New camera, new dolls, flowers...

Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2012 - 2:16 a.m.

Lots to say, not sure where to start…

My latest crop of fledglings left the nest Friday to join the scary world of customer service reps. They couldn’t wait, so I must have done something right. Started out with seven, one quit after two days. Bored? Family conflicts? Who knows? They were complaining from day one about why didn’t I just give them all the training materials and assessments, let them take the final, and go on the phones already. I have never had a class so anxious to get on the phones! They went on the phones Friday of training week. That was the “carrot” I offered if they’d behave themselves and stop whining about the training. The one agent with previous call center experience was a nervous wreck about the computer part of it. She paired up with my favorite, very confident, agent on Friday, but Monday of OJT she left for lunch and never came back. I feel horrible that I didn’t specifically tell her she could Y in longer or even have another week of OJT if she needed. She was so good on the phones, too. Another one, the most independent one, had to go on her regular schedule after Monday of OJT, so I didn’t see much of her. Apparently she’s doing fine. Another missed the first day of class, made it up easily, and missed Friday of OJT so she didn’t get to play with the shark blimp. For graduation we got to play with the shark blimp they tested out on my previous class and Mike set a new speed record. This insulted some of the experienced agents, to be bested by a kid still in OJT, but we thought it was cool. Not much to say about this class, except Courtney is cousin to Crystal, my former petcare boss and current presentation manager at the pet store. I remember her from her teenage days, hanging around petcare and bugging Crystal, and now she’s twenty. Wow!!! (And, sadly, just as immature… But, surprisingly, she really took to the work and was the star of the class. And, for all her partying, she was the only one who never came in late or missed a day.)

They were very nice students, nothing like my previous insane class. But my previous class still comes around for hugs and to show off the awards they’ve already won. I told Rosie, the account manager, that when Amber (“Pens”) or Cody gets top performer for the month, I’m taking credit. :)

I’m disappointed that Rick gets the May training class, but, on the other hand, it will give me more time off if it lands over an out of state graduation I promised to attend. For now, I’m back to my 4-10s, and Purrcie gets spayed Thursday. Yeah!!! Maybe the following Thursday I can get the kittens to the vet and the Thursday after that I can get myself to the doctor… (I almost said vet…) I’ve been feeling great—except for horrible neck issues, thanks to the cold, damp weather—and I’m once again considering going longer without the Prozac, but I do want to at least see if the liver thing got straightened out.

I really liked one of the students, and I wished as I do occasionally that there wasn’t the inevitable gulf between trainer and student. It seems I’m always the trainer, even when they are also full-fledged agents, and we just don’t interact on the same level as peers. No reason we couldn’t. We just…don’t. I’m always their trainer. I might as well be their supervisor.

Anyway… I don’t ever end up with very many friends at work. I don’t know how to make friends, and I’m just…different. It’s not good or bad, it just is. I’m sure there are people around here who like country music or bluegrass or Christian rock… But none that like all of the above. The ability to ride a horse isn’t special around here—I don’t ride, have no interest. A lot of people like fantasy, but those are usually into gaming, which I’m not. I can’t imagine anybody else in the state is an adult Barbie/fashion doll collector. I suppose it’s possible, but I just can’t imagine it. I know there are bookworms and crafters and photographers, but I never seem to connect with them. Kayla is a bookworm and lends me books, but we aren’t friends. Caroline is working on an elaborate cross-stitch picture, and I’ve chatted with her about stitching, but we aren’t friends. I know there’s a knitting group that meets at the library, but I have no idea when, and when I work evenings I don’t get a life anyway. Our former writers’ group keeps in touch on Facebook, but we don’t hang out.

Part of it is I can’t invite anybody over to my place the way it is. Part of it is I live out in the sticks and nobody would come out this far anyway just to visit. Part of it is I just don’t work a shift where I can socialize. Part of it is I don’t drink or party or… So no casual meeting at a bar for drinks. I don’t even smoke and can’t stand smoke so I don’t hang out on the smoke dock or even go out there for “fresh” (not so much, with all the smokers) air.

I’m not unhappy. I’m actually very comfortable with my own company. I think that’s one reason I don’t make friends easily. I make people uncomfortable because I don’t “need” people the way most people do. They aren’t sure how to take me. It’s kind of hard to explain. I’m really not weird, I’m just very self-sufficient, or “self-contained” might be a better word. And I’m not at all apologetic about being different. I don’t mind being different. And yet, I’d love to connect with people. I’d like to have somebody to hang out with, to craft with, to talk books with. There are many photographers around here, but most have fancier cameras (even fancier than my new camera) and are way more advanced than me. I’m not about the technical side of photography, I’m about the artistic side. I know I’ll never find another person around here who’s into dolls the way I am, but there might be somebody who, like me, can appreciate and be interested in another’s hobby without sharing that interest. The friends I have, and my favorite cousins, are like that. There might be somebody like that in this area. But, how do you meet somebody like that? It just happens. Or it doesn’t happen.

