so i rushed out to the subway during lunch today so that i could make a dash to kominek to get an estimate on repairing my fed5b. i had a feeling kominek was a low-tech operation when i didn't receive a reply back from an email inquiry i sent 2.5 weeks ago, but i didn't expect to be greeted by a man who looked like a mixup of santa clause and a hell's angel, sitting crowded by shelves of used mamiyas, canons and leicas. he sat behind a narrow counter littered with various newspapers, daily magazines and a huge, freshly purchased bag of mcdicks.

i was a little intimidated by the small cluttered space and his gruff demeanor. he filled out a work order as i explained what my problem with the fed5b was. then as i took a peek at the various medium format non-toy cameras, mr. hell's angels said that the shutter speed dial wasn't broken!

i think my excitement transferred over to him as he showed me how the dial really needs to be pulled up hard in order to set it. his gruffness somehow disappeared and he started to impart stories of how all the lens manufacturers and technicians of russia were relocated to a suburb of moscow after WWII, or how i shouldn't spend any money on the fed5b b/c it wouldn't be worth it or how 'that woman' (aka terry shiavo) died suffering for 13 days.

relieved, i was half skipping with happiness out of kominek, when santa shouted, 'come back with some photos. i'm sick of cameras.'

another fed 5b shot.

i'm really liking this month's lala land theme. neil's shot from PEI was chosen. it's a really awesome shot.

i finally picked up my test roll from my now defunct fed 5b - wow! the photos came out quite sharp (click on the collage above to see bigger versions of the photos). i think i will be dropping off my camera at kominek, for repairs, after all!

after more research i learned that the models previous and after the fed5b had built-in light meters - which means the fed 5b was, sadly, ripped off. perhaps after the camera is repaired i will see if i can afford to trade or exchange my fed 5b with a fed 5c ...

things to remember for the next test roll:

• buy a small, tiny notebook to take note of shutter speed and aperture combos for each shot i take
• blow or clean the lens before shooting
• until i buy a spot meter, use the sunny f16/cloudyf11 rule
• cock the bloody shutter b/c attempting to change the speed dial - ha ha ha .... ouch

at the you grow girl book launch party, 'a' picked up a pot with mystery seeds planted in them! there was a table set up with DIY scoops, pots, soil and mystery seeds. there were also pre-made pots with seeds planted in them. the pots were decorated with 'YGG' stickers. it was really cute and such a nice, thoughtful touch.

as per instructions i've been watering the pot from the bottom but nothing is happening yet. i've been looking into the pot everyday anxiously waiting. so much so that i'm starting to feel like a gardening-hypochondriac: hey, is that some fungus growing? is that the remains of a snail? oh no, what if that snail ate the mystery seeds?

in related news, over the weekend the neo-con, er national post did a book review and interview on 'you grow girl' and gayla. 'a' said that the article predicts that 'you grow girl' is poised to be a best seller, catering to a younger, gardening audience who is more socially and environmentally conscious.

wops 38 minutes too late for a march 27th entry ... sunday nights are always a slightly sad time for me because it is the end of the weekend and once i go to sleep it means that i have to go to work when i wake up. i always end up staying up way past my bedtime in an attempt to extend my weekend as much as possible.

i bumped into my entrepreneurial friend 'j' at the one of a kind show (just like when b and i went last year). b and i went to art school w/ 'j'. her business is so successful that she quit her day job 2 years ago to keep up with her orders.

talking to 'j' today, she said that she was having a tough time at the show b/c she didn't hire any extra help and was trying to solicit some impromptu help from people checking out her booth. so i offered my help and will be manning her booth and help increase her sales tomorrow. my part-time 'sales associate' skills that i acquired from my retail clothing store days will come in handy!

bicycle_bloom

bicycle_bloom
Originally uploaded by happy d.

i'm posting this entry directly from flickr (even this short writeup)! how cool is that? kinda late, but illo friday changed up the due dates so that the new weekly topic can be worked on over the weekend and submissions have to be in before friday morning.

don't laugh at my bicycle ... man they are hard to draw!

