Hello Tuesday.

I'm so glad it's you and that Monday's gone for this week.

Especially seeing Monday started with a fight with Honda about my car's service plan, which ended in a draw. Well, that's how I'm choosing to see it. Then I got told by their service department that I need new tyres. Joy. More money spent on something that's fallen apart. It appears my car and my house are in collusion. I feel betrayed.

Not really.

Anyhoo... The weekend was at least good. Crazy busy, but good. We took our neighbours out for dinner on Friday and went to a morning wedding on Saturday (which we thought would suck,but actually turned out to be lovely, despite running horribly late). Then we managed to pop over to a birthday party, although not for long because Isak stayed with us Saturday and Sunday evening seeing his company has not paid him again and he needs money desperately. TSC had organised an odd-job for the two of them on Sunday at a mine, "pulling cables", whatever that means.

I was left to my own devices, so I did my usual Pilates class, then met a friend for lunch and then visited another friend for a tea party. It was great, but I didn't get any alone time with TSC the whole weekend, so we'll have to plan some this week.

I saw my friend who's moving to the Cape yesterday for a catch-up before she goes. I'm going to miss her so much :-(

The high point of the day was picking up my photos that I've had printed onto canvas for display in our lounge. I was given vouchers to do so for my wedding anniversary by my folks and I am so chuffed with the results. Now we just need to give the skirtings the final lick of sealant and I'll show you pics of the whole effect.

Today started out far better than Monday - with a much-needed haircut. Yay! Then my mom dropped my granddad off with us while she went to China Mall. He was up here visiting a sick friend and we didn't think we'd get to see him, so it was nice to have him and get to catch up with him too.

Of course, that means I haven't had much time to work (although I've got a lot done in the last two hours), so I'll probably have to do some this evening. Damn. I was hoping to go out for a sushi dinner (something a girl should always do when she has salon-fabulous hair). But finances and time will not allow it. Blergh.

So it's off to write about battery power monitoring devices. Woo hoo. Wish me luck. Or sushi. Preferably the latter.

PS: I'm considering finally ditching Telkom as my ISP and going with Afrihost. Anyone had experience with them?

More jewellery pics and my kitties

How cute are my darlings? Well, I think they are. You don't have to ;-)

My little Sapphire cat...



My gorgeous Marble boy...



It's been a bland day... rain, updating a client's website with all the press releases I've ever written for them, laundry, invoicing and photographing my jewellery. *yawn* Nothing exciting.

Deep blue necklace with pendant...




Some alice bands. This is the first time I've tried these. What do you think?




Gold sparkly earrings...



This eve is my final photography class. So sad that it's nearly finished :-( I've loved every minute. I'll probably take the Photoshop course too, seeing I now have the fancy software and no idea how to use it. I love being able to keep learning new things. I want to be doing that for as long as I live. That's one of the main attractions of journalism for me, actually.

Before then, I must finish the work I'm busy with, visit the lady doctor (joy), exercise and make supper. So I'm going to say cheers for now and get to it.

Various updates

It's a rainy, dark day in Joburg and I feel like watching DVDs in bed. But TSC is writing his first exam right now and I must get work done. The problem is that my major, hectic, scare-the-living-daylights-out-of-me deadlines are all done at the moment, so all I have left is the admin and routine monthly work. There's just not the same sense of urgency, which is bad because that routine work is the stuff that pays most of the bills.

I can't believe how long that gastro carried on - it's now more than a week after I first came down with it and my stomach is still super sensitive. Last night was the most ambitious thing I've digested in days - spaghetti bolognaise. But it's stayed put, so things are looking up. Finally.

I've felt so washed out after Monday's massive deadline and this nasty bug that I haven't been very efficient over the last two days. I've managed to get some work done, but in between I've napped, made jewellery and generally hibernated. My big outing for the week was a trip to Montecasino to watch The Other Guys with TSC on Tuesday evening, just to get out for a bit.

Blergh. So many people we know loved it, but we both thought it was pointless and not at all funny. I stand by my opinion of Will Ferrell - I just don't understand why he's supposed to be funny. My type of comedy is sharp, witty or sarcastic. Physical comedy that's been done well can also be funny. But this absurd or over-the-top comedy that people seem to love... I don't get it. Ace Ventura, Zoolander and The Waterboy are some examples of "funny" movies that I just don't get.

I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round, so I'll leave The Other Guys to those who enjoyed it and, if I need a laugh, rent myself a copy of Snatch, Toy Story 3 or even A Fish Called Wanda (which, oddly enough, is actually rather absurd and OTT, yet still funny).

Tonight is lesson four of five of my photography course and I am bleak that next week is the last one. It's such fun and I've been super impressed by my camera's capabilities, now that I know how to operate it a bit better ;-) I'm loving the fact that I can get better photos of my jewellery too. It's making my reconsider the option of starting up a little etsy shop.

