I am nearing the end of the 8mm plus sky project. I have kept up with the baseline idea, though I haven't spent enough time working with the lens to truly appreciate it. I like the familiar but I need novelty, and these projects as constructed have been burning me out. Need to find more of a balance

This little guy is branded Rollei, but it definitely wasn't made by them. Still kind of cute!

How ridiculously cute is this?

Assembling a seven-foot-tall storage shelf when you yourself barely clear five feet yourself is... interesting.

Sometimes I wonder if my cats all think their name is, "Are you hungry?"

After spending five hours working through the pantry, and ignoring the "no" I was originally told, I bought some metal shelves. This sucker is 82" high by 45" wide by 18" deep. It holds up to 2,100 pounds. If that doesn't solve the food storage problem, I'm not sure what will.

Gray Kitten usually treats me as the spare human. Today was different. This morning she crawled under my blanket and curled up in my arm for an hour. This evening she curled up in the blanket on the recliner and stayed with me for several hours. I'm usually the food-treat dispenser, so a nice change

My first attempt at red pepper sauce turned out OK. I used shallots, garlic, roasted red peppers, some broth, and vegan heavy cream. I might skip the cream next time and just use broth and cornstarch. It smelled amazing until the cream went in. I don't usually use Silk products and this might be why

There is a birthday dinner this week that I can't get out of. The chosen location? Buffalo Wild Wings. Everything there is fried in beef tallow. Even the potatoes! Vegan options: celery, carrots, lettuce, pretzel knots, and one kind of bun. I really wish I could just stay home.

I am struggling to find something to read again. Yay, burnout. With the new installment doing so well, I decided to reread all the Murderbot books. I'm only on the first book, but definitely no regrets in making this choice.

The new lens showed up today -- one day early! I added the filter, put it on the camera, hit the power button... and now waiting for the battery to finish charging.

Four hours later, I have gone through five sets of shelves and four baskets. That leaves one shelf, three drawers, and two shopping bags to go for the initial sort. Then it will be paring down, donating, inventorying, and reshelving. After that, I hope never to do something like this again.

Why, yes, I am sorting through the pantry at 1:30 in the morning. I am never stocking up on this much food again. So much of this is going to waste because he requested having a stock of it and now eats none of that stock. I get that people change their minds but he won't even try to eat it.

It turned out to be the little gray one.

Took a gamble and tried one of these...

I just spent an hour poking around KEF for the first time. What an amazing rabbit hole of used lenses and camera bodies and more. A lens I had been eyeing for a while went up $150 to $1500, so I took a peek and found a used one for less than half price. That'll work!

I finally pulled together the list of things for sale. About 50 items total. Maybe if I list two per day per regular week for five weeks I can get it done?

Drone or 360-degree camera? 🤔

Eczema makes clothes-buying an utter nightmare. For work, I have put up with clothes that make my skin break out for a few years now. In the fall, I assume new responsibilities that require me to be more public, so I broke down and began to look harder for appropriate things.

Received an ad for a $2500 body (Canon) and a $4500 body (Sony). Oof.

With a slight break from work, my brain is overexcited for possible photo projects: film, 360 photos, drone photography, more monochrome, and and and. The lack of focus (yay, puns) suggests I need to pin my goals down more: traditional photo skills, novelty skills, or a balance?

I miss opening credits on TV shows. The big, swelling music. The random clips of the main characters that true fans know which episodes each ones are from. And the guest stars! And episode titles!

A certain gray kitten has decided that behind my knees is the best place to curl up for now.

Looking at a $30 Charmera, and Amazon suggests a $4,000 camera body.

What do you think about trying a drone as a film experiment?

Two years ago today she went over the rainbow bridge. Still miss her every day.

Recent offloads total 102 items, bringing the total to 2,317. That leaves 183 items to go, with 11 boxes packed up to donate yet.

50 items (not books yet) are on their way to their new home. I probably should pull together the recent updates and update the tally.

Donating books looks like it will be the biggest challenge in this decluttering process. I was considering Half-Price books, but I don't want money and I don't want to take them home after hauling them two hours away. This is maybe 600 books about film and documentary film. Any suggestions?

I still have questions about this 12mm lens. Getting away from the house does help.

10 boxes of single items out the door today. Finally. Getiting sh-- OUT the door is the hardest part. I still have 11 boxes to tape up and remove yet. But, still. Getting closer.

Recipes for this week: maple lentil bake, squash side dish, roasted Brussels sprouts, a new tofu preparation, maybe "meat"balls.

Donation box number 10 is filled and a bit overflowing, so box 11 will be started soon. I have done a rough sort but the next round will be more of a micro sort, such as shoeboxes or drawers. How many external batteries and cables does one actually need?

My first attempt at the 12mm. I have questions.

I did try a new recipe: lemon garlic chickpeas. It called for heavy cream and I used coconut milk, but coconut cream would have been better. Went well with spinach and biscuits.

If I ever have my own home, there will be rules: 1) No one is allowed in the kitchen while I cook 2) No politics while eating All I wanted was to eat my meal in peace but no...

Crop lens so 12mm equivalent. Might be fun?

End-of-April check-in, with May's photo projects as well: www.patreon.com/posts/where-...

$60 for two ribeye steaks? Is that right?

Gray kitten dry heaved for a couple tries and then went to sleep. I wish whatever is in there would dislodge already.

I liked having both a film and a digital project for April. Maybe I can do something similar for May?

I found another camera place that does 120 film for about $10 per roll, negatives only. If I can find a negative adapter for my scanner, I should be good to go!

Around 3 a.m. the other morning, gray kitten came up the stairs and just HOWLED. We both came running. Turns out, she had a spiral plastic toy in her teeth and she wanted to play! She dropped the toy, each of us threw it, and she brought it right back to be thrown again. This is a huge step for her.

Lots of beautiful rain today but chilly! means no decluttering or outside photos.

Signed up for a suggested photo site and got more engagement on two photos in ONE DAY than I did in one year with 25 photos on another site. I see a change in my future...

May might be two projects again. Maybe one film and one digital? Maybe a daily photo walk with a digital camera and then another weekly film project at various parks? Or do another theme, like water, flowers, or something else?

Finally, the April Update: www.patreon.com/posts/april-...

Work is easing up finally, so it's time to think about May projects. These can be more ambitious with the better weather and lighter workload. At the moment, I'm drawing a blank.

I also have kept my daily goal of a macro shot each day. The black and white filter is still on. That project was too easy but it accomplished what I needed it to with getting a camera in my hand each day.

89 degrees today! Just insane. But I did shoot a roll of 120 film at the same park today. If I shoot one more roll before the 30th, I'll have met that goal. Next challenge would be getting it all developed.