Here is my Hula Man. I've had him for eight (8!) years! That is a while people, let me tell you. Hula Man even wobbles when you touch him. Under his skirt, right above his naked bottom, (yes, he has a bottom), he has a spring. So he wobbles and hula-s and does his little dance. And his one eye is kinda creepy. I don't know if it is a lazy eye or what.... Well, anyways...
I'm taking another photography class, Intermediate Digital Camera. Our first assignment is on white balance, and we are to take an object that is brightly colored and take various pictures of it in different lighting. I own only things that are black, white, grey, and brown because I refuse to allow color into my life (only a bit true). Enter Hula Man. I pulled him off the shelf, gave him a nice dusting off, and now, here he is, in all his hunky hula glory, running around my house getting his picture taken. Here he is napping on my pillow: Here he is shakin' it in the kitchen:
Hula Man gets around people, he even hopped up on the new end-tables, and checked out the spring time sun: Hula Man even took a tragic fall, which left him in multiple pieces. He was rushed to emergency surgery and the liquid nails saved him from a life of no-hula-ing and having no feet. I did shed a few tears. Hula Man has really been there for me, and I let him down. I let him just fall to the ground. Shattered. Well, Hula Man, I put you back together, so that has to count for something.
So, this isn't just a story about Hula Man. Although I probably could write a good one (and creepily enough, i'm feeling very attached to Hula Man and feel like I should carry him with me everywhere. He's peeking over my lap top as I write this now, and he might even come outside when I get to building my flower beds in a bit. Just kidding, or kind of kidding.
The whole deal is about white balance, and how digital cameras aren't so smart afterall. They are not smart. ok? not. smart.
Light travels in wavelengths, which are various colors, right? We all know this, Roy.G.Biv, and the visible spectrum and all, right? All right. So, your digital camera has this sensor, that is a total idiot, well, not a total idiot, only when it comes to white balance. The sensor measures the color based on temperature. Alright? so flourescent lights come out green in your pictures because that is the wavelength that flourescent light lives on, ok? So, see, your soft white light bulbs, they come out all yellow-y because thats where the live. Cloudly light is blue, and blah blah blah. So, your camera has this really hard time finding what white is in various lighting, due to all these various sources of light emitting various wavelengths of light that your camera reads. So, you have to tell it. And the settings on your camera say, oh, ok, well, here, they say this is what white should be, so let us make it white! The pre-sets are hard. Aren't they? Because dude, seriously, I can't decide if I'm in the clouds or in the shade. And what about halogen lights? or this energy saver lights, what kind of light is that? So I'm using the pre-set white balance option, and I'm telling my camera what white is. I take this picture of a blank sheet of paper in whatever light i'm in, and say, here camera, base your scale on this being White! and ta-da!!! My pictures are coming out pretty accurate. If I were to say, oh in photo shop, drag the mouse over a single pixel that I think is white, the red, blue, and yellow levels would all be about equal.
So, this is why Hula Man is running around shakin' it all over the place. Because I'm not so obsessed with white balance, I've taken two hundred pictures just because dude, my camera is an idiot. and I bet yours is too.
well people, you'll be happy to know I've run my 250th mile with nike+, which means, somewhere along the line I passed the 300 mile marker. Thats not remarkable for a little less than a year, but its alright. it'll do.
my ipod was having a break down on tuesday during my run, so I can't prove this actually happened, but it did... : I ran all the way to georgetown on the capital crescent and back on the canal. Thats long people. I get on the Capital Crescent at the 6.5, and made it all the way to 10.5. I missed the 9.5, and 10. those markers weren't visible really. thats 4 miles out. I wanted to cab it back, but, I didn't. I hopped on the canal and ran it home. Ive never been so happy to see fletcher's boat house ( still 2.5 miles from home). i also talked to myself like a crazy person on that last mile. I made myself not quit, and I felt pretty good about it. I even managed to spring the last 200 yds. total: about 9.5 miles. without my ipod, which stinks, because I've really been digging some new running music... like ccr, and black mountain, and even a little eric clapton (mostly "reptile").
last week I pulled off a 5 mile run, and seriously, I managed to keep the tears in check, until "Long as I Can See the Light" popped up... I've found that this type of music is good for my long, steady runs. and maybe for my psyche too... my psyche though is a little screwed up these days... i mean, its lonely here, you know? in this spot. this house here on ridge drive, with all its nothing-ness, and memories, and all the bad and good. how the coke still tastes different here, and so do egg noodles, and the dressers still seem like they hold magical treasures, and how its all really the same but not at all, you know? and I don't care what anyone says, no one can live in a big house all alone. they can't. now accepting applications for "move-ins." I'll be easy on your wallet, and I like to cook things, ok? So you can have all sorts of yummy breakfast things, and lunch things, and delicious dinners in exchange for just BEING here, you don't even need to talk to me, i mean, you can't NOT talk to me, but you don't have to talk to me...
I am cheery though people. because rent-live on broadway made it to my door via netflix, and because of this:
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(sorry its not a video or anything, its just the song, and the rest is pretty damn good too.... thank you shooter jennings for the sweet recommendation, and oh, canada, our lovely northern neighbors for producing such a wonderful place to create such wonderful things like, oh, you know, all of alberta, ontario, and british columbia... also, for icewine, the calgary stampede, the toronto maple leafs (for having the sweetest socks in the nhl), for the route 40 soup company, and everything else in turner valley (um, hello, longview beef jerky, who can't ship to the united states, but does produce the best beef jerky ever, even though i may NEVER get it again...), the toronto islands and the incredible view of the CN Tower from the ferry after sunset:
alright, i'll give it a rest on canada.... i'm just saying, it makes me happy, and it produces great things that get a bunch of good vibes going, alright? like, Black Mountain
since the cheese, I've made a couple of grocery store appearances that I wasn't supposed to. I bought some stuff for spaghetti sauce, I bought a chicken (for lulu, I swear). You know, I have learned a few things though. Like only buying what I need, and not buying two because they are on sale.... and that it doesn't matter what shape the pasta is in, it is still pasta, I don't need a new box because I didn't feel like elbows tonight...
anyways, can you feel the sunshine today people? I can. It makes me all happy and sun-shiny myself...
I'm going for a run later, but only if I can put down pride and prejudice... which I've already read, at least once, and maybe seen the movie at least twice, but I still can't put it down, and I think about it when I'm not thinking about other things... like school, and running, and what am I going to eat, and why people say, "but mine is!" when I yell, MY DOG IS NOT FRIENDLY. as in, my dog is not friendly and will bite your cute little pug's head right off its cute little shoulders and you're breaking the law by not having him on a leash you know, so if my dog were to bite your dogs head off, even though I already warned you HE IS NOT FRIENDLY, it would be entirely your problem because you're breaking the law, and I've done everything to constrain my dog who is NOT FRIENDLY especially to your cute little whatever kind of dog that is anyway who only weighs like ten pounds. Alright? Alright.
Hello Hula Man!
Hula Man gets around people, he even hopped up on the new end-tables, and checked out the spring time sun:
