Today's horrorscope:

Don't stress yourself out trying to control things you can't control. If you can't control them (and you know what 'them' are), you can't control them. So take a step back and then take a deep breath and then let go. You've done everything you can do (and you know it), so just enjoy the free time, if you can (and you can). Why do you always have to be doing something, anyhow? Some days it's okay to just be.

The epiphany came as i was playing with the camera using the manual controls.

Shit, I was PROFOUND even.

Lessee, long story short:

I was explaining to someone that I was learning how to use the camera manually because I'd been scared to use them before, so learning the manual controls would ultimately give me more control and get over my fear of not being able to control the camera properly.

Then I said: "Being angry and frustrated is being afraid of not being in control."

Damn. Exactly.
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Virgo. You don't just think deeply, you feel deeply. You consider deeply. You imagine how things could be different on a deep level. You process deeply. You feel strongly about the world in both its spiritual and physical dimensions, and you aren't content if you haven't been able to penetrate to a deep level of understanding of your milieu. So get started.

Fillmore Street

Fillmore Street, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Yes in fact, the natives do call it "Frisco"

Yes in fact, the natives do call it "Frisco", originally uploaded by Itinerant.

In a pawn shop window

In a pawn shop window, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Cable car riders

Cable car riders, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

responding

responding, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

N.A.S.**

** Nikon Acquisition Syndrome

I finally pulled the trigger

JPennant: yeah, most electronic and camera stores in the ny/nj area are jewish
JPennant: once the sabbath is over, it'll be on its way
mcclint: hehehe cool

And the madness of NAS** starts. Similiar to MAS (Mac Acquisition Syndrome), LAS (the Leica one is particularly nasty as snobbery kicks in, driving prices to unbelievanble levels), this is going to be a lifelong process of pain to the wallet.

For me, it actually started working at a camera supply store while in college. I had a Nikon FM2 with a motor drive, but because i was on a student budget - i was using a cheap vivitar and sigma lens. One day I borrowed a rental 600mm Nikkor lens from the store to play with.

Oh. My. God.

Even the crappy pictures had such clarity and color, that they were all magazine worthy, just from the quality of the Nikkor optics.

To this day I remember taking a picture of the sun rising over a Lake Michigan horizon, with a tiny planet mars also rising, both orbs reflecting off the flat, still water side by side. That's still the most stunning picture ive ever taken, hands down. I really wish I still had those slides.

My dream died when I delivered a 450mm f2.8 Nikkor lens to the Chicago Bears team photographer. The list price: $2,400. And that's in 1985 dollars.
Thats why I gave up photography in the first place.

The costs drove me away from photography, and it was only the relative economy of having a digital camera that brought me back in.

But i studiously avoided getting an SLR, remembering what it costs when you get really serious about photography.

Now, Im serious. Just taking it slowly but surely.

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Joe's Daily Virgo Forecast

Quickie: Today you'll get a great chance to move beyond some old (bad) habits. Take it!

Overview: It's time to go beyond borders. That curiosity you've always had about distant lands, foreign customs and languages? It's time to explore them to the fullest. These avenues may just be life changing.

There was a line in that TV show "The Unit" where the lead character starts off the interrogation of an opponent with the words, "You are not a True Believer."

That has stuck with me since then, as i wonder when im gonna kick off the Next Phase.

The travel, the photography, the business. Leave the job and go.

Is it fear, is it inertia, is it laziness? Or is it that im not being a True Believer?

Or will it happen anyway?

Lombard & Hyde

Lombard & Hyde, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Art and oranges on Valencia

Art and oranges on Valencia, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

on bus

on bus, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

For rent

For rent, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

One indicator I use for the health of an area are 'for rent/for lease' signs.

I'm seeing a LOT of for rent signs going up and staying up in San Francisco in the past few months.

However, as a native once told me, that is often misleading, for as she pointed out - the apartments would be rented out if they dropped rental rate.

Still, for awhile, including last year - for rent signs werent common and usually didnt stay up long when they appeared. Now, Im seeing more, in every neighborhood, from nosebleed rich to grubbily poor. And theyre not coming down.

Storm cloud sunset

Storm cloud sunset, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Rainy in Frisco

Rainy in Frisco, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Enchilada plate

Enchilada plate, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

La Cambria on Valencia, i think.

I went there on a whim. Mexican food is not usually my first choice for food, as I never really tasted Mexican food until my late teens.

Now that Im here out West, where Taquerias are measured per mile, I cant avoid it. Ground corn isnt my favorite food, nor is mushed avocado but there are *counts fingers* 6 or 7 places for mexican food just within 2 square blox of my place, so the occasional partaking is inevitable.

Friend risa

Friend risa, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Raindrops keep falling on my lens

Raindrops keep falling on my lens, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Rainy in Frisco

Rainy in Frisco, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

A streetcar called Pensive

A streetcar called Pensive, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

Confused puppy on California

Confused puppy on California, originally uploaded by Itinerant.

He's telling the dog to look in my direction.. the dog got excited and started looking through the FRONT window ... he kept saying "LOOK, LOOK".. the dog kept LOOKING LOOKING... WE are cracking up.. and then the light changed. :)

Private dinner

Private dinner, originally uploaded by Itinerant.