revjim.net

There are at least 15 projects and a handful of other small tasks running around in my head right now. I apologize if this is scattered, in coherent, or utterly banal.

I decided to simultaneously put the world at risk and satisfy my own sense of accomplishment by purchasing a cheap soldering iron. Wednesday night, Jess and I put my lack of skill to the test in order to build some custom cabling for a lighting project I'm working on. I quickly learned a few things about myself.

* I cannot see very close with my glasses/contacts on.
* The distance at which I must hold a soldering iron in order to feel comfortable that I won't singe my own eyelashes is greater than the distance at which I can see without my glasses/contacts on.
* I have no hand-eye coordination.
* I have very poor depth perception.

Regardless of these four factors, Jess and I managed to build 6 custom cables. The only mistake we made (over and over again) was to forget to put the housing on the wire before soldering the end on. This meant we'd have to unsolder the end, put the housing on the wire, and then solder the end on again. If you take that in to account, we made at least 10 cables.

Some time ago I mentioned that "Justin":http://gentlenews.com/ had agreed to help me with a larger soldering project. Things changed and I learned yesterday that I needed that project complete by this weekend — tomorrow — and not by next weekend — 7 more days from now. As stupidly confident as ever in my own abilities to "DIY", I took matters into my own hands and begged pleaded made promises to that I can't possibly keep enlisted Jess' help once again. Together, we managed to perform the unsoldering and resoldering of the feet on four flash units and they all still work. And I only managed to shock myself once.

*Her*: What are the rules for writing a Haiku?

*Me*: 3 lines. 5 syllables, then 7 then 5.

*Her*: Thanks dear.

*Me*: I don't know why I retain useless stuff like that in my head, but I do.

*Her*: To help out people like me who can't retain anything.

*Me*: Maybe I can use it to get laid. Don't you just want to fuck me now?

*Her*: Oh absolutely. Now if you'd just start writing in iambic pentameter…

*Me*: Don't tempt me. I'll go all the way to sonnet and then ask which kind?

*Her*: You just said sonnet. I think my panties got a little wet.

*Me*: I've got the poet's touch. It's deep, rhythmic, and alliterative.

*Her*: That's why I love you.

– A conversation over Text Message

Jess gets off work tonight around 7pm and we need to do a bit of housework. Outside of that, Jess and I are without plans for this evening. Got any?

Tomorrow morning we're heading out to Bedford for breakfast and then we're going to my dad's house. I'm going to help him fix the fence, and then we're going to screw around with photo lighting all afternoon. Around 5pm I have a meeting with two people for a future photo session — a commitment ceremony in the middle of the woods! Afterwards, I'm heading back to my dad's place and we're going to take my sister and her fiancee out for some very artsy engagement photographs. Late that evening we'll head home.

Sunday, my parents and my sister and her fiancee are coming over in the morning to our place to do some more engagement photos out in the fields near my house and then, after that, some studio work. Then, around 4pm Nic and Emily are coming over. Emily is getting a hair cut next weekend and is coming to have some photographs taken before it changes drastically. We'll do a few hours of studio work, then a little bit of location work, and then we'll head out for dinner.

I need to find a local source *today* for some Vivitar VP-1s and an umbrella adapter with two shoe mounts. Yeah, I know. "Good Luck," right? We'll see.

I'm uber stressed now about "Myschievia":http://revjim.net/2006/09/14/attending-myschievia/ — mostly my grand plan to build the "Myschievia Portrait Studio":http://revjim.net/2006/09/15/myschievia-portrait-studio/. Including this weekend, we have 6 days left to finish planning and preparing both for Jess and myself and for the Studio. I have all the stuff required to meet our needs while we're there aside from the perishables which will only take a quick trip to the grocery store to complete. I have about 4 different plans for the studio, each requiring varying degrees of difficulty to produce. However, I have yet to decide on a plan, finish the planning, buy the materials, and then do a test build of it all in my backyard/driveway/garage/living room.

I figure I need to do it *RIGHT* or not do it at all. At first I thought I might be able to get by with a fancy sign, a menu, some flooring and a pile of equipment. Now I'm thinking I need to make it feel as much like an honest to goodness studio as possible. What do you think?

Alas, I am hungry now. I'm off to get lunch with Nic and hit up a camera store or five.