I have learned to embrace my playful side, and realize that, although you can’t go dancing around in your crinolines all the time, it’s OK to kick up your heels now and again.
8. Joshua Tree U2, 1987 I didn’t buy this album until just a couple of years ago, but I’ve included it because the Joshua Tree tour was my first exposure to the genius of U2. My then roommate invited me to come with her to the concert, and I almost didn’t go. I didn’t really know who U2 was, and didn’t want to spend the money for the ticket. I ended up having the greatest time. I sat right next to the sound booth and watched the guys working the computers nearly as much as I watched the stage. And that moment when Bono got ticked off at his own playing and handed his guitar to a guy in the crowd saying something along the lines of, “Here, maybe you can play it better than I can.” Then the guy started playing and several thousand fans starting cheering him on--well, that’s not something that can be easily duplicated. What a story that guy has to tell his kids! Anyway, that started my love affair with U2.
9. Sanctuary Twila Paris, 1991 This is the first Christian CD I ever bought. Maybe it was the orchestral accompaniments, maybe it was the lyrics that spoke to me in a very unique way, or maybe it was the fact that Twila sings in my range, so the songs were very easy to sing along to. In fact, I still have several of the accompaniment tapes to the songs, that I used to use in church solos. Anyway, this CD was instrumental in my early spiritual formation.
10. Poièma Michael Card, 1994 Michael Card remains to this day one of my all-time favorite Christian artists. His lyrics are deep and the instrumentation is incredible. I discovered this album at about the time that I was rediscovering the artist in me that I had repressed for so long. The lyrics of “The Poem of Your Life” especially spoke to me in this context, as in the following: So look in the mirror and pray for the grace / to tear off the mask, see the art of your face / open your earlids to hear the sweet song / of each moment that passes and pray to prolong / your time in the ball of the dance of your days / your canvas of colors of moments ablaze / with all that is holy / with the joy and the strife / with the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life. That’s what it’s all about, yes?
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!
Here's a nifty little item that I found in the latest Seventh Avenue catalog. I'm not sure how I end up on these mailing lists--I guess if you request one catalog, you end up with all of them... Anyway, what this is, is a turntable that you can plug into a computer with its USB plug. You can use it on either PC or Mac to transfer your LPs into mp3s or CDs. It also plugs into your regular stereo. Cool, huh? Someday when I have $250 lying around and can't possibly think of anyplace it could go (it could happen...), I may have to order one of these...
Hi, I'm Debi. Once in a while I have a thought and I like to write it down before it goes away. This is where I write it.
