I visited my family again today. My cousin came to pick me up, and surprise, there’s my mama coming up the stairs. She figured, why not just drop off all the stuff that she got for me right now? Here’s a rundown…

- A liquid concealer from Cover Girl.
- Some bamboo place mats for the dinner table.
- Important car papers I needed.
- Two webcams (but after testing them a few hours ago, only one of them really works).
- And best of all, a Minolta 5000i 33mm camera with two lenses, a Minolta flash, two battery packs, lens cleaning cloths, and this awesome camera bag with spaces for everything. She got all this from a friend of hers who was just going to give them away to Goodwill. My mom stopped her and said that I was a photographer and that I would probably love to have it. Wee for mommys who support your craft!

So off I went to my cousin’s house after my mom dropped all this off. My brother and his two kids were also there visiting. So picture this: My mother, cousin, my aunt, my brother, my niece, my nephew, my three godkids, and my grandmother, all in one house. Hahaha. Hooray for big families! All in all, it was a pretty drama free day, thank goodness, and I took the cutest pic with my niece. You can see it here on my Facebook. I also took another really cute pic with my youngest goddaughter, where we’re pressing our noses together. haha.

Around 5 or so, my cousin went and dropped off my mother, brother, nephew, and niece at the train station while I babysat my godkids. My youngest goddaughter gave me the worst scare. We were in my cousin’s room, coloring and playing with those Webkins toys. I’m taking a video with my iPhone of my oldest goddaughter throwing the Webkins at me, when all of a sudden I see the little one fall head over heels off the bed. She must have miscalculated where her knee was supposed to land on the bed and took a nosedive. I panicked and rushed to help her. Other than a big scare, she had NO signs of damage. Thank you, baby Jeebus! I thought at first that her arm was broken since she wouldn’t move it. But then she relaxed a bit and I flexed it back and forth just fine. *phew*

Anyway, the day went on as usual. A few hours later, before my cousin dropped me off back home, the whole lot of us (except my grandmother) went out shopping to different places. I bought a really cute jacket at Walmart, and I plan on taking some photos in tomorrow. Wee! I’ve already got a make-up idea planned out for them.

At the present moment, I am camming with a good internet buddy of mine, Jenest. Hey, look, I plugged your name, girl! She’s super adorable, and very sweet.

Well, I am off for now. Ciao!

Audi, Family, Friends, Fun, Life camera, Family, gifts, shopping

I’ve been saying “my new toy” everywhere. LOL.

YES, I have finally bought myself a Canon EOS Rebel Xs, and at a really good price: $550.  Office Depot was having a sale for President’s Day, and I knew this was the moment to get it. I’m happy and excited. I can’t wait to start taking more photos. I also went out shopping for a camera bag, which I found at Best Buy. The camera fits a little snug in there, but that’s good. It won’t be slipping and sliding around inside. :rofl:

I haven’ been able to shoot any video yet, but I managed to get hold of Dustin yesterday afternoon. He said we could try and shoot some video today in the evening. So… we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll get the footage I need. Honestly, I don’t need that much. My professors told me that the assigned 5-minute requirement is just an arbitrary number, and that if I manage to get the point across with 2 or 3 minutes… so be it.

Now, back to the camera! I had ALWAYS wanted to take a photo of myself holding a D-SLR camera. I know it’s cliche, but as I said on my deviantart account… I don’t give a fuck. Mwahaha. Here it is:

AND, here are some sample shots I took in my backyard yesterday:

The above three images are unaltered… meaning THAT is how they look straight out of the camera. Pretty amazing, eh? hehe. The photo of me has color adjustments, some spot-treatment, etc.

Man, I’m tired. I need to get to bed. I need to wake up in 6 hours. Bleh. Ciao, everyone.

P.S.
I don’t know if you’ll even read this, but I love you, Audi.

Audi, Life, School Audi, camera, canon, dustin, rebel, slr, video

So, right now, I am in class… and my professor is talking about possible internships we can do for the Miami International Film Festival. Like any us are going to have time to do them!

It’s been a pretty slow day, but I made some decisions over the weekend. I realized that I would much rather use all my own stock for the works in my BFA show. I don’t want to have to owe anything to anyone. Hence, this afternoon I will be going out and buying the Canon Rebel XTi. I’ve read a great many reviews on the net from both companies and owners, and for the price, it seems to be the best D-SLR out there. I’m not too worried about the “cheap” lens that comes with it, since I can use my manual 70mm lens with it. (All Canon lens work on Canon cameras). Regardless, I’ll be taking the lens to the store so I can test it out first.

