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I had a ten-hour day yesterday and it was the worst. I was so ferociously burnt out on the whole week– I think I’m getting old and weak, this is my third or fourth consecutive 40-hour office-job workweek and my brain is fucking porridge by now. I kept just losing extravagant tracts of time– at one point I glanced up and it was 45 minutes later than the last time I’d noticed the clock, and when I glanced back down I couldn’t remember what I’d even been doing, and i sat there for several minutes looking around in complete confusion because not only was it like, 11 am, I genuinely could not remember at all what I had been doing that whole time. Then I picked up my phone to text Dude, and got lost looking at something on my phone, various things on my phone, and literally half an hour later I finally remembered I’d meant to text him so I pulled up the messages program and then sat staring at it because I couldn’t remember why I’d been meaning to text him.
I had to stay late after work because they’re cutting hours of store staff, and had asked if I could take on some of the photo lab work– namely, the black and white developing, which we have to do by hand and so employ a rotating cast of hipster college kids to do because the venerable photo lab employees who’ve been working here since the 80s refuse on principle to do any hand-developing of film because that’s not how film worked in its heyday and they’re old and don’t like change and also I don’t blame them, only college hipsters have the patience or pretentiousness to develop black and white film by hand. But then they keep having to cut hours and can’t retain the hipsters and then they need to get a new hipster and in the meantime the film piles up, and there’s nobody to do it, so they wanted me to be like, a consistent person who while not always present, comes back, and could provide some continuity. I mean, I guess. So our current hipster, whose hours are being cut, showed up at 4:45 to show us how to develop black and white, and so I was there until about 6 to see how it goes and no, it’s no different than when I learned in art class in 1995 but I’m pretty fucking rusty and the equipment has not aged as well as I have so there’s a lot of duct tape involved nowadays. (“The last time I did this was probably the year 2000,” I said thoughtfully, fidgeting with the film reel. The hipster looked up and laughed and said “I was–” “Don’t say it!” I begged. “About two years old,” he finished. “Noooo,” I said. But I’m used to that now. At least he was born.)
Anyway I should dig out some black and white film and shoot a roll so I can practice. I own so many cameras. Fuck I have a black and white roll of 120 in my medium-format folder, I should pull that out of there before it’s totally fogged. Ehh probably too late, I think I brought that to the WWII re-enactment I went to in 2012. (Christ there were so many Nazis. What I really miss about 2012 is how surprised I was by that. Now I would expect that so thoroughly I just wouldn’t go in the first place, which is partly why I haven’t ever gone to one of those again…)
Anyhow. Also I made a carrot cake last night so I get some sort of award for pulling myself together. Oh, this cake, listen–
I made a bundt cake, and when I frost it, I’m going to make it a Groundhog Day cake, so that means I’m going to improvise some kind of groundhog figurine to go into the middle hole, so its like he’s popping up and either seeing his shadow or not. I figure since it’s a carrot cake the frosting will be white cream cheese frosting with coconut shreds, as snow, and the shadow can be raisins.
Mom did this for us once when we were kids, and we had a puppet that was a squirrel so that was our groundhog. I have a little knitted mouse, but I also have some brown felt so maybe I should just quickly sew up a brown rodent-shaped finger puppet??
I’m going to repeat this cake next weekend at the farm potluck because I’m so pleased with the idea. Listen Groundhog Day is a sacred holiday round these parts.
Also, today is my nameday, so I’m going to a tiny party at my friend’s house, so that’s the occasion.
I have one more thing to post about but I think it deserves its own post, so brace yourselves.
I had a ten-hour day yesterday and it was the worst. I was so ferociously burnt out on the whole week– I think I’m getting old and weak, this is my third or fourth consecutive 40-hour office-job workweek and my brain is fucking porridge by now. I kept just losing extravagant tracts of time– at one point I glanced up and it was 45 minutes later than the last time I’d noticed the clock, and when I glanced back down I couldn’t remember what I’d even been doing, and i sat there for several minutes looking around in complete confusion because not only was it like, 11 am, I genuinely could not remember at all what I had been doing that whole time. Then I picked up my phone to text Dude, and got lost looking at something on my phone, various things on my phone, and literally half an hour later I finally remembered I’d meant to text him so I pulled up the messages program and then sat staring at it because I couldn’t remember why I’d been meaning to text him.
I had to stay late after work because they’re cutting hours of store staff, and had asked if I could take on some of the photo lab work– namely, the black and white developing, which we have to do by hand and so employ a rotating cast of hipster college kids to do because the venerable photo lab employees who’ve been working here since the 80s refuse on principle to do any hand-developing of film because that’s not how film worked in its heyday and they’re old and don’t like change and also I don’t blame them, only college hipsters have the patience or pretentiousness to develop black and white film by hand. But then they keep having to cut hours and can’t retain the hipsters and then they need to get a new hipster and in the meantime the film piles up, and there’s nobody to do it, so they wanted me to be like, a consistent person who while not always present, comes back, and could provide some continuity. I mean, I guess. So our current hipster, whose hours are being cut, showed up at 4:45 to show us how to develop black and white, and so I was there until about 6 to see how it goes and no, it’s no different than when I learned in art class in 1995 but I’m pretty fucking rusty and the equipment has not aged as well as I have so there’s a lot of duct tape involved nowadays. (“The last time I did this was probably the year 2000,” I said thoughtfully, fidgeting with the film reel. The hipster looked up and laughed and said “I was–” “Don’t say it!” I begged. “About two years old,” he finished. “Noooo,” I said. But I’m used to that now. At least he was born.)
Anyway I should dig out some black and white film and shoot a roll so I can practice. I own so many cameras. Fuck I have a black and white roll of 120 in my medium-format folder, I should pull that out of there before it’s totally fogged. Ehh probably too late, I think I brought that to the WWII re-enactment I went to in 2012. (Christ there were so many Nazis. What I really miss about 2012 is how surprised I was by that. Now I would expect that so thoroughly I just wouldn’t go in the first place, which is partly why I haven’t ever gone to one of those again…)
Anyhow. Also I made a carrot cake last night so I get some sort of award for pulling myself together. Oh, this cake, listen–
I made a bundt cake, and when I frost it, I’m going to make it a Groundhog Day cake, so that means I’m going to improvise some kind of groundhog figurine to go into the middle hole, so its like he’s popping up and either seeing his shadow or not. I figure since it’s a carrot cake the frosting will be white cream cheese frosting with coconut shreds, as snow, and the shadow can be raisins.
Mom did this for us once when we were kids, and we had a puppet that was a squirrel so that was our groundhog. I have a little knitted mouse, but I also have some brown felt so maybe I should just quickly sew up a brown rodent-shaped finger puppet??
I’m going to repeat this cake next weekend at the farm potluck because I’m so pleased with the idea. Listen Groundhog Day is a sacred holiday round these parts.
Also, today is my nameday, so I’m going to a tiny party at my friend’s house, so that’s the occasion.
I have one more thing to post about but I think it deserves its own post, so brace yourselves.