tonight was gayla trail's book launch for her new book and as you can see i got my copy signed by her!

i was all jittery with the excitement of meeting someone who's work i really, really admire. (let's just say i was star struck when i met the fluffco duo.) 'a' braved the snowy flurries (yes it's snowing here again) with me and walked over to the gladstone for the book launch party.

after a quick drink i purchased 'you grow girl' and lined up to get my book signed. i took peeks of the book at chapters over the weekend, but i didn't realize how nice and packed with information, projects, cool illustrations and lush photos this book was until i had my very own copy in my hands.

one project that 'a' and i want to tackle is composting for apartment dwellers. i also want to try to grow some geraniums (b/c they always smell so nice), but my dreams of growing tomatoes on the deck are dashed. sadly gayla states that you need 8 hours of bright light a day ... my deck is north facing so most of the time it won't get direct sunlight.

hmm, where does the time go? i should have more to post about in the next couple of days. this whole posting everyday bit is quite hard. i'm so impressed with people who can do it at least every other day!

i've also come up with some ideas for this week's illustration friday. i hope i have time to complete 2 ideas!

good night.

signs of spring: i saw some shoots (tulips? crocus?) barely making their way up above the dirt in the flower beds by nathan philips square. it's coming!

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does the photo above look like it was taken during winter? or am i imposing my memories of the day onto this shot?

heading out to a suburb east of toronto, our subway train stopped unexpectedly 2 stations before our stop. the train driver announced there was a 'technical' problem with the tracks ahead and that we wouldn't be moving on. 'a' and i suspect that it must have been a jumper.

the number of subway suicides and attempted suicides are alarming: read more. imagine how much bigger the numbers would be in a city with a bigger population.

i'm such an awesome shopper. i did $220 worth of shopping for only $67 at my most favouritest store. they make the bestest stuff.

happy st. patrick's day! well it still is for me b/c i haven't gone to sleep yet. i've found two friends who love to groove on the dance floor to disco - like me they both wear flat shoes to the club. one friend comes to toronto from montreal and the other comes to toronto from london, but i met her in vancouver.

two liquid accomplishments:

• i drank 1 full can of red bull (1/2 of it was part of a red bull martini)
• i was able to take a tequila shot w/o barfing or gagging

after all the caffeine i'll be ingesting tomorrow, i think i should look into a detox/cleanse?

woot! woot!

toronto - across the 'pond' the patriate aozora girl went to the theatre tonight as well! her friend discovered that the limited run musical 'wicked', despite being sold out for it's 7 week run, saves 20 seats a night to sell to people who get their name drawn if they enter the 'wicked' lottery. tonight there were at least 80 people lined up to enter up to two names. chances for tickets went down from 1 in 4 to 1 in 8. patriate aozora girl attempted not to get her hopes up and started to think about activities she could do when she got home after her name and her friend's name were not drawn. she didn't have to think very long - patriate aozora girl's name was the fourth name drawn! the seats were box seats, quite close to the stage.

"the musical was witty and extremely well written, carefully integrating details from the 'wizard of oz' into 'the story line," patriate aozora girl told reporters.

"i always love stories about strong-willed, non-conformist, underdogs."

"the set and costume designs were gorgeous," added patriate aozora girl's friend.

unfortunately neither of the friends would disclose any detail about the story. they were worried that their comments would spoil the show for others.

it is exactly 27 days until my 27th birthday, so to commemorate this day (aside from throwing myself a party, which will hopefully annoy our anal neighbour) i am going to endeavour to post something everyday for the next 27 days.

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so i guess i wasn't treading carefully enough. i broke my fed5b! the damn camera didn't come w/ an english manual, only a russian one. when i looked online for instructions, people wrote 'cock the shutter before adjusting the shutter speed'. i assumed that cocking the shutter meant pushing down on the shutter halfway. so i loaded up some film for some testing and for a while the shutter speed dial was moving around (somewhat). but now the shutter speed dial doesn't budge, although it still rotates as the film advances ... because as i found out last night, while desperately trying to find any information on the stubborn shutter speed dial,'cock the shutter before adjusting the shutter speed' means advancing the film. ... okay

i feel like a photography retard but i want to give this russian camera another chance (and also improve my manual photography skills) so i'll take it into a camera specialty store tomorrow and see if they can fix my newly immigrated camera - which was sadly abused by an ignorant native, north american.

i think i have to tread very carefully for the next while. a whole bunch of nice things have happened to me these past few days.

