The Weekly(ish) Update
27th JULY 2008
Issue Two
Kia ora and welcome to Issue Two of 'The Weekly(ish) Update'.
Firstly I would like to apologise for some of my spelling, I guess a few of you would have wondered what you had received when you saw I had sent you 'The Weely(ish) Update' and there were a few other errors that I discovered later, including the fact all of you would be unable to read this thing as I see it because none of you have the font's I use installed on your computer. I will include a copy of the font I use for each issue, and also the font used for the 'Custom Vision' logo. To install these fonts just copy the files into your 'font' folder, which is usually found in the windows folder, then restart your computer and then check out these documents in their intended form (try and remember the names of the files you put in there cos for those of you who find it to hard to read you can delete the files and it will go back to how you originally saw it after a restart of your computer, but if you have any questions please ask).
I have had another good week, and I think a lot of that has to do with me currently being very motivated to succeed and because I am so positive there are positive things happening around me.
I have noticed this in a few areas, I have noticed where I am staying my adopted parents have seemingly been more positive towards me, at work the staff have been more positive (well.. most of em anyway), and the reactions of various other people have been more positive. I know some of these people have actually been more positive, but I also guess that my outlook has made things seem more positive as well, regardless of my current situation.
On Monday I went to the gym as I have been doing the past few weeks at 7.30am, then afterwards I decided I should do what I had planned and go and investigate that printer I mentioned last week, so I went to the Noel Lemmings store just around the corner from the gym.
I parked my push bike up against the new washing machines inside the door, turned around and there in front of me was a series of posters, all nicely lined up for some promotional offer regarding renting computers, where if you did rent you got a free printer, and as you can probably guess, it was the printer I went to look at.
Now normally this would not have meant anything, but when I asked the guy at the counter for some info on the printer I wanted to see he told me that the store did not have them, that they were a new item and that they only had the previous model, which was not the one I wanted.
Obviously I asked about the offer in the posters and was told that it had expired a few days earlier, the guy actually knew very little about the printer I wanted except that the offer was redeemed elsewhere, that it was all installed for you and that Noel Lemmings just did the paperwork side of things for them, but he did tell me that if I wanted one he should be able to order it in for me, and maybe even get me a discount.
Whilst I was there I also had a look at their range of laptops as mine had started playing up terribly and in the back of my mind I was concerned that it would stop working altogether, probably at the worst possible time, like when I was in the middle of doing something important.
It had served me well, I had got heaps of use out of it in the 5 years I since I first brought it, and it was what had helped my skills progress greatly and was a very useful computer until I started to have trouble with it recently.
I briefly explored the option of getting a 'Mac book pro', which for those of you who do not know is a high end laptop made by a company called macintosh, the same company that makes I pod, but the 'Mac book pro' I wanted was way out of my price range, and something I have to put on my 'wish list'.
The one that stood out after I had explored my 'wish list' option did so for two reasons, the first was that its system specifications were incredible (320gig hard drive, 2 gig ram and 512 MB video card) for the $1800 price tag, and secondly it was the latest model of the laptop that I currently have, which at the time stood out for the same reasons.
I spoke a little bit to the guy about it, but I was only mildly curious, and only really interesting part of the conversation was when he told me about how the recession had effected them and that it would effecting them for awhile yet, because apparently their group of businesses do two major buys each year from suppliers, one just after Christmas and one mid year, they were just about to do their mid year buy and as people were buying less, and suppliers still had profit margins to meet etc., the prices of items such as laptops etc. would noticeably increase leading up to Christmas.
What he was saying made sense, the laptop I was looking at, with all of its components, was at least $500 cheaper than I felt it was worth, which I was told was because they had brought them at a good price, and the were obviously still making money on them, but these prices would not last when the new stock arrived and put on the shelf.
This gave me a few things to think about as I left the store with all this new information.
I then went to check out the printer on the internet and compared various reviews etc. against what I wanted to use it for and basically decided that it was the printer I wanted to get. I called my bank and asked if I could borrow $500 to pay for it and was told that they don't lend amounts that small, they asked if I needed anything else and suggested applying for a bigger loan.
I can already hear a few of you groaning painfully as I tell you now I applied for a $2500 loan from the bank, but don't worry, it was declined as apparently my part time job is not enough earnings for them.
I had begun to think how sensible I would be to get a new laptop and printer, that these would be two of the main tools I would need to begin my business and both would have to be reliable. Sure when the business was making some money I could afford the big printer I needed and my 'wish list' laptop, but these two item would be a perfect bridge until I could afford them, the crazy cool camera, and all the other stuff I will eventually get to maintain the highest standard possible that is going to be an integral part of my business, so I went back to Noel Lemmings to see what they could do.
