Saturday, October 18, 2008

more eye drops and that new vision

It's been some days since I've commented on my eyes... it's progressing well but I still have the sensation that it's almost like wearing my glasses (where are those?) but without the glasses. Right off I had been instructed to buy some lubricant eye drops which I did and have been using them, though I was "forced" to slack off during Fleet Week where my eyes were subject to blowing wind, debris, hot bright sun, etc. You can imagine the rest.... a total of five and more hours without eye drops, and me blinking like a madman all day!!

Just recently and through a friend of my sister who sponsored me financially for this corrective eye surgery, I was introduced to a different type of eye drops which still complied with the eye doctor's requirement of being "preservative-free"; I've been trying these newer drops for a few days and the difference is amazing! With the other type I had purchased, my eyes would dry up almost immediately and I couldn't see anything... okay ~ I can see but it's like staring through very really dirty smudged glasses. With these, I can see clearly almost immediately and up to farther distances!!

WoW!!

I also guess I haven't been thinking of my eyes because I adapted so well to my new vision... I still think of my glasses now and then, but I have adjusted quite easily - too easily I think - to my new life without the need to wear glasses. I still have them though they are useless now, and were just recently purchased at a cost of a few hundred dollars.

I've been thinking of buying sunglasses for some time to keep the wind and dirt out of my eyes. I have looked at quite a few types, but haven't plunked down the money because I had this done to have vision without glasses; if I buy sunglasses then I'll be wearing glasses again and it really doesn't make much sense!

Saturday 18 Oct: Went out and finally got some sunglasses. I just cannot tolerate any more wind blowing dirt into my fragile eyes! While at the mall shopping for these glasses, I bumped into my sister's friend who just coincidentally had purchased a box of eye drops, minutes prior with her own money ~ for me!!!! Wow! Talk about a small world!!

If you're going through this same process as I am, just email me and I'll give you the brand names, etc. My next follow-up in San Jose is in two weeks.....

Monday 20 Oct: I have experienced the halo effect that many have spoken and written about. I believe this is a result of the burring of the cornea surface just before the first cut is made; it's an undesirable end result but when one thinks of the cause, then it's not easily preventable. I've discovered that the more moistened the eyes are, the less the halo effect noted. Of course, this mostly occurs at night and when looking toward bright objects, such as headlamps of cars, street lamps, etc. I don't see it as a problem and while it's slightly annoying to this patient I see it as a very tiny trade-off for the benefit and advantage of not requiring glasses.

Friday, October 17, 2008

the continuing saga of CSI....

.... still amazes me with its depiction of this so-called Life we see with our eyes, and through this virtual world. Life in itself is so similar to what we see on the tiny screen... with its twists and turns, a plot so thick you need a magnifying glass to determine sometimes which way it will turn.....

Is our Life so insane that it is really as it seems on the television, or is the television so dramatic that it builds our Life for us, by influencing what we see, how we think and even in rare cases, cause those with less sanity than the norm ~ and what is the norm if such a thing exists ~ to copy what is seen virtually.

It's the complexity of Life that causes us to experience deep thought, profound moments that make us smile, laugh, cry and cause us deep sorrow. It is this that causes me pain... knowing that what I see on CSI is such virtual reality that Life itself is even worst than what we see through that box.....

Though delayed, these first two episodes have not failed me to see what they have in store for us this season... and if Life is any reference, that its real-time ups and downs will be portrayed realistically and accurately ~ as always ~ and will always move me to such emotion that I can't help but wonder why Life is even worth living in such sorrow.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

a running fool's life

... imagine seeing someone running through the streets... obviously not dressed to be a jogger since he's wearing street clothes. Another indication he's not a jogger could be he's holding in his hand a very big camera with a long lens.

Not a jogger!!!

Well, if you thought that scene to be out of a flick, think not! That would be me, running about two miles Tuesday night as this idiot wanted to catch the almost full moon rising over the East Bay hills.... then after waiting 20mins realized that the moon's angle is wrong and want it "lower" in the sky, so now I decided to run from about Union Street and Vallejo to the Embarcadero and Pier 14. Gasping for air, snaps a bunch of the Bay Bridge with the moon above, then decides to run back toward Broadway and ~ seeing the Transamerica Building ~ stop to capture that in the darkening night sky, then on a sidestep, spies that green Sentinel Building and now distracted, spend twenty minutes snapping that too..... after all, it's not often this lad with a camera gets out at night to discover the night! And all this without a tripod!!

Pooped to hell and back, he rests till today when he spies a great cloudy sky as sunset nears, and decides on a whim to get the sunset from a different spot, so he runs up Greenwich Street to Telegraph Hill, where ~ out of breath again ~ encounters a tourist couple whose boyfriend is busying "watering" the green bushes by the walkway leading to the top of the hill... I detected a spanish-sounding accent and in Spain it's commonplace for males to look for any place to urinate.... I was going to ask if he was from Spain but thought better of it as I was in a hurry to get the sunset which was minutes away.... gasp, pant, gasp....

Near to the top, I see a spot not blocked by tree limbs or bushes. I stood there for about ten minutes while not even two feet away a man dressed in dark clothing burned a small stove in the bushes, crouched below the bush-level. As I started to capture the setting sun, he started banging a spoon on metal chant-style, and I wondered if what he was doing was a spell to shoo me away from his camp location for the night. I left in a few minutes, running again to the top of the hill, only to see trees and even taller bushes blocking any possible view, but I did see the statue of Columbus there backlit by the setting sun's golden glow upon the clouds.

