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A lot has been going on the last couple of months. Since February? Since X-mas? It started out so much smaller, just a wish to sort my place out and making it less encumbered, more organised, more like a home. I started sorting through my basement last year, sorted through my books and gave half my stuff away to goodwill, and Jed built some shelves for me for better storage and it sort of moved on from there. I found a great little sink for my bathroom and Jed helped me install it, and it looked great, and my apartment stated looking great. Then we were suddenly looking at apartments, just for fun, you know, we weren’t in any hurry or anything. Until suddenly we were, because suddenly we had a PLAN. I threw out a lot more of my stuff, and did a lot more DIY and packed a lot of boxes.
I realised that I’ve spent over 13 years living in one specific area in Stockholm. That’s a long time. Actually, it’s most of my life as an adult. I remember when I moved away from home, and this area was the promised land; everything was new and exciting and even the tiny crappy grocery store on the corner was awesome. This area is so familiar to me now that it’s sort of meta. I walk the same routes every day, shop in the same store, I know the time table for the buses and the subway by heart and even though the area evolves and changes, just as my life has, it’s still all so very… constant. Continual. Same same, but different, you know?
But I’m moving now. I have sold my old apartment. It feels a bit sad, and at the same time it feels like a relief. I love my home, but I’m done. It’s old and full of charm and personality, but it is also very cold in the winter and filled with way to much baggage. Out with the old, in with the new. Good riddance.
More on this topic:
I am sort of between homes at the moment (not quite as severe as Nick Jaffe) due to being in the process of selling my apartment and camping out at Jed’s until we get access to our new place. A lot of planning, a lot of logistics. My key chain is starting to get ridiculous, but seems a bit symbolic for how my life feels right now.
I’ve been quiet for a while, but that does not mean nothing’s up. It’s exactly the opposite! Sadly, most of the things that are up are day job related, so I can’t talk much about it here. Not that it’s that interesting anyway, to be honest. But I’ve haven’t had much time for anything else.
I’ve started so many posts lately and realized they’ve all been about the weather, the winter or how tired I am. I even bored myself, writing them, so I just didn’t post anything. Maybe it’s not so strange that those subjects are on my mind so much; it’s been a long winter and everyone seems to be on their last stretch, conserving the last ounces of energy before spring.
But we’ve come to a point when sunrise doesn’t happen AFTER I go to work and sunset before I leave. It’s March! March IS a spring month, even if it doesn’t know it.
Spring means more natural light, which is good for any aspiring photograph, and I am itching to dig in to some of the portrait ideas I have planned. Some of my friends have already been courteous enough to agree to let me use them as guinea pigs (thanks guys!). Generally I just want to get out and practice, and I’m thinking I should just make a list and focus on one thing a time (like: use only this specific lens one day, or try reflecting light for a couple of shots, or panning and motion, etc). Some day down the road I hope I will actually have more confidence, and specifically more control, when I take photos.
We’ve had snow since November. They all said it would melt away before x-mas, but it never did. We Have Had Snow Since November. For four months now, there has been one set of colours. Sunny days or cloudy (Mostly cloudy. A thick, thick layer of clouds until the middle of February), the world has been greyish blue and white. Sometimes it’s incredibly beautiful, but in the long run it gets very tiring.
And there are only so many pretty, snowy city landscapes you can photograph before you get a bit bored and wish that the ice would break and some nuance of green to show.
I am done with winter now. So far I’ve had two serious colds, and the flue, and slipped on ice and twisted my back. I’ve been crammed into trains and buses full of smelly, big-and-fluffy-winter-coat wearing people who also all have a cold or the flue. At one point someone threw up on the bus. I’ve been PUSHED OFF the bus two times because someone thought there was no room. Everyone is grumpy and cold, and you almost never see daylight. It’s so cold all the time that the body powers down completely, preserving energy, so you always feel tired and gloomy. Plus, the body thinks you should put more fat on to keep warm and healthy, so you are Always Hungry.
No. I’m done with winter.
Luckily we have vacation planned. Seven weeks to go, then I’ll be in a place With No Snow. I can hardly imagine it. A place with no snow.
It’s bloody Monday again and as usual the weekend was at least one day too short, I hardly had time to enjoy the daylight. Right now it’s still dark when I go to work and dark when I go home, but in just 2 weeks at least there will be a bit of light in the horizon at 7:30 am, and it’s almost silly how much I’m looking forward to that. I need light to wake up. In other words, I don’t wake up properly during the darkest months because I don’t get any daylight. That’s life working in a bunker for ya.
