Time for a change

So, I bought this Jeep Wrangler last weekend.  I am really sick of paying rent to some conglomerate company who doesn’t give a shit about me.  I want to do the nomad life in Ottawa here and I want to go places.  Plus I want to pay off some debt and paying $1,300 a month for rent is just nuts.  Plus you have hydro and internet to pay as well.

I have my 2022 Apple iPad Pro which has cellular capabilities along with my Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.  I really want to start living the minimal lifestyle.  Just my cameras and my laptop and iPad.  

I’ll have to figure out where to park for the nights and if I’ll have to get hotel rooms for when it’s -40 degrees Celsius.  And of course where am I going to shower.  I’m figuring I’ll find a 24 hour gym with showers.  Actually go to the gym in the mornings before work.  Do a light work out and then shower.  

The next couple of months will be interesting for sure. I’ll be doing a lot more videos and posting them on my YouTube channel as well.

I actually have a day...

...to myself.  Girlfriend is gone out with friends so I have the day to myself where I can do what I want and where I want.  I just finished breakfast and I think it's time to go buy a new vehicle.  I've been wanting a Jeep Rubicon for about the past year.  I've been driving a 2015 Hyundai Elantra and I can't stand the car anymore.  I just need a bigger vehicle.  Since I'll be moving out west in early next year, you need a bigger vehicle out west.

I also bought a new laptop.  It's a Windows 10 based laptop.  I'll be using it a backup to my new 2018 iPad Pro whenever I buy that.  I still don't trust that an iPad can be total desktop replacement.  Apple laptops now are way too expensive for what they are.  You cannot even replace or upgrade any parts so bye bye Apple laptops.  I'll be selling my early 2013 Apple MacBook Pro and my late 2015 Apple iMac at some point this year.  Well, whenever I get my new Windows 10 laptop.  I plan on upgrading the hard drives and adding more RAM to the new laptop.

Time to go get a new vehicle.

Affinity Photo

If you know how to use Adobe Photoshop, you'll know how to use Affinity Photo.  I think I paid $60 for Affinity Photo several years ago so I don't have to pay a subscription fee every month to a company to rent their software.  Companies like Adobe and Microsoft charge subscription fees for their software which I find unfair to the user.  It's a complete ripoff.  If and when Seriff, the maker of Affinity Photo release a digital asset management software it'll take a lot of people away from Adobe.  At least photographers.  For video, I use Final Cut Pro so again, I don't have to pay a monthly subscription fee to Adobe.  It's a one time cost and Apple provides new features and makes the software more stable and faster with every release.

On a side note, my leg feels great.  No more pain.  Next Thursday, I have to go to Canadian Camera located in downtown Ottawa to get my Sony RX100 Mark V fixed.  The EVF won't pop up and the spring holding the SD card in its slot busted on me a few months back while I was doing night photography.  I hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get fixed.  I don't think it should cost that much to get fixed.  We shall see.  

It's a long weekend here for some of us with Sunday being Remembrance Day (Veterans Day) so I have to go get my car fixed on Monday.  The rear breaks are apparently metal on metal which is not good for the breaks.  I don't know how long they've been like that.  I don't think it's been long since the car breaks fine.

I haven't been able to do any photography in the past several weeks with us moving and now the car getting in the way.  We're supposed to get 2cm worth of snow tomorrow.  I'm hoping to get out this weekend with the girlfriend and the Jeep.

Just as I thought

The month of October came in like a lion on Shutterstock.  It has left like a bloodied sheep.  A lot of high quality sales in the first week of October on Shutterstock.  Now it's whimpering out like a half dead lamb with a few subscription sales here and there.  I honestly don't know what else I can do except for keep shooting.  I haven't heard my camera in my hands for a week or two since we're getting ready to move on Friday.  But I think starting this Saturday I'll be doing more photography.  We've started going to the gym so my focus for the next six months will be weight loss, photography and studying Seriff' Affinity Photo.

Honestly, I'm sick of doing the IT thing.  I've been doing it since 2001 and I think I've been been doing it for too long now.  I've lost my focus and I've lost any joy I've had doing it.  My interests and joy have shifted over to photography and film making.  I am saving up any and all photography money for a new point and shoot camera that I want to buy.  I want to get the Sony RX100 Mark IV in the new year or whenever I save up money for it.  I need to get my Sony RX100 Mark V fixed.  The EVF is broken and the latch holding in the battery is dislodged.  So I need to get that fixed.  There's a local store here in Ottawa that fixes cameras.  I've dealt with them in the past whenever I needed a camera fixed.  They're quick and inexpensive to fix camera equipment.  I'll get the camera fixed in mid November.  Shouldn't be more than $200-$300 to get it fixed.  At least I hope.

I also want to keep writing more on the blog here.  Hopefully it will catch on and get a following.  I know I will also have to get a Youtube channel going soon.  I have to get over the hate of being on camera.  I hope to look better by March 2019.  I need to lose about 50 pounds or so.  I need to exercise and eat better.  I can't be putting it off anymore.

Next April when I move to Calgary, Alberta, I want to trade in my 2015 Hyundai Elantra for a 2018/2019 Jeep Wrangler or a Rubicon.  Some sort of a four wheel drive Jeep that I can modify for weekend trips and holidays out west or down south so I don't have to sleep in hotel rooms.  I am expecting a real life change.  I am sick of doing the IT thing.  I cannot get ahead in this field.  Not in Ottawa anyways as I'm not bilingual.

Slowly but surely I'm gonna make some life changes soon.  We shall see where I end up.