I looked skyward; a BIG mistake and decided (I'm really crazy when I go snapping away and I've had an otherwise boring few days standing for hours for four days shooting the roaring jets) to go DOWN the backside of Telegraph Hill to the Embarcadero (ooooh no, not again!) and snap Coit Tower against the red flaming clouds above...... so I ran down the 300+ steps and was shocked I didn't fall not once - usually I fall when I have camera in hand) and started snapping away yet again at street level....
....then I see a lighted water fountain and those glimmering lights and that dark and shiny reflections of light caught my eye...... if you're a technie type, the data on the fountain pix is about a four-second exposure without a tripod, the camera on the ground, me lying next to it and keys and whatever else I had in my pockets to level the camera and angle the lense down to my subject.... wot fun!!

An hour and a half later I got home..... I think I'll stay away from my camera for a few days. Maybe if I moved everything around again, I'll lose my camera and I won't have to run anytime soon.....

yea right!
This is a picture captured with my cell phone camera, showing my camera on the ground (without me) as I snapped away at the fountain to get the picture above.... neatoooo tripod, huh? hahahahaaa

I saw an interesting scene during that chase for the full moon: I am walking ~ slow for once ~ down the street and notice a man loudly talking in chinese but holding at shoulder-height a square object in his hands. As I near, I can see that object is a laptop, and instantly, I know what he is doing... I've done it myself! He is holding the laptop equipped with a webcam toward Russian Hill and the dying golden glow of that night's sunset. Through this modern technology that we so take for granted these days, this man is probably talking to friends or family in China and using his wireless net access, walk outside with his laptop and share that sunset with his friends a world away.....

Then, on the other hand, why can't people direct their thoughts in one precise direction? Why does someone have to talk using this same technology but act in such a confusing matter that it's a headache foir both that individual and myself? To make matters worst, this individual acts as if they are talking to someone else. Nooooo, this person doesn't say my name, but refers to other named persons. Not only is this insulting that they cannot say my name, but it's confusing.

I don't get headaches often.... maybe once every two years, and this is the first one in probably that period.... and I don't like having a headache caused by someone's tactlessness.

grrrrrrrr

.... and still, as in every country I've lived in... why am I still watching sunsets alone? I hate being in this place and wish I were elsewhere. Anywhere but here.....

Monday, October 13, 2008

Angel Island fire - plus the day after


wow!!! I heard my downstairs neighbor talking to someone on the street about some fire... I opened up my bedroom window blinds and took these few pictures through the 40-year old glass, being able to see the flames in the void quite clearly!!! How eerie to have flames seemingly in the middle of nowhere in the night darkness!! Now ten minutes after snapping this first picture, the smell of burning brush is seeping into my room!! yuck!!!

Monday morning: I've slipped outside to get a few snaps of the aftermath. You can actually see a tiny helo dumping water over the smothering mess, then coming down to the surface of the bay to get more water. Respect Nature, respect the environment!

UPDATE: Well, the fire on the island is completely out and they are investigating the cause of the fire. Right now according to new reports, it looks like it started near a campsite ~ over 300 acres of land were torched and over 300 firemen were brought in to fight the flames. However - good news - the 120 historic structures on the island were intact after the blaze; it seems most of the flames were on the City side, which is the southern portion of the island.

MAN, enemy number one of Life, Nature and the environment! grrrrrr

Sunday, October 12, 2008

the party's over.....

at least, it is for me! I've recorded and created about 3,762 in the past few days, and probably deleted about 3,761 of all of those images!!! hahahahaaa I almost feel as if I were at a tennis match, watching the ball tossed from one side to the other... at least I don't have to look at aircraft any longer, till next year perhaps! I've been standing an average of 4-5 hours per day, except for Saturday where my volunteer-time had me standing in the biting cold from 9am till 4:30pm... guess I am not the young man I have always been and my bones were really hurting! I could barely bend and just to sit in the car and drive home was painful enough....

For this final performance day, I had decided to sacrifice detail for distance. I walked onto the Golden Gate Bridge to take some of these most recent pixs of the Blue Angels to share with my good European and other friends, who aren't from this area {or never seen this area xcept in fotos/film} so they could "see" a bit more than just some tiny jets and even smaller propeller planes flying against a blue sky. Puting the City skyline in the background creates a terrible picture for me as it's too busy and hard to see the low-flying aircraft, but this does put into perspective the vast area being used by the planes during the performances, plus also gives them an idea of the size of the aircraft flying in comparsion to the city.
This last pix below are of some seals who were playing in their backyard below me on the bridge. I also saw what I thought was a dolphin who never reappeared again, but these seals stayed around for some hours. I also saw some huge jellyfish thinking it was strange that those would appear in the water at this late time of the year, but oh well. enjoy the fotos!!

+ = more!!!

well, another night but not on my roof this time! I left the flat searching for a place to shoot the fireworks, after spending an hour online looking at maps and ideas for where it might be and how it might look from this location and that. Also difficult when you don't know exactly where the fireworks will be launched from! So, I hoofed it up the steep Jones and Taylor Streets hills, puffing like someone with a breathing deficiency... what a way to exercise!!

I arrived at Green Street where there's a lovely little park but having been there previous times during the day, knew the numerous trees blocked the best views. To a higher park on Vallejo, the same thing: trees and bushes prevented one from a splendid scene of the City's Financial district and the Embarcadero. I stayed long enough to test the scene(s) with some test exposures, then hoofed it over to yet another location: Broadway Street, which is a steep slope also, and from mid-stret offered a decent view, with enough leeway to the left and right for me to quickly move and re-angle the camera once the fireworks started. Now set up, I tested my exposures for Broadway Street... tweak up the aperature, drop the duration, change the angle.....

This time I was ready at 9:30pm, and even changed the angle and location of the camera by a few feet after it started. I could hear people screaming, clapping and of course, the "oooh" and "aaaaahs" were easily heard.

It lasted 13 minutes only but it lit up the night....