I forget what the assembly instructions were for, but it occurred to me that two people with no arms was not only hard to find but also counter-productive if you were also going to need to use a screwdriver, a tape measure, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.
But what do I know? I'm lousy at putting stuff together.
Maybe this is also why people who are good at putting stuff together tend not to read the instructions. You'd never get anywhere if you tried to follow them to the letter!
*****
Well, I've made it back through most of my unpublished pictures for the last six months, and it's completely amazing to me that out of the hundreds and hundreds on the hard drive there are only a handful worth looking at. I remember when we all used actual film and had to pay for every print . . . were we more careful in those days, or did we experiment less? All I know is that I've got a lot of deleting to do at some point to get rid of the duds!
I hope you're having a good week, with nary a dud in it :)
I remember that 'paying for every print' thing. And how careful we were. And that sometimes a film had to wait for a time before it could be developed.
ReplyDeleteI do love being able to take lots and lots and lots of photos - and deleting most of them.
Hot and horrid again here. I hope your week is much better.
Yes! I can remember having the same film in the camera for months and months at a time. I'm glad we don't have to do that anymore.
DeleteI wish I could send you some of our cold. Yesterday I don't think my hands were warm all day!
My daughter barely glances at any instructions before putting stuff together AND having it work the way it should. I tend to study the instructions as if it were an exam, then hope I remember what to do without referring to the book more than once a minute.
ReplyDeleteI'm like you, River. And I can tell you I'd do pretty terrible on that exam :)
DeleteMy last IPad has over 21,000 photos on it. I can work at deleting for a day and not make a dent. Each photo requires deliberation!
ReplyDeleteI know! It seems like an endless task!
DeleteMy eldest grandson is brilliant at constructing things - he never reads the instructions, just looks at the illustrations. Of course, he'd be a bit stuck if there weren't any!
ReplyDeleteI don't even understand the illustrations a lot of the time! The symbols don't always make sense to me. Your grandson is clearly comfortable with those!
DeleteYears ago, we only took pictures on holidays, vacations and birthdays. They are all precious. The pictures we take today are technically much better but mostly insignificant. No one gets sentimental about a picture of someone’s dinner or the weather outside.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true - and it never really sank in until you pointed it out. In fact, I used to think I took too many pictures of the kids, and too many "holidays, vacations and birthdays" but in truth those are the ones I treasure now, not the so-called artsy ones :)
Deletelooking forward to seeing some of the pictures you've decided are worth saving! i love camera phone photography myself, but lately have lamented the lack of quality i used to pursue more carefully with my camera, even the digital ones.
ReplyDeleteHa ha - I've already posted most of them, Angella. Of the rest, some only make sense in my mind (i.e., I remember what I was TRYING to show with a particular shot). Maybe I'll post them anyhow, and try to explain :D
DeleteDon't get me started on directions. Most directions are translated from another language and a certain amount of meaning is lost.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes :)
DeleteMaybe you were trying to take pictures with no handsd??????????
ReplyDeleteIt looks that way sometimes, but sadly it's just my incompetence! lol
DeleteThat was a fun little French lesson. I never mastered the future tense!
ReplyDeleteI delete probably 80 percent of what I shoot, if not more. I think we do shoot a lot more photos than we used to. I know I do.
I never noticed the French until you pointed it out! Future tense isn't hard, trust me. You just need to understand the logic and then it flows.
DeleteWell, I'm glad to have that estimate from you. If you can delete that much, surely I can!
I pretty much have to do deep breathing and meditation before any instruction deciphering.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I understand :)
DeleteAs an almost obsessive instruction follower, I am very interested in how those instructions direct those armless people to use those hand tools.
ReplyDeleteIs it some form of telekinesis?
Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?
I don't even have a camera, but my "my pictures" folder is so unmanageably large that I spent a couple of days going through it when we were without internet for a while and came up with a "selected images" folder out of which I can show people the pictures I know I have in there without having to sort through them for hours.
