Squeeze It To Please It

One of my photos from Doors Open 2010 has an interesting story behind its conception, which started shortly after I took this photo at the Ontario Heritage Centre.



Take note of the “bass clef,” which is really an “S” or, if you will, two joined clefs. My idea was to take a photo where you’d be looking through the top curls of the clefs, resulting in quite a visual effect. However, due to the tight space between the railings, obtaining this shot would not be a cakewalk. I decided that I would at least rise to this challenge – even if it meant wasting time, effort, photos and battery power.

I began by removing the flash from my D60 and sliding the camera in its landscape orientation between the railings, holding it at its bottom-left corner with my left hand in order to stabilize it. For additional support, I held its right side with my right hand and put its uncovered hot shoe’s guides against the bottom of the top railing. Next, I attempted to optimally position the camera using my hands and my naked eye. I even tried to squeeze my head between the railings in order to improve this positioning by looking through the viewfinder. Unfortunately, this was a futile denial of an indisputable fact: my difficulty would be compounded by my camera’s lack of a live view function.

I took many photographs and used their results to assist me in achieving optimal composition, focus, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. At one point, I even switched to portrait orientation and restarted my process. After about fifty to sixty failed attempts, I finally came as close to my initial idea as I thought possible.



Considering the many hoops I jumped through, I think this is a pretty good photograph. (I took a similar picture in landscape orientation, but I eventually deleted it.)

A brief word about this photo’s shutter speed is in order. Without my tripod, I don’t usually use speeds slower than 1/60 (i.e. 1/60th of a second), although I’ve taken a few good photos at 1/40. You’d probably think that using slower speeds would automatically lead to unusable photos. However, thanks to the railings and my stabilizing setup, 1/15 ended up being just the speed that I needed to complete this task.

Kitty's Revenge

Ever since buying my first prime lens (Nifty), my kit zoom lens (Kitty) has been relegated to the sidelines. There’s something to be said for zooming with your feet; it’s a valuable learning experience. However, as I mentally planned yesterday’s fireworks shoot, it occurred to me that using my primes would have been restrictive. Two factors would have prevented easy movement: being surrounded by other people and using my tripod (Legs), which is not as easy to swivel as my head. Also, considering the fact that my tripod allows for long exposures, the need for the widest apertures of fast prime lenses is lessened significantly.

Mind you, I did use my 35mm prime (Jane) to take photographs before the fireworks started. However, after setting up my tripod, I did what I haven’t done in a long time: I put my 18-55mm zoom lens on my D60 (Nicky). In retrospect, perhaps using Jane would not have been a bad idea, but in light of the aforementioned factors, Kitty’s flexibility was priceless last night. Also priceless was my wireless remote (Millie), which allowed me to avoid camera shake as a result of pressing the shutter button. It, along with Legs, also increased my photographer cred exponentially. :-)

If you haven’t noticed yet, I don’t have an astronomical amount of camera gear. I own one point-and-shoot, one DSLR body, three lenses (one zoom and two primes), one speedlight, two flash diffusers, one tripod and one wireless remote. Up to this point, my gear has served me well, regardless of how often it’s been used.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s not about having the most tools – just the right ones.

Doctor My Eyes

Obviously, my visual health is very important to my photographic aspirations. Since I don’t have a family doctor at the moment, perhaps I shouldn’t be the one to write about the importance of regular check-ups. Nonetheless, I need to tell this story.

A few weeks ago, I had an eye exam with my optometrist; for the most part, it went as it normally does. However, she expressed a bit of concern with the results of my vision field test. (For this test, you stare straight ahead at a light and push a button when you see other lights blink.) Instead of sweeping this relatively minor issue (so I thought) under the rug, she took a cautious approach and scheduled an appointment for me to see an opthamologist. That appointment happened this morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in downtown Toronto.

After a few tests, including one more vision field test, the opthamologist gave me news which I wasn’t expecting: “You’re a glaucoma suspect.” This in itself does not mean that I have glaucoma, but the tests which were done this morning weren’t enough for him to properly diagnose me. He instructed me to see my optometrist in two months, then see him again in six months.

Glaucoma or otherwise, I’m glad that this issue was detected before it could rob me of one of my greatest pleasures and, perhaps, a lot of other ones...

Introvert Advantage?

Another good prop [to facilitate socializing] is a camera. Very often it’s the people who are snapping pictures at social gatherings who feel the most awkward.
-Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D., The Introvert Advantage; bracketed words are mine

The situation was already awkward when I arrived at Freedom Clothing Collective to photograph their sixth anniversary party. Not only was I the first guest, but I couldn’t properly engage the staff who were already present. Despite cracking one joke pertaining to a “black mannequin,” I seemed to have left my social skills at home.

