Tag: lens

all about me, happenings, photography, shiny stuff

maybe it’s a sign?

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Well, I have had a pickle of a time with trying to apply to the accelerated RN program at Perimeter, which has gotten me thinking; MAYBE this is a sign. Maybe I should be just applying to a regular BSN accelerated program; and there are two who’s deadlines are months away. So… that’s what I think I am going to do.

The only thing is, that I will have to do it full time, so I will have to figure out some way to attract a magic money fairy in order to sustain my lifestyle. Shit, maybe I’ll just borrow more money; I ONLY have 40k in student loans right now… what’s 30k more? Either way, it may not be what I planned, but it was originally what I wanted to do, so maybe it’s for the best. Now… here’s hoping I can get in. Jeez… Stress!

Also, I am seriously lusting after this lens (actually using it at lunch DID NOT HELP). I know that I said “for my birthday”, but I really want it now (don’t we all want things right away when we want them?). I am thinking about getting it soon, because I am going to NYC in a couple of weeks, and it would be PERFECT for my trip. It is difficult to justify such a massive expense, but it is worth it, right? Why can’t I win the damn lottery already??!

Ah… the things in life we stress over, right? Oh yeah, and it’s damn hot out too! HA!

all about me, happenings, is it just me?, mixed media, photography, the catch-all-egory

music, money, games, etc.

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First off, as if Weezer weren’t cool enough already, they are doing this. I love the idea of a band getting together with musician fans, and playing their hits together. If I was better at the guitar, I would totally show up and jam with them. I guess I will have to settle for jamming on the Xbox, because they have songs on Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

James recently pointed out that I had very little tread left on one of my tires, and so I figured it was about time that I take it in get a new one (it has been 30k+ miles since I got my car after all). Well, turns out, I needed two, and after getting two tires, and having them aligned and balanced, my bill came out to $640 and some change. Holy fuck balls that is a lot of money. Jebus! It has also gotten to where it costs no less than $50 to fill my tank… life is expensive, and having a car seems to have become a very MAJOR expense!

In game news, I picked up Guitar Hero On Tour after a month or so of anticipation, and overall, I think that it is an innovative use of the DS. It is a bit awkward at first to play, and it would be nicer if the top screen (which becomes your left screen when turned to play) would bend back more. Other than that, I really don’t have many complaints!! I think that it is really cool that they made it for the DS, and I am looking forward to rocking out on the go. I am seriously a GH junkie; I can’t get enough.

I think that I have decided what I want for my birthday (or really splurge and get this one which I actually think I want more, now)… now to see if James will go for it… (or at least just help me pay for it… LOL)

On a final note, I think that I am addicted to the nachos at Raging Burrito in Decatur. I will be having them for dinner tonight, and I cannot wait. Yumsicle!

hmm interesting, near and dear, show the love

fire, big steps, and a few loves

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Last night, my friend Deb stopped by to talk with me about my most recent lens that I acquired, and when we were walking them out, James casually mentions that the house behind us is on fire. Well, imagine my surprise when it was engulfed in flames! The way he mentioned it, it just seemed like it was a small fire. Either way, the house is empty, and has been since it was built. My bet, is that it was for insurance claims, as the house has been in the state of “being built” for over 2 years now. I’m just glad that no one was hurt. The response was very fast, and there were tons of fire trucks that showed up. When we came home from my friend John’s new loft (which is awesome), there was still one sitting out there. It was interesting, though, that I haven’t seen a crew at the house for about a month, and they were out there this morning when I left for work. Hmmm…. Here’s a picture that I got of the incident:
neighbor's house on fire

Today, I have a meeting at GSU, to talk with someone at the nursing school about what I need to do to get into the program, and get started in getting my nursing degree. While I am definitely nervous (this was the big step I referred to in an earlier post), I am excited. I hope that I can get started as soon as possible, because I really need to make some changes in my life. The only one that is going to do it is me. To piggyback on that, I really want to say, that it is an amazing feeling to know that you have family out there that totally support you, and love you. Those same family members want you to succeed, and want nothing more than for you to be happy. That is something that I haven’t always had (well, I have, but I experienced more of that bad, than their good), and it is great to know that it is there for me now. You know who you are, and I greatly appreciate you. When you have family problems, it is wonderful to know that there are at least a couple of people in your family that really act like family.

Finally, I am totally loving Heroes. That is like the best show ever. I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD. Also, I got a new lens for my camera, and while I was totally excited about it, after playing around with it, I don’t think that it is what I really needed, and I am going to take it back and get the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro instead. I am hoping that the return goes smoothly, because I REALLY want the macro lens. Keep your fingers crossed!

That’s about all for this Tuesday, ya’ll! Hope things are going well for everyone out there in the blogosphere!

