Love to Love the Long Weekend

My long weekend was spent being antisocial and catching up on self-involved things like reading and, gasp, making large-scale purchases that seem not to work. I'm getting ahead of myself...

On Friday night I met up with 2/3 of my photography class friends (plus D) to check out the new shows that are up at the International Center for Photography. I love ICP. They offer classes and I want to take every single one, but they are, alas, expensive. We enjoyed one of the shows immensely - it was a group exhibit on the body at risk, and had photo essays on things such as domestic abuse, midwives, HIV, emergency rooms, and aging. We were impressed by the timing of the photographs as well as their extremely visceral natures.

Post-ICP, D and I went on a date, or, more like a mission - EAT. I didn't have time for lunch on Friday, and given that I didn't have breakfast on Friday nor had I had dinner the night before, I was a mess. Because ICP is near Times Square, we opted for the "Cheesiest Dinner Experience Possible" mission but ended up settling for the "Eat Soon" mission. (Although, I should say, there were no people in Times Square - eerie! It was actually the quietest I'd heard the city in quite some time). We ended up at a somewhat lame Mexican place just outside Times Square. We sat down and as we inhaled chips, I realized that, of course, every vegetarian option on the menu involved mushrooms. Of course. I asked the waiter if I could not have mushrooms in something, and he was, of course, convinced that the mushrooms could not be taken out. "We will leave," D said to me as the waiter walked away "to ask." But, joy!, the mushrooms could be removed and much bliss was experienced.

Back at my apartment, we assembled our final Star Wars lego set and got way too much sleep.

It rained on Saturday so, after finishing The New Yorker and my brother's book for the second time, I went to the MOMA to check out the Photography 2005 exhibit which ended yesterday. There was also a Pixar exhibit that was decent, except for the Toy Story Zoetrope which was RIDICULOUS. I think it was there to basically hypnotize any kids that might be in the museum for the Pixar show. It was awesome. There were also some really cool charcoal drawings from Finding Nemo.

Afterwards I did not pick up my laundry (due to the rain) and fell asleep with my head in my book, but only after I finished reading The Village Voice.

Instead of going to Brooklyn to hear D's friend's band, I stayed in an watched Birth, this crazy movie with Nicole Kidman. I figured movie-watching was a better use of a rainy night. I don't know about this movie. I really liked it, but I'm not sure why. Most likely because I identified with Nicole Kidman's insane protagonist, or because Nicole Kidman had short hair which made her even cuter than normal. The kid in it was so unsettling. The whole movie was unsettling. It had a cool score and was a good New York movie.

Afterwards I read some more of my book and then read my friend E's script, which was awesome.

D was slated to come over post-show, but didn't. I was confused, so at 2:00 I called him to tell him not to come (I assumed that he would just be out super late) but was surprised when he answered the phone. He was home! Wtf!? I thought. He was all "Oh, I was just about to text you and tell you that I am not coming." Ergh. I was mad, girlfriend-style psychotic. I was all "I imagine you knew you weren't coming, though, when you left Brooklyn an hour ago. You could have called me then so I could have gone to sleep." Silence. "I'm mad," I said. Fight ensued, because how dare I be annoyed that I wasn't told? etc. And plus, how was he to know that I'd be waiting?

I called him back and told him I really wanted him to come over, and he did, because he's wonderful when he's not being an oblivious boy.

On Sunday morning I cooked us breakfast and D cleaned up and forced me out the door so I wouldn't procrastinate the big purchase. When I got to B & H, I realized that you can't just buy your camera. You have to be helped. You can't just look at the lenses. You have to know what you want. All this, while a huge line of camera-hungry patrons throws fits behind you.

When I got up to the guy, I said "I want a Canon EOS 20D." "OK." "And a lens." "OK - which?" "Well, in your opinion, should I get a fast Sigma or a slow Canon?"

He didn't say anything, but I could tell he thought I should get a slow Canon. I said "OK, well, I want something like a 28-105, f3.5. And later I'll want a 20, but not now."

Holy complicated sale, Batman. Canon was running this double rebate thing where if you buy one thing, you get a single rebate. If you buy two things, you get double rebates on both of them, and if you buy three things, triple rebates on all of them! He convinced me to buy a 70 - 300 that was $150 because it was basically free because of the double rebate with the body. But then I had to decide on what other lens I wanted, if I wanted the one with the kit, AHHHHH!!!!

I finally caved in and just got the lens with the kit - a 17 - 85, f 3.5. But its really more like an f 4.0. DRAT.

I went home, giddy, and tried out the camera. I charged the batteries, looked through the lenses, ooh-ed over the cute little carrying case that came with the memory card, and began to take photos.

I did this for hours.

In the low-light conditions of my apartment that don't allow for good photographs.

I then watched Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which I liked much better than the book and which had very cute boys.

I re-read E's script and then slept.

For like 11 hours.

Sweet!

On Monday I freaked out because most of the photos I took on Sunday were out of focus. Well, muddy. And the colors weren't very vibrant. I figured this could be remedied by changing the white balance, but was worried about the out-of-focus issue. I blamed the low light, so took the camera for a spin out in the real world of sunlit early-afternoon.

Some of the photos were still blurry.

CRAP.

I went inside and set up a tripod. It didn't look like the blurriness was from camera shake. I wondered if maybe my depth of field was just off because I was using such a wide aperture. Nope.

Autofocus issues? Most likely. Need to play around some more. Luckily I didn't demolish the packaging so my big purchase can be returned if necessary. I just have to figure out if its me or the camera. I'm not used to using an SLR, and maybe I am just so blind that I can't tell what's in and out of focus and perhaps I just have to use autofocus. I don't want to, but maybe I just have to.

Anyway...

Met up with D to see The Bodies exhibit at South Street Seaport.

More on that later.

After The Bodies, we went back to his apartment. D made crepes while I watched the pre-show. We drank a bit and endured the entirety of The Golden Globes, and then both felt like ass and had difficulty sleeping. D thinks our headaches were due to "coming down with something," but I blame the snowy TV or the Smirnoff grape cooler things we drank.

That's all for now!