So many times I meet people with outlooks indelibly impacted by the things that they go through. For that matter, I've met very few imperturbable people, who seem oblivious to the hardships and luxuries of their lives. I remember once a fellow who described for me the experience of being bitten by a rattlesnake. "Ever been on quaaludes, man?" (I hadn't). "Well, it feels just like that!". Another woman dropped out of a prestigious New York arts school often featured in the media because her knee gave way. For years, her personal biography came with a preamble--"since I left....". I can imagine--but only imagine--what it must be like to train for years, to put on those damaging shoes, to experience pain and personal stricture--and it all goes by the wayside over torn cartilage, or over lack of talent. I'm sure her feet still bear a kind of silent witness to the deed--"see this distortion, this misalignment, this stretching, the curvature? I worked for years to attain my art, and I made this sacrifice. But what was it for? Now I can't do any of the things I hoped and dreamed and planned to do". It's not one of those "only creative people suffer defeat" stories, either. Death visits the complacent, too. I like the Bible story in which the farmer finally has his grain stockpiled and material plenty, but it all amounts to nothing, because he dies that night. Maybe it would be a more effective story if the farmer were told he can live forever, but only on condition that he begin truly living. I don't know much about death, though. I've been reading "Cacti and Succulents for Modern Living", a book I got for 75 cents at an estate sale.
Meanwhile, the internet continues to delight. I want a camera that will allow me to take close-up pictures of flowers and butterflies, which throwaway cameras do not do. But of course, I do not want to spend money for a proper camera with a proper macro lens, because the fun is in finding things that do what I want for nearly no money. So I began perusing eBay for cameras under 50 dollars that would do the job. I found the Kodak Instatech Scientific Close Up Camera on sale, which appealed to me tremendously, because it was a "never used" instamatic designed for taking lab close ups. It had an auction minimum of 9 dollars and 99 cents. I bid 15 dollars on it. Then I realized that I had not looked up any literature on the camera. I googled up the camera, and found, to my horror, that it requires 126 film and not the current industry instamatic standard, 110. I did not worry, though. I kept googling until I found an Italian company that still makes 126 film, and a film lab in Parsons, Kansas that still develops the curious square "old-timey" type instamatic pictures. It would all be a little more expensive than 110 film, but still do-able. I was mostly relieved, but almost a bit disappointed when somebody swept in and took it from me at the winning bid of 15 dollars and 50 cents. I will find a close up or macro camera on ebay, though--I'd like to share flowers with my weblog friends. I still have some of my corruplast Hagerman cards to send out. I've been working very hard lately, so I'm eager for Memorial Day weekend, when I can catch up on lots of hobby things.
In the meantime, I must google up snake plant retailers.