Random Thoughts

How do you tell if your two cats are playing with each other, or actively tying to kill each other? One second they appear to be trying their hardest to tear each other’s throats out with their teeth, and the next second they are curled up together, grooming each other. I don’t get it. All I know for sure is that the kitten likes to stir up shit any chance she gets, and every now and then the bigger cat will turn the tables and ambush the kitten in ways that nearly make her shit herself. It’s scary and entertaining at the same time.

Harry’s coming home tonight. Just for one night. He’s having computer troubles and Jen is going to troubleshoot with him. That’s all. It’s going to be great to have him here though, even if it is a super short visit.

The weather sucks. It’s going to be super cold tomorrow, and we have another snow storm on the horizon. Hopefully I’ll be through with the car music by then. Hopefully the weather will start to improve once February ends, but we all know that Spring doesn’t come to New England anymore until mid-May at best. I want Summer. I want to move to San Diego where it’s summer all the time.

The Red Sox are playing their first Spring Training game right now. The annual beat-the-hell-out-of-a-college-team kick off to the grapefruit league season. They have a 5-3 lead over Northeastern University in the middle of the sixth inning. I am looking forward to the Red Sox season, even though it is clear we have another last place finish in our future. The fun part about Spring Training is the clean slate. Sure, our roster is a nightmare, but until you start losing games that matter, the possibilities are still very much endless. Speaking of San Diego, now that Xander Bogarts is a Padre, maybe it’s time to become a fan for real. I mean it is one of only three non-Boston stadiums I’ve ever been to. There’s personal history there. Maybe.

So television. I am currently trying to keep up with the following shows: The Last of Us, Star Wars The Bad Batch, Star Trek Picard, Poker Face, The Flash, Extraordinary, and You (season three, I am a full season behind). I may also get back into Star Trek Discovery but I’m a full season behind there too. The Mandalorian is coming back next week so we’ll add that to the mix as well. Yellowjackets season two is on the horizon too. On top of those shows, I have a weird compulsion to start binge re-watching The X-Files and Star Trek Deep Space Nine as well. Why am I torturing myself like this?

I haven’t shot any film since Disney World. I blame the weather. I still have a bunch of rolls saved up. I had way more than I needed for Disney so there’s still a nice supply available. I want to get some more black and white film to play with too, and once the weather starts clearing I am going to go WAY off the deep end, with both film and digital. I just need to find a way to convince people to go with me. Like a photography club or something, but just with people I actually know rather than random folks in some online club.

I want to go wander around Boston. I want to go wander around New York. I want to go wander around the mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont. I want to go wandering around the coast of Maine. I want to go wander around the coast of Massachusetts. I want to go back to Washington. I want to go back to San Diego and Los Angeles. I want to go to San Francisco for the first time. I want to go to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington for the first time too. I just want to go places. Covid screwed us out of three years of exploring. I want to make up for lost time.

Okay. Back to work, Robert. Only 2.5 hours to go until the weekend when you’ll see Harry and do a mountain of work on music and spend quality time with the love of your life. Get on with it!

Florida Recap Post – The Film

This is going to be a long one. It might end up being absurdly long.

The question before me was, do I do a recap post with just film shots, or do I keep posting things to the film blog one shot at a time and reblog them as I go. My choice was to do both. One huge film post and then potentially repost one shot at a time.

These are in random order because they came back from the lab shuffled a little. There are a ton of pics on this post but it’s just a fraction of the whole supply.

Also, the overwhelming majority of them suck… so… yeah…

243717470032_33A — Blurry edges… was that on purpose? Sure, let’s go with that.

243717470017_18A — Lamp posts, of course

243717470014_15A — Our hotel hallway. Blurry around the edges again? Huh.

243717470025_26A — I like the France pavilion

243717470013_14A — Artwork in our hotel room

243717500003_5 — Animal Kingdom, waiting for the kids to arrive

243717500010_12 — Like a bridge over troubled waters

243717500016_18 — Meter for the shadows?

243717500023_25 — I’ve got a bike you can ride it if you like it’s got a basket a bell that rings and things to make it look good. I’d give it to you if I could but I borrowed it. You’re the kind of girl that fits in with my world, I’ll give you everything anything if you want things

243717500035_E — Digital or film, it doesn’t matter. My safari shots were dog shit

243717450002_4 — Magic Kingdom, where my Nikon camera met with Dad’s Pentax lens. Nifty Fifty, babie

243717450031_33 — Lamp post. Sucky lamp post, for sure

243717490002_5 — Hollywood Studios. Dad’s lens on my camera again. STOP!