flickr, movie musings, photography, the catch-all-egory

zodiac and a new lens

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So last night, we went with Barry and Rebekah to check out the newest Jake Gyllenhaal flick, Zodiac. For those of you that know me, know that I love all things Gyllenhaal (Maggie included!), so there was no way I was going to be able to wait for this movie to make its way to DVD. So, I braved the Friday night movie crowds (those of you that know me well, know that I HATE going to the movies on opening night… crowds make me angry), and we managed to have no problem sitting together, thanks to Daniel and Andrew meeting us at the movie, and saving us four chairs. Score!! So just before the movie, when we were eating dinner, Barry mentions that the movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long… uh, I wasn’t expecting that, but nevertheless, I was excited to see a new Gyllenhaal movie. So we made our way into the theater, settled in, and watched Zodiac. While it definitely was a long movie (seriously, almost 3 hours long, remember!), it was actually really good. There was lots of “thriller” moments, and there was actually a bunch of surprisingly vivid violence in the recreation of the Zodiac’s killings. It really captured the hysteria of the time, being that a mass murderer was just out there killing people, and no one knew who he was or where to look for him. Surprisingly, there was actually quite a bit of humor in the movie, which cut the suspense very nicely. Most of that came from Robert Downey Jr., which was nice and welcome in this serious movie. It was also cool how they followed the reporters and the police as they worked to try and uncover who the killer was before he killed again. Eventually, the police give up, and Jake’s character takes it upon himself to find out who Zodiac is years later, while writing a book about him. Overall, I really liked the movie, and I will definitely get it for our collection when it hits DVD. The only thing that I didn’t really like (even though it was totally necessary), was the continual splicing together of scenes labeled with how much later they were than the previous scene (i.e., 2 months later…). They did that A LOT in the film, and it was a little distracting, but overall, I really liked it. I’ll give it a five out of six (); perhaps another viewing will make that go up, because I get distracted in the theater sometimes, and all that time jumping plus the almost 3 hour movie proved to be a little distracting. Either way, that’s what I thought, now you go see it! [picture from iheartjakemedia.com]

drinks anyone?Other than that, I am completely reeling over my newest purchase; I got a new (very inexpensive) lens for my camera. The lens is a 50mm f1.8, which is awesome, because it has a wicked aperture, allowing me to do awesome DOF things. I am in love with it. I messed around a little yesterday, and got some pretty great pictures. I look forward to learning more and more about it, and hopefully, I will just get better with time. To the right is one of the pictures that I took yesterday (if you want to see it bigger, click on it, and it will take you to the flickr page). What do you think? (you can see the rest on my flickr page) I am impressed with how well this camera handles, and the impressive pictures that come out of it. YAY great purchase!

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and relaxing accordingly. We are going to have a rousing Wii Boxing game this afternoon as our workout, and then hang out with friends tonight and tomorrow night. God, weekends are the best. I wish they lasted longer!!!

"pointless", all about me, flickr, the catch-all-egory

a friday free-for-all!

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I am all over the place today! So, in the spirit of that “all over the place” mentality I am currently afflicted by, I thought I would share! Why not, right?! I knew you would agree.

First of all, my car starting making a noise this week. Not a good noise either, it was a “metal on metal” scraping noise coming from the wheels. Shit. Of course, I am a proactive person when it comes to car care (I always get the oil done on time, and I rotate tires and that kind of stuff), so I called Acura and made an appointment for this afternoon. Turns out, it is something to do with brake pads and the rotors, and so I have to have the back ones fixed… the front ones are covered by the warranty for whatever reason. It’s going to be $165, but at least I have two things going FOR me here; the vibration and that awful metal on metal noise when braking will go away, AND, I luckily got my tax return money this week. So, I guess things could be worse. I just can’t wait to see how it drives when it is fixed, especially since they let me borrow a BRAND NEW RDX to drive while I am waiting for my car. That car is NICE, but really, the only thing about it I would want, is the MP3 CD capability, and the audio in jack for my ipod… my car doesn’t have either of those features. Other than that, I am very happy with Bianca, and can’t wait to get her back.

Second, to preface this next thing, let me start by saying that my tattoo guy had me on a stand by list, in case of a cancellation, in order to fix my ankle tattoo. Apparently, this was the quickest way to get in, because he has a massive waiting list (which is totally understandable, because he is amazing)… but I didn’t expect that they would call and be all, “um, can you come in tonight?”. Well, needless to say, I said yes, because I don’t want to have to wait that much longer; especially considering the main reason I went to Russ in the first place, was to get my ankle redone… and I ended up with a half sleeve!!! I probably want to do more with the sleeve in the future, but for now, we are doing ankle work ONLY. I can’t wait to see what he can do with it. The man is a genius with a needle and ink. The appointment tonight shouldn’t be half as painful as my last one (which was all inner arm work, ouch!). I just hope James isn’t too shaken by the sudden change of plans… he doesn’t deal well with that, but in this case, I didn’t have much of a choice. Oh well, I guess we’ll see!

a daffodil's view

Finally, my good friend Deb has talked me into getting a kick ass lens for my camera, because it is pretty much one of the best deal lenses for the Canon EOS cameras… it is a 50mm with f1.8, and it should allow me to enhance the bokeh in my shots (bokeh is the effect in the shot above, where the main object of the photo is sharp, but the background is blurred and softened… but this lens can make it much smoother and more soft). This is the effect in photography that I have learned, and one that I love the most, and I can’t wait to see what this lens can do, because the one that comes with the camera is pretty limited when you want to do more specific and advanced things like this; plus, it is a cheap lens (as I mentioned). I am completely loving this camera, and I am SOOOO glad that I got it. It was totally worth the wait, and I know that I am gushing about it, but I really can’t help it. Mama likes her electronics, kids!!! Also, keep in mind I waited over a year and a half to get this camera, so a little excitement is in order. Be sure to keep an eye on my flickr page, because I can assure you, things are only going to get more interesting. Well, at least I am going to posting a lot more… I have fallen back in love with flickr!

I hope that everyone has a great Friday (what’s left of it), and I hope everyone has a great weekend as well! Expect some commentary on the Oscars on Monday… GO JENNIFER HUDSON!!! WOOO WOOO!