Tag: Boston

Rough Morning

This one might venture into TMI territory. I’ll be careful not to overshare, but given that this blog is more like a personal weight loss surgery journal just for me (sorry) I feel I need to document today’s fun. Again, sorry.

A couple of times over the last two months my digestive system has rebelled. I go a few days with nuttin’ but chirping crickets and then a very difficult, rather painful morning of struggle and teeth gritting and all sorts of fun. That’s me today. I have spent a lot of time in the bathroom with… very little reward. Is that skirting the TMI line? There has been success, it just took a lot of work and a lot of discomfort and now that things are… well… moving (wink wink) I don’t think it is going to stop for a while. How’s that? Did I give enough detail for me to know what I am talking about when I review this post five years from now without maybe grossing out all of you fine people who happen to read this? Would it make you all feel better if I say that people who read this page are among the finest people on the Earth? You are all kind hearted, generous, strong, good looking folks who are respected and looked up to by all who meet you. Given that, I hope I didn’t gross you out.

In other news, Jen is in the office today and it sucks. She’s going to be in the office tomorrow too and that is going to suck. Suck for me, at least. I miss her. She also has an after work, work function tonight and she won’t be home until late. I’m on my own for dinner, which isn’t a big deal, but I am going to be sad without her around.

I’m thinking of taking the camera into Boston tonight. Maybe I could get some pics of all the signs and lights in the theater district. That little area has been on my photo-to-do list for a while. Unfortunately there are thunderstorms in the forecast. We’ll have to see how it goes this evening. It would be nice, and I’ve already started researching how high I can set my ISO before the digital noise gets too obnoxious.

Here’s hoping the weather forecast changes and things clear up.

Bed Time Thoughts

I tried to watch Sunday night’s episode of Westworld before work this morning but HBO Max wouldn’t play the video for some reason. It’s playing now. Once it’s done I’m going to sleep.

My Apple Watch is charging. Once it’s done I’ll go to sleep, assuming the above item is complete. I actually just kicked off an update. Who knows how long that will take.

Speaking of my Apple Watch, the activity app’s calorie goal wasn’t reached until almost 10pm tonight. Not sure why it took so long this time. I’ll keep an eye on it.

I was looking at a Nikon D90 group on Flickr tonight. The newest discussion topic was two years old but I found a thread discussing shutter counts. Now I’m paranoid that my camera has too much mileage to be reliable. That’s bullshit, of course. I’m going to use it until it disintegrates, and probably keep using it after that.

Speaking of cameras, I really want to take another stroll around Boston. There is talk of the Aquarium this weekend. We’ll see.

That cat was laying down on Jen’s pillow a few minutes ago. It’s was as adorable as can be.

Okay, my watch is updated and Westworld is 2/3 finished. I think I’ll post this now. I hope you enjoyed it for it’s random stupidness.

Boston

We’re home from our walking around Boston visit. We stayed mostly around Atlantic ave and the warf area, but also went to Haymarket and strolled through Quincy Market. Touristy stuff. It was a good time from the mental health perspective, though we tried to get into the Aquarium and failed, and from a nerd-shoots-film point of view it was awesome*. I finished the nearly-finished roll on the Nikon, shot through a roll on the Pentax, and then shot about 2/3 of another roll on the Nikon. Yikes!

I now have four rolls of film ready to develop, so I think it’s time to pick an online photo lab and ship things out. Today, or tomorrow, if I can. Here’s hoping everything comes out and there isn’t anything wrong with the ebay Nikon.

Fingers photographically crossed.

*It went awesome, assuming the photos actually come out.

I had to take a couple of pics with my iPhone, just for instant blogging gratification purposes.

I think I got this guy on film too.

Switching over to the Pentax and loading/unloading the Nikon, while Harry had a donut. The donut was pretty much the sole reason for the trip.

Urban Road Trip

Harry hasn’t done many fun things this summer. He’s been working his ass off at the restaurant and hasn’t had time for much else.