On my way back I came across a brochure for the Bond and Bond stores, which is part of the same chain of stores as Noel Lemmings, they just operate under a different name, and in this brochure was the laptop I was looking at $200 cheaper than the one at Noel Lemmings, and came with 2 gig extra ram (4 gig in total), which I think ultimately decided that if it was possible I would get it, and the printer.
I asked the guy at Noel Lemmings if they would match the price and specifications of the computer at Bond and Bond, he asked the manager and I was told yes, I asked about the printer and if I would still be able to get a discount, and was told they would be able to order it in and could have it $50 cheaper than they would be selling it for, so I asked if I could have both and pay them off on one of those 36 months interest free things I keep seeing on T.V, to which I was told they only did 12 months. I quickly worked it out that both would cost me $50 per week for 12 months, and knowing that I could afford that I applied, but was again declined.
I asked why and they called their finance people and I spoke to a very nice lady on the phone for a few minutes about my credit history, and when I told her I had been a previous customer and never missed a payment, she checked this info and then told me that my application was accepted and that I could take the laptop home with me right then if I wanted to, or I could wait until the printer arrived. I simply smiled and said “Now please.”
I had just got myself a new laptop and printer, and it was only Monday.
Tuesday I discovered that assignment number three of my Photography Diploma is a lot harder than the previous two, it took up most of the week just learning how to complete it, and gathering the information required just to understand it all only came together on Thursday afternoon, but within that I made a huge discovery and a learnt a major aspect that makes everything else so much more relevant.
The assignment was meant to have been teaching me about 'zone rulers' and the 18% grey scale, but has effectively taught me how to actually take a photo, because as I was trying to understand how it all worked, I figured out how it actually works.
I mentioned last week I simply wanted the knowledge that the course gave me, not the piece of paper, and that instead of spinning dials and making adjustments after I had taken an image to correct it, I wanted to be able to set the camera to do what I wanted it to do and then take the image I wanted to take. The discovery I made in my Photography Diploma this week was a massive step towards doing that.
Without going into huge detail I use to think that there were only three steps to setting up a camera (ISO, aperture, and shutter speed) and could not understand why the process did not make any sense, but I have learnt that there is actually four and that fourth step (the exposure control metre) is crucial. I now understand how it works.. it now makes sense to me.. and that is a huge achievement.. I actually couldn't stop laughing at the time because it all finally made sense.
Sure I have heaps of work to do yet before I win any awards or do anything really significant, but I have made a huge amount of progress this week and that only encourages me more.
I think I have a strange sense of humour, things I find funny some people would be horrified at, like the video of someone being electrocuted that was sent to me cos the person involved was stupid enough to stand on top of an electric train in India and grab the cable that had a million volts running through it, killing him instantly, or the series of books and website 'The Darwin Awards' (where people do mankind a service by dying during an act of extreme stupidity) is something that amuses me greatly, but regardless I am great at finding reasons to laugh, especially at myself, even if in the situation it may not appear appropriate.
About a year or so ago I joined a site on the internet called 'Friends Reunited' and the intentions of this website is to allow you to be able to contact old school friends etc., or in my case an ex girlfriend I had not seen or heard from in over fifteen years.
The last time I saw her was at my birth mothers house, just after I had met my birth mother, so I would have been about twenty one years old and was going through one of the more emotional years of my life.
A year that included assisting my girlfriend confront her 'sick' grandfather and tell her parents what he had done to her, contacting my birth mother for the first time, my best friend being killed, telling my adopted parents I wanted to meet my birth mother, meeting my birth mother, telling my adopted parents that I wanted to live with my birth mother and her new husband, and telling my girlfriend that I wanted to live with my birth mother instead of her.
Up until then I had only really had the one girlfriend and we basically went through everything together after our families seemingly pushed us away for trying to be ourselves after events within our lives changed each of us separately forever. We went through heaps of bad things and enjoyed occasional good things together, which I learnt meant a lot but I struggled to show her, we both did stupid things to each other and I think we both reached a point where we cared about each other enough to let each other go and do what we each thought was right for ourselves at that time, not really having the support to do anything else.
So it turned out that whilst I went to live with my birth mother in Auckland, she would leave New Zealand to go and live with her mother who had just moved to Perth, Australia. The last time I saw her I was living at my birth mothers place in Auckland, and she was going to fly to Australia to live with her mum.
A lot of things happened over the next twelve months in my life. I tried to be someone I wasn't, tried to hide how I felt after unintentionally realising that instead of embracing everyone that was a part of my life, I was pushing them all away, and that at least one person who had tried to be there for me at that time, the one person I could talk to, I had also pushed away.
