June 2005 Archives
I was reminded of his closing paragraph as I brushed past three builders today. They weren't the pot-bellied kind, more the underwear-model kind; tanned, perspiring, incongruously foppish hair, stubbled, one of them hanging off the end of a smoke, in dark blue cargo pants, boots, tool belts and nothing else. I didn't really check my wandering gaze until I realised that one of them was looking me in the eye -- the other two were cruising some mini-skirts across the road -- and almost certainly recognising exactly what it was I saw. His eyes; they were a bright and beautiful steely grey-green, and an immediate reminder of the handsome eyes I see as I close my own each night.
No abuse though; he seemed to take in the unspoken approval civilly, which was cheering. The unimaginative or bitter might simply conclude that he was gay, but I really didn't see it in his eyes. Besides, secure and sensible straight men make for a more appealing image in my mind; it adds to the ever romantic vision of how the world should be, rather than demoting something of potential significance to something that is simply easier to accept.
Though it was, by all accounts, cold, overcast and sometimes windy, a couple of hours were taken out of my working week yesterday when friends drove some two hundred and fifty [thousand] miles over to Cambridge to have a barbecue with me. In some respects, I feel guilty for taking time away from the work I have to do for my thesis, but then overdoing it is a very real possibility, and everyone is entitled to relax every here and there. Especially when four or five people are taking time out their day to do it with you. Hot coals, delectable munchies and a troop of hungry loved ones does plenty to dispel all sorts of grey.
On the camera front, I was asked yesterday (via email) how a student could afford the hefty price tag of Canon's EOS 10D (originally £1275 ex. VAT). There's only one answer: eBay!
In July 2004, I learned that the model was to be superseded by the most luscious EOS 20D come August; I figured that some professionals would be selling off their "outdated equipment" (it's so sinful), so I sold an ancient SLR body to raise capital, ate cornflakes and endured scurvy for two months, taught some extra developmental biology classes to undergraduates, and then sat at my computer waiting for something to happen.
Within two weeks of the 20D coming out, there were dozens of 10D bodies on eBay at shocking prices; I got mine for less than the more recent, non-professional EOS 300D (itself superseded by the new entry level 350D - mrrow!) still sells for on eBay when second-hand, despite its being a more rugged camera (magnesium alloy versus aluminium-plastic body), if functionally similar. Savings: greater than £725, and the seller threw in extra parts when he discovered I was a student - I finally came to understand the true value of market research and cutting-edge professionals with a heart.
I appreciate the enquiring emails and would like to reassure that while some might wish it so, I am not yet deceased. Aside from a tremendous sensation of needing to vomit for the last forty-eight hours, I've been in excellent health, and otherwise heavily preoccupied with my research and thesis writing. It's agonising; don't ask.
The only other novel thing that springs to mind on the blog front has already been noticed by many of my friends here - that I've set up a new gallery using movable type and php, accessible at the top right of the site via the icon of my baby EOS 10D... [not any more - .ed]
...à la:
It's not intended to showcase anything in particular, other than shots I've taken, recently or in the past, that I like for reasons personal or artistic. Let me know if you have any problems with the pages; the About page is the only one which shouldn't be functioning just yet. Unless Gremlins get to it first.
And while I'm here, I'd like to ask one of you people to switch the warm weather back on; 20 ºC is pitiful for any day in June.
