Eye opener

Over the weekend. I entered the world of gaming.

Well, sort of. Me hubs decided to enter son in a gaming tournament. Like most kids his age, my son is into computer games and spends a large amount of his time either in front of the computer or the TV where he plays games dad had bought him. In our family of four, my son is the best player of any game. I don't know what got into hubs but the two of them went forth to conquer the gaming world. I imagine they were nervous as they have never entered an arcade before.

As it turned out, in the gaming world, there were way better players. Son was out of the main tournament pretty fast. Hubs decided son would stay and enter in the Newcomer competition. Unfortunately, he had to go to work. That's where I come in. I went to be son's chaperone. Basically I just sat around and waited until it was time to leave.

An arcade is not the best place to hang out in. It is very cold and unless you're playing, it gets really, really boring. The most exciting thing that happened was when I first arrived at the arcade and went to sit behind son while he "practiced". There was an odd sickly sweet smell which really bothered me but I thought it was the smell of the arcade. A couple walked past me and suddenly the lady slipped and fell. She had goo all over her. And I mean all over her. It quickly occurred to me she had slipped in a pool of someone's vomit! The lady did not even freak out. She saw the vomit all over her arms, legs, body, face and just tried to shake them off. Finally she realised she had to go to the ladies to wash it off.

I, on the other hand was close to fainting and shrieking insanely. I was sitting very close to the pool of vomit and was very fortunate not to have stepped in it. You understand that the arcade is very dimly lit. After the drama (of me almost fainting), a cleaning lady came to clean up the vomit. But she made it worst by spreading it. Ah, I felt it best to find another couch far away to wait for son.

After a very long wait, son got to play another 2 rounds before he was knocked out of the competition again. Finally we could go home. Despite losing, he had this half-smile on his face. I call it the "I'm so thrilled but I don't want to show it" smile.

I've never seen a bunch of gamers all in the same room before. They all have this geeky look and skin that has not seen much sunshine. There were a couple of really huge guys who turned out to be the better players. Most of the players were way older than my son. There were a few women, either girlfriends or wives. One thing I noticed. The gamers did not just enjoy playing the games. They enjoyed watching as well!

I think son enjoyed playing with superior players. But I don't want him going on his own so either me or hubs has to chaperone him if he enters in another tournament.

Yesterday I attended my free Canon class. A trainer spent 2 hours explaining the functions of my S100. I discovered a few dials and functions which I did not know exist! It was a very fast-paced class. I could follow most of it except the portion on shutter speed. It's a good thing I've been playing around with the setting. A few people who obviously have not been using their camera were really lost. Not to mention annoying with their endless questions.

One interesting aspect of the training was we were told to take notes by taking photos of what was projected on the white screen! Imagine how fun school days could have been. This image above was taken at ISO 1600. I had the impression that a very high ISO would result in a not so clear image. As it turned out, with the white screen, a higher ISO is needed to get a sharper image. One other thing that stood out was the trainer kept pronouncing "film" as "fleem". He could pronounce every word except "film".

What I took away was that I have a lot to learn. Oh, when's the S100 for Dummies coming out?

I'm declaring this cream a miracle cream. It is healing my skin in the most amazing way. I stare at my hand every day watching it get better. Yes, it's silly like watching grass grow. But the recovery is so speedy I'm blown away. I told me mom about this miracle cream and she being from the traditional medical oil generation immediately warned me not to over apply the cream. I read the fine print and it is used by eczema sufferers so does that mean I have eczema on my hand? I am being cautious and only slathered the cream all over my shin and feet, basically all the dry spots, once a day. My hand gets more frequent slathering tho'. Growing skin, you know?

Embroidering all the brooches in my last post really got me in the mood for more embroidery. I sewed this chain stitch flower this morning. Chain stitches are very time consuming. The center is a simple applique flower fabric anchored with blanket stitches. I expect this will be made into another zip pouch.

I'll see you soon.