(Photo at right, from some lighting and aperture tests, because a few people have dropped a line wondering if I still exist in the physical world rather than just as a ghost in the machine. I do, really, just between camera-problems, book deadlines, and a world of other work, I’ve had to live in a different space in where the visual-that-is-me is pretty much the last thing I think about. I elect to justify living in the same pair of pants for days on end this way, too. And yes: I look really tired. I am really tired.)
1. Today is the last day I have to work on the copyedits. I was ahead of schedule on them by Thursday — thank gawd for the ability to speed-read, even through the ADD nightmare that all those red lines are — and between myself, my editor, and the also-brilliant copyeditor, the ms. is now down 40 more pages, to a very reasonable 462 pages, without any loss of content. But I still need to spend today going all the way through once more for readability per the younger readers and being sure to catch any additions or updates that need to be made. We’re still, culturally, SO in the infancy of sexuality and sexual health research (I mean, heck, in terms of women, it’s only really even been looked at for the last 30 years, and often those examinations are still so cursory and generally based in what serves the hegemony most, e.g., let’s find anything we can in women’s anatomy to justify that heterosexual intercourse alone will suffice as an entire sexual experience), that it’s very easy for things to change every few months, which makes writing on sexual health for print a serious bitch.
Friday was supposed to be a book-workday but ended up largely social, and yesterday I was 100% couch-bound with an inexplicable illness which felt and behaved like the world’s WORST hangover, but since I’d only had three mixed drinks at the party we were at the evening before (and I’ve sometimes not would up anything close to hungover from a full bottle of undiluted booze, no less), I’m not sure what the deal was. Though I have noticed that if I drink when I’m on the rag, sometimes it does pack a bigger whollop. Regardless, that leaves me with today to fit three days of work into.
2.And this puts a cramp in my style. Mark came home very late last night from two days of shooting, and between his prep for that shoot and all of my work last week, the last time we were able to have any sort of sex or have the time or ability to do more than grab a smooch and a hello in passing was about a whole week ago. And girl, I am NOT passing up sex and snuggle today when it can happen, because lord knows when we’ll get the opportunity again.
3. On the note, Mr. Price often has concerns about being a late-bloomer in all things, rather than precocious, which he’d prefer. He quite resents precociousness, really (which now and then causes some static between us, because I’ve often been precocious in many aspects of my life). However, I do believe he’s the first in his filmmaking circle to do what he did this weekend, which was to pay everyone — actors and production, as well as himself — for the work they did. Heck, as I was telling him, I’ve been doing the work online that I do for close to ten years now, and I STILL have yet to manage that feat, which is seriously laudable. A golf-clap for my sweetheart, if you would. Boy rocks it hard.
4. After three weeks of opening the order page at B&H Photo every day, putting a new camera which I direly need in, then looking at the price tag and squirming away, I finally pushed the button the other day and ordered the damn thing just barely before the end of my fiscal year. I needed the write-off anyway, so even though the cash for it was barely there, it likely would have been cash I’d have to have given to the feds to buy more weapons with if I didn’t spend it on a business expense for something I do direly need.
I know some people get really stoked about shiny, new equipment. I’m not one of them. My learning curve for new tools blows chunks, frankly, so it just means months of frustration, not excitement. To me, new camera equipment is like being given a new instrument you know how to play…save that it’s tuned in some entirely foreign key structure. So you feel like you SHOULD know how to play it, and yet you go to play a beyond-basic G Major chord and can’t seem to get even that right.
5.On a photo note, my camera stepped it up (as did the natural light here, enabling me to get out on location for a change, rather than being chained to the studio) and worked past its damages when I shot Ariel for some promo last week, resulting in some seriously stylish and hilarious shots, a few of which are up at Flickr and a lot of which are up in the patrons area.
And with that, it’s back to the edits, on to labeling the illustrations, and — if I get really lucky — back to bed at some point.
January 14th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Though I have noticed that if I drink when I’m on the rag, sometimes it does pack a bigger whollop.
Yup, this is true for me too and I’ve heard it from clinician friends, though I can’t remember their explanation for why it works and don’t know if they backed themselves up with research.
And a big round of applause for Mr. Price!!
January 15th, 2007 at 9:03 am
You and the bride rule.
January 15th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Oooh- what camera did you get? Learning a new tool is a bit of a pain in the ass, but it’s a lot of fun having a new toy!
January 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
The Olympus Evolt 330: the way my eyes work (truly bizarre dueling astigmatisms), I can’t use viewfinders that only let me look with one eye, so that very much limits what I can buy (pretty much to medium format cameras and prosumer digitals).
It was time to move to an SLR, and that was the one — the only one — with a live view screen. And since I’ve used Olympuses before, I felt good about it. We shall see.
(Trope: awesome to hear from you!)