Today, in the interest of mental health, we are going into Boston to just hang out. We have to be back somewhat early so he can go to work and I can visit Mom and Jen and I can watch an episode of Stranger Things. We are going to go to the North End, hit Harry’s favorite donut shop, and then wander around.

Of course a side effect of this mental health break is I will be taking both film cameras. The Nikon only has 8-9 shots left on its roll, but the Pentax has a full 36. When the Nikon runs out I’ll swap cameras. I just hope I’m not so obnoxious that I annoy Harry and Jen. Fingers crossed.

I seriously love Boston. My city.

Rough Visit

My father got to see my mother today for the first time in a long time. Mom recognized him but wasn’t in a good way. I suppose it could have been worse. When I got there she was in a rough place. It’s difficult, but I’d feel worse if I couldn’t get there.

Back at the house, Jen has introduced Harry to Arrested Development. We are burning through it at breakneck pace.

We are also planning to go for a walk in Boston tomorrow. Both film cameras are coming. When the Nikon runs out of film the Pentax will take over.

Until then, we are about 90 minutes away from winning Mega Millions. 1.1 Billion US dollars? I’ll take it.

Tomorrow

What do I want to do tomorrow? Besides the 0.75% of a band practice. I don’t know.

Visit my mother? I could use a little of that. I saw dad today but it’s been a week since I’ve seen mom.

Work on the 50 songs in 90 days thing? Maybe. Probably not.

Get up at sunrise and mess around with cameras again? That would be fun, but where would I go? I’ve hit my favorite spots in town. Maybe downtown Lowell? Maybe the river walk in Lowell? Maybe the Shawsheen river in Tewksbury? I know a couple of good spots, but if the Shawsheen there is as dry as the Spicket here it might not be worth it. Boston? Too far away.

Stay in bed constantly refreshing eBay all day? I’m still the highest bidder but there are 22.5 hours remaining.

Pet the kitty all day?

Finish Umbrella Academy and start Stranger Things or Orville or Westworld or….

I don’t know. In the immortal words of Traffic, from their second record, Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring?

Not Ready for Monday

I am just not ready for this… Monday. Crud.

I’m on track today. I started work before starting breakfast, which I don’t like, but otherwise all is well. My day’s exercise is done, the laundry is running and the bed is made and things are looking good. I just want another day for the weekend, that’s all.

I only got four hours of sleep Saturday night, thanks to the sunrise chasing. Last night I got seven hours but the numbers were as good as I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if that’s enough though because I am pretty seriously sleepy right now.

I stayed up later than I should have last night because I was being a camera nerd. Well… a camera researching nerd. Is that a thing? I was on youtube watching videos of common film photography mistakes, and tips and tricks for film photography beginners, and videos of people taking their Pentax K1000 on street photography photo walks around various places. I’ve done that a couple of times in Boston and New York. Well… usually I was doing something else and just took my camera with me and pretended I was on a photo walk.

I want to do it again with Dad’s camera now. Like… lets do it now! I need to get some fast film so I can do it at night too (assuming I don’t screw up loading the film again). I want to start at the old Tower Records location and just walk down Newbury Street to the Common, and then walk through the theater district, and then go back up to the building formerly known as the Hancock building and the church next door, and then go to the North End and go through the farmers market, and then, and then, and then. Man, I friggin’ love Boston. Screw Covid for keeping us away.

Oh, and then we need to go to New York, and then we need to go back up to the mountains and find waterfalls. All of it.

Also, if I don’t play my guitar soon I am going to die. Just saying. Thursday is the day I have pegged for trying to trade in my Strat. If they give me cash I will use that cash for the upgrades to the two 1970’s Gibsons.

Okay. Time to take on Monday. Mondays suck. I wanna go to Boston and wander around instead. Unless it starts raining… and it’s supposed to rain. Crud.