Weird Day Part 1

[olivermoss]

I'll post a bit about current events in a separate entry under a cut.

Today was my final dentist appointment. So, time to find a new one. Since I was out during the day, I considered yeeting myself all the way to St. Johns, but I might actually go up to St. Johns and just stay there a few days to mix things up sometime soon. I've mostly just been... right in this same spot for the past two years and breaking up some of my habits and stuff would be good for me.

So, I went over to Mississippi instead. (These are all neighborhoods of Portland). It was weird being up there because I used to be on Mississippi every week, right up until lockdown. A lot of stuff is closed or gone. Also, I walked by Red House... which I am not going to explain in this post. Just picture a hellish rabbit hole of bad things.

I had my Lensbaby lens on me because I am determined to have a gallery of Portland shots with my Portland-made lens. But I forgot the learning curve. I've barely used it two years because it's hot garbage in low light. I love the lens, my best picture was taken with it, but it is not easy to use. I forgot that a) when I got the lens I spent many hours shooting random stuff to get a feel for it and b) that I usually use completely different settings and remap buttons when I use it.

The lens, well, the lens looks like this:



This is what happens when you let Portlanders make things. I am going to take a better picture of it and also my other alternate gear, things that were in my camera bag post, fairly soon. But yeah for a few pictures I wanted to use it for it just... no. It just no. I may have one salvageable shot.

Then after 3 hours of walking I realized I was tired, which is weird. I do longer walks fairly regularly. So I did some shopping and went home.

I hopefully got some good pictures. Mississippi is a good area for yard art. It was just weird being in an area that was sort-of familiar but also not. All the places I can eat at up there are gone.

Comments

[dine]

if you passed Red House, you passed ACME. there is lots to see around that area, which has changed in the last couple of years (but even more in the past couple of decades, when I started working on Mississippi)

[olivermoss]

It's a neat area. I stopped in the chocolate shop because I can always get something non-dairy and non-soy I can try there.

I'm so sorry Red House is near Acme. That must have sucked.

[dine]

ACME is practically across the street from it - in fact, our brick-fenced play area *is* across the street from the Red House. it was totally surreal to have the street blocked at the corner of Skidmore, just by one of our classrooms.

[olivermoss]

That's horrible. If even a tenth of what I heard about all that was true, that must have been awful and surreal. I never went myself and am still pissed at Q Center for providing logistical support to that whole mess.

[mistressofmuses]

There are a lot of areas that give me a similar "familiar-but-so-changed" vibe, especially post/mid-pandemic. Neighborhoods and areas that aren't on my commute route, so I haven't seen in a couple years... but it still shocks me to see how many things have gone away or sprung up in their place... Weird feeling, for sure.

That lens looks... interesting. Sounds like it's interesting, too!

I hope you got some shots you're happy with.

[olivermoss]

That lens is what happens when you let Portlanders do things. It's amazing, but I need to re-learn how to use it. The Good Omens TV show used that lens to film the old timey scenes like when Aziraphale was learning to dance.

[mistressofmuses]

I didn't know that Good Omens had used it, but picturing that scene, it seems obvious! It does lend a really cool perspective, but I can imagine it being rather finicky to get it doing what you want.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, I need to get back in the groove with it. I am glad to have the weird little thing.