I guess I just felt like I had virtually unlimited storage and could therefore save every image that caught my fancy, without regard for ever being able to find them again.
I do remember using my mom's Kodak to take pictures of our motorcycle racing, and waiting anxiously for the prints to be ready to see if we had caught anything really good, and carefully cleaning the camera before giving it back in the hopes that she would let us use it again...
We're in the middle of a long storm here that is oh-so-good for the rain and snow we desperately need, but I hope at least relents in time for us to see the lunar eclipse on the 20th.
-Doug in Oakland
Telekinesis - why didn't I think of that? But not many people could actually do that, could they? :)
DeleteI use a system of dated folders for my own pictures and numbered folders for pictures I nick from the internet (like lolcats, etc.) and it worked for the first couple of years. But now it's getting unwieldly because I can't remember how long ago I took or nicked a certain photo. I need to delete mercilessly, I think.
The suspense of not knowing what we caught with older technology was part of the fun, wasn't it? It was like waiting for Christmas or your birthday. I do like being able to take so many pictures without the expense, but I miss that suspense a bit.
I hope your storm brings what you need without taking away good stuff like electricity or sky-watching. That's a balance that all too often doesn't happen.
You're funny!
ReplyDeleteI don't like digital clutter and yesterday in fact, I cleaned up my phone and tablet. Yes, I remember the days when we had to pay per picture.
These days we can click, click, click. Which to be honest, I like better but I try to keep my digital clutter in check.
Cheers and boogie boogie.
Clutter is clutter, isn't it? Even if it's not physical, it can clutter up a person's mind.
DeleteClutter is a big waste of my time. I like the freedom to stretch out in digital or real life. Hope you had a good weekend.
DeleteI well remember two grown men who spent an afternoon swearing liberally about the instructions and assemblage of an Ikea cabinet they were attempting on my behalf...The instructions mirrored yours...so I understand and though I would love to LOL, the best I can say is, "Never Again."
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they were quite frustrated. Actually, I think it's just as frustrating to watch/listen to people who are frustrated :)
DeleteThose days of paying for every print were pretty painful! Remember getting those out of focus images and having to pay for each one? That was awful! I much prefer the digital era. Much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteOut of focus - and sometimes completely unintentional. I paid for more than one shot of my feet, due to advancing the film at the beginning of the roll to ensure it was properly installed! lol
Deleteit was uncomfortable to pay for images out of focus some years back dear Jenny
ReplyDeleteglad you sorted out your pile of captures
either i do same whenever get time ,even in my phone there are more than 2000 pics and i will have to look all and chose finer one to stay
still i love to scroll my old albums packed with photos and feel happy that i preserved the treasure at right time
That's a great point, baili - if we didn't try to catch those shots (and fail sometimes) we wouldn't have the good ones!
DeleteI'm plodding my way through a small selection of digital folders asking myself why I took these photos...
ReplyDeleteI know the answer in most cases but how I saw things and how the camera saw them are poles apart. In the long ago days of of film cameras, I remember a tutor in a photography class saying only one print in 36 was worth keeping.
Today I think that might be one in 300.
Back to the deleting... sigh.
Alphie
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"How I saw things and how the camera saw them are poles apart" - exactly! That's my problem, too. Good luck with your deleting :)
DeleteHa! Your armless assemblers made me laugh. And digital photography is such a joy for me! I spent SO much money on film and developing for so few good shots; and I missed so many good shots because I was afraid to waste film. I'd much rather delete hundreds of crappy digital photos than regret not taking "the one that got away". :-)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Although, face to face with the deleting part, after the photos have piled up, I'm not quite as enthusiastic - lol
DeleteI don't like to sound arrogant but I'm pretty good at putting furniture together, but I follow the instructions word by word. Or picture by picture. Not only do the two people have no arms they don't have any eyes either, that could be an issue.
ReplyDeleteVery true, and do you know, I overlooked that very important point! lol
Delete