LEATHER BAG!!! :D

Oh today is a happy happy day.

I awoke today to a voicemail from Mr Henry Tompkins of HTLeather, telling me my bag was ready for collection. I literally jumped out of bed, rang my dad and told him we'd HAVE to go and get it today as he doesn't work weekends and there was no way I could wait another weekend.

Originally we were going to go and get it at lunch time but then dad got called into a meeting, so at 3pm we left and headed to his workshop. Oh it's oh so glorious.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, the lighting is a bit shit in my house. It smells lovely, a proper leather smell, and the feel of it is amazing. Smooth yet very sturdy. I was most nervous about the colour if I'm honest, as he had lots of different colours of leather, and even though I picked what colour I wanted I was still nervous, as even the same colour leather can look different from piece to piece. But fortunately, its gorgeous. And if I want it lighter or darker at all at any point, I can always polish it or leave it in the sun for a little while. But I see no need for that right now at all.

As for the interior, its so roomy!

I don't think the photo really shows just how much room is in there, but I'm seriously excited about how much I should be able to fit in there! The thinner pocket towards the back is for a laptop, or iPad, and maybe an A4 notepad/sketchbook. The two pockets on the front of the divider are great for smaller gadgets or notebooks, and you cant really see, but on the front of those pockets there are some pen slip thingys too. The main front section is huge. It extends under the two pockets really, and is so, so roomy. I can fit some books, spare clothes for the flights, my camera, and all the other gadgets etc in there easily and still have room left over.

The buckles seem really nice and sturdy, as does the strap, though I havent yet figured out how to lengthen it.

I am SO happy. This is basically my 18th birthday present, just a few months early, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm so excited to use it in Australia too. No doubt tonight after badminton I'll simply be found sitting on the floor putting all the gadgets I've already got for the trip in there, just to see what they look like in their home :) I'll probably take some pictures then too, and whack them up on here.

As for the weight of it, its perfect. It's heavy enough to not feel flimsy, but light enough that it wont weigh me down before I put anything in it.

Basically, its perfect, and I love it.

:D

A picture of all the important gadgets for Australia ;)



Starting at the top:
I have an iPhone, but am debating whether or not to unlock it before I go so I can put an Australian SIM in it, or to get the Blackberry. The former is the cheaper option, but the latter is the geekiest/gadgetiest.
I also already have my trusty iPod 80gb, but for the next couple of weeks I need to make a start on putting all of my CD's on it, and I can then sell all the CD's on MusicMagpie.com.

The Ciak, Moleskine and Uni Ball Jetstream pens are all sitting happily on my desk, and because I got 3-packs of both types of pen I've been happily using both for my musings, scribbles and every day life. Yes I'm a stationary freak, but these really are gorgeous pens to write with.
The Gameboy Micro I've just paid for on eBay and have been emailed to say it'll be sent out on Monday. Managed to get a good bundle on eBay - the console, cases and 4 games for about £30 - good when you consider there aren't masses of these around and they do tend to go for about £30-£40 anyway.

The Polaroid PoGo is also sitting happily with the journals and pens, along with a few packs of films.
The Freeloader is something I'm borowing from my auntie for the trip, so when we all go up to London in May to pick my sister up from the airport I'll grab that and check we've got all the connections we need and eBay for the ones we're missing.

Now, the camera.
I've been wanting something a bit more substantial, a step up from the point and shoot affairs I've always had, but not as expensive and knowledge-heavy as a DSLR, for a while now and started looking into it a few months back. Now in general, I'm camera thick, but after a lot of research I decided I liked the look of the Fuji bridge cameras, which have massive optical zoom lengths and afford a bit more creativity with more manual controls. I stumbled upon the Fuji S2000HD, which had another draw for me over the other Fuji models in my price range: HD video recording. So I decided I'd go for that one and then I can sell my old camcorder for a (little) extra cash. However, my dad then noticed (on his rifling through the Argos catalogue for his FIRST digital camera, bless) that Argos had listed the Fuji S2500HD, the upgrade to the S2000HD. After yet more research I discovered that Fuji had announced new models, among them the S2500HD, but they weren't yet on sale anywhere. More research yeilded the knowledge that Argos were expecting a delivery of the new model on 17th March. When I saw the S2500HD in the catalogue I knew I didn't want to just go and buy it without looking, so waiting was inevitable, as I'd want to maybe wait and see some of the reviews or at least hold it myself and see if they've made any changes to the body from the S2000HD. I'm hoping they haven't. THEN we found out that the Devon Camera Center is apparently getting them in next weekend!!!! Therefore, next weekend it is :)

Obviously, I don't have an iPad yet. But I will have one. Oh yes. The thinking is (for Oz in particular) that we might need a laptop of some kind while we're over there, if only for storage of photos etc, but any one of our laptops would take up a huge chunk of travel weight, so something smaller is needed. When the iPad appeared, I had my solution. It's light enough and slim enough, and with the camera connection kit we'll be able to free up memory cards left right and center, wherever we are. Plus, it's amazing :)

And the bag? You may remember my interest and consequently my wallets' displeasure in the Saddleback Leather company, and then my later wondrous discovery of a (very) local leather bag maker. I went to visit him, showed him the modifications I wanted after perusing both his website and my imagination, and an agreement was reached. He said it should be ready around about the end of February/beginning of March, so it shouldn't be long now, happily.

Obviously I left off all the little gagets, such as camera memory cards, batteries, cables, chargers and pouches for all said little stuff, etc.

So all I have to do now is wait for deliveries (which reminds me, I ordered a rectractable iPod cable the other week and it's still not here...harumph) and monitor my money. I've enough to buy the camera and have a bit left over, which could be more if my stuff on eBay sells, if I sell the camcorder and Magpie the CD's.

