When I tried to take a picture of everyone playing pool, my beloved camera wheezed a heart wrenching sputter and whir before refusing to take. It was bound to happen. It had been in my possession since the end of August 2001 and has traveled everywhere with me for the past 2.3 years. It's been to Japan. It's been to Europe. It's been to NYC. It's been to Chicago. It's been to Canada. It's been snuck into various concerts. It's been to numerous bars, clubs and restaurants. I don't know how many rolls of film I'd taken with it. Hundreds, I'm guessing. I probably spent enough on photo developing for three brand new cameras. I would see how much it would cost to fix the motor but it would never be the same. It would not work as it had before. It was a faithful and loyal companion. It did its job beautifully and without complaint, even when I dropped it. May it now R.I.P. Its last few pictures I was able to salvage from its final roll filled my most recent photo album to the very last picture slot. How sad.

Though nothing could ever fully replace my dear 35mm Samsung Maxima Zoom 100 GLM [sniffles], I'm going to start saving up to buy this beauty of a DigiCam. It�s a Fuji FinePix F700 and supposedly a 6.2 mega pixel camera. The majority of the reviews seem to praise it quite well except for the image quality. Image quality is important because the only reason I've been wary of going digital is for fear of the prints not being up-to-par with 35mm. I'm going to go to CompUSA and check it out in person before ordering it online. I hope the reviews are wrong because it�s around the same size as my late Samsung, and I like Fuji. If they are, I guess I'll go with this black Canon PowerShot SD10 4mp or this Minolta DiMAGE G500 5mp or this Casio Exilim EX-Z4U 4mp.

For every end, there is a beginning. Though 2003 has ended with my camera's death and the loss of my favorite pencil (I had that pencil since I was a high school freshmen), 2004 has begun with some promise. I have a few fabulous new mechanical pencils sans those pesky rubber grips. I might be able to get a lovely new camera in a few months. I begin my internship (yea!) in the news area (bleh!) of WDET in a couple of weeks. It's unpaid but will give me a lot of hands on experience. Saturday mornings will be going to RFB&D. I�m going to stand in K-chan's wedding in May. I, of course, will be hanging out with all of my friends as much as possible! Kickboxing and tutoring will be starting up soon. Tee hee. If I get a weekend job at Star Theatres, studying in Italy during June and July could be extremely possible (plus, free movies). If I plan my semesters out accordingly, my last semester in 2005 should only consist of my capstone, Business Japanese and Italian. I will also be able to apply for JET. So, I hope I don�t fuck it all up. :P

How was everyone's New Year's? Were any resolutions made? I didn't make any.

~* January 01, 2004 @ 8:41 pm *~