A couple of new things...

The big news first - one of my pictures appeared in Flickr Explore. It's a feature on the site that shows the 500 most interesting pictures uploaded on a day. It's no big deal for some, is quite a deal for me who's forever hunting and hungry for appreciation. :-)

And some slightly technical things...

I'd been increasing the saturation level in a lot of pictures, I just desaturated one for the first time. That looked pretty funky.

Had been reading about textures here and there for a while but had never played with them earlier. Just did that too. It has quite an unbelievable effect.

I'm dying to lay my hands on PhotoShop (have just been lazy about it). Not that I'm too much of a fan of post processing - certainly never mean to completely change a picture - but it can make pretty things look prettier. Or some not so pretty things look pretty too. :-)
It can sometimes be a painful process too, especially when you're living on hit & trial. Sure it's fun to suddenly discover something new and fun, but when it takes you hours just to figure how to get a frikkin' shape right... it is worth it, but is very frustrating for the L5 (lower back :(. Btw, starting this week we'll be going back to physiotherapy again. Bleh.)

And oh, apart from having been told early on that it's always better to let that flash be, I've myself never liked using it. But a couple of weeks back I'd read some article online about a very neat use of it. Even in daylight. Still to try that, but I did use it for clicking a source of light. Didn't get a good response from people, but I personally really liked it.

Flickr.com happens to be a better site than what I first thought of it. Which of course was a few years ago when I never had anything to do with the P word. :D Except, the friends who are now being very encouraging. Yes yes... right on top of the list is none other than Mr Deepak Kumar. And somebody recently commented on a photo of mine saying that it's a very "Deepak style" picture. I wonder what he has to say about that. :P

Digressing a little - it was fun watching Bhajji's little stint with the bat today. :D Of course, fun also means sitting with a set of enthu people in the khandaan, some of whom are the typical cricket-crazy Indians.

And now I'm going off to sleep. See ya soon!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richab/ :P

JLT - friends and photography

I didn't think I would ever climb onto a chair/stool/ladder to fix anything at a height. Photography made me do it today. It was scary as hell (thanks to a horrendous accident I had once), but the picture to be taken was too much to resist. And I'm glad I did it. :-)

I had also forgotten that laughing a lot gives me a high. So I felt drunk after ages today, and did exactly the thing my mom would shoot me for - being loud and unruly on the streets. But it's just so much fun! :P

A little late, but I am making a calendar for my room. Lots of free time, horrible looking calendars present in the house, and a wish to put some of my pictures together in print, and we have the idea! I hope it turns out to be nice & pretty.

I've been missing my gym and treadmill for a couple of days now. Wish I could do some exercise!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. And it's not the useless thinking that drives me insane. Just putting a lot of things into perspective, and trying to push the permanently confused mind of mine. It's working.

Met Neha after nine months this week! Phew!! Too long a gap. But it was lovely catching up with my baby. We celebrated with a lot of chocolate. :D


Baaki sab mast! Catch ya later! :-)

Signature Post

I don't think I am joining SIMC, but their letter came today, and they want my parents to compulsorily pay for a dSLR along with a lappy. So tempting. Darn it! :|

Had a nice cup of tea after really long today. My favourite when I buy one - Earl Grey. The guy there did shock me by not giving milk with it, but thankfully that was a mistake. :O

Went out for a nice and filling dinner with family too. It had been very long.

Frikkin Thackeray got arrested and got a bail in two hours for a measly 15K. Fuckers.

I snored today. :P But the moment I did it, I got up. It was so shocking and amusing. God save me.

Strangely, I am not getting to see much of chrysanthemums this season. I wonder why.

I need a new shampoo. Straight, oily hair. Nothing too expensive. Can anyone suggest something other than Garnier, Sunsilk and Head & Shoulders?

Presently, I am reading a novel. :D One of those thriller types.

Did I mention before that I finally got hold of that Fuchsia wallet that was once stolen from my bag? I mean, not that same wallet, but a similar one. Moi is happy. :D

And the bestest news of all. I have finally forgotten the mobile number of the first jerk that I dated. It's a big deal. :P

I'm assuming this is the kind of post everybody thinks is my signature post. At least your comments suggest so. Lemme know if I'm right. Or wrong. :-)

And oh, happy Valentine's. :-)

Monday Matters

Doing stuff stuff here and stuff stuff there, but I am still bored. (Sounded like quack quack here, and quack quack there, here a quack, there a quack, everybody quack quack :D) Never mind.

From a happy and fun Saturday, to a messed up Sunday, and an aimless Monday... I'm riding a strange ride every day. Taking each day and each moment as it comes has never meant more to me. And for somebody who's a planner by nature, trust me, it's not a funny game. But the rules say that I can't complain, so I'm trying to keep that at bay.

Let's talk about the Monday. Got out of bed quite late as usual, moved about the empty house for a while as usual, fixed myself some breakfast after noon, and then got a message from a friend that she was coming over. Reason enough to GET UP and clean things around. The room and the self, both. Some fun as expected, and a Fun Flips + Sprite party! Fun Flips are still for five bucks! They were selling at the same rate when I had my first class party in school. Anyway. After a couple of hours, an idea struck. One reason why Sunday was a mess was that I was not able to go out for a shoot. I badly wanted to. So we thought that we'll please the restless soul today. And we (that's just me, btw) headed towards Humayun's Tomb. I'd been there once before - again, for the first class picnic, I think. All I remembered of that place was mosquitoes and flies in the lawns.
But, it is one of the most beautiful places that this city has. Without a doubt. Better than Red Fort, Qutub, and all of that. Very well maintained, and a delight to look at. I spent about 1.5 hours in the complex, and then too it was my camera's battery that told me that we should leave. I was literally happy-jumpy on my way out of the place, caught an auto and headed home in the chill.

On days that I do the above mentioned, the rest of the time is spent in front of the computer, going over and over and over all the pictures. So I have been doing that for hours now. The fun element of it is hard to explain.

Today, I am also listening to Rainbow at 1:00 a.m. after a very long time. It only used to happen in the good ol' days prior to exams in college. Amiya might want to vouch for that. :D Now I don't know if those days were good or are old, but that was also another fun element in the then boring nights of development economics.
But man, 102.6 and 104.8 are playing some incredible music right now. Billy Joel, Hoobastank, Nickelback, Bon Jovi, Starship, the list is going on and on and on. I'm having fun. Indian Ocean and Jhini were being fun in the afternoon too.

It's also somebody's birthday today. :-) Wishing a bright, happy, and peaceful year ahead to my dearest Shady.

Shall wind up now. There isn't even much to write anyway. Leaving with a picture that I clicked today. Could not relate to it any more at this point in life, but I think it's something that always holds true.

Life... is a long and bumpy ride. Gotta keep moving!

From the mind-numbingly bored mind

In the presently uneventful life, a tag is reason enough to update the blog. From Junk Text to Fuchsia.... listing six random things/habits/quirks carries on.

# I have reached a point where I name my pictures' folders by date. There just are so many of them on my drive now! And I still don't have back-up. :O

# I have also reached a point where I have started dreaming about being 100% fit and feeling good about it.

# In the recent past, I have lost an unbelievable amount of silver from my precious collection. It just keeps dropping off me! :|

# I am growing up to see what lies between black and white. And understanding it.

# I accept and agree that Abhishek Bachchan is looking hideous in all his appearances nowadays.

# I enjoy sharing pictures on Flickr as much as I enjoy clicking them.

There. Done. I don't know whom to tag. If you're reading this and have still not done it, I tag you.