Photography~

Camera © Samantha Grenier, 2009

I don't actually "own" a digital camera. I've been borrowing my sister's for some time now, though we mutually agree that it's a little on the "suck-y" side. Needless to say I'm in the market for a digital camera... but have I been fantasizing about any? Noooo. I've become so fascinated by lomography images, that I've been deeply considering the purchase of a Diana.

The coveted camera from here

I've been tempted towards a few on eBay for a about a month now. They're cheap enough, that it wouldn't be so tragic if it were just another whirlwind hobby. The images are just so exciting... the drawback is that I have NO idea where I would be able to process the film. The 120 doesn't seem to be something you can drop off at an accessible 1-hour photo.

As of a few days ago, I discovered something which is perhaps taking the photography interest another step backwards: pinhole PAPER cameras. DIY camera? I'd heard of this, though forgotten that one could in fact make their own camera, with no more then glue and/tape, scissor/exacto-knife and maybe a pencil and ruler. I can see myself trying to make one: It's supposed to take 1-2 hours (depending on your awesome factor, I'm sure!) It'll probably take me 4 months of "assembly," 3 hours of crying and 6 minuets of re-taping, from a stomping incident. Also, the 4 months of labor would be split up over a 1-3 year span.

Picture from here

On the plus side, these babies can handle 35mm film, which can be deposited at my local CVS drugstore.

Roy G Biv~

Left to right: Palmy III, Baby Burrito, Hector, Piney, Gretchen, Octavian, dead unidentified herb, and the un-named plant. For a close-up of the plants, you can see them in my "Florals" Flickr set.

Overall my new group of plants are doing well. This year I've decided to try to keep the succulents from co-mingling in a single pot. I'm hoping they'll have better chance of survival this way. To liven up the group, I've assigned them to rainbow colored pots.

There's also a Rosemary (Rose-Marie) plant running around here somewhere. She was originally assigned to the "indigo" pot, but her roots were far too fat to fit in such a confined space. Her job is to keep the cats away from Palmy III and Piney. "Bitter Yuck" didn't keep Ché-Min from nibbling on Palmy III's needles, and I was worried the chemical would upset the plant. I suppose they are very tasty to the fuzzy beasts.

I will admit a couple of the babies are not doing to well... aside from the obviously dead mystery herb. I suppose it's tough for an herb to survive in cactus soil. Hector (as seen in the yellow pot, being sniffed over by Ché-Min,) just fell apart in my hands as he was being transplanted. Recently he began suffering from rot. Same goes for Baby Burrito, who's mini jelly-beans refuse to grow back, and litter my bedroom floor. It's been a battle for me to curb their suicidal tendencies. Since I'm on the market to fill the void of my dead herb, I may as well start peeking around for a Hector replacement. Baby Burrito's been hanging in there for over a year now: he doesn't LOOK dead; just a little nude.

"Silly Rabbit..."

Thank you Wikipedia!

I've had this box sitting on my desk-top for about two months now... finally I'm actually writing about it:

The image here is the original cartoon illustration advertising the cereal from 1969. (Somewhat) recently, General Mills released a box almost identical to this. Some of the differences being the rabbit's skating in from the right and the cereal's a bit more colorful these days. I think they're trying to bank on the nostalgic/vintage interest that's been driving many Americans lately... well it worked on me!

For days, I would walk by the Trix box, by the front-end registers at Target. I eventually caved, because I had a sudden hankering for a fruity flavored whole grain corn cereal and red dye #40. Yes I fell for their sexy graphics. I just couldn't resist: God that rabbit looks lovely! I think it's the use of a gray line that appeals to me so much. It's inspiring me to push my skills in vector drawing. It's also encouraging me to collect box tops, so that I may one day send them in for $5 "vintage" tee-shirt. For now I'm just going to cut, frame and hang the font of the box on one of my walls, so that it can be admired. Oh yeah... and blog about it. I would like others to "Ooo" and "Ahhh" the illustration, if they haven't already.

Meet Me-Mo~

Photo "borrowed" from Pepperberry Crochet, © 2009

We've actually had Me-Mo for a few weeks. Please see yesterday's post for why I have failed to write about him! He's cute... not much else to say!

Me-Mo's (Like Nemo 'cept with an "M"... Mee-Mow,) name actually originated from my little sister when she was first learning to talk. She was trying to say "I don't know," which was kind of what we were going through during the naming of this little guy. He follows her around EVERYWHERE, so it made sense to (sorta) name him after her. For two days Jillian and I was rooting for "Pantoufle," (The imaginary kangaroo from Chacolat,) but the whole family could not mutually agree! So meet Me-Mo.

The photo above may be a little mis-guiding. Though Me-Mow is about 12-weeks now and a little big for his age, I outlined a comparison diagram of what he looks like in comparison to our other cat Ché-Min (left):

Me-Mo's LONG and lean. Ché-Min's a giant ball of well groomed fluff. Even though Ché-Min is at LEAST double in size, Me-Mo cannot resist harassing and stalking him. Lucky Ché-Min's grown some tolerance.

Expired~

Sorry I've been distracted by Mr. G-Y-M, so I've become lazy in the postings!

Since I having been keeping up with my accounts, it seems that all of my web pages are expiring. My Flickr page is up for renewal, as is my Portfolio! My home page is WAY PAST over-due... oops! It seems they finally de-activated my account :-( 

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I'm surprised you're still reading this :)

The Tick~

The Tick, © Samantha Grenier, 2009

Night one consisted of no rest... until I became so frustrated by the noise, I stuffed the clock into my gym bag and threw a pile of dirty laundry on top. This was the best I could do to muffle the sound of the new "Tick" in my bedroom. I finally passed out around 2. Victory: I couldn't hear the ticking of my new alarm clock!

It's my fault for bringing this alarm into the house: I fell in love with it during this past weekend's visit to Ikea. I've been in the market for a new alarm clock since (twice last week alone,) I keep forgetting my cell phone (current alarm) in my purse after my evening visits to the gym. This forces me to pop out of bed 40 minuets after making a nest, and run downstairs into the dinning room, to rummaging through my purse. Not to sound too lazy-I just hate being disturbed when I'm really cozy. Plus the battery life hasn't been so great and I hate relying on an "off" celly to get me up in the morning.

My new (obnoxious) friend is a wind-up toy. Just this morning I found out that it fell about 15 minuets slower then the time on my cell phone. I guess this means that it's going to slow down as the clock winds down. Makes sense to me, I just wish it were a little more consistent. Not to be petty, but also I'm bothered by it's face. It has this "I glow-in-the-dark" look, which is false. Nope, that's just the color. It doesn't serve any purpose!

So now that I'm finished with my complaint on this alarm clock, what am I going to do? Nothing- he remains on my nightstand for the sake of beautiful classic design. I wouldn't bother driving two hours to Stoughton to return something worth about $7. I keep winding up the alarm in hope that I will get used to the sound or that it'll become white noise. But for now, I'll continue to sleep facing the fan just to drown out the amplified ticks. The next couple of nights are going to be a little chilly, but it's a sacrifice I must make for something that looks so good!

TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK! TICK!

Diagraming my pain~

Illustration from Damaged Toe, © Samantha Grenier 2008