The World Makes Lovely Background Scenery
I've now been here for nearly two weeks, if I'm counting correctly... the flights were the 4th, and we arrived around the 5th midnight, and it's not the 17th so it's been about 12 days, so I have indeed been counting correctly, and I have indeed been here for nearly two weeks!
It turns out that I have been a most dilatory photographer; in the seven months or so since I acquired my camera I have only shot a little over 2 gigabytes of photos. It's rather disappointing, since I was planning to take advantage of the DVD burner in the family computer (not mine) to burn all the photos off and let me start the 2009 collection (my photos are organised by year, place, and then theme, and if the same place or theme is revisited multiple times then I add date-labels to the folder). In any case it seems I shan't be able to do that, though I've been running through my dad's camera memory card and if I consolidate enough I just might accumulate enough for a DVD collection. It's not all for me, of course; the grandfolks would like a collection of photos of the family, with us all so far away and infrequently visiting, and I'd like to not clutter up my computer with year after year of photos. All the same I'm planning to take a lot of photos over the course of this month--maybe even more than I took during the May/June trip--so we'll see how that goes!
I should also note that China must have altered its filters or something in the past few months; it was around September that the parents told me they could access this blog, which is why I'm typing this now--it's obviously been allowed to pass through the Great Firewall. Of course they probably monitor the traffic all the same; after all they certainly have the manpower to do that. One never likes to assume things, after all, and bureaucracy never mixes well with me.
I just started watching Doctor Who (the revived series); I've actually already read lots about it from TV Tropes and Wikipedia, but never actually watched it though lots of the expat friends of the family are fans. This time, I came back to find 3 seasons of it on DVD in the possession of my kid brother, and so I've started watching. I did, of course, think at first that I was watching the actual first episodes of all, except that a little supplemental reading removed that idea--so I've been introduced to the series at the Ninth Doctor, and I've just started watching the Tenth. It's very entertaining really--I enjoy the wisecracks and horrible puns--and even though the episodes tend to follow a sort of strange logic that seems right although really common sense says it shouldn't, the human factor and the wit make it work well... somehow.
The Empress arrived the other day--a couple days ago, perhaps? Or more; I've started losing track of time, at least during weekdays. It's a side effect of not having a fixed schedule to adhere to; I just wake up and go about whatever my routine is. These days it's wake up-wash up-breakfast-potter around-Doctor Who-lunch-wash dishes-Doctor Who-potter around-dinner-potter around-Doctor Who-walk-wash up-sleep, though that's likely to change soon seeing that I'm about halfway or so through the second (and last) disc that we have already. In any case she arrived on the 13th which means today's the fourth day that she's been here.
And we've been taking photos, lots and lots of photos of the various places that we go. Mundane ones like church or restaurants, tourist places like Mt. Mo and Mao's Park, the house, nearby lakes, shops, whatever. Lots of my photos weren't actually taken by me, since the Gobbler and the Empress on occasion like to take it and shoot themselves. The Gobbler in particular enjoys it, and of all the photos of himself he takes, half of them are composed of his face right beside Oreo's; I have lots of photos like that. In the others, on the other hand, our family gleefully succumbs to the habit of using pretty much everything else as props and posing in irrational positions. Mt. Mo was one of the more egregious examples, where shots of the scenery alternate with shots of the family dancing, leaping, climbing, sitting, or standing on the scenery. In fact sometimes the photos look more as if we were taking ourselves with the background simply happening to have been there--or as if we were taking We Were Here photos.
It's fun, but they're hardly the kind of thing you show casual strangers. "That's the mountain X in the distance, and those leaping figures down there are the kids trying to look taller than the mountain in the perspective..."
It turns out that I have been a most dilatory photographer; in the seven months or so since I acquired my camera I have only shot a little over 2 gigabytes of photos. It's rather disappointing, since I was planning to take advantage of the DVD burner in the family computer (not mine) to burn all the photos off and let me start the 2009 collection (my photos are organised by year, place, and then theme, and if the same place or theme is revisited multiple times then I add date-labels to the folder). In any case it seems I shan't be able to do that, though I've been running through my dad's camera memory card and if I consolidate enough I just might accumulate enough for a DVD collection. It's not all for me, of course; the grandfolks would like a collection of photos of the family, with us all so far away and infrequently visiting, and I'd like to not clutter up my computer with year after year of photos. All the same I'm planning to take a lot of photos over the course of this month--maybe even more than I took during the May/June trip--so we'll see how that goes!
I should also note that China must have altered its filters or something in the past few months; it was around September that the parents told me they could access this blog, which is why I'm typing this now--it's obviously been allowed to pass through the Great Firewall. Of course they probably monitor the traffic all the same; after all they certainly have the manpower to do that. One never likes to assume things, after all, and bureaucracy never mixes well with me.
I just started watching Doctor Who (the revived series); I've actually already read lots about it from TV Tropes and Wikipedia, but never actually watched it though lots of the expat friends of the family are fans. This time, I came back to find 3 seasons of it on DVD in the possession of my kid brother, and so I've started watching. I did, of course, think at first that I was watching the actual first episodes of all, except that a little supplemental reading removed that idea--so I've been introduced to the series at the Ninth Doctor, and I've just started watching the Tenth. It's very entertaining really--I enjoy the wisecracks and horrible puns--and even though the episodes tend to follow a sort of strange logic that seems right although really common sense says it shouldn't, the human factor and the wit make it work well... somehow.
The Empress arrived the other day--a couple days ago, perhaps? Or more; I've started losing track of time, at least during weekdays. It's a side effect of not having a fixed schedule to adhere to; I just wake up and go about whatever my routine is. These days it's wake up-wash up-breakfast-potter around-Doctor Who-lunch-wash dishes-Doctor Who-potter around-dinner-potter around-Doctor Who-walk-wash up-sleep, though that's likely to change soon seeing that I'm about halfway or so through the second (and last) disc that we have already. In any case she arrived on the 13th which means today's the fourth day that she's been here.
And we've been taking photos, lots and lots of photos of the various places that we go. Mundane ones like church or restaurants, tourist places like Mt. Mo and Mao's Park, the house, nearby lakes, shops, whatever. Lots of my photos weren't actually taken by me, since the Gobbler and the Empress on occasion like to take it and shoot themselves. The Gobbler in particular enjoys it, and of all the photos of himself he takes, half of them are composed of his face right beside Oreo's; I have lots of photos like that. In the others, on the other hand, our family gleefully succumbs to the habit of using pretty much everything else as props and posing in irrational positions. Mt. Mo was one of the more egregious examples, where shots of the scenery alternate with shots of the family dancing, leaping, climbing, sitting, or standing on the scenery. In fact sometimes the photos look more as if we were taking ourselves with the background simply happening to have been there--or as if we were taking We Were Here photos.
It's fun, but they're hardly the kind of thing you show casual strangers. "That's the mountain X in the distance, and those leaping figures down there are the kids trying to look taller than the mountain in the perspective..."
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