A photoblog and other things

On the weekend I got to see Coldplay and Fiona Apple play in Orlando. Actually, ha, let me correct that. I got to see a bit of one Fiona Apple song – “Fast as you can” – and you can bet I was running as fast as I could to get to my seat when I arrived at the venue.

It turns out we had a bit of bad luck with the traffic that night. What should have been a 15 minute drive to the venue turned out being over an hour drive. Whilst sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic we had to get to exit 83B on the I-4. Fiona would have already started her set, and being support act, would only be playing for 45 mins or so. Anyway, we came up to exit 82A… 5 mins passed … exit 82B … another 5 mins gone … exit 82C… at which point I stated “ha, wouldn’t it be funny if there was an 82D exit!” Nobody in the car really appreciated the humour.

We arrived, sat down, and Fiona left the stage. Excellent. I can’t really express how much I was looking forward to seeing Fiona play live. I guess I’ll have to wait another 5 years or something now.

Coldplay were awesome again though. It was cool to see all the massive yellow balls fall down again during “Yellow”. Afterwards we were supposed to meet up with some people who were going to get us into one of the cool clubs. Unfortunately, one of them had a bit too much to drink and she was getting sick in the bathroom HALF WAY through the Coldplay set! Awesome.

Downtown was also bumper-to-bumper traffic so we decided to grab some grog and drink up at our hotel. I can’t remember much after that, although I do remember us watching my copy of “You shoot, I shoot” for a little bit. It’s pretty difficult to concentrate on subtitles when you’re not exactly sober.

Some “different” things have been going on in my life recently. People recently saw these photos from the CD release party. Actually the person who saw them was Fernando, who apart from playing for Santos Renuentes also plays for Hilary McRae (among many other groups).

I was asked if I wanted to further practice my photography and take pictures of Hilary’s first ever gig. Those pictures are here. They liked those, so since then I’ve taken pictures of another concert by Hilary (photos are not yet online) and another Santos Renuentes gig.

I had heaps of fun taking the pictures, but what’s even better, I got to take pictures for some awesome artists. Hilary, without even considering it was her first gig, was just absolutely outstanding.

Last week was an up-and-down week. I was doing this new photography stuff and had lots on my mind. I had gotten back from the gym and decided to put a load of washing on. Sitting down to relax I went to check my phone for messages… I couldn’t find it. A bit unusual I thought. I looked everywhere for it. Still nothing. I tried calling the phone using my friend’s mobile and it was going straight to voicemail. “Damn” I thought, “I’ve switched it off”. But then I thought about that some more. I clearly remember NOT turning it off. More thinking. Going to voicemail…. phone must be off… why is phone off?… flat battery… no, it’s fully charged… load of washing… battery dead… load of washing… load of washing… LOAD OF WASHING!

I absolutely flew downstairs and emptied the washing machine. Down the bottom of the tub was a very clean looking RAZR phone. HOLY SHIT! It was off. NO SHIT! I took it into work the next day, dismantled it (nice instructions on how to do that are here, pity the people taking the pictures didn’t know that if they used a high f-stop value then everything would have been in focus) dried it out with alcohol, and tried resuscitating it a day later. It didn’t work. HOLY SHIT! All my contacts were stored on my phone and not my SIM. HOLY SHIT! Ok, so I did have a backup of contacts from a few months ago and I do have e-mails from people who have changed their numbers, but hell, this is a stupid process to be going through.

Proof #1764743347 that PK is very human. I love reverse engineering my reactions to stuff like this though, and how I cope. How did I cope? I went out and bought a stack of stuff, like a point and shoot camera (always needed one of these, just required the right excuse), flash kit for my Nikon D-70, oh and a stack of clothes.

Right now my awesome friend Maha has lent me a phone, a Motorola A630. I don’t mind the little bugger, it’s starting to grow on me. I definitely don’t want to get another RAZR. They’re too bloody common for my liking, everybody has a RAZR. I’m sorta leaning towards a PEBL. If anyone has some spare PEBL parts from which I can build a phone, that preferrably isn’t tied into a carrier, pretty please send them my way 🙂

If I ever happen to call you and get your voicemail, and I’m within reach of my computer or iPod, you will get a power ballad left on your voicemail. I promise. Recent victims have received Michael Bolton’s song mentioned previously, Heart’s “Alone”, Pat Benatar’s “Love is a battlefield” and Def Leppard’s “Love Bites”.