Holiday

Summer vacation has finally started for me, after pulling off straight A's in 15 credits of summer courses. I have been sleeping, eating occasionally, and working almost every day at the cafe. Even that hasn't been so bad-- I worked 26 hours this week, have 35 next week, and they finally "officially" certified me as a cashier, so I don't have to do dishes all the time anymore (hopefully). I've been riding my bike to work every day and reading linguistics books on my lunch breaks, so I guess I'm not being terribly unproductive.

However, a few weeks ago I wanted to take the time to write a bitchy post about the Leica M8, one of their digital models. I was really surprised at how much I disliked it. I quite like the M4 and M6. They're lovely. And okay, Leica's quirky because they make freaky German cameras. I get it. Just the memory card slot, the fake film advancing noise, and the crazy amount of noise above ISO 400 kind of killed it for me.

The noise isn't so bad if you can just hit it with a ton of light...

But this looks like a cell phone photo to me.

Oh hai. That's me.

I don't know what else to write about. My sleeping schedule is getting all messed up since I've been working closing shifts every night and sleeping in wicked late. I'm hungry, but have little motivation or groceries to do anything about it. I have ice cream downstairs, but it needs chocolate syrup. Maybe I'll go on a midnight run to Rite Aid. That sounds vaguely appealing.

So, I was riding my bike home earlier (around 10:30), was crossing the street using a crosswalk, and someone sitting at a red light honked at me. After being honked at constantly, I got kind of irritated, called the car driver an asshole and flipped the bird. Yeah, I know. Then I get like 15 feet away and hear, "Lindsey! It's me, Joe!" I called my friend an asshole. But then he stopped and gave me a ride up the hill, so it was okay.

Okay, I'm going to put my laundry away and finish watching Kung Pow. Adios.

Pageantry

So, I feel like this post needs a preface. This pageant was hands-down one of the strangest things I've ever seen in my life. And I need to preface that by saying that I was brought up in the Mormon church until I was about 16. My family were converts, meaning that we don't have large, insular families of happy Mormons who are all directly descended from either Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. And so I sort of grew up hearing about these things like the Hill Cumorah pageant, and it was just a really strange experience of being there. Even though I've read the Book of Mormon and the Bible extensively, the play made little sense to me, and I can't imagine how an outsider would understand any of it.



First of all, it was a much larger event than I would have imagined. It was set up like a festival, with tents and booths for food, parking in a sodden field directed by young men in suits, while thousands sat in front of a large outdoor stage, clustering in camping chairs, holding umbrellas or donning plastic ponchos in the rain.

However, I think it was the protesters that really surprised me. I think as a kid, the event was always pitched to me as this really special, quiet gathering where people go to listen to a spiritual story, but when we drove up, the first thing I noticed were police cars, flares in the road, clouds of sulfur, and finally, amplified singing.
The other thing was that I'd never been to an event of conservatives arguing against other conservatives. The protesters in these images were against the LDS church, arguing that the Book of Mormon was a false religious book.


I'd love to spend more time photographing at this event, especially because it was a last minute decision to go and obviously, these pictures aren't terribly great. I wasn't able to get a flash or tripod (or a better camera for that matter), so I only had my dslr, which doesn't do so well in low light, plus it was raining and I got there right when it was really getting dark. However, I find the whole idea of pageantry and putting on a show to be really interesting, and I want to try to pursue this further.

Final Project: Feels Like Home

I love RIT.
I really FUCKING love RIT.









I'm not even being sarcastic. I'm so happy I came here. It can be frustrating trying to get around, and it's tough working as much as I am and trying to keep my grades up. In fact, one of my professors about ripped my ovaries out the other day because my lab grades were low on a couple assignments and she lectured me on how it was all my fault, and I still feel alright.

This week is finals week-- I just have three finals to worry about, and this Saturday I'm taking off to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to see my folks. Looking forward to shooting a lot and coming back to hit the ground again for Winter Quarter. I think in January I'm going to move into my friend's brother's apartment. Living with older people just isn't working out for me. They're taking on parental roles, and I really don't need that anymore. I just want my own place. I think I'll be much happier somewhere closer to downtown, with more independence, etc.

I'll write more when I have time.

Lindsey

Rochester so far

Ever since I got here last Friday, I've been job hunting like crazy. I've applied at over 20 places, posted resumes for on-campus jobs, and tomorrow I'm going to a job fair at school (and probably ditching orientation in the process). So far, though, it has been fruitful! I went on an interview today at Panera Bread and I have a second interview with them on Saturday, and tomorrow I have interviews with Burlington Coat Factory and Pier 1 Imports. They're all pretty near campus and on my way home, so either one would be a decent option, but I'm hoping for Panera at this point. So, wish me luck, pray for me, read your horoscopes, whichever you prefer! I can hardly believe I'm having such good luck so far.

In other news, I'm pretty sure I'm about to get my ass kicked by school. Hard. I got an email from one of my professors for my Materials & Processes class, and we start up with labs and work right away. I suppose it's not really surprising, as we only have 10 weeks per quarter, but wow. I'm still waiting for my textbooks to come in, and I haven't even ordered some of them because I wanted to make sure I was going to be okay financially before I did... hopefully this will be okay.

