365.230 ‘soft’ is not a great title…

I couldn’t really come up with anything better, but I’m sorta feeling rushed: lots of stuff to do over the next 2 after-works (plus what’s left of today’s), and if I can get it all done, I won’t have to take a half- or full day off work on Friday, and can keep my reputation for dependability intact.

Anyway.

I wanted to shoot some yarn while here at Momma’s, and I could probably do better, but 1) no tripod; 2) no flash or other manipulable lights; 3) see ‘feeling rushed’ above, so this will do.

I might try again tomorrow, but only if I make the time to pause and get the shot.

Interesting thing: when I feel rushed like this, it’s usually because I have way more than enough time, and I usually finish very early and end up wondering why I rushed around so much.

Oh well.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/6th (AP mode), f/5.6, -1EV. Very mild processing in Aperture: the light in Momma’s suburban, large-windowed house is much better than in my small, urban, ground-floor apartment…

365.229 what in tarnation

What in tarnation? I believe it’s the sugar caddy from a tea set of unknown age.

I know I usually leave you in suspense… Apologies.

I also know I usually write more, but I’m feeling a bit drained today, so…

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/13th (APmode), f/3.5. Extremely mild processing in Aperture: the light was that good.

365.228 Ohne Titel

One good thing about suddenly finding yourself transplanted to someone else’s home for a few days: all sorts of new and different stuff to shoot with your macro rig!

Points to anyone who can name this utilitarian object. Hint: this is a major component, and is reproduced here at roughly 1:1.75.

So the apartment saga continues. It should begin to wrap up sometime this week, Tuesday or Wednesday, and I might be almost back to my normal life by the weekend: hopefully, I’ll definitely be back to my own life by the weekend, since I suddenly found out that neither I nor my cats will be able to stay much after Thursday. Hooray.

It will work out.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/2.5 (AP mode), f/3.5, -1EV. Mild-to-Medium processing in Aperture.

365.227 like something dangerous

It’s interesting how sometimes, when you look really closely at something pretty, how really sorta dangerous it looks?

There is some hint of this in kawaii, the Japanese cuteness phenomena.

There is also something of this in me, at present.

Still no movement on getting the apartment back to a livable state, as far as I know, and still sadly lacking on the communication front.

I feel that I should be surprised by this, shocked that the landlord(s) could fall down on the job like this.

But the sad fact is, I’m not.

In fact, I’ll likely be surprised when they finally get it together, get the carpet cleaned or, better yet, replaced (given the stench, I expect mere cleaning is not really going to do it…), especially if it’s before, say mid-September.

I should probably just get used to it, but I really want to get back to my life, in my apartment, sleeping in my own bed at night, cooking my own food with my own utensils, and eating it in front of my own version of television alone every night again.

And so if I’m bothered, that means it’s my own damn fault for not better managing my expectations and desires, and not the fault of anyone else, especially the landlord(s), who, after all, is always and only concerned with profit and never concerned with customer satisfaction, unless such satisfaction tends to impact its bottom line. Given that this is advanced capitalism, and my landlord(s) is a corporation, this is exactly the way it should be.

So why am I allowing it to bother me?

This is something I really struggle with, and don’t really have an answer for.

Oh well.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/50th (AP mode), f/3.5, -1EV. Medium amounts of processing in Aperture to help bring out some variation in color and texture.

365.226 quick n’ pretty

I’m in a foul mood, will have to drive through the heaviest traffic in town, and will not be able to sleep in my own bed for at least one more night, all thanks to a certain group of landlords who didn’t keep their promises.

I’m sure something more urgent came up, and I don’t begrudge any of my fellow renters who may or may not have had their maintenance needs met before mine.

But some effing communication would be nice, thanks. [here, be thankful that I removed the rather lengthy screed against

Now to pack up food, clothes, laundry, computer, camera stuff, and a backup drive so I can move into Momma’s house until they get their business together and keep their promises.

Good times.

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, 1/5th (AP Mode), f/3.5, -1EV. Quite serious levels of processing in Aperture, to bring out the variation in this wadded up reflector.

Pretty…

365.225 too fast

So. I woke up this morning in the model apartment that the landlord put me in while the gentlemen repaired the leaking air conditioner lines under my apartment.

I woke up without sheets, toilet paper, or a shower curtain, as such things are generally not needed in a model apartment.

Groovy. I came home, made coffee, showered, dressed, and checked out the hole.

At 5am, it was still a hole, but the pipes that were not leaking the night before, were most definitely leaking this morning.

I went to work, sent the landlord a note thanking them for the use of the model, and asking that they include sheets, tp, and a shower curtain for any future guests.

The landlord called all apologetic, as is the norm, and promised to take a couple days off my rent, as well he should.

I came home from work to find a worker putting the carpet back in place.

He wiped a few things down and left quickly.

I’m dubious that the repairs will last, but am going to go on with my life as if they will, as long as they send someone to suck the water and mildew out of the carpet, as it is still sopping wet, and someone to clean the walls and repaint, as there are numerous nicks and mud splotches, and maybe even to mop around my bathroom and clean out the tub, as that’s where all the tools were washed, and there is non-James grime on things.

So I made this photo very quickly—probably too quickly—in their honor.

I wanted to see how the 36-72 would handle the fun bokeh thing I discovered last week, and it handled it, sorta, though the CA is wildly apparent, and the bokeh is a bit harsh.

Interestingly, the effect worked fine when zoomed to 72mm, but not at all when zoomed to 36mm.

Ahh, physics (I guess).

D7000. Nikon 36-72mm f/3.5 E-Series, reversed. ISO800 (leftover: dumbass), 1/8000th (AP mode), f/3.5. Medium level of processing in Aperture.

365.224 there’s a hole in the…

Dear Liza, Dear Liza

Ok… bit of backstory here…

Monday, some guys came through all the apartments, looking for leaks in the air conditioning system. They didn’t find anything.

Monday evening, after dinner, after my stories, I put the cats to bed, walked into my bedroom and heard a strange squishing noise…

Called the emergency maintenance line, told the jerk what was up, and about an hour later, the plumber came by and congratulated me for finding the leak.

So Ladies… this is my bedroom…

Double closets, room for a king, but fit with a queen, large windows, well lit, and with a big effing hole in the floor.

I’m chilling out in my apartment now, and it smells of damp earth.

I’m having visions of Charles Bronson in The Great Escape.

If I stop laughing about it, I’ll likely get bothered…

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AI. ISO800, 1/40th, f/4, -2EV, on camera flash at full power for some fill. Minimal processing to bring out some texture in the dirt.

And, no, this isn’t one of my usual pretty pictures. But the 365 is not necessarily all pretty pictures. It’s also about life.