Sunday, February 03, 2008

News update

On Friday I will be having a major operation. Well, all right, a minor operation. Actually I'm not even sure if I am allowed to call this an operation.

But anyway! I am having a mole removed. It is not a very large mole, or very visible, (even though it is on my face) but it is an annoyingly itchy mole. I had it checked in summer, and the doctor thought it was probably harmless but might not be, and if it was dangerous it wasn't VERY dangerous, and rather than doing a biopsy why not just whip it off? Easy, he said. But wait until autumn or winter. It's not good to do it now.

I tried to imagine why I wouldn't want to do it now if it was that easy, and he said I wouldn't be able to wash my hair for a week. That made sense. Not washing my hair for a week in summer would turn me into a smelly person.

So I'm doing it on Friday.

Also, at the end of the month I will be going to New Zealand for three weeks. This is not an exciting trip. It is a duty trip, to visit family and so on. But there will be some excitement towards the end, when I will catch a bit of the NZ International Arts Festival. That will be my reward for being good about the family stuff. And seeing friends (and SOME of family) will be fun.

I'm thinking of buying a new camera before the trip, a digital SLR. I've been arguing with The Man about it for weeks. When I say 'arguing,' I mean that I tell him all the reasons I should buy it, he listens and smiles, and then I tell him all the reasons I shouldn't waste my money, and he listens and smiles. It's very irritating of him, because he doesn't give anything away, but I think I might have talked myself into it. We will see how I feel when I actually have time to go shopping. I might suddenly decide I am being too extravagant. I had talked myself out of it entirely because of the NZ/yen exchange rate being so horrible, which would make my trip so much more expensive than it used to be, but then remembered that I have some money in my bank in NZ that I can use for the trip and suddenly the trip budget became cheaper.

This, of course, is something I could talk myself out of quite easily again, especially if I think about the last SLR I owned. It was a film camera, and I had it for about two months. I was learning how to use it, and took it with me on holiday, but about a week into my holiday I fell into a canal in China. The camera was around my neck at the time, and that was the end of my SLR experience.

If I keep away from Chinese canals it should be all right, shouldn't it? Somebody please tell me this is a good idea.

8 comments:

kenju said...

Oh,sure. That's a good reason. Go for it! surely you won't find any Chinese canals in NZ?

lina said...

I always have the same type of "argument" with my man. I talk, he nodded. I talk some more and he'll say, whatever it's up to you...
Stay away from water this time?

Badaunt said...

Kenju: "There are no Chinese canals in New Zealand" is a VERY good reason to buy the camera. Thank you. You may have just talked me into it.

(That wasn't very difficult, was it?)

Lina: Men, eh? If they are good listeners they can listen to you talk yourself into anything. Or OUT of anything, for that matter.

Tamakikat said...

Have a great trip. As you don't go to NZ every day I believe a decent camera to record your trip is a definite must. You definitely won't find a decent SLR at the ware-whare! Buy one today!

I'm going to NZ in mid-Feb for 3 weeks. I'm so looking forward to it. I'm going to travel around a bit seeing friends, family and whales as you do-might catch up some dance and even some rugby. I look forward to taking lots of pictures.

Look forward to seeing your pics from your new flash camera.

KB

Anonymous said...

An SLR is always a good idea - pity they're so big (relatively - if one takes shots from a bicycle:-). Of course you want a Nikon - or there's a reasonable Pentax at about $US850...

Son of a friend is flying to Japan from Oz this week for $AU600 (return). By JAL it's $1800+ off peak! The airline is budget QANTAS, named JetStar, flying through Cairnes. There might be a way to do a cheap deal to NZ via Australia?? Probably not - but it's a thought...

Badaunt said...

Tamakitkat: Hah. Just what I needed – more encouragement! (I should always ask my blog readers when I want to spend money. They're SO encouraging.)

Anon: Nikon? Pentax? No! I want an Olympus! (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse510)

Mainly because I have already had two Olympus cameras, and they've been reliable and take good pictures, but also because I know the menu system (I hate learning new menu systems); they use the same cards (although they use Compact Flash as well); and they're comparatively small and light. Oh, and the E510 gets great reviews. And image stabilization! In the body of the camera, not in expensive lenses you have to buy separately.

I have handled them in the shops, and they feel LOVELY.

Also, they're relatively cheap, at least here. Not cheap-cheap, but cheaper than the competition for something similar out of the box. And from what I've heard/seen, the kit lenses are good enough to go with for quite a while before you start wanting more. Maybe I won't want to spend more money on my expensive hobby for another year or two.

Actually, I looked at a lot of cameras and was willing to try anything, and the main reason I've decided on Olympus is the menus, price, and size. The other differences are not enough, really, to matter, unless you look at the pictures pixel by pixel, which I don't. I think the photographer's eye makes more of a difference. For example, this guy takes wonderful pictures with his Olympus, but I am sure he would take wonderful pictures whatever he was using.

I have a colleague who always gets the latest Nikon when it comes out. That means he buys a new camera almost every year. He sends me pictures, and they are HORRIBLE. Not because of the camera, but because of him. If he takes 100 pictures he puts them all up on the web and sends you the link, so you have to look through a load of rubbish, and if you're lucky there might be one good shot, if he framed it right. That guy spends a fortune on camera equipment, probably hoping that it will make his photos better, and it doesn't.

I don't want to be like him. I want to get the best equipment I can afford and use it to its limits. I feel as though I reached the limits of my old camera, so this is my next step - something I can almost (because I've used their cameras before) but not quite understand, and I hope I'll grow into it.

All I have to do is find a tiger to photograph.

tinyhands said...

I think I want the new Sony alpha-350. In-body stabilisation, as well. Of course, with its announcement, the price of the a-100 has dropped considerably, so...

Lia said...

I want a digital SLR. I haven't figured out which one yet, but my next camera will be a DSLR, as soon as I can talk myself into spending the $$$. Go for it.