Scissor Quirk.

Analog: Diana Mini (first roll) - Pt. 3

A few last shots from the first roll of Diana Mini film.
Part 1 & 2 are right here.

These ones turned out dreamy, even though they're just snaps of little moments down the street & into the backyard - I kind of love how this little camera makes the mundane more interesting when you overlap and double frames:

It's been so much fun to see my film experiments all developed!

Love the anticipation of film. Also, love the fact that come next week I'll be taking an analog photo class in school when second year starts (ah! I'm freaking out a bit - and hoping I can hold a pencil by then...lol. But seriously). I have a lovely old 35mm Canon AE-1 coming to me in the mail, and I can't wait! Though I wish my post office was open at folks-who-have-to-work friendly hours - I have a package there I think may be the camera, but I won't be able to go between 10-6 for at least a week. Gah! Know what I mean?

Have you played with film lately?
I'd love to see what you're shooting!

Oh, Raleigh.

Another shot from my first diana mini roll.

All this talk about Autumn on blogs - man, it's got me down. I refuse to acknowledge it's almost September, and am instead hoping for many more sunny days. Despite the accident, I'd still like a sunny camping trip and a few warm bike rides before we're covered in leaves, thank you!

I was crazy looking forward to having a few months at home this summer. Some nothing. A break from school. A settle. A lot of sleeping in. I wanted to make a lot of things and do this and do that, as usual - but mostly, I wanted to get around not by being stuck on stinky public hot summer-filled buses. Ew.

I miss riding my bicycle soooo much!

Be careful what you wish for, I guess? I ended up having to do a whole lot of nothing at home, this summer, by the end of it. But that's a whole nother post.

I was thinking after my liver injury was in the clear post-accident (which brings me to about here, the end of August, when the nothing-crazy-strenuous activity ban can slowly begin to be lifted) I could start riding again, but I forgot the whole part where my hand is still too bruised or weak to grasp onto the handle well enough. Urgh!

I have had two physio appointments and can use my right hand now for most light daily activities - it bends the same as my other hand, now (yay!), but still with a little bit of discomfort, so the next 5 weeks I get to build strength back up in it to normalness. I'm so excited! To hold my pencil properly, to help with dishes, to braid my hair...ah. To ride my bike. :)

Hang in there with me, sunshine!

In the meantime, I figure I'll work a bit more strength into my hand by carrying my diana mini around the 'hood and snap-snapping. Now that little baby I can handle with weak-but-growing-sronger fingers! 

We're going camping next weekend to my most favorite spot, and last night we hit up a local amusement park - I figure if I can't go on many rides, at least I can hang out with my lil camera and eat elephant ears and cotton candy. :) And that that bike ride isn't too far off, then.

What do you think - are you ready for fall??
Or do you long for the dog days of summer to keep going, like me?

Analog: Diana Mini (first roll) - Pt. 1

When I survived my first year of university + work back in April (a feat worthy
of a self-present, in my opinion - lol), I bought myself a much-jonesed-for Diana Mini. I'd wanted to get into shooting film for most of the year, but it's a bit daunting, no? After a bit of research and a realization that I must be able to easily take double exposures using 35mm film - I decided she was the one for me!

And she is. Oh, she is.
A few shots from my first roll:

I took her out around the block & our backyard as soon as I got the free 100 film (from the camera shop) in her. It was still the end of a wet Spring, around here, so our whole street was full of cherry blossoms and sunshine!

The top few are my faaaavorite! What do you think?
Do you love double-exposures as much as I do?

And actually the two with the mister in them are one long string of continuous double-exposure, which I'll stitch together in photoshop soon, here.

My plan was to develop these to see what worked out before we left for Europe at the end of April, but no dice - so I blindly shot 9 more rolls of film while travelling. lol. Totally sensical, right? Oddly enough, this first roll turned out to be my very favorite of all of them...I must snap a couple more of our gorgeous flowery street before the summer gets away!

I have to say, I'm delighted at how my first jaunt out with this lil camera went. :)

Annnd...we're back. Sort of.

Hello. Hello? Oh, hello. :)

Is this thing on?

(photo source).

It feels so weird to not have been here for the last little bit, as my hand recooperates. Thanks so, so much for all the sweet ''get-well's'' you left for me - so much! I've been antsing to get back to blogging all week, but where to start? Where the heck to start. What a crazy month!

