Reprieve!

I could have very well been writing an obit here! Devastated at having lost one of the most precious things in my life right now. And that, solely due to my own stupidity! It's terrible when you do something dumb and the consequence truly hurts! There's that thick dark cloud of 'What if?'s hanging over your head like a bunch of persistent stinging mosquitoes. And of course you know the answer to the only one that matters. What if I had not been so **cking stupid?!!

Went out in what was probably the last small boat outing this trip. And took my cam along. Shouldn't have, I know, but I did. Should have heeded the sign from above when I'd tried this the last time and the whole trip was aborted :|. But no, I had to go do it all over again, right down to shoving the cam in the pocket under my life jacket. Only, that put it right under the CO2 cylinder in the jacket, the pressure denting the camera's metal jacket enough to make the lens cover jam. Meaning? I couldn't do anything that required the lens /:). I tell you, the trip back to the ship was the longest ever :((. Even the other chaps were looking sombre...

the regular bunch these days: Vic, Javier, Skippy

I did get a few clicks earlier in the boat, and there's Skip in all his glory at the helm :). Anyway, once back onboard, I couldn't just let it be. So I found a screw-driver and got to work. It's actually pretty simple to open up a digicam. Eight tiny cross-headed screws, a bit of gingerly prying and pushing, and the casing's off to reveal all the secrets of capturing the moment forever. Not like I wasn't shitting myself all the while, but I managed to put it all back together eventually. Including the wispy 4-pin laminated bus-type thing that looked really really fragile, and significant :-S. Okay, so it worked, and while things are not exactly as smooth as they had been or should be, I can take pictures with it again!!! Almost missed lunch in the bargain. Even if I had, it would have been a very very small price :).

What if this had been the last sunset/sunrise pic I'd ever take with my little blue L1?!!! Upsetting beyond words. Not like I wasn't planning to retire it after another few hundred clicks or so anyway... the 3x optical is a bit on the short side. But not to be able to take the occasional blazing sunset from my window in Kolkata... that would have been truly unfortunate.

Feeling: extremely relieved!!
Listening to: The Waifs - Sunflower man