Silent Night...
Today has been a mixed day, of ups and major downs.
Our story starts six hundred and thirty six days ago.
Actually, the story starts a long time before that. When I was a lot younger, and going through an electonics phase, Grandad sent me a screwdriver with a built in wire-strimmer. I was really pleased, 'cos it was the first tool that belonged to me and me alone. Over the years, as I used it more and more, it took on a special meaning for me. It was *my* screwdriver. I treasured it, and still do.
On Monday the 7th of March, 2005, Grandad died. Claire posted about it, but I couldn't find any words. Nor could I find any tears. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't cry. Grandad asked for nobody to go to his funeral (Mum, Dad and Aunty Sally (his other daughter) went anyway, as was only right), so I didn't really get to say goodbye. I hadn't seen him for a couple of years either. Life went on. I continued to use my screwdriver, only now it had taken on a somewhat greater significance.
Fast forward to today. Yesterday, technically, but it doesn't count as tomorrow until you've slept. While trying to unscrew a plate on the bottom of our new recording studio in an attempt to install the CD-RW drive, Claire broke my screwdriver. Just the end, the blade if you will. And not even the whole thing. But I can't use it until Mum's found someone who can reshape the end.
This afternoon, I cried my eyes out. Not for my screwdriver, but for Grandad.
In the morning, I'd gone to Tescos with Mum, and found my eyes pulled towards the digital cameras section. I found a nice one, but new that I really shouldn't. After the screwdriver incident, I decided that the best way to avoid crying all evening was to spend some cash on a new toy. I'm now the proud owner of a Fujifilm Finepix A600. It's a 6.3 Mpixel camera, with a nice big (2.4") screen and 3x optical and digital zoom. Also, as I wanted to be able to take more than about 10 photos, I bought a 512 MB xD card. I'll get a 1 GB one from Amazon after Christmas, and maybe pick up a 512 MB MMC card for my phone while I'm at it. Oh, and I got a nice little case for it as well.
Mum and Dad were somewhat horrified at the thought of my impulse-buying a camera just like that, but I think that I've convinced them of it's worth now. Oh, and I had just got my first paycheck, so I felt like I deserved a treat ^_^.
So, I'd like to share a family photo. Probably the first one with all of us in it for years.
(resized muchly by photobucket!)
Oh, and this evening we played with the studio a bit. That was fun, I guess. I also somehow got suckered into writing some DOS Batch files for Dad. As you do.
Goodnight.
Our story starts six hundred and thirty six days ago.
Actually, the story starts a long time before that. When I was a lot younger, and going through an electonics phase, Grandad sent me a screwdriver with a built in wire-strimmer. I was really pleased, 'cos it was the first tool that belonged to me and me alone. Over the years, as I used it more and more, it took on a special meaning for me. It was *my* screwdriver. I treasured it, and still do.
On Monday the 7th of March, 2005, Grandad died. Claire posted about it, but I couldn't find any words. Nor could I find any tears. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't cry. Grandad asked for nobody to go to his funeral (Mum, Dad and Aunty Sally (his other daughter) went anyway, as was only right), so I didn't really get to say goodbye. I hadn't seen him for a couple of years either. Life went on. I continued to use my screwdriver, only now it had taken on a somewhat greater significance.
Fast forward to today. Yesterday, technically, but it doesn't count as tomorrow until you've slept. While trying to unscrew a plate on the bottom of our new recording studio in an attempt to install the CD-RW drive, Claire broke my screwdriver. Just the end, the blade if you will. And not even the whole thing. But I can't use it until Mum's found someone who can reshape the end.
This afternoon, I cried my eyes out. Not for my screwdriver, but for Grandad.
In the morning, I'd gone to Tescos with Mum, and found my eyes pulled towards the digital cameras section. I found a nice one, but new that I really shouldn't. After the screwdriver incident, I decided that the best way to avoid crying all evening was to spend some cash on a new toy. I'm now the proud owner of a Fujifilm Finepix A600. It's a 6.3 Mpixel camera, with a nice big (2.4") screen and 3x optical and digital zoom. Also, as I wanted to be able to take more than about 10 photos, I bought a 512 MB xD card. I'll get a 1 GB one from Amazon after Christmas, and maybe pick up a 512 MB MMC card for my phone while I'm at it. Oh, and I got a nice little case for it as well.
Mum and Dad were somewhat horrified at the thought of my impulse-buying a camera just like that, but I think that I've convinced them of it's worth now. Oh, and I had just got my first paycheck, so I felt like I deserved a treat ^_^.
So, I'd like to share a family photo. Probably the first one with all of us in it for years.
(resized muchly by photobucket!)
Oh, and this evening we played with the studio a bit. That was fun, I guess. I also somehow got suckered into writing some DOS Batch files for Dad. As you do.
Goodnight.