I was going to post a neat chart on the daylight hours in Stockholm through the year, but then realised that maybe few people would find that as interesting as I do…
So, here’s a bloody recap of general stuff that’s been going on:
Gaming:
Very little time for gaming last week, I think I logged on to EQ2 once to check my sales! I want to play Dragonage again and also have a bundle of games I need to finish on the X-box, I haven’t even opened my copy of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. But, Jed finally started playing New Vegas and that looks awesome. Seems to be a game that sucks you in with a lot of details. Many scorpions have been shot. I love the pet bot, E-de. Reminds me of playing my fixer in Anarchy Online.
Watching:
Still have two eps left of Genious of Photography, I want to see them NOOW. But I don’t know when I’ll have time next. Am scouring the net for good little vids about photography. Any tips?
Movies:
I saw one! “Due Date” with Robert Downey Jr. So much better than I expected, not at all as cliché as you’d think a road movie would be. Worth it.
Listening to:
“Tears and Laughter” by Tall Tree 6ft Man.
And some Colin Hay and Muse and Amanda Palmer.
Misantropic topic:
People who try to give you a problem to solve but they don’t really know what the problem is, they just don’t want to deal with it. Deal with it!
Reading:
Searching for Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive moment” and found a copy on Amazon for 800 DOLLARS. Yeah… not getting that one. Wonder if I can find it as an e-book. Just started part two in the Scott Kelby series about digital photography. Looking forward to more tips about travel photos and portraits. Talked to my dad about the books last week and we discussed actually doing little assignments. I need to start mailing my dad more.
Bad conscience:
I need to start mailing my dad more. I have loads of photos to show him!
Crafty things:
Went on my silver clay course last week and made a wicked pendant that I love. It really was right down my alley. Bit scary working with such an expensive material though. But the end result was very shiny and satisfying. I will definitely start investing in that hobby, but first I want to get some traveling done this spring.
Things I want to do soon-ish:
Try a couple of new recipes. Take some nice photos of the things I cooked. Sort my old photos (I have paper copies form the age of 8 and onwards, yay…).
It’s Friday and the weekend is oh so close, with the glimmering promise of FREE TIME to spend on fun and frivolous things like photography and gaming and crafting (and washing and cleaning and all the chores… bah). I thought I’d get the “bring my camera outside at least once this week” deal done today, to start the weekend off. At least it’s an excuse to drink some coffee. Tomorrow it’s off to the photo store to print out some copies for various projects and then hopefully I get to spend some time out in the daylight with my boo. Also I need to get a UV filter for my zoom lens, while I’m in the area.
I only have two episodes left of BBC’s “Genious of Photography”, and I really want to watch the last two but at the same time I don’t, because I don’t really want it to end. I’ll have to find some more documentary’s to watch.
Project-wise I’m adding tings to my list, that’s not very hard. Plenty of ideas floating around out there, so to sum up I’m posting random links that caught my interest:
Jag lovar att jag ska med mig min kamera någonstans minst en gång denna vecka.
Alltså, ta den med mig ut ur lägenheten och använda den någon annanstans än i mitt eget hem. Det är allt för lätt att lämna den hemma till vardags, men måste det alltid vara specifika tillfällen för att man ska komma ihåg att ta den med sig? Visst, skulle zombieinvasionen komma och man skulle behöva dokumentera detta för efterkommande generationer (om det blir några över) har man ju alltid sin smart phone…
Öva öva öva, det är ju det enda som hjälper. Öva och förskaffa sig en vana att öva och utöva. Man kan läsa sig massor av teori och läsa på nätet och låta sig inspireras, men själva utövandet då? Hur ska man annars veta att man blir bättre? KAN man veta att man blir bättre? Tänk om man inte blir bättre? Vem vet, om man inte får arslet ur vagnen.
Annars blir man ju en sån som läser på men aldrig gör’t. Annars är man bara en liten zombie.
It’s Monday, I’m officially well again after being home with the plague for a week. Unofficially I’m still far from well; lungs hurt, I cough, I sneeze, I limp, I breathe (ha that almost rhymed). I think that I am one of the main sponsors of our local chemist (see evidence below). But I’m out of the house and working again, and that feels great.
In the Stockholm region all the snow has started to melt. We’ve had a LOT of snow. This now means that every street is basically made of melting ice, with a top layer of icy water. It’s a death trap that will weed out the week. I did NOT fall on my way to work. This is a triumph. I’m making a note here: huge success.
It’s a bloody Monday like any other and I like to cheer myself up with a bit of a list/update about what’s going on, to prove to myself that yes, I have a life and yes, I’m doing stuff (might be hard, considering I couldn’t leave my apartment for a week).
Listening to:
Amanda Palmer’s “Map of Tasmania”. To quote: “OH – MY – GAWD” *rocks out!*
Watching:
BBC’s “Genious of Photography” series. Six episodes (one hour a pop) about the history of photography with some of the most important images and movements, from the birth of photography and forward. It’s awesome (and you can find it all on Youtube).
