Journal entries in 'Dear Diary' for January, 2006

Cat sent me her pictures from the trip to New Orleans two weeks ago, so this seems like a good time to finally write about it.

I arrived on Friday evening, and, after some brief discussions of geography, we immediately set to drinking.

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Today I finally developed my first roll of film. It took much longer than I expected; based on what I'd read, I was expecting to spend about 30-45 minutes. Actually, I started around noon and finished at 6:30pm. Of course, about four of those hours were spent mixing the chemicals from their initial powder form, which only has to be done once every few months. Also, I took my time with every step, carefully washing every container and funnel between each use to avoid contamination, and rereading instructions repeatedly to avoid mistakes. I guess it's similar to the way my first engine swap took me three weeks to complete, but the second one was done in a weekend. I imagine the next roll of film I develop will go much faster.

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Last week Marc, Andrés, and I went over to Michelle's house to see the four short films she made last semester at NYU. These were her introduction to shooting on film — all her projects so far have been shot on video. This semester she was allocated eight rolls of black & white 16mm reversal film to be used over the course of the semester. All of her films were really good, but I especially liked the one she made for her final project. She really has a lot of talent and great creativity. I'm constantly impressed with the ideas she comes up with for her movies.

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Sunday night was quite an adventure. After a failed attempt to go ice skating with the family, Michelle brought her boyfriend Billy, her cousin Kyle, and her friend Johnathan over. After some brief hanging out at our place, Billy wanted to go to bed and Michelle wanted to play pool, so we dropped Billy off and then headed out to San Juan.

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So today is Three Kings' Day, the day when the three wise men come and leave presents under the tree while you sleep. When I left for work last night I saw the box of grass Natalia had gathered for the camels, and when I returned in the morning there was the inevitable trail of grass clippings leading out the door (it is a little known fact that camels are inconsiderate, messy eaters).

It has always surprised me how blithely children accept this holiday. Shouldn't it trouble little girls to know that strange men can just walk into their house uninvited while they sleep? Maybe I've just lost my innocence.

This morning when I got out of work I stopped by the photo lab to drop off some film, so on my way home I took Expreso De Diego, a large, four-lane highway. At one point, I found myself in the left lane, and there was a large garbage truck in the right. As I passed by the garbage truck, a rat leapt from the truck and tumbled a few times on the road. Just before he passed out of my view, I saw him find his feet and start scrabbling madly — still sliding, but somewhat in control. Of course, he was sliding across a large, relatively busy highway, so in spite of his impressive landing, I don't think his odds of survival were high. Still, I certainly couldn't have leapt from a speeding truck and fared so well, so I suppose it's possible he got lucky and managed to slide unharmed to the side of the road. I wonder how that turned out.

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Ever since high school I've always wanted to learn to develop my own film, but the interest was always relegated to the back of my consciousness. But a few months ago, on a trip to Charleston to visit Jessie, I spent some time talking with her friend Kevin who's got a darkroom in his house, and he really revived my enthusiasm about processing my own film. Now that the construction at home is nearing the end, and the use of my bedroom (and, more importantly, bathroom) are restored to me, I'm revisiting the idea.

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