Obsession

Yesterday I went on a shopping jag to obtain all the ingredients I did not already have to make Pot Thai. I found all but one. I am now obsessed with the notion that I must find that one ingredient, even if it means a long trip to Berkeley to the two Thai markets there. Something tells me that preserved turnip might be something the Korean market next to Starving Musician might carry. That's a lot closer. On the other hand, a visit to a real Thai market has some nostalgia and field trip value.

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Last night I went to a Meetup.com event which was billed as a photo studio open house plus photo shoot. $10 was supposed to include munchies, models, studio lighting and some sales pitch on how to rent studio space.

It is a huge space, and there are several areas which had commercial stock modeling sets. One room in the back was tricked out with a spiral iron staircase and balcony, and a proper group of remote controlled flash instruments. The hosts were intrusive and pushy and I never got a chance to shoot in the real studio because a couple of boys who did not even know how to set their cameras in manual mode had been given the space with the one experienced model. Normally shooting is timed, everyone gets 5 minutes, then the next photographer takes over. This shoot was not organized at all that way. The only shooting I was able to do was in a setup which was lit by horrible blue fluorescent always-on lights, of a wooden male model.

While there is a huge amount of space, it is all open, and there is no privacy for anyone who rents an area. Even the back studio is open to the main building, there is no shuttable door. This is somewhat ironic, because that room has its own private model's room for dressing and make-up, and the main floor features four single-person bathrooms which models could also use for makeup and changing. But they open to a very public space.

In better times, this space would be easily sold/rented to a professional photography agency as a combination office and studio, but as a place for me to rent space for a shoot it is a total bust.

Only Wednesday?

Feels like it should have been Thursday all day. Somehow managed to spend so much time on the PC this morning that I was not dressed till 11:30.

Had a call from Cisco about a job, but once again they are looking for a programmer to do QA.

Thought about taking public transport to Berkeley, but would not have made it back in time for the recruiting company open house this afternoon. It's a company which I have heard good things about from cow-orkers, and they are fairly close to home. Went there at 4:30, they had a nice spread of chicken strips and cold cuts, I grabbed some and went into the galley, which was set up with chairs in a squared circle. Several recruiters chatted with me during the event, I have cards from four of them to email a resume to. Very worthwhile, I hope. Heard a couple of stories similar to mine from other attendees.

Am parked at the Pear Ave Starbucks, which is where I hung out most after my last Microsoft gig. Will drive down the block to Pear Ave theater in 15 minutes to see if there are seats left for the preview of Death of a Salesman. One of the few Facebook friends whom I have never met is in it. I think he's the lead. Actually, we probably have met, just not formally.

Edit add: Silly me, the preview is tomorrow night.

Plans for tomorrow are sparse, maybe Berkeley after I shoot off a flurry of resumes.