Monday, June 30, 2008

"You Can't Always Get What You Want"

So I'm pretty sure that even my most closest of relatives have stopped checking this thing due to complete lack of upkeep and care. Though I do have a legitimate reason (isn't there always one?)

I've got to whisper it really really quietly, as I want neither my Dad nor SAIT to know

...........my laptop broke.

In a catastrophic but completely typical moment said toshiba decided to journey to a better place, a fact that I've been ignoring for some time now. The screen managed to crackle straight down the center, and with naive hopes I psychotically attempted to back it up while working with about 3" of screen. Somewhere around 2am on June the 8th it died so completely, that no matter how hard my fingers crossed and how deeply my technology loving heart hoped, there was no rescure.

It has since been gently ushered to the nearest computer store in an attempt to rescue any bits of life that remain inside. Thus, I have been thouroughly unattached to my blog, email, in essence the world (though to keep things honest here, I have glimpsed quick peeks at facebook and Becker's blog at work- so i'm not entirely unaware :)

I have set up our home computer now and am continuing to play through the pain of no laptop, no photoshop, no anything....looks like I'll be crossing off "Buy a Mac" from my list a little earlier than anticipated. Hopefully I'll start to become a little more regular on here again, as I really do love it!! Besides that chaotic twist, work and my photography class are great, will elaborate more in a better and happier post tomorrow :)

Friday, June 6, 2008

"Just when you think you've got me figured out, the season's already changing"

So I survived the move, basically unscathed. We did it all on the Sunday, crammed into four hours filled with more than a couple scratched walls, blistered fingers, and ache-y tired limbs. When all was said and done and Amanda and me stood upon a literal sea of boxes crowded on any and every available surface I think we came to the conclusion that this place suited us just fine for the next century or so.

And as to what else I’ve been up to besides laundry and setting up our wireless….I got a new job. I had wanted it in that utterly desperate anxious, but pretending to be totally calm kinda way. Which is never really a good place to be. I had given my resignation at my current job on the optimistic hopes that something miraculous would no doubt fall into my life. Though who knows why this philosophy wormed into my brain, since in surveying the past 21 years, I believe there haven’t been a ton of remarkable phenomenons falling from the sky. But I digress…days ticked by and my anxiety was starting to slightly pass the realm of uncomfortable when I found the most incredible position. Though it did come as a bit of a light in a shady career limbo, I went through several phone and in-person interviews before landing it. I start Monday and will bore you all with more details then since this paragraph is already scarily long!!

Besides work, I started one of my photography courses at SAIT. It was a three hour course, and throughout all the talk of f-stops and white balance all I could think was thank god I was sitting in a classroom feeling so overwhelmingly passionate and not overwhelmingly overwhelmed. I really feel like this last little while has been a turning of a new leaf, and I’m so excited for everything to come.

As an ending, and continuation of the whole new leaf tangent, I started this great project I found while randomly surfing the internet. It’s called a 101 in 1001, here’s a link for anyone who wants to read up on it. It’s like a revised set time bucket list, I think it’s brilliant. I started mine May 31st, so my end day is February 26th, 2011. This would have been my Mum’s 45th birthday, I think she would have liked the idea, I know many of these things stem from things she wanted to do, things we wanted to do together. I will accomplish many of them with thoughts of her, and the constant reminder to live each day to the fullest.

Here’s my list for anyone in need of ideas or a good laugh!!

