It’s Just Justin

Making an Appeal

This is the start of a letter I am going to send out to my family in an effort to raise money for a Nikon D80 DSLR.

It seems each year I get requests for a Christmas list, a list featuring things that I want or I need.  For as long as I can remember, I have never made such a list.  I just liked whatever I got.  I do remember that for a birthday one year I asked for an inflatable umbrella.  What are the chances that I would get something like that?  I know, right?

I got an inflatable umbrella.

I guess that asking thing really works.  So this year I will make one request to you all.  Money.

Now now, the money isn’t just “money”.  This money has a purpose.  I am in need, yes in need, of a Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera.  See, my last camera was gifted to me by my parents as a graduation gift.  This Nikon Coolpix 4300 has served me well for years.  It is really a great little camera.

This camera was used to capture the images that got me a photography job in California.  The same camera has exposed the beauty on water lillies in a pond on fampus, the crashing waves on the shores of Bodega and stopped the wings of bees in mid-flight.

For years I carried this camera with me nearly anywhere I went.  With patience and determination, I was able to take these pictures despite the restrictions this camera had placed on itself.

My current digital camera is 4 megapixels; while cutting edge at the time, the standard now is closer to 7 megapixels (the higher the megapixels the higher the quality and the greater the size).  The Nikon D80 is 10.2 megapixels.

The Nikon 4300 is a program camera with a manual mode.  This means that it manages all of the settings, brightness, aperature, f-stops, ISO, and focus.  I can control if there is a flash and the zoom of 3x.  With some button pushing, seven for each setting, I can set one of two f-stops, one of 10 aperatures, and one of five ISOs.  I cannot set the focus beyond four focus points which makes macro shots (my speciality) nearly impossible (this is where patience comes into play).

The Nikon D80 is a manual camera, I can either focus the camera completely manually with an infinite number of focal points or use one its eleven focal points.
I would be able to set the ISO (camera shutter speed) from 100 and up to 1600 in increments of 1/3 (100, 130, 169… 1600).

I would be able to set the aperature (amount of light allowed into the lens) from 1/4 to 32 in increments of 1/3 (currently I have three settings, I would have twenty).

The zoom level would only be limited by the lens I used.  My current camera has a fixed lens, this camera has replaceable lenses which means I could go from fisheye (which would capture an entire room in a single shot) to a 30x zoom with no trouble (instead of 1x, 2x, 3x zoom).

My current camera can be printed to about 7 inches by 9 inches.  The Nikon D80 prints 17.3 inches by 26 inches.

I’m Twenty-five Percent Dead.

I have completely one quarter of my life. How uplifting is that huh?
Everyday I wonder if I will ever be the person I see in my head. I want to find myself someday living in a great house with a great guy a great kid in a great school and a great job with a great car in the garage on a great curvey driveway that great friends park when they come over for a great dinner and great fun and games afterwish my great guy and I go to our bedroom and have great sex celebrating our greatness-in-love with each other.

I have 75% of my life left to make this happen. If I have gotten this far with 25%, I think I can make it happen.

And you thought this was going to be a depressing post.

That Gay

I was never this gay… Maybe I wish I had been, they sure are having fun. When I was their age I had stomach ulcers from the stress… They are definitely not stressed. To say the least.

[googlevideo]4269257853306529792[/googlevideo]

They make me laugh… and then cry a little haha. The last few lines when they are talking… If I had a tiny thin body, maybe I would feel the same though.

I love my new computer

Another short picture post…

I was doing a shit ton of stuff on my computer and thought to check on what was running. I thought just really nothing… apparently wrong.

How could this possibly be Accurate?

With a name implying accuracy… how is it that this “accuweather” site is claiming what seems impossible?

Ring the Alarm!

[googlevideo]4974140519133239390[/googlevideo]

iTalk? Take Two!

