REALLY random shit
I think I have most everything I need for Burning Man. Just need to finish packing it. Meh, maybe later. I've got too much totally random shit that I just have to write about.
Sadie the Saturn is in the shop, getting tuned up before the long trek into the desert. Not too much broken this time, aside from the oil leak that they had fixed last time and so are refixing it again without charge. But all four tires were about to go bald and need to be replaced (I knew it was getting close and had kept putting it off, figuring that I could just pretend they were racing slicks, but I guess doing that in the middle of nowhere might not be such a great idea). So that wasn't a pleasant bill. Gotta wake up at butt crack tomorrow to go pick her up. Ugh.
Also getting my bicycle tuned up (hmmm, don't have a name for the bike -- maybe cuz I never ride the damn thing anymore). It'll be ready Tuesday afternoon, but since I'll be working, I'll probably pick it up Wednesday morning around the same time as I pick up pirategrrl's very overdue birthday present. A tuneup was prolly overkill, but I figured that was also way overdue. This Burning Man thing is ending up costing a lot more than I expected. I guess it's a good thing I'm still working at this job that I seem to hate so.
It also means I can buy new camera stuff. My spiffy new Crumpler bag arrived today. My old Tamrac was a great value (less than $20!), but it barely fit my workhorse tank of a lens, the 24-70 2.8L, and it definitely couldn't take it with the lens hood mounted reversed. I'm sure there's some crude sexual joke in there somewhere, but I'll leave that up as an exercise for the reader. But basically, this meant I'd have to tote the hood around somewhere else (usually in my backpack). Very inconvenient. Got a black 6 Million Dollar Home, as they call it, which can handle that lens with the hood reversed just fine, as well as plenty of other stuff (why does all of this sound dirtier than it really is?).
The hood matters because I like to keep it on the lens all the time because I always forget about lens flare (caused by direct light hitting the lens) and, more importantly, the hood is really good at just generally protecting the lens (this one cost twice as much as Kaylee did). So I'd been thinking about getting a bag for a while, and I figured the new semester would be a good time. I like the bag a lot so far. Not only is it roomy and ergonomic, but it looks stylish and doesn't scream "Camera bag! Come steal me!" at you (which is kinda annoying, especially when you are trying to sleep).
In other news, as I was getting into Erika's car after dinner tonight, I said, "Parallelogram!" No, the car is not shaped like one. This was just for no particular reason. I mean, there weren't any parallelogram-shaped objects anywhere in sight (well, I guess there was probably something rectangular somewhere around, which I know technically qualifies, but nothing that has that stereotypical parallelogram tilt to it). Sometimes I try to say something completely off-the-wall and random to amuse Erika, and this one certainly did, but I swear that I didn't run through the standard "come up with some random shit word to amuse Erika and create the illusion of being somewhat spontaneous" process (no, that one's not random enough... this one sounds too much like an insult... I think I've already used "Cookie Monster" the last seven times... aha, that's the one...). No, without any conscious thought, I just said it.
After Erika was done laughing at my weird-ass-ness, she of course asked the question that just begged to be asked, namely, "What the fuck?" At which point, I racked my brain for a plausible explanation, but the only one I could come up with was the fact that, as a grade-schooler, I used to have, for some bizarre reason, an eraser shaped like a parallelogram that was named "Paula Parallelogram." No, I didn't name her. She was apparently both an eraser and a nifty educational toy, all built into one. At least until you used her too much to cause her to deform and look more like a vaguely trapezoid-ish ovoid of some sort. This is a pretty weak explanation, but apparently, just that I ever had a Paula Parallelogram eraser is a hilarious fact in and of itself.
And then she started singing They Might Be Giants. She meaning Erika, not Paula Parallelogram (I'm not at Burning Man yet, sheesh!). Of course, she adapted it thusly: "Triangle Man, Triangle Man. Triangle Man hates Parallelogram Man..." which, if you knew "Particle Man", is way too many syllables for that line, which of course makes it all the more funnier. For that matter, why the heck is that song called "Particle Man" anyway? Triangle Man is the total star of that song, having two total verses in it. That's just false advertising, man (or maybe that should be the title of the song).
