Photo Inclusions: London & Budapest

I mentioned before one of my London photos of Westminster Abbey was shortlisted for inclusion in Schmaps (like my Boston church one).  Just received the e-mail that it has been included; here is the link to view it:

http://www.schmap.com/london/introduction_history/#p=524&i=524_49.jpg

Also, my picture of Hero’s Square in Budapest has been included in Schmaps Budapest:

http://www.schmap.com/budapest/sights_districtxiv/#p=141552&i=141552_42.jpg

Finished shooting my large-format project, except I have five negatives left and think I may try self portraits, or else I’ll go out to the Esplanade in the morning.  I’m exhausted.  Shooting with that camera is SO much work and it just beats you up.  I have 20 negatives now to process tomorrow, and hopehopehopfully they’ll turn out.  As it stands, I was racing against the impending rain and battling the gale-force winds, but my models Fidan and Ayla were helpful and patient, and there were pockets of perfect shooting light.  All in all, took me basically three hours to prep and shoot.  Ugh.  If these don’t turn out, I think I’m going to drop the class and throw myself off a cliff.

On the way home, a homeless man was sleeping on the subway, and I wanted to tell him that he is missing a beautiful day outside, and that he should have saved that subway ticket for a cold, yucky day.  I mean, if you’re going to sleep outside, today’s the day to today it.  But then I realized how awful that is of me.  But seriously, it’s beautiful outside.

Photo project

has me too busy and stressed to think.  Cross your fingers that I don’t screw this up, because I still never mastered medium format, and now I’m moving onto large format, which is even more difficult.

LATER:
Prayers seem to be working like crazy, because it was supposed to be in the 30s-40s and rainy today and instead it is 56 and sunny.  Is this a sign from God that I can do this?  Geez, I hope so.  Just spnt $80 on photo supplies, which means so far this class has cost me over $400.  Guh.

nooooooooooo

noooooooo

snoooooooooooooooow

Stop it.  Stop it right now.

Just when it was FINALLY safe for me to walk outside without this occurring every five minutes:

The only good news is that it’s been too warm for me to get to use my ice skates.  But I am suddenly so busy with school that I don’t have time to go ice skate anyways . . . Sad times.

I have great taste

Look what I bought myself for Valentine’s Day. How flipping cute, right?  Now on days when I don’t want to mess my hair up with a hat, my ears can still stay warm!

Valentine’s Eve

Okay, so I mean, I’m pretty cynical about love and romance and all that stuff.  Not what I’m here to talk about.  I’m here to say that first of all, I was awoken this morning by my favorite realitor knocking on my door and asking if he could come in.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a little girl crush on him.

He was just showing my apartment.  Anyways.  Got back from getting some photography stuff (medium format camera = death of me) to find a box in my apartment.

Roses from Mom and Jerry!  I think this is the first time I have ever gotten flowers on Valentine’s Day.  I was very excited.  The office must think I have an extremely attractive and wealthy boyfriend that lives a long ways away and sends me stuff all the time, because I”m always getting packages and frequently they are flowers.

The best part of the mini-roses, though, is the flower manual:  “Mini Rose: Few flowers express love and appreciation more than the rose.  These are charming, easy-care miniatures that are perfect for indoor enjoyment.  Keep soil constantly moist but not soggy.  Enjoy your rose plant indoors for the first few days, then plant it outdoors for best growing results.”

What they mean is: Okay, we know you Jessa.  Admire them for a few days and then, if you love them, give them away.  Or they will DIE.

Bets on how long they live?  The manual thing said they’re easy to care for, so I give myself two weeks.

Anyways, they are not from a secret boyfriend.  They are from Mom and Jerry.  I think the BEST part of the day, though, was when Mom sent me an e-mail about the seagull .gif in the last post and her opening words were: “I LOLLED.”  I’m not making it up.  That’s a direct quote, copy and pasted. 

Man oh man.  My mom is pretty gangsta, yo . . .  (Hi, Mom!   )

This made me feel better

So it was beautiful this morning.  I got all dolled up and went to class.  Unfortunately, on the way home, the temperature dropped, it started raining, and the wind picked up.  My nose started running and I couldn’t wipe it because I was having to hold my skirt down.  I was cold.  And my shoes RIPPED my feet up.  I’m covered in bandaids now.  It was utterly miserable, and I got home being all upset and unhappy.

Then a friend sent me this and life got a little better.

How CRAZY is that?!?  I TOLD everyone seagulls were all dangerous and up-to-no-good but no on ever believed me!  That stupid “Finding Nemo” PR was a good move for them, but here is actual proof of the evilness that is these birds.

In othe news, I have very few irrational fears/dislikes, but seagulls are one of them.  Squirrels are another.

Yes, I realize I am going to die a lonely old cat lady . . .

Shortlisted again

Now one of my London photos is shortlisted for Schmaps London.  Um, just hire me already, geez.  And thank you, flickr, for doing all my work for me.

Photo shortlist

I recently posted the link about my Boston Park Street Church getting included in a guide.  Well I just got an e-mail that one of my Budapest photos has been shortlisted for inclusion in the Schmaps Budapest Guide (the exact same publication thing, except for Budapest).  Cross your fingers for me, please!

OH and it is 55degrees outside today.  Dear Boston: please stay like this FOREVER.

I AM MY OWN MAN

Okay, so I don’t need a man and here is why: I can unclog my own drains.

That’s right.  I did it.  I mentioned last post that I was going to do dishes and I hadn’t done them in two weeks.  Well I thought a cup was empty and I dumped it in the sink but it wasn’t empty.  It was full of spoiled milk.  So were two other cups, but because this mug was white, I thought that was the bottom.  Anyways, hell no was I about to grab the clumps of spoiled milk out of my sink so I just tried to wash them down.

Well the clumps are apparently tough little buggers because they clogged my sink.  So I went and bought drain-o stuff and when I got back, my entire apartment building spelled like sour milk.  Grrrreat.  So I read the bottle but it’s very vague.  Just dumped half the thing down and left it for thirty minutes. 

Unfortunately, my bathroom has BAD ventilation.  So when I came back thirty minutes later, my bathroom was like a bad-smell bomb.  It smelled like spoiled milk and drain-o.  So I lit two candles before realizing that I had just lit a fire in a room packed with chemicals.  I blew them out before realizing, well, nothing blew up, so I relit them.  SO then the bathroom smelled like sour milk, drain-o, candle smoke, and vanilla brown sugar. 

Washed the dishes which was super disgusting.  I don’t do one thing at a time, though, so I also mopped the floor (added swiffer smell) AND gave myself a pedicare (added lotion, nailpolish remover, and nailpolish).

Needless to say I was a bit giddy when I finally left my bathroom.  But not just from the fumes.  Also from that first moment watching the water rush effortlessly down the now-unclogged drain.

Who needs a man?  I open my own jars and unclog my own drains, darnit!  ROAR!

$5.95

I went grocery shopping this morning.  Which I’ve learned to hate doing because I always spent $80-$140 dollars.  It lasts me roughly three weeks — I say roughly, because some things last me longer and some things last me less.

Anyways, I bought this gloriousness because my big jar I brought with me is almost gone.

Yes, that is 64oz. of peanut buttery goodness.

 

IN other news, I am about to go dishes for the first time in two weeks.  It’s disgusting.  There is mold EVERYWHERE.  My bathroom reeks of spoiled milk.  I don’t think I have ever let anything in my life get this gross before.  This is the downside to writing a LOT: you kind of forget about real life and real things like mold and spoiled milk.

On the bright side, tomorrow morning I will get to use a spoon to eat my yogurt instead of my finger.