Ok, so… seems class is starting up now. Be back later with more info. Ciao.

Life, School camera, canon, class, lens, School

That’s the title of a new series of works, spanning different media and techniques, that I am currently working on. My first dive into this theme is a series of photos I took with my Canon AE-1 Program film camera in two different Miami locations. These two locations have very storybook looking elements; giant pillars, fountains, stairs, ledges, towers, and sculptures that look like they came from castles. We’ll see how the photos came out tomorrow.

School so far has been pretty good. I’m already quite busy buying all the necessary supplies, starting my homework assignments, and getting ready for my BFA show. I’ll be working like a dog for the next few months. If I don’t write as often as I have been, that’s most likely the reason. The good thing about my schedule this year is that I only have one class a day. That’s perfect because it gives me plenty of free time to do my work. A few people are freaking out about the BFA show, but I’ve decided that it’s pointless to worry so much. I just need to buckle down and do it. That’s it.

I hung out with my friends yesterday for Saturday Night Magic. It was a LOT of fun. There was plenty of trash-talking and ego-destruction for everyone. Haha. We played about 5 games, and a few of us stayed up really late just talking and hanging out. From what I deduced, there’s going to be another get-together next week. Sadly, I only won one game, and it was by default since everyone decided to stop playing and I had the highest score. :rofl:

Anyway, I’m off to eat some Cookies N Cream poptarts. Mmm! Ciao, mei amici!

P.S. I still haven’t bought the Canon, but I plan to.

Art, Fun, Life, School Art, camera, Friends, magic the gathering, photography, School

I need to escape. I need to just pack my shit and get as far away from here as I can. I can’t function in this environment. Everything I do is wrong, nothing I do is good enough, and all my actions are looked at as if I’m the most terrible person on Earth. What the hell? And then, after I’m done feeling like shit for a good hour, no one bothers to apologize for it! As if I’m expected to just suck it up and not complain about it. When I do complain, I’m called a “drama queen” for it. What.The.Fuck? I’m not the one that made me feel this way. Why should I be insulted for reacting to the situation? UGH.

The one good thing about today is that I got to spend time with Audi. It was great to see him again, since I hadn’t seen him in a while. I treated him to a Japanese buffet for his birthday (it’s on the 23rd, but he won’t be in town that day). It had some really amazing sushi, and the price was quite reasonable. It was much cheaper than the place he and I used to go to. Afterwards, we walked over to an art store in the same plaza. I bought a small sketchbook to use next semester for notes, and he bought some heavy printing paper. We got back to my house, and he started printing out some templates he needed for his studio equipment. However, the printer started saying it was running out of ink. So, we drove over to Office Depot to buy more ink… and there it was.

A Canon EOS Rebel XTi for $399.99. God, I could have died right there. I contemplated for almost 15 minutes whether I should buy it or not. I asked the Office Depot employee a bunch of questions, and decided to wait until tomorrow. He told me they were having a big sale on ALL digital cameras, and that the $399.99 price tag will be the regular price until 2010. So… I left it. Hopefully, he knew what he was talking about and I didn’t lose this awesome opportunity. My only beef is with the lens. It’s only 18-55 mm, but geez…for that price? I’ll take it! I’ll wait until there’s a special on lenses and buy a better one then. For now, 18-55mm would be great. I also have my 18-77mm from my Canon AE-1 Program, but I don’t know if a lens intended for a film camera would work on a digital camera, despite being from the same company. We’ll find out eventually, won’t we? Heh.

As you can see, my mood is already lifting. Getting all that grief out certainly helps to alleviate a person’s mood, eh?

….

I just got a phone call from my friend Sandra, saying that she and another good friend of mine have been thinking of doing a Secret Santa gift exchange. That way, everyone can get one GOOD gift as opposed to five not-so-good ones. I said, “Sure, but I already bought your gift so… take yourself out of the drawing!” Haha.

Anyway, I’m on Meez trying to win more Coinz. So, ciao!

Life camera, canon, lens, meez, office depot, rebel, sandra, santa, secret