When the first set of guests came in, this state of affairs changed from bad to worse; I became keenly aware of being alone in an expanding sea of strangers. This self-consciousness was similar to what struck me when I was at the Queen West Lululemon earlier this year, but this time around, it was debilitating. Instead of acting out, I froze and sulked at the implicit rejection of cliquesters who were too haute-blooded to reach out to people beyond their collective noses. I was also crippled by the possibility of explicit rejection resulting from introducing myself or taking photographs, since these actions would have made me stand out. It seemed as if my only option was to disappear by doing nothing; in any case, disappearing would have been better than putting up with reminders of my inability to fit in…once again.

My perception of this situation was so bad, in fact, that I considered erasing the few photos I did take, packing up my camera gear and returning home. I even turned off my camera a few times and replaced the lens cap in hopes of suddenly finding the courage to make an exit. If it wasn’t for Freedom curator Marsya Maharani asking me to take a photo, this escape would have become a reality instead of remaining a wish.

Shortly after taking this photo (which, ironically, was taken close to the store’s exit), I decided that I’d had enough of self-pity caused by my distorted discernment of a relatively minor situation. The comeback process was by no means instant nor easy, but it started with me making my way to the front of the audience and photographing Chère Françoise’s concert. By the time Abigail Lapell finished her set, I was back where I mentally needed to be.

A set of fourteen photos is by no means a record haul (although I don’t judge a shoot’s success by quantity anymore), but it’s better than leaving with nothing.

Bits And Pieces

Apart from my Flickr set posts, it’s been slow here at He Shoots… It’s not for a lack of trying; I’ve had a few ideas which ultimately weren’t worth posting full blog entries. However, in order to prove that the rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated, here are a few bits and pieces of what’s been happening with me.

• Before the Protest Against Protests, someone recognized me and even called me by my Internet handle. I don’t recall seeing him at a previous shoot, though he may have seen me.



• Record Store Day at Sonic Boom was the first event where Nifty (50mm lens) and Jane (35mm lens) really worked as a tag team. The resulting set would have been shortchanged if I had used only one of those lenses. Having said that, remembering to bring earplugs would have improved my overall experience. Ergo, I’ve packed one pair in my camera bag for similar situations in the future.



• At that same shoot, my regular camera battery almost ran out of juice; before it died, I replaced it with my spare battery. Without it, I would have missed shots like this one (shot with Nifty):
  
  
  Andrew Scott of Sloan



• I recently contemplated a smartphone purchase (i.e. BlackBerry or iPhone) due to my highly active Twitter account. However, this would not have been wise due to my current lack of steady income; my monthly expenses would have increased by at least $56.50. Also, buying the phone outright would have cost me at least $549.99! I could probably purchase more camera gear with that money.



• Speaking of my Twitter account, there’s a reason I haven’t been posting too many individual pictures here. I’m now likely to post them to my Yfrog account, especially if I shot them with my point-and-shoot camera. Heck, I didn’t even post the last few that I shot with Nicky, but you can find them at that same Yfrog page. You can also find older shots at my TwitPic account.

It's Paid For

Earlier this morning, I logged into my online bank account and did something I didn’t think would be done so relatively quickly. That’s right, I eliminated my camera-related debt.

When I last took stock of my camera-related purchases, the total cost was $1,285.35 including taxes. I’ve since bought a few more items which I’ve listed below. All purchases were made at Downtown Camera; prices exclude taxes.

• Nikon EN-EL9 battery: $79.99
• Lambency flash diffuser: $39.99 (discounted to $27.99)
• Manfrotto Tripod Kit – 190XBD legs + 804RC2 3-way head: $199.99
• Tripod bag: $24.99
• Sto-Fen flash diffuser: $31.99 (discounted to $28.79)
• Nikon 35mm f1.8G DX lens: $275.00
• Hoya 52mm UV filter: $19.99 (discounted to $17.99)
• SanDisk Ultra 4GB memory card: $29.99

With taxes, these purchases total $773.74. Combined with the earlier total of $1,285.35, the total amount of money I’ve spent on camera gear is a whopping $2,059.09!

Thankfully, as of this morning, it’s all paid for. I feel no need to purchase additional gear; what I have right now satisfies my current needs.

Money, Shot

I had the pleasure of photographing social media personality Crystal Gibson’s birthday party yesterday evening. It’s not easy to balance photography with eating and socializing, but it’s also not impossible. At one point, the guests started assembling for a group shot; under normal circumstances, this would be cause for excitement. However, due to my autofocus-disabled Nifty Fifty lens and an unfavourable lighting situation, my chances of shooting a good shot were slim.

