Fontanne
The girl's name Fontanne \f(o)-ntanne, fon-tanne\ is pronounced fawn-TAN. It is of French origin, and the meaning of Fontanne is "fountain spring".
About four months ago, my external hard drive died on me. At the same time, a major part of my soul died along with it.
Why? All of my documents, music, and movies were stored on it. Everything was stored on it. All the essays I've written over the last ten years, all the music that I've listen to since I was in the fifth grade, all the TeniMyu that I've painstakingly searched for -- gone. Just like that.
It took me a while to come to grips with the possibility that I might never see or listen to those files again. And that was just the possibility of never seeing or hearing it again. It was only after two months that I realized that there are something else on the hard drive. My iPhoto Library.
But before I angst some more, allow to me diverge a bit. (Trust me; it has a point.)
I bought my first digital camera from my brother at around three hundred dollars during my sophomore year. (I think he cheated me, but at the time, it was still easily comparable to all the other digital cameras on the market.) I began to actively take pictures of my life. Regular school days, Forensics, AcaDeca, dances, etc. I moved everything to my iPhoto Library, and I even got some photos that Daniel Chin took.
In the middle of my senior year, I received a Canon Powershot SD 870 IS from my brother for my graduation trip to Japan. Considering my brother, his amateur photography hobby, and his discerning electronics purchases, this was the best point-and-shoot camera without getting a SLR. My Powershot recorded the rest of my Forensics activities and all my senior events. It came along with me to Japan and was undeniably the most important and precious item that I had with me, other than my passport.
I, sadly, only took a little less than fourteen hundred photos over three weeks. This might seem like a lot of photos, but I had a total of 12GBs on my memory cards, which equals to approximately three thousand photos. And I had a laptop, so if my memory cards got full, I could just move it all to the laptop, which had at least 50GBs of free space. (I suppose that it didn't help that by the time I got to Tokyo, I stopped taking photos and started shopping.) All the photos I took were extremely precious to me. And because of the limited number of photos I took, they became more precious to me than ever.
Anyway, all of the photos I took were moved to my iPhoto Library. Including my photos from Japan. So, basically put....
The photos from Japan are in my iPhoto Library. My iPhoto Library is on my hard drive. My hard drive is dead. My iPhoto Library is lost. The photos from Japan are lost.
When I finally realized that I no longer had access to those photos, I no longer cared about those documents, music, and movies. All I wanted were my photos from Japan. I didn't even care if I couldn't retrieve the entire iPhoto Library. I just wanted those damn Japan photos! Even if I had to lose everything else on that hard drive. Even if I had to cut a bitch for it. (No, just joking! I've been hearing that phrase around lately, and I felt the need to corporate it somewhere.)
So, for the last two months, I've been in a pretty foul mood. My documents, music, movies, and my photos were lost. For a girl in the 21st century, this is equivalent to losing family heirlooms (that have no retail value).
Yesterday, I was organizing my jewelry and took some pictures to turn into icons later. While I was doing that, I began to wonder if maybe I didn't erase all my Japan photos from the memory cards. I usually erased everything on the card after syncing it with my iPhoto Library to make space for future pictures. I didn't have much hope, but I was hoping that maybe, by an act of God or something, that the photos from Japan were still on the other memory cards that I had. And by God, they were there!
Besides telling you about my heartbreak and the subsequent heartmend, I've decided that for the reminder of the week, if I have an entry that does not have an appropriate image to accompany it, I'll update up one of the photos I took in Japan. For instance, this entry!
This was my second day in Japan, when I traveled from Tokyo to Nikko. I arrived at my hostel early and they wouldn't let me check in early, so I left my luggage there and started wandering around. On my way from the train station to the hostel, I passed by several paths that led into the surrounding forest. To pass the time, I decided to take a walk in the forest. As you can see, it is beautiful. It really does have a slight "My Neighbor Totoro" feeling. I have several photos of my walk, but this is one of the better ones. I love the leaves hanging overhead, the whimsical-looking railing, and the trees beyond it. I'm a complete city girl and can't dream of living anywhere else in the world, but if I had a view like this outside my window, I could care less about the city.
