Bits & Pieces

Isn't it just scary how quick the week has gone by? Damn, I know I have said something similar quite a few times before, but it just amazes me... or should I say scare me how time is just jetting by! So what has been going on in the life of Stunner for this week and what are the plans for the weekend?

I woke up on Thursday morning to overcast skies, but I didn't get my hopes up for that thing... uh, what's the name again... oh yes, rain! See, it has been so long since we got a good shower of rain here in Kingston, as it has been sunny, dry and windy. By mid afternoon as I was about to step through the door i heard a vaguely familiar sound, it was rain! It sounded so good as it hit the many surfaces in it's path and that smell of the warm, dry ground being quenched by the rain drops was so refreshing. It didn't fall very hard or for very long, but we got a good shower for a decent few hours. this was just enough to drop the temperature a little and keep down the angry raging dust that masked every conceivable surface as it danced in the wind. It has all gone by now though, but it was good to finally see a shower after such a long time. I am hoping for some more rain...not every day though... and not this Sunday!

I finally got my UV filter for my camera, which I purchased on Amazon and shipped to Jamaica via Global Couriers. Now I can feel a whole lot more comfortable using my camera as I don't have to worry about my lens getting scratched. Also the UV filter is supposed to protect my lens from UV rays as well as enhance the quality of the photos. I also collected my lens pen and micro cleaning cloth which I ordered along with the filter. Damn dutty, teifing customs pissed me off though, as the charged me fees and duties summing up to almost a half of the price of the items I purchased! Danville yuh a gwaan bad star! No wonder why people try to evade customs duties, they are too damn high! On another note, I have splurged... yes I have purchased the zoom lens (55-200mm) as I really need the zoom capability to get the shots I want. I got it on Amazon for just over US$20o. Unfortunately it is being delivered to my sister's place and I will have to wait until someone is coming down from New York to "smuggle" it in for me. No star, mi cyaan pay Danvil;e 47% in custom fees, that's almost US$100! So Next on the list is a bigger camera bag and a speed light! Donations anyone?

This weekend is the culmination of the Carnival season, the grand Finale! Jokers Wild, Jouvert, the great paint-up-paint-up weekend and then finally the road march! Unfortunately due to embarrassing financial constraints and lack of familiar company (my usual paring brethren), Jouvert will not be seeing my face... if it was I wouldn't be typing this post... [pouting]. No doubt I will hear how wonderful it was and I will see all the raunchy pictures... [sigh]. Nevertheless, I am thinking of going to the Water Party after work tomorrow night, so if that works out I should have some fun. Sunday, however, is the big day for me, yes it's the road march. Why am I so looking forward to it? No. I'm not jumping in costume with the bands, behind the big truck! I will be heading to the road march though, yes to test out my new Nikon D60 DSLR with the newly acquired UV filter! I was hoping to have the zoom lens for this occasion, but that will not be. So I will have to make do with what I have, hopefully I will still manage to get some good shots!

Anyway people, I went to gym this evening and as a result the sleep has crept in. So even though I just saw that CSI Miami is on and I could amuse myself with Caruso's over dramatic one liners, my bed seems more enticing at this moment. Further more the sleep will spare me the torture of being home while Jouvert is entertaining countless hot girls... I mean people.

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No, Kanye Et Al, That is Not Fashion!

Ok, maybe I'm not that much a fashionable person and I am definitely not a fashion guru. But hell no, Kanye West and your misguided cronies, that is not fashion! To me these guys look more like clowns or homeless people who just grabbed anything in their path and threw them on. And what's up with the weird colour briefcases and man purse. Are they so important that they have to carry a bag on their person? What the hell is in there by the way, clothes, important business papers, top secret documents? My guess, based on their outfits is that they are carrying makeup! Yes makeup! I wonder what FOS has to say about these outfits? As far as I am concerned, they look awful... totally cross dressing, uncoordinated, mind blowing awful! That is not fashion!

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Boring...

I wish I was writing to boast about my fantastic weekend on the north coast, where I spent most of my days in the sun on beautiful white sand beaches, enjoying the view and company of sweet Jamaican women in swim suits, drinking a wide assortment of liquor and steadying my stomach with all the taste morsels of food I could consume. But alas, I am not! Instead I am lamenting about how boring the holiday weekend was.

Lets' see what did I want to do this weekend? Well I wanted to go on a trip with the photography group I recently joined on Flickr. they had plan a trip to Portland on Sunday, my home parish, to take photographs at different locations throughout the parish. This would have been a great trip for me as I would be: getting to know other people with the same interest in photography, learn form these people who are obviously better photographers than me, take great photos of the most beautiful parish in Jamaica (yes I said it, an unnuh know a true!) and enjoy myself. I have never been to the races at the Dover raceway and it would have been a good experience for me, especially now that I have a DSLR, which has a better reaction time and flexibility than the old point and shoot. I had going to Dover on Easter Monday to see what it was all about and to get some great action photos.