Picture the situation: me, my camera gear and eleven people – including the birthday girl herself – expecting me to take the shot of my life. Since I was shooting in manual mode (as I usually do), getting the settings right was an absolute must.

After muttering what must have been the shortest prayer of my life thus far, I photographed my first attempt. The resulting shot was too dark and probably unfocused; when I let the guests know that, a few of them weren’t too pleased. Still, they were gracious enough to give me a second attempt, which was also darker than I would have liked. Fortunately, it was focused enough that TK would live to see another day; the guests also liked it.

Naturally, I still had to address the lighting situation in my outdated copy of Photoshop Elements 4.0 in order to produce this final result.



If I could do it all over again, I would have used my other lens. Then again, this little victory would not have been as sweet as it is.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

You may already know that I’m not a networker by nature. In fact, some situations make me want to curl up in a ball and die on the spot. For better or for worse, starting this blog has forced me to address this problem at photo shoots and other events.

Earlier this afternoon, I got another chance to network and connect with strangers and a few people I had previously met. I was invited to BNI Bay Street’s Visitors Day, where members invite guests to sit in on one of their weekly meetings. However, I didn’t just sit idly while business was conducted. In addition to bringing an unused box of Moo cards for potential connections, I prepared a thirty-second infomercial outlining my “business.” At its end, I planned to use the byline on the cards as the memory hook: “One man + two cameras = way too many photos.” Unsurprisingly, this is not what I did when my turn came up. While other guests were doing their infomercials, I started thinking of a more memorable ending line.

Sometime yesterday evening, I tweeted about how my previous entry was named after a song lyric (as opposed to a title). At about that time, Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” popped up in my mind as a title I could have used. Still, I left the entry as it was and went to sleep a bit later.

As my turn to speak came closer this afternoon, I determined that a variation of Ms. Benatar’s song title would be my memory hook. How could I spin it to fit my business, though?

“My name is Tsar Kasim* and I’ll hit you with your best shot.”

When there are two other photographers in the same room, you either come out swinging or go home.

*I said my real name, but I’m not going to reveal it here. :-)

You Only Get One Shot

As I’ve previously said, I enjoy shooting in manual mode. The satisfaction of shooting photographs without a safety net is indispensable. Having said that, certain situations require me to be more precise in adjusting my camera’s settings. Shooting strangers is a good example; they may not have the patience to pose multiple times while I tweak these settings to optimal values.

Consider Saturday night’s shoot at PFL 39. After the fights were over, I asked a few of the fighters to pose for photographs. I got a few good photos, but only after unfocused first attempts. In that regard, I must thank PFL Commissioner Stacey Case, Shady Godiva, Bobbi Pinn and TV Starr for their patience and understanding as I adjusted my focus for their second shots. I must also thank them (along with Dinah Mite) for letting me photograph them in the first place.

Furthermore, in the case of Case and Pinn, I forgot to turn on my flash for my first attempt at capturing them. On my second try, I got the shot I wanted, but it was a little bit dark when I reviewed it at home. Ergo, I tweaked the lighting a little bit in Photoshop Elements and ended up with this final product.



Overall, this was a challenging but ridiculously fun shoot. I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot another Pillow Fight League event, if only to photograph fighters I didn’t see on Saturday (like Olivia Neutron-Bomb).

The Lines You Amend

Depending on the type of event I’m shooting, I’ll either move around for the sake of variety or stay in one place for the sake of courtesy. With a few exceptions, courtesy was my primary concern at yesterday’s Canada Reads event in the Toronto Reference Library’s Appel Salon. As a result, I didn’t move around too much; unfortunately, this approach can result in a monotonous set of photos.

I usually shoot photographs as close to a horizontal or vertical orientation as I can, especially when straight lines are involved. In other words, given the circumstances, I usually take photos like the one below. The lines aren’t perfectly straight, but that's not a big deal in this case.



As I said before, an album of similar photos would have been mundane, even with different people sitting in the chair. Fortunately, while Roland Pemberton (a.k.a. Cadence Weapon) was being interviewed by host Mary Ito, I got the notion to play with orientations. As a result, I started taking photos like this one.



In this example, thanks to my placement of Shakura S’Aida (the main subject), the lines lead your eyes directly to her body. Mind you, this would have been true if the lines were straight, but these slanted lines are more likely to grab your attention and “coerce” your vision. If I took this picture in a similar fashion to the previous one, it wouldn’t have been as interesting.