I have only gotten seriously lost once so far in Rochester. Last Saturday, I took the bus to the bookstore, walked around campus, etc., when I ran into this boy who was looking for the bus stop. His name is Zaryab, and he's from Pakistan. So we got to talking while we were waiting for the bus, and we ended up hanging out and exploring town all afternoon. So then it was about 8 PM and we were waiting for the bus to come at the mall to take us our separate ways-- him back to RIT, me to where I live in the other direction-- and so I got on the same bus I rode that morning. I ended up in a rather dangerous part of downtown. The bus driver called for another bus to come and take me back to where I needed to go, and so I got on that bus, but then halfway there, he turned around and drove me right back to where I was. By then it was nearly 11 at night and I was getting really scared, to be honest. I only had $10 on me, and I knew a cab ride back would be much more, and I was about to call the police for help when my landlord called and offered to pick me up. I felt really bad having him come and save my neck already, but so far he and his wife have been really great in helping me find my way around. You never know when you move into someone else's house how they're going to be about stuff like that, but I feel really fortunate to have found them. He's always offering to let me go grocery shopping and stuff with him, and they're letting me use his wife's old bicycle to get around.

So long story short, I have to remember that this isn't San Franciscco and the buses aren't magnificent here. I'm going to be using the bike to get around for now, until it starts snowing and the roads freeze over, which should be around late November. I'm hoping that once school and work start, I can find someone to carpool with, and my dad is talking about helping me get a moped or something. But riding a bike sure beats walking-- the other day I ended up having to walk home from campus which is a good 5 miles. I guess I'm probably going to be putting 50 miles a week on that bike, so I'm going to be super in shape. Win!

Here's a few pictures from here-- nothing amazing, I haven't done much shooting yet.

my room


the landlord's Bengal cat, Buddy. He's adorable and we're on our way to becoming best friends :)


Some of the scenery on campus.

Well I have to wake up early tomorrow and I'm getting pretty tired, so I'm going to peace out now.

Best,
Lindsey

New York

I made it into Rochester this morning. Believe it or not, my train was actually early. I left Tuesday night out of Kingman, woke up Thursday morning in Kansas, and got into Chicago around 4:00, where I had a long layover. I checked my bags to Rochester at Union Station and then went out in search of food. And then just wandered around the city taking pictures.







Then it started to rain, so I went back to the station in time to relax for a bit and then board my next train.


So I've just been spending the day unpacking my suitcases and getting my new room organized. I went out to do some grocery shopping and to buy a few things I wasn't able to take with me. Tomorrow I'm going to find my way down to the RIT campus and attempt to locate all my classes, check out the library, apply for jobs, etc.

It really is quite beautiful here. All the pine trees remind me of being in Seattle and everywhere you go you see deer walking around, and there are lots of geese right now. And the thought of curling up in some sweatpants with a good book and hot chocolate, watching the snow come down in torrents just sounds delicious at the moment. I have a feeling I'm going to get sick of the snow once I have to walk through it everyday though.

I'm just ready for classes to start now. I'm already getting a wee bit lonely up here.

Finally...

I finally, finally got to buy a digital camera. I've gotten by the past couple years shooting film and borrowing school cameras, which wasn't altogether bad, but it makes such a difference having your own equipment. Before that I just had a dinky little Kodak 3 megapixel point and shoot. I decided to go with the Pentax K20D (which, since they just released the K7, the price came down about $100) because it will work with the rest of my Pentax film lenses, and Pentax cameras are built like a brick sh*t house. I ordered it off B&H and all in all, it was about $645, with an SD card. I still need to get a light meter (though I'm getting pretty good at guessing exposures now) and a flash, but... one thing at a time.

I can't wait to try it out, I'm so excited. It should arrive Wednesday or Thursday, which is good considering I leave the Tuesday after that. I'm so ready to start shooting again, for real. I don't even care what crappy assignments I get in school, I'll be happy to do anything. As you may have noticed, this "Photo Blog" doesn't contain many photos these days. Hopefully that will be changing soon.

I also got a new Timbuk2 messenger bag and I swear, I've already got it halfway packed, I'm so ready to go. Tomorrow I've gotta go pick up a box for the rest of my things and see how much it'll cost to ship all my books.

Blah blah blah. I'm just rambling now to keep myself from going insane with impatience. And now, I'm going to go be artsy and try to write a proper letter to Amanda.

I don't want a title

So, a friend of mine, Mallory, and I often find ourselves bored late at night, and on such nights, we usually end up cooking. Usually the results aren't too bad. One night we made falafels, we've made curry a few times, and a couple nights ago we made some Thai fried rice and some soup out of a tapas cookbook I bought in Spain.

The rice was pretty good, but the soup...

For some reason it sounded pretty good in the book- it was cold garlic soup garnished with grapes and berries. Maybe the photo made it look really good. But the recipe called for, among other things, 2 tbsp of vinegar, and I think that's what made it taste really bad. I mean, I barely took a bite of it and was like, "No." Somehow the berries made the vinegar taste even stronger.


On another note, we (Mallory and I) are also planning a camping trip with a couple other people to Zion National Park. It's been like 1 1/2 years since I've been there, so I'm excited to go. I ordered some film for the occasion- I've heard the Arista Ultra 400 is supposed to be pretty similar to Tri-X only it's a lot cheaper, so I'm gonna try it. I also finally ordered some much-needed archival boxes and binders for prints and negatives. Hooray!

I've also found a place to live in New York, so I'm planning to leave here on the 26th of August. I have to drive to Kingman, AZ to catch the train, which only leaves at 2 AM. At 9 PM on the 27th I arrive in Chicago and switch trains, and the next morning I get into Rochester. I can't decide if I want to take my bike with me, or try to sell it here and get a little cash for it and get a new one when I get to New York. Hrmmm.

I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just carry on learning French for my minor instead of Arabic. The first class is only offered in the fall quarter, and I really don't want to wait another year to start on the coursework.

By the way, sorry for the cell phone pictures. With any luck I should get my digital camera soon.