• my boo is back and along with him came my guitar (which i've permanently borrowed from my high school. i'm playing the songs from the alicia key's songbook b!!)
• i can reach the Bm7 chord
• i won a prize pack from makingroom
• i won a coffee from the 'rrrrroll up to win' contest - i don't drink coffee so i gave this prize to my co-worker
• my fed 5b, purchased with lomo-coupons, arrived! (i had to pay $38 in brokerage fees - i miss point roberts!)

i need to purchase a light meter though, there isn't one built-in in the fed 5b. unless anyone has some tips about shooting w/o one? follow the sunny f16 rule? psycho, does your D70 come w/ a built-in light meter?

i had a great weekend and i still don't want it to end, although i'm going to be paying for it at work tomorrow... to uplift my temporary singleton living (i don't think i could ever live alone) i decided to host a girl's night potluck last night, so before heading out to the spring fesitval at the JCCC i was madly running around the apartment putting things away (ie. hiding), sweeping the floors, dusting and recycling. although dinner was served 45 minutes later than scheduled (b/c i had chosen to contribute 2 entree dishes and was still cooking when the last guest arrived) we had a lot of fun. the food highlights were j's yummy fruit salad and the dufflet tarts the k brought. everybody liked my yakisoba!

today i went to see a movie all by myself! as silly as it sounds i couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious reading my book while waiting for the curtain to rise. i watched la mala educacion. b is right, gael garcia bernal must eat acting for breakfast! although i don't agree with the people that say that bernal makes a beautiful woman, his 'zahara' was ooozing with sexiness. as bernal said in a now magazine interview, "it was about finding that inner transvestite that we all have."

i wish i could speak spanish, though. it's hard to take in a movie with rich colours and visuals like 'bad education' when you are busy reading the subtitles.

'how many strong, kick-ass, pirate bitches are out there tonight?'

's' and i went to the esthero concert tonight and despite the unusually high number of short people (there were so many guys and gals who were shorter than me! i could see the tops of their heads, they weren't midgets but 4'10"-ish people. nouveau-punkies but mini!) i somehow frequently got stuck behind tall men.

all that doesn't really matter though! i finally got to see esthero in concert - live after all these years! she told us that tonight's concert was the first in five years.

she came out wearing a deep purple, poofy petticoat with striped stockings, faux pearls and a black t-shirt w/ a pirate skull on it. she is really hung up on this pirate theme. after introducing us to her 8 piece band and two backup singers, she said, 'and i am esthero lily (something, something) of the (something, something .. sorry i've forgotten!) pirate ship'

man! this girl can sing! she can go soft and girly to loud and diva-y all in one song. she danced and pranced around singing new songs and performed upbeat, latino variations on her old songs.

she ended her 2nd encore with her newest track: we R in need of a musical ReVoLuTion

another very cool canadian chick.

today i held gold medals from the atlanta and barcelona olympics in my hand! holy crap those things are heavy. at the last minute yesterday i was asked to join a table for one of our fundraising breakfast events. marnie mcbean was the keynote speaker (she is absolutely hilarious, she could do stand-up) and she brought 2 of her 3 medals. with tracy wilson and rod black as the MCs, she did a bit of back and forth witty banter poking fun mostly at tracy.

after the event my co-workers and i went up to marnie mcbean to meet her. when i thanked her for coming out and speaking at our event she told us that she used to be heavily involved with kids help phone and missed doing things for us!

i didn't realize that i was staring intently at the medals until marnie said, "you can always tell when someone wants to hold the medals." she quickly imitated me shifting my weight back and forth slightly tip-toed, trying to get a better look at the medals before handing them to me.