Ah, yes, the perks of inheriting a small sum of dinars that allows you
freedom and the wherewithal, for, albeit, a limited time, do the things
one wants to do. My dad came into some dinars and made a small gift to
me; small, yet more dinars than I’ve ever seen in one place that didn’t
have to go right in a bag to be dropped in the night deposit box for
wherever I was working at the time. Nope, this time it’s all mine. So
just in the nick of time, I was able to sell the old car and buy a new
one. Then I found a really good deal on a laptop, the one I’m using to
write this blog. And Wednesday evening I found the camera I’ve been
wanting and waiting for and reading about and drooling over: a Canon
Rebel XSi. How do I like it? In a word: I LOVE IT! Okay, three words.

But the Rebel’s gonna take some getting used to. This ain’t your mom’s
point-and-shoot. I realized while at an art show in the park yesterday
that I should have stuck my trusty Canon Powershot A630 in the backpack
too. Its articulating LCD monitor can be the difference between getting
the shot…and not! Sigh. Live and learn, eh? And I’ve got to learn to
use the viewfinder, which I seldom use on the A630 since it’s so
misleading. The Rebel, however, is a DSLR so what you see through the
viewfinder is what you see in the shot. No more tips of eagles’ wings at
the bottom of the frame when I thought I had ‘em dead center! And boy,
is it fast! I’ve caught birds taking off and in mid-flight and followed
them through the air when the A630 would still have been trying to gear
up and focus. That was a thrill!

I also bought a digital photography book after reading a few pages of it
last night in the bookstore. I learned a lot in those few minutes. A lot
that I wish I’d read long before now. I’ve got a lotta learning to do
before I head out to visit friends in the Wild Wild (and imminently
photographable) West.

My father made it possible for me to quit my frakkin’ goram miserable
stinkin’ job, where the chemicals in use were making it impossible for
me to breathe and the abusive hostile working environment was making it
impossible for me to do the things which really matter to me. It was a
soul-killing job and I thank my lucky stars that I got out of there, and
not a moment too soon. Thank you, stars. And thank you, Dad. Amazon
Saaaaaaa-lute! bama :D