I rarely do these catch-all blog posts anymore, but since I’ve committed to blogging every weekday for a while, I figure I can let one of these slip in.
Last night I bid on (and won) a Yashica FX-3 35mm film camera on eBay. I bought it specifically so I could have a battery compartment cover that will also fit the Yashica FX-D Quartz I already own — I think that’s all that’s wrong with it. This particular model of camera won’t work with a dead battery, and the battery cover is completely stripped out, so it’s nigh on impossible to remove the cover once it’s screwed in. So, if a fresh battery fixes it, then I have two cameras to play with, and I just have to swap the battery cover between them. (Also? Once I get the FX-D working, I’m planning to re-leather it for cheap.)
Today I finished running a test roll through the Spartus Full-Vue. Brought it to work, in fact, and got several comments about the fancy/old camera sitting on my desk. The test roll will include photos from my house, the Hindu Festival, and downtown Toledo. I really hope I kept the camera on “instant” exposure instead of “time” exposure — when I went to remove the film this evening, it was on “time”, which could mean that the last part of the roll will be especially blurry and overexposed. Crossing my fingers that I didn’t accidentally fuck up my test roll…
I mentioned the Hindu Festival — Aaron and I went to see my supervisor perform a Bollywood-style dance with a group. Well, to be fair, that wasn’t the only reason we went — we wanted to try the food and see the sellers’ stalls, too — but it was the main one, and the reason I knew the festival even existed. My supervisor, it turns out, once did classical dance (she’s built for it like I never was — my height, but long-limbed), and she was a joy to watch.
And now for something completely different: I went on my first walk/jog in a VERY long time yesterday morning, and I’m feeling it today. I only ran for a total of maybe three or four minutes out of the 20 I was outside, but I’m OK with taking baby steps. My plan is to walk/jog — or do “interval training,” as it were — on Sunday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings. How I do it: I have an exercise playlist set up on my iPod, where the songs are mostly four minutes long, and between 100 and 150 beats per minute. I run through the first verse and chorus, then see how I feel — run through another verse, or switch back to a walk? I should probably stick to more brief jogging stretches for now, and not try to push myself too hard in the middle of my jog like I did on Sunday (damn you, Kool and the Gang). I also should add more songs in the neighborhood of 150 bpm, as I think that’s about the pace I jog (gauged from running around the basement for less than a minute just now).
Well, It may not be terribly coherent, but that’s the latest in a nutshell. Looking forward to the International Festival this coming Saturday, going to King’s Island with Amy and Aaron in a few weeks, and going to Chicago over Labor Day Weekend. Which reminds me: I need to go research the conveyor belt sushi joints in Chicago…