I got my business cards yesterday. At long last! They are beautiful. And now I don't have to be embarrassed when I interview someone and they give me a business card and I have to say, "Um, sorry - I don't have mine yet." Woohoo! Now I just need to get my website sorted.

*Sigh* That's a bit of a mission because I want to use WordPress as a content management system (CMS) and set up a site on the domain I've registered that will look and function like a website and not a blog. But my designer has never worked in WP, and doesn't seem to understand what I mean. I may have to find another designer. Which would suck because it means more delays.

Anyway, off to make phonecalls *shudder*. My worst bit of any day. And then to catch up on some blog reading to balance out the chore I hate with something I love.

Can I just say...

I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA. And *ahem* all my new goodies from the Photo and Film Expo.

Yes, after my rant about consumerism, off I went like a true Joburger and bought myself a second lens and a Manfrotto tripod. And PhotoShop Elements (which I could not pass up at the special show price).

I was seriously stressing about spending the money (work funded this not so little spree), but TSC has convinced me that it is an investment.

It is *she says, still trying to justify*. The two lenses I now have, although they are not the biggest or best, give me a good range for a beginner, and the tripod has already proven itself more than worth its price during this week's assignment, where I was lying on the floor to shoot, with the camera upside down on the tripod's centre column to get as close to the ground as possible.

PhotoShop... flip! I forgot how complicated it is. I last worked on it back at varsity. So this one will take a little longer than the others to prove its worth because I have no idea how it works yet, but it is now loaded on the PC and I'm looking forward to experimenting when I have some time.

This photography course is keeping me smiling in between all the stress of work and TSC writing tests and preparing for exams. Yay for a hobby rediscovered!

Shopping and photography

There are only certain types of shopping that are bearable, in my opinion. I love shopping for gifts, craft supplies and, if I have money, for clothes. But I loathe shoe shopping and I could happily do without grocery shopping if someone volunteered to do it for me. I'm also not big on shopping with other people, unless it's my mom or TSC. I've never been one to go shopping with my girl friends. Not sure why.

I try to avoid window shopping most of the time because it just makes me want things I can't afford. But if I do window shop, you'll normally find me looking at certain things - house stuff (furniture, soft finishings and DIY materials), camping gear, garden stuff (I want a water feature!) and camera stuff.

Why camera stuff? Well, I have a beautiful old manual SLR and a few years back I did a creative photography course through the Cape Town School of Photography, which was awesome. I got some really nice shots. My favourite was a series I shot with long exposure times in an almost entirely dark room of TSC fighting with himself (it looks like two ghosts boxing) themed "internal conflict". I didn't have an external flash back then, but I loved the result and actually framed some of the shots in series - they're hanging in our breakfast area.

But film is expensive to process, especially when you don't know whether half your shots are worth printing or not (that said, there is something magical about seeing the photos all glossy and printed for the first time and finding the occasional absolutely perfect image).

I also lent my photography course notes to a friend and never got them back, and without practising, I've forgotten all the ins and outs of my manual camera.

So I've been dreaming of a digital SLR camera for the past few years. Then, for my birthday this year, I got the most wonderful present - a Nikon DSLR D3000. I immediately booked myself on a photography course with the College of Digital Photography and my first lesson was last night.

I showed up with my camera, manual and batteries fully charged, knowing that mine would not be the most expensive camera in the room and that there would be people with a variety of lenses and more advanced camera bodies there.

What I was not expecting was to be sent home with a shopping list! Apparently, I need a UV filter (I have one for my other camera, but it doesn't fit this new lens), an SD card reader (I shouldn't be connecting my camera directly to my PC - if lighting or a surge strikes, it could damage my camera), a spare SD card (I only have the one that came with the camera), an external harddrive (I have one for my work stuff, but should apparently have a separate one for pics) and a better tripod (preferably a Manfrotto, which I could expect to pay up to R3000 for, and that's just the basic one).

Those, apparently, are the essentials. The optional extras include a cable release, an infrared remote, Photoshop Elements (or, if one has R9 000 to throw around, Photoshop CS) and then, of course, a selection of lenses.

Eep! This is an expensive hobby.

There's no way I could ever afford all of these things. Thankfully, because I'm hoping to make photography part of my journalism services (taking the occasional head shot of whomever I'm interviewing), my business should be able to cover one or two of the "necessities". So, this weekend, I will be scouring our local electronics and camera stores for a UV filter, card reader and any good deals on external hard drives.

While I'm not looking forward to spending the money, it will be nice to actually buy something camera-related after dreaming about it and window shopping for so long!

Here are some of my film pics I've scanned in for you (not the best - those are already framed)...