243717490007_10 — AT-AT outside of Star Tours

243717490011_14 — The Stormtroopers harass the guests to compensate for their crappy aim

243717490031_34 — What’s the Buzz, tell me what’s a happenin’

243717460011_13A — Epcot. Back to using my lens again

243717460019_21A — I had the hardest time getting good shots of the Monorail. The two best were both film. Nice

243717460023_25A — I did not ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, but Harry rode it a few times

243717480001_3A — Back to Hollywood Studios

243717480021_23A — I used the Mickey Mouse watch face on my Apple Watch all through the trip. I love Mickey Mouse watches

243717480023_25A — Jen and Grogu. Best buds

243717480029_31A — The Darkroom… on a film photo… get it?

There you have it, folks. The final Disney World Vacation post for our January 2023 trip. It was a fantastic week-plus. We’re already sort of planning another trip. This one will maybe be Disneyland instead of Disney World. I’ll let you know more about it as we get through the Spring and Summer and into the early Fall, hint hint.

Florida Recap Post – The Tenth

It occurred to me today that I still haven’t finished with the Florida vacation picture posts. All that’s left is the last day at Hollywood Studios, the drive home, which I probably won’t write a post for, and all of the film. Do I want to do one recap post with just film shots or do I want to keep sharing them one at a time via the other page? I haven’t decided yet.

I still haven’t done the firmware update on my shiny new Z5, or Z 5, or whatever. I made some chicken for lunch, put on the two most recent episodes of The Last of Us (episodes four and five are pretty much a two-parter, right?) and that’s me procrastinating.

Anyway, here’s Hollywood Studios from January 11, 2023….

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is now my fourth favorite Hollywood Studios ride, and fifth favorite Disney World ride over all.*

X-Wing. If I had to pick one ship from Star Wars as my personal ride, it would be an X-Wing

*My top five Disney World rides:

Rise of the Resistance
Toy Story Mania
Splash Mountain
Smugglers Run
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Florida Recap Post – The Ninth

It’s been a while, but here’s some more Florida! Still waiting for the film to come back. I was hoping I’d have the scans today but maybe tomorrow? We’ll see. These are from our full day at Epcot. Most of which was spent in the World Showcase. There was talk of drinking around the world, but a stomach bug got in the way of that plan.

I did not ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride, but Harry did. A couple of times.

Epcot’s groovy back door, as seen from France.

This random lady gave Jen a pinwheel and it was really cool. I think I will have a picture of it later.

Why does the World Showcase need a US pavilion? It’s literally in the USA.

DSCN2971 — Norway, land of gnomes and trolls.

We were going to stay for the fireworks but it was friggin’ cold. Bellana stuck it out, but the rest of us bolted.

Florida Recap Post – The Eighth

On January 9th we started the day at Magic Kingdom, then went back to the hotel to flake out for a while. That was the last recap post. That night we went back to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks show and stayed for an after hours event. The event required a separate ticket and took place after the park closed. That means the joint was virtually empty. We did a ton of rides with little to no wait. It was awesome.

Here are a ton of pointless photos.

I was really ready for the xmas stuff to go away.

Fireworks… in manual mode. Like a crazy person

This is me putting my feet up on the nearly empty People Mover, which we rode I think four times that night.

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (my favorite Magic Kingdom Ride not called Splash Mountain) was a walk on. Glorious.

I really wanted a slow shutter speed shot of the spinning merry go round, but not enough that I would stand there and wait for the ride to start. Sorry.

That’s it. The next post will bring us back to Epcot and I think it’s going to be a long one. Lots of pictures from the last stop at Epcot. After that there will be another day at Hollywood Studios and then I think that’s it.

Florida Recap Post – The Seventh

We went to Magic Kingdom in the morning then we went back to the hotel to rest up then we went back to Magic Kingdom for an after hours event. This post ends at the resting up at the hotel thing. Enjoy.

Who is the dude on the left and how did he end up in the picture like this?

Back at the hotel, just before sunset, Harry and I were hanging out on the patio so I took a few film pics. Then I took a bunch of digital pics.

