Monday, November 26, 2018

i am not making this up

Too often, my life is like a Monopoly game — a bad Monopoly game.

To understand what I am getting at, permit me to describe my Monopoly games with Sue and the kids over this past year (note: these are the only games that I have played in just about forever). I think there have been five games, four anyway, and each has gone the same way.

In the last game, for example, on my first throw of the die, I landed on Chance. I picked up the card and had to pay out. I landed on a few more during the game, or perhaps on Community Chest, with the same results. There are more good cards than bad cards both of these stacks, but almost always, the other players get those good cards, and I get the bad ones. Some cards send people to jail, and I get those too. I also land disproportionately on the Go Directly To Jail square. I am not making this up.

I approach Go with the possibility of picking up $200, but once again, I disproportionately land on either the Luxury Tax or Income Tax, if not both. I am not making this up.

There are both owned and un-owned properties up ahead. You can guess where my roll of the die takes me. But when someone approaches my property, they get a good roll and avoid it. I am not making this up.

I am effectively out of the game in short order with whatever property that I do own, likely mortgaged to pay off my debts. I am not making this up.

Onto my real life. I am not going to dwell on the past but just get into the recent event that triggered this post.

.... um ... changed my mind to describe just one event from the past although it takes place in two parts.

When I was a young lad in Scouts, there was a camping trip planned for one weekend. I loaded my stuff onto the city bus to get to the rendezvous point from which we would be driven to camp. The bus trip had taken the best part of an hour, but I was looking forward to the weekend and took the trip in stride. When I got there, in plenty of time I might add, I was the lone prospective camper. The weekend had been cancelled. Everyone had been notified but not poor John. I am not making this up.

At some later point, they planned a new weekend. I wasn't notified about that either. Nope, not poor John. Everybody else went, but I was forced to stay home. I am not making this up.

Onto the present and the occurrence that gives rise to this post.

I asked for a ring flash for macro photography for my birthday in September. My plan was to use it for indoor winter photography when outdoor opportunities were limited. Therefore, I hadn't used it and had barely even looked at it until now.

But even though it's still November, we have been experiencing weather that is more January-like, and Eastern Ontario has been setting multiple snowfall and cold records. I am not making this up either. Since winter is happening early, I decided to get out the flash over the weekend, which was somewhat earlier that I had previously intended.

Background to a ring flash. It's a circular flash that attaches to the end of the lens. Like this ↓. 



The flash is attached to the lens via a screw-in adapter. I received four such adapters, for difference size lenses. Guess what? You already know, don't you? None of the adapter rings fits my macro lens. I am definitely not making this up.

I don't think the company makes any other adapter rings, or they would have included them. But in some desperation, I thought I would contact then anyway. They have a handy-dandy contact form on their website. I have tried it more than once. It doesn't work. I wish I were making this up.


This is the way it goes for me. The flash was a gift, and I have no invoice. Besides, it's months later anyway. So it is what it is. 

Fortunately, this was not a very expensive unit although it did cost well over $100. Still that's better than the multiple hundreds of dollars that we could have paid. But I wanted keep the cost down while I tried to determine if I would like this sort of photography. Fortunately, I still can use the flash to some degree, for I can handhold the flash as best I can as I experiment with it this winter. If I think that I want to do more flash-enabled macro photography in future, I can invest in a pricier unit in due course.

I swear that I have not made any of this up. I have not embellished for the sake of the narrative. I don't have to embellish because this is the way that life has often gone for me. But please don't see this as a pity party because many good things have happened too. For example, there's ...





15 comments:

Jenn Jilks said...

That's so sad! "I am not making this up."
I hope tomorrow will be better!

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

This was really humorous — to read, that is. I'm sure it hasn't been so humorous to experience. Hope after December, a new year will bring better luck.

Should Fish More said...

Does the catholic church still do exorcism's?

Joanne Noragon said...

Ha ha. Well told.

Jim said...

Thus the reason why I refuse to play Monopoly! Sad tale of woe about the flash attachment. Have tried Amazon to check on adapter rings or the like? Just a suggestion! It has to be a bit disappointing for a photographer like you. Your narrative was humorous, yet sad in a way. Best of luck in 2019, AC!!

Christina said...

What a shame John. I really hope Santa checks the specifications of any gift you may receive, to avoid future disappointment. I find it quite upsetting to read that nobody in your scout group bothered mentioning the new trip to you. I hope you changed to a different pack thereafter. Good luck with any future monopoly games.

William Kendall said...

Razem frazem are the words I'd use to describe the flash situation. Quite a nuisance!

Vicki Lane said...

Oh dear! I wonder if this is the time to tell you that sometimes my computer labels your blog as a dangerous site . . .

Wendy said...

OMG - are you serious? I can't believe that Scout camping disappointment. How awful to leave one little boy standing at the stop while the bus merrily goes on and no one else is there.

Well never mind, the camping trip you missed might have been full of dangerous bears lurking around the tents.

I often do poorly in monopoly or other games. Just the way it goes.
Too bad about your camera lens. That one really takes the cake! No wonder you needed a blog rant.

Now, let's have some good luck starting Right Now!
Or, come to think about it, you can play "reverse" as I sometimes do with the grands (for snakes and ladders). We go down the ladders and up the snakes. Or play Candyland backwards. I think the Universe is telling you to be more creative! How about that?

Jenny Woolf said...

What all this is telling me is that you need to stop playing Monopoly.
And, I'd better pull the switch which will start your good luck working.

Marie Smith said...

If it wasn’t tor bad luck, AC...

Goldendaze-Ginnie said...

AW...poor AC. You high-lighted all the reasons I don't play Monopoly any more. If you "go directly to jail" in the new year I hope it will be a short visit … we'd miss your blog entries !

Mage said...

I fully understand. I am not making this up either.

PipeTobacco said...

AnvilCloud:

I have ALWAYS wanted to get one of those ring flashes myself! What is the type of adapter that fits onto the ring flash? I was always assuming it was going to have a simple screw ring attachment so you could just buy any dual ended screw adapter to attach it to your lens' screw mount.

I am a bit disappointed that it sounds like the adapter has a special, unique type of fitting to the flash.

I know others may have suggested looking on Amazon or Ebay... but.... perhaps another workaround would be to see if you can find a screw adapter of a size that does fit one of the adapters you DO have, and then buy one with a coupler that changes the other side of the screw adapter to your lens size. I am not sure if I have written that particularly clearly, so here is an example of what I mean:

If the lens you want to use is a 67mm and the flash has a 82mm screw end, it would seem you could use this to make your flash work for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Photography-Step-Up-Machined-Electroplated/dp/B01CZA5DMM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1543343779&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=49+to+52+mm+step+up+ring&psc=1

You have probably already thought of the above, so I apologize if my idea is redundant.

I love playing Monopoly... but no one else in my family likes it, so it has been a few years since I have played. We play a fair amount of the board game.... Rummikub, however.

PipeTobacco

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

It's been years since we played Monopoly and I can';t recall how my luck was when we did play, hopefully better than your experiences, John. GOod thing it's only play money. Darn about the flash experience and the no response from the company and while you said it was only $100 investment, still...and double bummer about that scouting trip, both the cancelled one and the new one. Did you stay in scouting after that?