My hand was freed from it's metal pins last Tuesday, so I've been able to stretch it about, wiggle it around (painfully, bruised-ly, and really really stiffly...ugh!) and get back to using it a bit. I can work with a mouse (I started back at work last week), but typing is still reeeal slow. lol. It's good, cuz I was starting to get a bit stir-crazy, being at home unable to do anything. (I'm the type that crochets while I'm sitting - always doing two things at once). I could probably tell you about a lot of gossip magazines and new movie releases from the last month. Oh, and nearly every Beverly Hills 90210 episode. And napping on the grass. Napping on the back lawn with an air mattress and pillows, actually.

My head is a whirlwind of everything thoughts, since I wasn't able to write anything down all month except a running list of to-do-eventually's in a word doc (I'm a pen a paper kinda girl). I can finally almost put my hair up in a basic bun by myself (omg, yay!), but also have a case of the post-hospital-beauty-blahs which has me craving a haircut, a shower in which both my arms are washed, new clothes and all that jazz. lol. Not to mention school starts soon, which has me craving shopping, anyway. I got us a new juicer and a food processor in a weak moment with some Christmas money last week, and some towels. I was trying not to buy 6 pairs of sale sandals.

I have a million bajilion follow-up appointments now, like with the trauma doctors to check on my insides, physio for the hand, and I had to go for an ultrasound yesterday to get what may be a mystery cyst on my esophogus checked out. They found it at the hospital post-accident, and aren't sure if it's related to it or not. I'm trying not to be freaked out about it, but really. I have no idea. My trauma doctor thought it was nothing, so I'm going with that for now. It was funny to have them take photos of my insides with that gel on my belly, and I was surprised to hear that my liver is still bruised, a month and some post-accident - eeek! I believe it's from my ribs, and I'm more and more happy/thankful that none of them were fractured in the tumble off the bike.

I'm thankful I feel almost normal again, and that I can walk around much like I could before, though my knees still get sore after a long day - crazy how fast your body looses stamina and strength with bed rest!

And I've seen at least one person everyday riding a motorcycle without arm/leg protection. Like, legs in shorts right above the fast moving cement, and I just want to scream! Dummies. Please, even if you ride a scooter, wear pants and long sleeves and a helmet!!

I've been thinking a lot about what's important and what I'm supposed to focus on, too, in the meantime. Where I'm going, and at what pace. And why this happened in the first place...you know, what the universe is telling me.

Basically, I'm all over the place. lol

And I can't wait to do stuff with my right hand normally again.

Kelly Ann's playlists have been keeping me sane/swooning.

Kudos to you, if you read my rambling this far! I got the rolls of Diana mini film I took to europe developed back this week & some ol crafty things to share, so I'll share more than just my odd thoughts soon. :)

A Little Bit Injured.

(photo source).

Hey, guys - bout time I poked in here!

It's been quiet...with good reason: last Wednesday the mister and I hopped on the motorcycle to drive home from work and we were in an accident.

I was in the hospital until Tuesday with a lacerated liver (some internal bleeding), a pocket of air between my ribs and lungs that made breathing pretty hard/painful, and a fracture to a small bone on the side of my super-puffy hand. I had surgery on Monday, so now my hand - my right hand - is wrapped in a huge cast (til next week, when I get a smaller splint and can move it and stuff again). I'm home now, and am starting to get better: moving around more, eating, teaching my lungs how not to act like an 80 year old man's...heh. But, for reals. I flew/rolled off of the bike and over a car and landed on my head/cheek/top half - at a fairly low speed - so thankfully it's not as bad as it could've been. I was awake the whole time and remember everything...it was pretty surreal.

And I love you, super full-visor helmet!

The mister is okay, too - he wasn't admitted to the hospital, but he has a ton of sore muscles and bruises and stuff. And now he has to help me with everything around here, since I'm one-handed for the next week. He's getting pretty good at braids and cooking. ;)

So anyway, that's where I'm at.

Recooperating. Resting. Getting my insides better. Slow, left-handed typing, for now. A little sad that I'm not camping or bicycling. And that I'm at home, but that I can't make stuff. (Agh!) That I had to cancel a really awesome summer writing class, and that I currently can't write on paper without it looking like I'm in kindergarten again...lol. And that I'll soon be in a whirlwind of deciding when it's possible to go back to work, follow-up appointments, hospital bills, and all that.

But thankful that I'm here and I can walk. :) So thankful.
Crazy how life can change just like that, hey?

Thanks to everybody who's sent well-wishes to us... :)

Back with a vengeance when I'm all healed up!