Camille Elise Catherine's 101 in 1001

  1. Read every Jane Austen book.
  2. Be able to do 20 pushups in a row
  3. Attend the training seminar and become a part of the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Organization.
  4. Own a Mac
  5. Learn how to play “chelsea” on the piano
  6. Finish reading Chronicles of Narnia with Layne and Marc (no matter how long it takes!)
  7. Own my own car, even if it’s a beater
  8. Be the owner of a 70-200mm f2.8 L IS
  9. Design my own website
  10. Go to a Becker Workshop
  11. Meet Jesh De Rox
  12. Shoot a wedding completely by myself.
  13. Live in London for at least a year.
  14. Go to WPPI.
  15. Blog everyday for a month
  16. Finish writing my biography
  17. Publish said biography
  18. Shoot a destination wedding
  19. Pay off my student loans
  20. Learn to speak Spanish, fluently…then take a holiday and converse with locals, easily.
  21. Learn to drive standard
  22. Get my own puppy
  23. Spread Mum’s ashes
  24. Learn to play the bass guitar
  25. Go on a hot air balloon ride
  26. Visit New York at Christmas time
  27. Read the bible front to back
  28. go on a road trip with no predetermined destination
  29. fall in love
  30. take a cooking class
  31. start my own photography business
  32. re-learn sign language
  33. pay off every credit card so they’re all at zero
  34. Ask a couple I know if I can do a shoot with them
  35. get my celtic/ayn rand tattoo
  36. Swim in the dead sea
  37. Watch the sun rise and set
  38. Have a full on food fight
  39. go skydiving
  40. Sing Karoke
  41. do a maternity/new born session
  42. Learn to ride a motorcycle
  43. Build a dirtbike
  44. have a full body massage at a spa
  45. spend one week without phone/computer/tv
  46. take a mixology course
  47. ride in the kids cancer ride across canada
  48. go to Disney world-see the harry potter theme park when it’s ready
  49. send a message in a bottle
  50. bake an apple pie from scratch
  51. eat Chinese food out of those cool little containers
  52. skywrite a message to someone
  53. make homemade bread
  54. mail a secret into post secret
  55. build a vinyl collection
  56. Read all 200 of the books on the BBC’s Big Read
  57. Sew an entire quilt by myself
  58. Finish childhood scrapbooking
  59. don’t hit the snooze button for an entire week
  60. watch every episode of sex and the city
  61. See Phantom of the Opera in a theater
  62. Write and mail at least one thinking of you card each month
  63. learn to say I love you in 10 languages
  64. Get British Dual Citizenship
  65. Go without chocolate for an entire month
  66. write a short story
  67. Go skinny dipping
  68. Have all homemade Christmas gifts
  69. Meet Jessica Claire
  70. Learn how to play poker well
  71. Learn how to whistle with fingers
  72. track everything I spend in a month- then design budget
  73. buy the totally rad action set
  74. buy Kevin Kubota actions
  75. pay off library fines-get a new library card
  76. take a creative writing class
  77. bicycle to medicine hat
  78. become a part of the big brother/sister program
  79. buy the perfect cowboy boots-no matter their cost
  80. Go to a Jesh De Rox seminar
  81. Start each day with an apple for an entire month
  82. buy a piece of art from a local artist
  83. Go back and visit Cremona
  84. Take a roadtrip by myself
  85. Live by myself
  86. Have a photograph published
  87. Hold a dinner party-at least three courses
  88. Keep room clean and organized for a week
  89. make a gratitude journal and try to write in at everday
  90. Send Christmas cards on time for pete sake
  91. Read the Quran in its entirety
  92. go see a movie by myself
  93. Organize all of my i-tunes
  94. No fastfood for six months
  95. Second shoot a wedding for someone
  96. learn to surf
  97. Create my own personal logo-design onto business card
  98. Give my card out to 10 people in one week
  99. Throw out custody battle paperwork
  100. Own a shootsac
  101. Make a new list.

Oh, and ps, as a variation of #89. I’m going to try to post this here each entry:


June 6th, 2008 – Five Things I Am Grateful For
a. The brave child cancer survivor who spoke today, there is nothing so humbling than the words of a survivor.
b. The brightness of a new opportunity.
c. Realizing that you can survive a week without the internet.
d. Deep belly laughs (see:
www.thepioneerwoman.com)
e. That good/bad feeling when someone says they’ll miss you.

And since posts are boring without pictures here's one of my faves from our first weekend out at the cabin. Have I mentioned it's the happiest place on earth?

Photobucket