Crafty plans:
Taking a basic course in silver clay tomorrow (yay!). I am SO glad I’m feeling well enough now, if I couldn’t go my heart would’ve been broken.
Me & Digital Rebel:
I have a lot of ideas for things to shoot. With my camera. I feel I need to plan and be a bit more structured so that I actually follow through. Because I need to practice, dammit! So, make a plan and set a date… Other than my Grand Evil Plans I want to practice panning, so I need to fins something that runs around a lot. Cats, boyfriends, friend’s dogs, drunk midgets (i.e. kids), all suggestions welcome. I think I need to get outside and find stuff, really. Trains? Cars? (Boring?).
Linkylinky, go see:
First Monday of the year. X-mas is over, guys, it’s time to clean out all the tinsel and glitter and crap. In Sweden there’s a tradition to do this on the 13th of January, but I always figure, why wait? The party is over. Bring out the new year.
Mondays always sucks, this according to a treasured, worldwide tradition, and so the first Monday in a new year must suck more than usual, right? After (hopefully) having had a couple of days off, eating too much good food and drunk too much good wine, and slouching off with your lover man, you get back to work. The fridge is full of rotting food that the shift workers left behind after the holidays. You inbox is crammed with frickin’ emails from whiny people who can’t think or act for themselves. All your co-workers are equally pissed off that it’s the frickin’ first Monday of the new year.
Well, now is the time to go to your happy place. If you don’t have a happy place, go zen on your own ass. There are situations and people that you can’t change, and that’s ok. It’s not the end of the world. You will not die. After work, go home, have a glass of wine and just don’t think about the idiots. I don’t have better any advice than that.
When I walk into the icy wall that is the dark and arctic January of both bones and soul (gee…) what I do to get some peace of mind is to plan and organize. Even if I don’t follow through, I still like to have a plan, I make lists about everything. Photo projects I want to do, food I want to cook, games I want to play. I even plan how to level up my characters in Everquest2 (I wish I could plan my own career as efficiently). It’s sort of like making a hundred new year’s resolutions that you don’t intend to keep, but if you get one of them right that’s still something. I just like a bit of structure, even if I don’t follow it.
So here’s a sort of mashed up Monday Madness update/plan:
Game of the moment: Everquest 2
My ongoing vice since 6 years back. Sure, I have tried a lot of other MMORPG’s, but I always come back to this one. Right now I’m trying to get as much X-mas gear as possible for my toons before the event runt out on the 6th of January. Also, I have been crafting like a mad woman, since itäs been double XP for a couple of days. Grind grind grind!
Music to my ears:
All of Robyn’s Body Talk albums, and boyfriend’s made up songs about my cat and our car rides.
Fuel for my misanthropic attitude:
People who walks out right in front of cars when there are so much snow that the cars can hardly break in time.
Reading right now: The Digital Photography Book (part 1) by Scott Kelby
X-mas gifts from my mum and dad.
It is rather well known by now, and a little bit like Photography for dummies: easy and quick to read, simple language, simple explanations. Basically it’s a whole bunch of good tricks and techniques that professional photographers use. Some things feels very obvious but some of them have been quite helpful. What I like besides the good tips on composition and light, is the fact that he mentions (often expensive) equipment that could really help you out and why, but also brings up really affordable alternatives. Plus, he’s ironic and funny.
När jag promenerade över till tvättstugan igår kväll för att hämta de sista av mina tumlade strumpor och handdukar så var det inte skymningsljus, det var nästan mörkt ute. Luften var kylig, klar, lätt att andas. Så slog det mig att det hunnit bli september, utan att jag märkt det. Jag har förlorat över en vecka på att skrota runt hemma i en dunderförkylning, och nu är det september. Höst. ÄNTLIGEN.
När klockan ringde kl 5 imorse hade det precis börjat ljusna, men inte riktigt. Katten vaknade så klart men tyckte inte alls att det var dags att gå upp. Varm, spinnande katt lägger sig som en boll över min axel och jag somnar så klart om. Tur att jag är så smart att jag vet hur dålig jag är på att gå upp och ställer mer än ett alarm.
Men sen var det inte svårt att komma upp. Man sover bättre när det är mörkt ute, så är det. Jag har sovit så ohemult dåligt hela sommaren. Soligt, varmt, ljust, det passar inte en gamer.
Nu kliar det i fingrarna och i hjärnkontoret. NaNoWriMo, fotografering, städa hemma, kasta saker, måla om, bygga hyllor, spel jag inte hunnit spela, berättelser jag inte hunnit skriva. Onwards! Rawr!
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