About four months ago, my external hard drive died on me. At the same time, a major part of my soul died along with it.
Why? All of my documents, music, and movies were stored on it. Everything was stored on it. All the essays I've written over the last ten years, all the music that I've listen to since I was in the fifth grade, all the TeniMyu that I've painstakingly searched for -- gone. Just like that.
It took me a while to come to grips with the possibility that I might never see or listen to those files again. And that was just the possibility of never seeing or hearing it again. It was only after two months that I realized that there are something else on the hard drive. My iPhoto Library.
But before I angst some more, allow to me diverge a bit. (Trust me; it has a point.)
I bought my first digital camera from my brother at around three hundred dollars during my sophomore year. (I think he cheated me, but at the time, it was still easily comparable to all the other digital cameras on the market.) I began to actively take pictures of my life. Regular school days, Forensics, AcaDeca, dances, etc. I moved everything to my iPhoto Library, and I even got some photos that Daniel Chin took.
In the middle of my senior year, I received a Canon Powershot SD 870 IS from my brother for my graduation trip to Japan. Considering my brother, his amateur photography hobby, and his discerning electronics purchases, this was the best point-and-shoot camera without getting a SLR. My Powershot recorded the rest of my Forensics activities and all my senior events. It came along with me to Japan and was undeniably the most important and precious item that I had with me, other than my passport.
I, sadly, only took a little less than fourteen hundred photos over three weeks. This might seem like a lot of photos, but I had a total of 12GBs on my memory cards, which equals to approximately three thousand photos. And I had a laptop, so if my memory cards got full, I could just move it all to the laptop, which had at least 50GBs of free space. (I suppose that it didn't help that by the time I got to Tokyo, I stopped taking photos and started shopping.) All the photos I took were extremely precious to me. And because of the limited number of photos I took, they became more precious to me than ever.
Anyway, all of the photos I took were moved to my iPhoto Library. Including my photos from Japan. So, basically put....
The photos from Japan are in my iPhoto Library. My iPhoto Library is on my hard drive. My hard drive is dead. My iPhoto Library is lost. The photos from Japan are lost.
When I finally realized that I no longer had access to those photos, I no longer cared about those documents, music, and movies. All I wanted were my photos from Japan. I didn't even care if I couldn't retrieve the entire iPhoto Library. I just wanted those damn Japan photos! Even if I had to lose everything else on that hard drive. Even if I had to cut a bitch for it. (No, just joking! I've been hearing that phrase around lately, and I felt the need to corporate it somewhere.)
So, for the last two months, I've been in a pretty foul mood. My documents, music, movies, and my photos were lost. For a girl in the 21st century, this is equivalent to losing family heirlooms (that have no retail value).
Yesterday, I was organizing my jewelry and took some pictures to turn into icons later. While I was doing that, I began to wonder if maybe I didn't erase all my Japan photos from the memory cards. I usually erased everything on the card after syncing it with my iPhoto Library to make space for future pictures. I didn't have much hope, but I was hoping that maybe, by an act of God or something, that the photos from Japan were still on the other memory cards that I had. And by God, they were there!
Besides telling you about my heartbreak and the subsequent heartmend, I've decided that for the reminder of the week, if I have an entry that does not have an appropriate image to accompany it, I'll update up one of the photos I took in Japan. For instance, this entry!
This was my second day in Japan, when I traveled from Tokyo to Nikko. I arrived at my hostel early and they wouldn't let me check in early, so I left my luggage there and started wandering around. On my way from the train station to the hostel, I passed by several paths that led into the surrounding forest. To pass the time, I decided to take a walk in the forest. As you can see, it is beautiful. It really does have a slight "My Neighbor Totoro" feeling. I have several photos of my walk, but this is one of the better ones. I love the leaves hanging overhead, the whimsical-looking railing, and the trees beyond it. I'm a complete city girl and can't dream of living anywhere else in the world, but if I had a view like this outside my window, I could care less about the city.