Things went from bad to worse, I was asked to leave my birth mothers place and I had no where to turn, so I began to turn to myself and after meeting my birth father about a year after meeting my birth mother, I chose to leave New Zealand and go in search of 'someone' I missed very much.
Its funny how life treats people, I arrived in Perth with no idea of what I was going to do, or where I was going to go, I just knew I had one thing that I wanted to do, but within twenty four hours I had been bashed by a huge biker outside a nightclub, had everything stolen from the backpackers where I was staying and discovered that my ex girlfriend was engaged, and pregnant, to a guy she had met in a nightclub soon after arriving in Australia, and she did not want to see me. I never did the one thing I went there to do and I always remembered that.
So many things happened over the next few years that I simply bounced from place to place, town to town, not ever really having any idea what was going on, moving from one chaotic situation to another, one adventure to the next, only sometimes getting a moment to think about things that had been, or where I was going, but a part of me always wondered what had happened to her, I wondered where she was, what she was doing, and if she was happy.
Fast forward at least fifteen years, and I am back in New Zealand and signed up on the 'Friends Reunited' website. I never went on the website actively searching for her, or anyone else for that matter, I just joined one day when I was trying to find a 'special someone else', who is a completely separate story, and saw that she had joined when I filled in my registration details, so I left her a note saying that I hoped things had worked out for her, and over the next how ever many months forgotten all about it, to the point where when I would get messages from the website saying I needed to update my details, I would simply delete them without even looking at the content of the email.
So you can imagine my surprise when I get a message from the website this week saying that I have a message from someone, yet I know straight away who it was from, and I was right.
She was already a member of the site when I joined, that is why I could contact her, she could not contact me when she had joined because I was not a member, so she was replying to the message I had left for her probably about a year ago, and she told me that she now had two girls, was married, lived near Sydney, and had a couple of horses, she always liked horses.
The first time I read it I didn't have a lot of time to reply, I was a little bit surprised to hear from her but I wanted to tell her about the adventure I had been on whilst I was in Australia, how I had 'started afresh' in so many places, met so many people, done so many things, and that I had discovered what I was looking for was in fact who I am, who I have always been, but I only had time to write a quick note, something that roughly said “I am surprised to hear from you, I hope this doesn't hurt, I cant talk now, talk to you soon”, but I am not sure exactly what I said cos I cant go and check the message because when I returned to reply properly there was a new message from her that said she did not think it was appropriate that she talk to me if I was still had feelings for her out of respect for her husband, and the account was closed.
Like I said earlier I have a weird sense of humour, and I had a bit of a giggle to myself afterwards because that was literally the only thing I could do about it, and hey, at least now I know for sure she is happy, right???
And so it has been a fairly good week, I still have to finish assignment number three, which was effected this week by my ability to learn, or lack of, and some very shitty weather which prevented me from getting outside in the sun as required in the assignment, and so assignment number three is the main focus of this week, but overall I have had a good week since we last spoke and I guess the saying is true - “Positive people create positive situations”.
I would like to thank those of you who sent me an email, I am glad you found something in the words I share that allow you to understand me a little bit better.. I also must mention that I only said that my boss was an old man in his sixties because he actually looks a lot older than his actual age, unlike some people I know who look much, much younger.
I also must mention that I am unable to reply to txt messages at the moment simply because I cant afford to add any credit to my phone, and that it might happen occasionally until I am sorted out better financially, as my priorities are doing what I need to do to get 'Custom Vision' set up.
This week I will concentrate on getting assignment number three done, then I have to concentrate on making some money by selling a few photos in frames at local markets, which by the way there is actually very few of in Wellington, so I have another challenge ahead of me.
I also had an idea this week about writing to a couple of car magazines in New Zealand and a) Asking for some advice on how I get into the scene to become a motor sport photographer, and b) asking them if I can take photos of cars to gain experience, cos I am sure someone will want their car photographed for free. My time would be all it would cost me and the experienced would be invaluable. It was just a thought.
I have included a couple of photos, two I quickly took last night at work, one of the van I get to do laps in, and one of a plane I pass regularly, they are just snapshots, but aided with the knowledge I am learning in my course. The third is of a park I spent some time in when I went to Putaruru the night before my Aunty Jan's funeral, and shows a little bit of my creativity using a camera. I will try and include a few photos when possible so you can see what I am up to and the progress I am making.
And so that ends the second instalment of The Weekly(ish) Update, Till soon.. Stay safe.. Be You!!!
.K
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