Camera-Toss: 1st Attempt

Yes, I've joined the ranks of Camera Tossers. :) Funny, I don't remember how I came across the group, but a couple days after I joined, they got FlickrBlogged and apparently popularity has just skyrocketed. Funny, I still hadn't tossed my camera yet... until about 5 days ago. All of a sudden, I thought - hey, why not just "do it" - so I did, in my living room. Turned the setting to "Night Shots" (long exposure) and turned off the flash, then just started hitting the button and tossing the cam. This was a shot from among my first attempts.

I cannot believe how popular this shot is. In the 4 days since I've posted it, it has surpassed my previously most-viewed photo (below) by almost 1000 views!!



And it has been faved almost as many times! I am so continually amazed. I mean, I like the shot too... but I never expected this to be so popular, considering the rest of my photostream photos stay around the low hundreds at most. But the rest of my CameraToss photos have also surpassed that mark within a couple days. Maybe it's just the idea of someone tossing their camera being such a novelty? Who knows. But I don't mind. :) It's sure alot of fun... as long as you don't drop the camera on its' way down!

More Waterful stuff, and Six Word Stories

I finally decided to try out some more high-speed shots of water - and look what I got! I'm so proud of this one. It was pretty hard to get it just right - but I love how the entire stream was captured in the frame, with that little droplet on the end. :) Check out the other photos in my Waterful set for some other shots I'm really proud of. :)

Another fun thing I've been doing lately is Six Word Story which is a whole lotta fun! Trying to come up with some kind of title or caption containing only 6 words, and tellling some kind of story about/within the photograph is quite a creative challenge. So far, I've only done 2 - this one ("In defense, the fish spewed venom") and another one

Oh no! We're having another earthquake!!"



I need to go through some of my old pics and see what I can come up with - both of those are new, but I'm sure I can find some old goodies and add something! At least, I hope so!

My Squircle Obsession

Photo by formerly TaGurit.

Yes, I admit, I am a Squircaholic. WHAT?? you say. Yes, I'm addicted to squircling. SQUIRCLING?? you ask. What the heck is a squircle?

In short, it's a squared circle. :) Now, before we get off on an existential tangent trying to figure out just what "squared circle" really means, I'll tell you. It is simply, a perfect circle, contained within/framed by a perfect square. That's all.

At first, I thought - ok, what's the big deal? I totally didn't get why so many people were obsessed with this whole squircle thing. A circle in a square? C'mon! How difficult could that be? And how boring and common the shots probably are. Right? Well, partly. Yes, it's easy to create a squircle (though you'd be amazed at how many people in the group post photos that are nowhere near the stated guidelines) and yes, there are tons of manhole covers, mirrors, bowls, and balls but there's also all kinds of great unusual creative ones in there too! To be honest, it really just kind of hit me one day. I began to notice circles all around me, thinking "Hey, I bet that'd make a cool squircle" and stuff like that. And so began my obsession.

Now, I won't say it's an everyday thing - I'm not constantly taking photos of everything circular to crop a square around it. Nor am I particularly scouting for things which could fit the criteria (though I did for a little while at the beginning) - but there are times when the inspiration hits and I begin once again to see potential squircles all around me. Is there help for someone like me? Would I want/need help? Just because I go around snapping 10-15 shots of the same thing to get the circle "just right" does that mean I need intervention? ;) Nah... I'm not even close to the level some have reached - like the submissions by Leo L30: 2378 in all - and I bet he's got even more lurking on his home computer :) Now, that's impressive! I don't think I'll ever reach a spot in the top posters, but that's ok. I'm happy in my obscurity. I do it cuz I like it. And that's the way it should be. :)

At the Fair

Well, the Puyallup Fair's been going on for a while, and we just went this past weekend (on Sat. and again on Monday - the ride braceletes weren't for sale on the weekend, and we'd promised the kids rides - at $17.50 for a bracelet, that's less than 5 rides-worth [$4 just for a kiddie ride??? That's insane!!] so it pays for itself pretty quick.)

It was alot of fun. Saturday we just walked around mostly. We looked at the animals, and I took the kids in the petting area. There were pygmy goats (whose coats are extremely soft!!!) and sheep, and a little tiny baby bunny only 2 (or was it 6? I don't remember ;) weeks old. So soft you could barely feel it. So sweet. My 2yr old loved it. We took them on one ride each that day; Greg went on the bears (you sit inside them and they spin... I get all nauseated nowadays on those - after being pregnant with my oldest girl, my equilibrium seems all messed up - I can't even swing on swings for very long!) with our oldest girl, and I went on the swings with the son. Gregoreo (my nickname for the hubs) took the kids on the train - it winds around the kiddie area, and goes thru a short tunnel - the kids absolutely loved it! He took some great shots too, but I've yet to upload them... will soon. He was reluctant to take them (he's not big on non-thrill rides) but I convinced him that their enjoyment of it would be the rewarding part... and when they came back, he had a big ol' smile on his face and said that he'd had fun. I was so glad.

So Monday was a rough day in general, but we did have fun at the fair. 'Specially the kids. The 2yr old went down the Giant slide for the first time (in between my legs of course - you can't hold them on your lap; it's a safety issue) and the son went down by himself for the first time. What a big boy he's getting to be! Almost 7yrs old... and over 4ft tall!! I got to take them on the train that night (I'd gotten a bracelet too - Greg wanted me to rather than him... he had fun with the baby though :) and the kids went on all sorts of other stuff. Near the end of the night, Bryant reeeeally wanted to go on the huge Ferris Wheel; pictured here. He's asked to go every year - and so this time we actually got to go! I'm not fond of big slow-moving high rides that you're not exactly strapped into (this one you sit in a basket that hangs underneath the arm) - I prefer fast high scary thrill rides (the scary part is tolerable because you're strapped in and it moves so fast you don't really have time to ponder how high you really are - except at the beginning... whereas the slow ones are scary because you know exactly how high you are the entire time)

Bryant loved it though... and after a minute or two I enjoyed it as well. I'm really glad for him that he got to go... :)

After that, we ran to the swings before the bracelet expired, and flew around in the cold night air... then found my hubs and the girls - and went home. Fun, fun.

Finally, Again!

Well I finally dyed my hair again. I first dyed it when I was 19; using the Special Effects brand, Atomic Pink color. Man I loved it. I did it the night I went to a Battle of the Bands, on Bainbridge Island; to support a friend's band (no longer in existence, sadly - the band I mean. It was called Dred.) It was so much fun...

Anywayz, I've dyed it a few times since then, mostly darker colors (burgundy, dark/bright red) but I've always wanted to go back to pink. Except Hot Topic didn't carry the Atomic pink anymore.. only a couple lighter pinks and one more of a purple color. But when I went in a little while ago, I found it!!! So I snapped it up, and a few nights ago finally took the time to bleach (but ran out- I've got so much hair!! So the blonde is a little uneven) and color. The only problem is... my hair grows so fast, i'm already seeing a tiny bit of roots!!! Ack! And the unfortunate thing is, the pink is only a semi-permanent... so it washes out with every shampoo (and turns the entire shower pink!) But it's fun while it lasts... and I've got a huge bottle of the stuff, so when it does start to fade, I can re-do it easily.

I just love having pink hair! I feel like "myself." :)