[googlevideo]-8573101932440241338[/googlevideo]

Dr.’s Orders

Expecting, or rather hoping, to have some people over tonight didn’t exactly pan out for me. With Jim and David out of town and the apartment sparkling clean, I was excited at the idea that I would get to do a little entertaining. Of course, this didn’t happen, so instead I went to Best Buy and bought a CD/DVD from BT entitled This Binary Universe. Props to Dawn and Drew for bringing BT back into my life.
Describing This Binary Universe is like describing a forest; cut with streams and ridges, entangled in English Ivy battling the underbrush to find light, forgetting the song birds, the small yellow fish swimming up the the waters’ current, the amber sap leaking from evergreens glowing with each catch of the sun rays… This Binary Universe is essentially a CD and DVD with matching soundtracks, the DVD puts fascinating art to the movements of the music. Catch a preview, below.

[quicktime width="480" height="285"]http://itsjustjustin.com/wp-content/wordpress/video/The%20Binary%20Universe.mov[/quicktime]

The CD/DVD combo is only $13.99 at Best Buy, an incredible steal. I would have paid $30 for this without batting an eye.

The reason I am writing this post, the reason why I am not asleep right now, are one and the same. I hopped into bed around 9:00, I open Starbucks tomorrow, yet found myself unable to quiet my mind.

The past few days have been socially wonderful. Hanging out with Geoffrey like old times is exciting and glorious even. The other night with John, Matt, Matt, Mark Geoff and Brad really made me feel that I could have a life here, without feeling alone.

That was until, I suppose, I got into bed alone. My apartment is quiet with no heat running, televisions off and the stereo powered down from a night of pulse pounding pseudosymphonicelectronica. Now, all I hear is a great void, my mind tries so hard to find the missing notes or a creaking floor board from upstairs, anything to prove I am not alone.

I guess I’m stressing over classes, going home for Thanksgiving, grades (again, another way of saying classes), registering for classes… I feel I am on the verge of possibly disappointing a lot of people. No idea how that would be but…

I am in bed, struggling to fall asleep. Geoff called me and suggested that I write for a bit, see if that helps me fall asleep. Landon said that sleep works things out and that tomorrow will be more beautiful. I am not sure he understands me anymore. How could he though, he has so many things on his mind these days, I shouldn’t be very high on the list.

I suppose I am worrying much too much about the future and oddly enough, about the past. Is that really so odd though?

Seth has been popping into my mind as of recent. I am not sure why. Clearly I miss him, I miss all things in California. What I would give to be back there.

Maybe if I try really hard, if I push everything out, I’ll fall asleep. I need the sleep. Tomorrow I work for eight hours at Starbucks and then I pack up for Texas.

Thanks Geoffrey for the phone call. I hope all your advices work for me tonight.

Much love to you all,

-justin

Egale Ce soir Impressionnant

It really was.

Thank you John, Geoff, Mark, Matt, Matt and… well life.  All amazing things.

Wonderful Times

The other day I had a fantastic evening with Geoffrey. Gave him a tour of my place, whoop… Then we tried to get coffee at It’s a Grind, no go. Apparently it closes at 10:00 haha.

We headed over to Ski High Bar and Grill for martinis. They were… strong. I mean, really strong haha. We had one martini each and really, that was enough. The conversation was awesome, really the first time we sat down and talked when we weren’t just talking about Manchester or San Francisco. It was nice to have a conversation where we talk about the present and future. Good times. Had some great laughs for sure!

Last night I had dinner at Addison’s with Bethany. We did the happy hour thing, talked and had a grand ol’ time. I guess we talked for like two hours, really could not have had a better evening. She is a wonderful Texan!

All this talking as of recent has had me thinking about Seth and how much I have been missing him. I guess I miss him as in the idea of him…

I believe Nosko is going to join me tonight, no plans yet but I am sure we will have fun.

I have never really gotten to hang out with him. I’m pretty excited! haha I think we are going to exchange some opera which is always exciting for me. I have this new opera cd from Vittorio Grigolo.

I was pretty sure Josh Groban had my heart for the longest time. However, sorry Joshiepoo, you have some serious competition.

Vittorio is gorgeous, his voice is beautiful and the songs he chose are fantastic. I mean, Keane’s Bedshaped in Italian… Italian opera?! Incredible. He even picks up Daniel Bedingfield’s If You’re Not the One… Of course, much of the album, In the Hands of Love, is in Italian. The first song, Tu Sei is stunning. I present it here.