Such is the weird shit that makes up my life. Fear me.
Sadie the Saturn is in the shop, getting tuned up before the long trek into the desert. Not too much broken this time, aside from the oil leak that they had fixed last time and so are refixing it again without charge. But all four tires were about to go bald and need to be replaced (I knew it was getting close and had kept putting it off, figuring that I could just pretend they were racing slicks, but I guess doing that in the middle of nowhere might not be such a great idea). So that wasn't a pleasant bill. Gotta wake up at butt crack tomorrow to go pick her up. Ugh.
Also getting my bicycle tuned up (hmmm, don't have a name for the bike -- maybe cuz I never ride the damn thing anymore). It'll be ready Tuesday afternoon, but since I'll be working, I'll probably pick it up Wednesday morning around the same time as I pick up pirategrrl's very overdue birthday present. A tuneup was prolly overkill, but I figured that was also way overdue. This Burning Man thing is ending up costing a lot more than I expected. I guess it's a good thing I'm still working at this job that I seem to hate so.
It also means I can buy new camera stuff. My spiffy new Crumpler bag arrived today. My old Tamrac was a great value (less than $20!), but it barely fit my workhorse tank of a lens, the 24-70 2.8L, and it definitely couldn't take it with the lens hood mounted reversed. I'm sure there's some crude sexual joke in there somewhere, but I'll leave that up as an exercise for the reader. But basically, this meant I'd have to tote the hood around somewhere else (usually in my backpack). Very inconvenient. Got a black 6 Million Dollar Home, as they call it, which can handle that lens with the hood reversed just fine, as well as plenty of other stuff (why does all of this sound dirtier than it really is?).
The hood matters because I like to keep it on the lens all the time because I always forget about lens flare (caused by direct light hitting the lens) and, more importantly, the hood is really good at just generally protecting the lens (this one cost twice as much as Kaylee did). So I'd been thinking about getting a bag for a while, and I figured the new semester would be a good time. I like the bag a lot so far. Not only is it roomy and ergonomic, but it looks stylish and doesn't scream "Camera bag! Come steal me!" at you (which is kinda annoying, especially when you are trying to sleep).
In other news, as I was getting into Erika's car after dinner tonight, I said, "Parallelogram!" No, the car is not shaped like one. This was just for no particular reason. I mean, there weren't any parallelogram-shaped objects anywhere in sight (well, I guess there was probably something rectangular somewhere around, which I know technically qualifies, but nothing that has that stereotypical parallelogram tilt to it). Sometimes I try to say something completely off-the-wall and random to amuse Erika, and this one certainly did, but I swear that I didn't run through the standard "come up with some random shit word to amuse Erika and create the illusion of being somewhat spontaneous" process (no, that one's not random enough... this one sounds too much like an insult... I think I've already used "Cookie Monster" the last seven times... aha, that's the one...). No, without any conscious thought, I just said it.
After Erika was done laughing at my weird-ass-ness, she of course asked the question that just begged to be asked, namely, "What the fuck?" At which point, I racked my brain for a plausible explanation, but the only one I could come up with was the fact that, as a grade-schooler, I used to have, for some bizarre reason, an eraser shaped like a parallelogram that was named "Paula Parallelogram." No, I didn't name her. She was apparently both an eraser and a nifty educational toy, all built into one. At least until you used her too much to cause her to deform and look more like a vaguely trapezoid-ish ovoid of some sort. This is a pretty weak explanation, but apparently, just that I ever had a Paula Parallelogram eraser is a hilarious fact in and of itself.
And then she started singing They Might Be Giants. She meaning Erika, not Paula Parallelogram (I'm not at Burning Man yet, sheesh!). Of course, she adapted it thusly: "Triangle Man, Triangle Man. Triangle Man hates Parallelogram Man..." which, if you knew "Particle Man", is way too many syllables for that line, which of course makes it all the more funnier. For that matter, why the heck is that song called "Particle Man" anyway? Triangle Man is the total star of that song, having two total verses in it. That's just false advertising, man (or maybe that should be the title of the song).
Such is the weird shit that makes up my life. Fear me.