:)

Exciting stuff eh?
(I know you hope that was sarcastic. It wasn't.)

H.x

Frustratum.

Was originally going to blog about my visit to the zoo yesterday but I think that can wait a while. Because I'm annoyed and completely NOT in the mood.
While I was at the zoo however, I finally managed to get hold of my SOLO, who'd been trying to get hold of me and we kept missing each other. I've arranged for her to come round sometime after I come back from London next Sunday to help me come out to my parents. Agreeing to that felt very real. Decided, partly on the advice from many of you here and on twitter, that its probably the best way forwards to tell them with her present. It will probably be the biggest test of my courage, just even saying the words.
So I'm stressing about that. Just a little.
I'm going to try and relax and enjoy the time in London though. I decided to do it after we come back from London and not before as I wouldn't want any shadows hanging over what is essentially our holiday.
In other news I also finally got a date for the court visit. Basically this will just be a 'grand tour' of the court, so I can see the size, layout, where I'll be, where he'll be etc and get a feel of the place. It'll be then that I'll decide whether or not to keep the special measures in place, or whether I feel I can be strong enough to just stand up there. I'm not sure yet.
And now we have the pc man round trying to sort out our wireless network with mum and dads new pc's and my macbook. And the fucking macbook wont connect. Grrrr.
So that's stressing me out too.
In general yes, I'm more than a bit stressed. And I realise this is just ANOTHER post about me being stressed, but its a big part of my life right now is this bastard stress!
But I did have a very nice day at the zoo yesterday, which I will blog about sometime when I can get my photos sorted, as they're on the macbook.

Source of life.

This is dedication for you; despite needing to write approx. 2250 words in about 3 hours of an A grade quality to be handed in tomorrow, I am still blogging. Actually, this isn't so much dedication as me desperately trying to find something else to do other than what I should actually be doing. But lets not be picky here.

Rather aptly, today's photo is of my macbook; apt because I am constantly glued to it these days. As we speak I am trying to write those previously mentioned 2250 words, and once I've got those done I'll have to get started on another 1500, and after those anther 100, and then...well, you get the pattern of my life at the moment.

My macbook is probably my most beloved possession (rivalling only my cuddly toy monkey and my iPhone), and I use it everyday for everything. I am a self confessed internet addict - I literally go a little nutty if I can't get access for a few days - camping in low signal areas will just not do - so I have to check/modify/post to my emails/facebook/livejournal/blogger/twitter/hotmail/flickr/various other internet time-stealers every day. I also record music, edit photos, edit films and much more, so my macbook literally is my life force most of the time. I don't know how I managed without it (and of course my 320gb portable hard drive), and could not do so in the future.

Of course, my macbook is also my creative center in terms of writing; apart from the obvious access to lj and blogger, I have folders upon folders of half-written novels, abandoned plays, and to-be-re-worked poetry. If my macbook were to be stolen or broken, I would break every finger of the person responsible. Therein lies an important lesson with me; my macbook reigns supreme - watch your step. Or something like that anyway.

Now I have essays to write.

Windows.

Another day, another photo - or in my case, another day, another two photos. Admittedly and obviously this really is just the same photo, just edited in two different ways, so you could say I'm cheating.

Although this/these photo/s were taken (as you can see) at 01.14 on the 15th March, and Iam also writing and posting this entry on the 15th March, I am counting this as my photo/blog post for the 14th - a day filled with hangover TV and sleep, which did not leave much time or energy for taking photos. However, at 8pm I decided to go to the pub (as twitterers will know) and the alcohol clearly gave me a new lease of energy, naturally.
Thus upon my return I rather viciously seized my camera, opened the window and...took a photo. The first few snaps were blurry haphazard attempts, so I made myself calm down a little and play with focus. That was honestly the first time I have ever thought about depth of focus etc in a photograph. And so this image was born; I pointed the lens at the frame, held the button half way down, then centered the slip of outside and pushed down. It seemed to work. I shipped the image over to iPhoto and once more fiddled with exposure, highlights and contrast. And B&W. I liked what I saw - I hope you do too.

On a non-photographic note: All day today (14th March, remember) I had been meaning to sit and write a fairly lengthy entry about all sorts, but alas, my sleepy body and brain had other ideas. Therefore tomorrow (today, 15th March) I will endeavour even harder to do so, while of course aiming not to repeat the neglect of photo-taking on the correct day. Hoping I can stay awake and focused for enough of tomorrow to a) complete overdue work and b) honour the afore-promised promises.

Snowy lights.

Now I'm not a photographic whizkid by any stretch of the imagination, but I took this photo during the recent snowfall and I liked it, but as it was taken with the less-than-brilliant iPhone camera, it lacks in quality. Therefore I popped it onto iPhoto and had a little play. Some of the edits I quite liked so I thought I'd whack my favourite one up here.

I played with contrast, saturation, sharpness, temperature and highlights :) whatever that means?

EDIT 11/03/09: I'm pretty sure this might be my favourite photo I've ever taken. No idea why; technically, it's rubbish, but there's something about it I love.

EDIT 16/03/09: I'm still bloody proud of this. I keep on scrolling down to it whenever I'm on my blog page. How bizarre.

A fresh start here.

I am opening a new door today.
Starting new blogs, but not abandoning the old one. Continuing my twitter adventure as Holly-Alyx.
She is a pseudonym, and I will never pretend otherwise.
I find it easier to write as someone else. I find it easier to live on electronic pages, as someone else. I am re-building my life after recent events that have damaged me. I am trying, at least.
I'm getting there.

image credit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/waynephotoguy/