Now what did I actually do this weekend? I was scheduled to work the entire holiday weekend! Damn it! Why couldn't I have had an ordinary nine to five that pays good money? Working shift has it's advantage as I get to work a premium rate, which I would starve to death without. But it has it's disadvantages as I hardly get to benefit from weekends and public holidays off. So while people were enjoying themselves at all the activities, from racing, to Beach Jouvert, to Luau, I was here... scratch that, I am still here at work, bored. But I guess the bills have to be paid and I have to eat to keep on living, which means I have to work, blah.

I somehow mustered up the energy and time to give my apartment a much needed cleaning. I swept, I dusted, I wiped, I scrubbed and I straightened. All I needed was a maid's outfit to complete the look. I even got rid of all kind of paper clutter that I had accumulated as well as clothes and shoes that I have not worn in quite a while and have no intentions of ever wearing. Will be stopping off at the Salvation Army to drop them off. Now my place looks and feels lighter and cleaner, so at least there is some good that came out of the holiday weekend.

Now let me torture myself... how was your weekend?

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The Price of Snapping

So life with my new camera has been great so far, photos are better and it's more fun taking pictures. however, I have experienced a few limitations that I need to overcome to get even more breathtaking shots. The biggest limitation I am facing is the lack of zoom capability with the 18-55 mm lens that came with the camera. This makes it difficult for me to get that spot on closeup shot without having to go up close. This especially hinders me when I want to take photos of wild life, because unlike people, animals and insects are not to keen on stopping to take a pose for the camera.


So I have started my saving once again to get myself a zoom lens for my new DSLR. I have my eyes on the Nikon 55-200 mm vibration reduction lens, but the over US$200 price tag is really a huge setback, but with saving and continued price scouting I hopefully will get the zoom lens soon. It would have been great for me to get the zoom lens for the Carnival road march later this month, but that does not seem like a reality and only a vague dream. So I will have to just settle with what I have and do my best in the road match.



Next on my list, is a speedlight, or in other words, an additional flash for my camera. this external flash will allow me more flexibility to experiment with lighting and get better photos. This will be especially helpful when i am taking portraits and still life photos. But that is still some way in the future as the one I want to get, the Nikon SB-600, is also a US$200 price tag. If anyone says photography is expensive, that is an understatement, it's damn expensive!
In the mean time, I have bought myself a UV filter to protect my lens as I can't afford my very expensive lens from being damaged. I also got myself a lens pen to clean my lens as i have seen one or two spots on it already. I ordered these through Amazon and got them both at a decent price for under US$50.

Photography is an expensive hobby...correction: very expensive, but what's the point of working hard if you can't at least enjoy some on the fruits of ones labour? I am a whole lot happier taking photos with this camera than my original point and shoot Kodak Z650. I have also recently joined Flikr and joined the Jamaica West Indies group along with other accomplished photographers, including Taylor and emerging photographer Jamaipanese. Sir Jdid too has jumped into the DLSR world too and I am anticipating great photos form him too on his blog. My photography is improving so far, and I hope it will get better as time goes on, and maybe I'll even make some money from it, if even to just support my photography. To see my photos you can visit my photoblog as usual or on Flikr.

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One More Year to the Tally

When I was young, much younger, like in my pre-teens and even into my teens, I couldn't wait until I grew up. It always seemed that adults had more fun, made money, didn't have parental rules, had their own place and hence privacy and grew facial hair. I wanted to be a big man, doing my own thing, like as ad adult seemed like it was the shiznik. I had so many dreams, things I wanted to do, what I wanted to be, where I wanted to be, everything seemed so clear-cut.

But now looking back I realized those were the good old days! Things aren't as clear cut as they used to look, I have my freedom but all that freedom came with a lot of responsibilities. There are so many life changing decisions to be made and so many consequences to each action I decide to take. Now, life doesn't seem as long and as full of endless possibilities as it used to. In fact, it seems to be quite the opposite, life feels much shorter and time seems so limited, all the possibilities have become narrowed down by the realities of life. So as I approach my third decade, I realize even more than ever that getting older is definitely not the same as it was when I was when I was in my teens.

On the other hand, even though my life isn't as good as I had envisioned it, I still have a lot to be thankful for. Firstly, I'm still alive, which is a big deal considering how easy it is to loose one's life these days. I am still working, not the dream job, but it pays the bills, I have a car, something my parents never had, a roof over my head even though it's rented, a decent education... BEng nuh too bad, great friends, gf, family and of course there is God to turn to for help.

I still do look back and wish I could go back and correct the past, undo the mistakes I made, capitalized on all the opportunities I missed, had more fun with my younger period of youth. But unlike Microsoft Word, there is no Undo button in life, so I guess all I can do is to try and make the most of the future, however short and uncertain it is, as there is still many possibilities ahead.

The hand of time keeps on turning and life keeps on churning...

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When I Grow Up...

This was submitted as part of a career day homework:



Here's the reply the teacher received the following day:

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

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