I got my new camera!!! It came today. Rather, it apparently came Saturday and sat outside, since it came USPS and they delivered a package to my door later today so I know the mail hadn’t gone yet like I’d thought when I came home this morning and saw the package on my deck. Sat outside all day yesterday in the all-day drizzle. Sat outside overnight in freezing (20 degree) temps. I’m not mad at the post office. The package was marked to leave if no response. I’m mad at the camera company who knew the package contained an expensive camera and still used a standard label saying to leave it at the door if no response. But I let it thaw out and the lens de-fog before I touched it, and it seems fine, though I haven’t tried it yet.

It’s a Panasonic Lumix FZ150, two steps above my old camera. Reading reviews, the step above my beloved DMC FZ50, the FZ100, wasn’t that great, but the FZ150 has excellent reviews. For the record, I would have been perfectly happy replacing my DMC FZ50 with the exact same camera, but, of course, it’s no longer available, and, if I had to get a new camera anyway, I figured I might as well upgrade. I don’t really need more megapixels, 10 was more than plenty for my use and 14 isn’t that much better (5 megapixels—less than a lot of cell phones have these days—will print a good 8x10), but the 24x zoom will be awesome.

Preliminary review… I’m disappointed that it doesn’t have a manual zoom and manual focus. (Well, it has a “manual” focus, but a button, not a ring.) I like to be able to fine-tune my zoom and focus without having to move. A motorized zoom has fixed stops that might not be exactly where I want it to be, so I have to move, which isn’t always possible, and it draws on the battery. And—this is kind of silly—it’s lighter than the FZ50, with a slightly-textured coating that makes it feel cheap and plasticky (yes, that is a word, because I say so) instead of solid and metallic like a “real” camera that means business. I’ve been especially looking forward to having the larger viewscreen, but I was delighted to discover it flips and rotates like on the FZ50. I thought at first it didn’t have as many scene settings as my other cameras, but it has more. (For all I want to learn to shoot manually, I still expect to use scene modes most of the time.) In summary… I’m just glad to have a decent camera again. The Nikon takes great pictures, but it’s too limiting.

The FZ150 is not quite a D-SLR, or, what is traditionally known as a D-SLR. (A lot of point and shoot cameras are actually D-SLRs. It basically just means your viewscreen/viewfinder shows you exactly what the lens sees.) No detachable lenses. Have you ever picked up a D-SLR with a lens attached? They’re heavy!!! No thanks. And I can’t afford to buy all kinds of fancy lenses, nor do I want to mess with them. I’m just an experienced amateur. Give me a German lens, decent megapixels, a great optical zoom, and a couple filters, and I’m happy.

Why haven’t I tried it yet, when I got it this morning? Because I’ve been sorting the array of accessories I ordered that have been arriving over the past week and I’ve been looking at the manual and (currently) trying to print it out. (It’s huge!!! But I am a big fan of reading the manual, and I don’t want to be limited to reading it online.) I need to read the manual to find out where on earth the RAW setting is. I prefer to shoot RAW, although if I set it right in the camera, it shouldn’t be necessary. But I never tried half the stuff its predecessor could do, or most of my previous cameras, and I am determined to use all the settings on this camera and finally really understand about aperture and shutter speed and manual settings. (The only manual setting I used on the old camera was the light meter.)

I messed up on the accessories. I got a light I really don’t need at this point, I can use it but I thought it was something different. (I can’t seem to find a flash for this camera anywhere. Need to look some more.) And the bag I thought was larger than the one I have is actually smaller. I need to go to Walmart anyway and get a new bag that will hold the camera and all the toys, but I can still probably use this bag. Right now I have everything in my old camera bag. But I did get some nice filters and a remote for my night shots.

I’m hoping this camera will be sensitive enough to shoot stars and northern lights—although we only had one night of gorgeous northern lights this winter, but it’s something I’d still love to be able to photograph. I suppose I’ll mostly shoot my cats and dolls as usual. Maybe some nice day—if we ever get a nice day—I’ll go down to the river again, and I’m sure I’ll be stopping to shoot pictures sometimes when I cross the lake heading to the farm. And, of course, there will be tons of flower pictures!

I added a new lily garden. Actually, I hauled some good garden dirt from the farm and re-dug the area to the side of my hitch where I put down plastic and covered with chips, but that didn’t stop the grass and weeds and baby trees anyway. I’ve given up on keeping ahead of the grass and weeds, but the lilies can hold their own. I’m a huge fan of minimum garden maintenance! Anyway, I ordered a bunch of lilies and got some more at Menards, most or all of them later-blooming so I’ll have some flowers later into summer. I planted the ones I got at Menards, but realized they are tall so I need to move them so they will be behind or to the side of the ones I ordered. The bulbs I ordered came, and I was planning to plant them today, rain, shine or snow, but when it was only 32 degrees I didn’t dare, although the ones I already planted are thriving despite the freezing lows we’ve been having. So I stuck them in the fridge. Sad when you have to store your bulbs in the fridge to keep them from freezing!

