June is almost over. Truly a life changing month.

I hope to make a book review page or some kind of bookshelf page at some point. I think that would be a fun addition to the site.

For a while I've been on a horror kick reading everything by Junji Ito. A few years ago I read Uzumaki and I've been hooked ever since. I think that was my favorite of his works. Tomie is a close second IMHO.

Recently I started reading "There is no antimemetics division" by ONTM. It's pretty good so far and I look forward to finishing it. If you like SCP Foundation or the Severance TV show It's a must read!

It's almost an escape to read horror for me. To see something bigger and scarier than what I'm dealing with in life makes things more tolerable I guess, ha.

I need to work on making a less stressful environment in general. Stress can cause all kinds of future health problems from what I hear. Interesting that nobody makes a horror based on daily stresses of life..

Could resonate with a lot of people.. END LOG...

I've spent the last few nights and weekends working on a new bookshelf page. When it comes to making something that others will see I'm a little bit of a perfectionist.

I want to make sure every T is crossed and i dotted before releasing something out in the wild. With this site it's hard sometimes to find a balance between "good enough" and "too professional". I want to keep things hand made and looking organic but at the same time I have a urge to make everything super pro looking and perfect.

A review page for books requires some attention to detail to make sure everything is covered under fair use. Finding the balance between legal and organic is hard though lol. It almost feels like I'm not able to use the artistic vision if you could call it that... when I have to source every image and make every review known that it's of a copyrighted work..

I am not trying to steal anything from anyone*

I know, I know.. But you have a copyright on your page!?! I do. I was not sure if I wanted one or not but in the end I decided that I'd like to keep my ugly code to myself. I really don't care too much if you use it but I'd encourage you to learn as much as you can for yourself and make something you want! It's great to copy a tutorial but understanding something is way more valuable in the long run.

Even just in making this site I feel like it's been an adventure, finding people who just want to help others learn how to code, or share their projects with others just because they can.

I encourage you to check out the Credits page and give everyone a look. They are all great resources and helped me so much to make something that I'm happy with.

I'm probably still a week or two away from finishing my first review for the new page but I didn't want to leave you hanging.

To the right is an image of my progress with the new page. A devlog of sorts I guess lol.

You will be able to click on a book in the shelf, then the review opens for that book! It's using similar code to this blog site to work.

I plan on rereading some of the books I'm going to review, as some time has passed since the last time I've picked them up.

Before doing that though I wanted to make absolutely certain that no "rules" were being broken.

We are getting closer to the secret! END LOG...

We got to develop our first rolls of black and white film at home this month! There were some nice frames in the rolls.

This was taken at an apple orchard in October of '25 --►

It was a fun experience for my wife and I to develop everything. I definitely wanted her to be there because she works in a lab every day for her job. She's a real pro! I really just helped ha.

This frame was taken at a park near our house. I think it turned out alright.
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For that shot I used the 70mm to 210mm lens on my Canon AE-1 Program. See my photography page for more info on the cameras/lenses I use!

The next shot was taken at great falls in VA. I really wanted to play with the camera some here and I think this frame turned out alright too. ▼

It's very relaxing to take photos outside. This shot makes me feel that peace I have when I'm out there taking pictures.

These shots are some of my first black and white photos that I've taken. I look forward to taking more now that I've got some experience developing film at home.

I was definitely able to learn more about my cameras using this film. While shooting with the black AE-1, after developing I found it had a pretty bad light leak. At least I think/hope it's a light leak.

▼

It's a vibe but not really the vibe I'm going for lol. I think it's the light seals near the hinge on the black AE-1.

Or this tractor is about to be beamed up...

Unfortunately I loaded that camera back up with some Kodak gold after this roll of black and white, not knowing of this issue 0.o

I'm expecting some interesting color negatives back after developing that roll of gold lol. To try and save the rest of the roll that's in it I think I'm going to try and tape up around the seals for the remaining frames. We'll see how they turn out I guess.

There are more shots I took and some other black and white photos I plan on sharing via the photography page soon but for now they are a secret!

I also plan on documenting the developing process because I find it so interesting, and really a whole part of photography that gets overlooked.

On another topic I'm still working on the bookshelf page and am re-reading some books to write some "reviews" before publishing anything on this site. I feel like the last two months have been some of the most busy of the past few years.. Always doing something. I'm looking forward to working on this site as I can. END LOG.

Finally back to blog again!

It's been 44.6 days since my last entry. My Wife, older Sister and I are on vacation together at the Outer Banks this week taking it easy.

We all got in last night and are staying until Friday. The weather is not the greatest but it feels good to just get away...

We've not really had a chance to plan anything to do yet while we are all here but Wify and I are planning on going to the lost colony museum. We are both invested in the story of the colonists :)

I also brought along some CD's I made with recordings of my grandparents singing and playing guitar. My grandparents live here in NC and last year I was fortunate enough to be able to get some high quality recordings of them both. I got some CD's and jewel cases then printed out some inserts to make things look official haha.

I think they'll like them. It was fun and I learned a lot making them.

\/ Here is one of their recordings \/

Wings of a dove: Gramps and Grandma

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Begin daily vacation log:

Day 0

Got in late and slept into the next morning.

Day 1

Attended the OBX Ghost tour. It was good 5/5 very informational.

That picture is of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse that we took while on the ghost tour.

Day 2

Visited the Elizabethan Gardens. 5/5 very beautiful. Took lots of film pictures that I'm looking forward to seeing. We also went to the retro Pizza hut on Manteo and played pinball, so that was really fun.

Picture of the gardens taken by my older sister.

Day 3

Went to the NC aquarium and checked in on all our fishy friends.

Day 4

Embarked on Captain Johnny's dolphin tour. 5/5 There were many finned friends.

Day 5

Told my grandparents the Secret and gave them their CDs.

Day 6

Took it easy and started packing up to leave tomorrow morning. Ate as many snacks as we could before having to throw anything away lol.

Day 7

On our drive back home Wify and I got to visit the USS-Wisconsin (BB-64). I had been once before when I was little. Something I can't get over is the scale... The ship is 887' long. That's almost 3 football fields long! The shells fired out of the main 16" guns weigh 2000lb and take 600lb of powder to fire!

A must see if traveling in or near Norfolk VA. 5/5

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Back Home

Overall this trip was much needed and very relaxing for all of us. I'm really glad the weather ended up being relatively fine the rest of the time we where there after day 1. It's always a good to get away for a while. It's good to be back as well. END LOG.