Next up is Magic Kingdom at night including fireworks.

Florida Recap Post – The Sixth

The last post had our first day at Hollywood Studios. This post will start with that same night and then finish with a character breakfast at The Polynesian the next morning. Enjoy!

That’s the main street. What’s the main street called? Is it Main Street or Hollywood Blvd?

I forget what the fireworks show at Hollywood Studios is called. Phantasma? Something like that? Unlike the other parks, it takes place in a theater, and that theater was PACKED.

MICKEY!!! We had breakfast at Ohana in the Polynesian. We sort of feel the need to do a character dinner every time we go to Disney World. It’s usually Chef Mickey’s, but (food wise) this was SOOO much better.

The camera dropped the ball a little here. I think it was the bright light in the background.

Harry took this. I put the camera in Auto mode before I handed it to him.

Meter for the shadows, bro. Actually… in digital aren’t you supposed to meter for the highlights?

There you have it. We met Mickey Mouse in person. He actually hung out with us because he’s sort of our best friend forever now.

The next post will be Magic Kingdom pics during the day, and some flake time around the hotel.

Florida Recap Post – The Fifth

I was going to make this post everything from our first day at Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately there are about 10 million pictures from that day so I am just going with Hollywood Studios before sunset. I don’t know what that means for the next post, but frankly I don’t care right now.

I started with the film camera and switched to digital when we got to Galaxy’s Edge. I swapped back and forth a couple of times, but it was mostly digital from that point on. Here we go… there are going to be a lot of pictures here.

The entrance to Galaxy’s Edge is on the lower left corner of the picture

I think that after this masterpiece I started using Auto mode again.

Kylo Ren was probably in there eating breakfast

First Order Stormtroopers. Don’t worry if they are aiming at you. Worry if they are aiming at the guy next to you. Am I right?

None of us rode Slinky Dog this time. I have never ridden it at all because I am old and roller coaster mess with my head now. We did see these lights lit up on our second visit to Hollywood Studios, but I think I had the camera in my backpack on that occasion.

Toy Story Mania is the best ride in Disney World that doesn’t have Star Wars or Splash in it’s name.

DSCN2943 — We returned to Galaxy’s Edge to ride Rise of the Resistance which is the best ride on Earth or any other planet.

DSCN2947 — I took a lot more pictures the second time we rode Rise but that comes a few days later.

We did not see Muppet Vision on this trip and that is a major over sight. Next time.

And that’s where we’ll leave it for now. The next post will be after the sun went down, and our breakfast with Mickey the next morning. Also, maybe some more Magic Kingdom as well. We’ll see.

Florida Recap Post – The Fourth

This one is going to WAY over do it. You’ve been warned.

Our first visit to Magic Kingdom was first thing in the morning and we were shocked at how packed it was. We stayed for a couple of hours and then went back to the hotel for a while. My picture taking plan was to start with film and switch to digital when I burned through one roll. As it turns out, we weren’t in the park long enough for me to take 36 pictures on film so I don’t have any digital pics from that morning.

When we went back after dark though… I really went nuts. My YouTube schooling has taught me to keep the ISO setting as low as I can when using manual mode. I was struggling a little at night so I said screw it and set the ISO to auto, and then eventually just switched to auto mode and WOW can this new camera handle lights at night. It was crazy, so I went crazy with it. I took soooo many pictures. Here are mountains of them.

It was January 7th and the christmas decorations were still up. That was disappointing. Worse, they were still playing christmas music.

Another example of an utterly mobbed theme park.

I think this is my favorite picture from the trip. I haven’t seen any of the film yet, but I can’t see anything I took topping this one.

We rode Pirates and got wet and it was under 60 degrees out so it was not the most comfortable experience.

Shooting through windows sort of became a thing on this trip. There are a lot like this from both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

There was another night visit to Magic Kingdom and there will be a ton from that visit. Next up though will be Hollywood Studios. We got there early and stayed until they closed so there will be a ton of pics, including a bunch at night. I think. I might do something else instead, but that’s what I’m thinking right now.

Florida Recap Post – The Third

This installment of the Florida Recap Post series isn’t terribly exciting. It’s just a few spots around The Riviera hotel, the Skyliner, The Caribbean Beach resort, and the Art of Animation resort. In short, it started with us just hanging around, and turned into us riding the Skyliner and just getting off at random spots.