I ordered some crocuses, tulips, and one very expensive deep red iris that I just couldn’t resist. I’m going to plant the crocuses and tulips in the grass. That’s what a professional gardener friend of Mom’s does. She says they’re all done blooming by the time they need to mow, so then they just mow them down all summer. So I’m going to plant pretty Rembrandt tulips along my garage and little assorted crocuses in front of my trailer. I finally—after several years—got more moss rose seeds, and I will buy a couple more dianthus plants, as I do every year, for my tractor tire. Not sure what I’ll put in my big pots. Probably petunias again, especially if I can find some double ones. Maybe I’ll be different and mix it up a bit. We’ll see!!! April is a tough month. The gardening bug bites hard, but in the cold north you don’t really dare plant till the middle of May at the earliest, except for super hardy stuff like lilies.

Have I mentioned I love my flowers??? Probably a few thousand times! Maybe I’ll actually post some pictures this year.

I promised myself that when my checking account reached a certain point I’d get my camera, and it did, so I did. I also promised myself that from now on out my pet store paycheck is my fun money. Meaning, at this point, dolls! I talked about the Cami doll I preordered… There are a couple more. Not preorders, but dolls I should actually receive in a few days! Camera fun… I feel some more haute couture sock dresses coming on. (You’d have to read my archives—or have a good memory—to get that reference, but I’m too lazy to link.)

I finished crocheting a red and white Vita tunic awhile ago, and I started a Tonner dress this weekend, although I’m not convinced the pattern will fit. (If not, I can recreate it.) I’m using variegated pastel crochet thread, and my Look of the Season Tyler looks good in pastels. I need to do more sewing. My goal is to make mix and match “ensembles” to maximize the items of clothing I actually do make. I’m currently working on a red and white set. So far I have a sleeveless white blouse that doesn’t fit the Tonner dolls like it’s supposed to—need to figure out what I did wrong, I’m using an actual Tonner pattern as my base—a red skirt, and a red print sundress that fits beautifully. I have a fully-lined blazer cut out and I’m scared to death to tackle it. It makes my head pound just to think about it. And I want to make some red capris to go with the red and white tunic. Why red? Because I had a beautiful tiny print I wanted to work with, and because Tonner Charlotte and Urban Vita both look great in red. I invented a wide white “patent” belt from a child’s shoe buckle (seriously, it’s cute!) which cinches the sundress waist enough to fit Vita. I also have a bunch of fabric in brown prints, so that’s my next color scheme. Vita Edge and Cami will look great in brown. It will be some of the same pieces as the red, but different styles. The red skirt is a straight A-line, and the brown one will be a tiered style with different prints.

I also got a couple Barbies. I’ve been wanting Pirates of the Caribbean Barbie, not because I care about Pirates of the Caribbean (I couldn’t care less), but because she’s a beautiful, articulated doll with my favorite face mold. Believe me, that pirate outfit is coming off fast! (But the sword is kind of cool.) And I finally got my first ever Silkstone Barbie. I don’t particularly care for Silkstone Barbies, but I’m curious, and I’m still thinking about crocheting fancy dresses to sell, and Silkies are different sized than the other Barbies, so I want one to make sure my creations will fit them.

I know, I should just start a doll blog and save all this for that, but I have enough trouble keeping up with this one.

What else? Purrcie seems to be finally out of heat, after about two months straight of yowling, just in time for her surgery. Some vets won’t spay a cat that’s in heat, but I go to my hometown livestock vet, and they don’t seem to care. I managed to wedge a 2x4 in her escape route, and I do mean wedge, so there’s no way she can get out that way, so I finally let her out of the cage and knocked down the top cage she was in. I haven’t gotten around to taking down the bottom cage yet. That was my goal for today, but it didn’t happen, big surprise there.

Saturday Mom, new neighbor Mertis, and I went shopping. I didn’t get much, but it was fun. I didn’t need much, really. Mom got a garden wagon she’s been wanting. I am so happy to see her finally spending money on things to make her life better. She has a zillionth of a percent share in a handful of oil wells, and it’s not a huge amount of money for most people, but, for Mom, it’s allowing her to live better than she ever dreamed.

Sunday it rained all day. The so-called gravel they put on the section line portion of their driveway is all clay, and the driveway was impassible. I had planned to go home Sunday night, but I didn’t think I could make it. I spent Sunday lounging around the farm, visiting and finishing a dress I was crocheting for a thrift store doll. I left this morning, and it was still sloppy enough that I had trouble, so I definitely would not have been able to make it last night.

Today was cold. Like I said, I had planned to plant my lilies. Not so much. And I’m not going to have time for the rest of the week, unless I have time after I get Purrcie from the vet Thursday. If it’s warmed up at all by then. I’m taking her to my hometown vet, so I’ll hang out at the farm till she’s ready to go home. They never keep them overnight anymore. Although I really should check to make sure… Well, Mom will just have to get her and toss her in the guest room for a couple days if they want to keep her overnight because I have to work 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

I’m rambling. Time to sign off and get to bed. And eat something. I just realized I missed supper.