I enjoyed using this technique throughout the photo shoot, as you can see below in this photo of Mary Wiens.



Still moving onward and upward, learning as I go...

I Go Blind

Yesterday evening’s shoot at Freedom Clothing Collective was, for the most part, business as usual. Despite my sudden loss of social skills (perhaps resulting from this entry), I managed to shoot some pretty good photographs. There was one moment, however, where I literally couldn’t shoot anything.

I’m in pretty good health overall; thankfully, this includes my eyes. However, they sometimes become very itchy and irritated to the point where I can’t keep them open for a few seconds. Worse, since I don’t know when to expect these sudden itch attacks, I can’t really prepare for them. These attacks are relatively infrequent, but their occurrences are unpleasant and potentially dangerous. I don’t have a driving license yet, but if one of these attacks happens while I’m driving, it could turn into a life-threatening situation.

That didn’t happen last night, but the experience was nonetheless agonizing. I was taking pictures of Mason Bach during Airheart’s performance when the eye irritation suddenly started. For about thirty seconds, my next shot was not the most important thing; I wanted this episode to end. When it did, I saw that the irritation caused my eyes to turn red. Thankfully, this was the last attack I dealt with for the night.

The resulting set of photos didn’t take a hit. Having said that, if I ever have the opportunity to photograph the shot of my life, I hope it’s not ruined by eye irritation.

It's Getting Hot In Here

Every photo shoot comes with its set of challenges. I encounter some of them every time, like adjusting my camera’s settings to achieve optimal exposures. There are others, however, that are unique to a few shoots. For example, consider Monday’s night’s opening event for Fireside Culture Week. In addition to the problems I experienced with my rangefinder, Lady Luck Productions presented me with challenges of a different kind.

Consider the following photos.





Given the sexy outfits and dance moves, it was tempting for me to let my imagination and hormones run wild. This not only could have led to photographic indiscretions, but personal ones as well. On the former front, despite my desire to accurately reflect the happenings of any given event, I don’t want my photos to be mistaken for any kind of pornography.

Having said that, for transparency’s sake, I’ll display what I think is the raciest photo of this shoot.



On the latter front, my purpose in covering events is shooting ‘em up, not picking ‘em up. In layman’s terms, at the end of any given photo shoot, I only want to bring my camera gear home with me. No matter how beautiful my subjects are, I can’t afford to give up professional integrity for the sake of pursuing sexual conquests. My Christian faith and desire to be a virgin until marriage play significant roles in this endeavour.

Even if they didn’t, think about what could happen if I put the moves on someone right after gaining their trust while photographing them. Being a lothario probably doesn’t do wonders for repeat business.

Caught By The Fuzz

As I’ve previously said, my 50mm lens doesn’t autofocus on my D60. This isn’t usually a stumbling block; even when my subjects are constantly moving, I manage to take a good number of decent shots.

Yesterday evening’s shoot at Fireside Culture Week’s opening night presented me with a different kind of challenge. Even though Lady Luck Productions’ performance involved moving subjects, it wasn’t nearly as tough to shoot as the concert by Najjah’s World. A few factors contributed to this predicament – namely, the dim lighting and Najjah’s movements. There was also one other factor at play, but I won’t explicitly mention it because some people may misinterpret what I’m saying.

The aforementioned factors led to my rangefinder being inaccurate, particularly when I was photographing Najjah himself. As a result, when I thought that my picture was in focus due to seeing the rangefinder’s dot, it actually wasn’t. I ended up taking quite a few fuzzy pictures, so I resorted to focusing through the viewfinder itself. I also used the backup singer, Ammoye, as a point of reference for my rangefinder.

Despite these challenges, I was able to get a few good shots of the concert using my newfound techniques – like this one.



This photo’s f-stop is 3.2, which is on the wide end of the aperture spectrum. With low f-stop values, my focusing needs to be particularly precise. Mind you, I can work around this fact by raising my f-stop to a value which forgives inaccurate focusing.

Then again, the resulting reduction of light passing through the lens is another challenge to resolve...

Pump Up The Giambrone

I took photos at Adam Giambrone’s launch party for his Toronto mayoral campaign last week. I wanted to get a shot of him standing with his partner, Sarah McQuarrie, but I wasn’t able to do so. However, I did photograph them together at the end of Adam’s speech; here are two examples below.





As everyone in Toronto (and maybe beyond) knows by now, Mr. Giambrone thought that big pimpin’ was the better way. However, this entry’s focus isn’t the scandal per se, but its effect on my photos, particularly the above two.

Exhibit A: my Flickr stats immediately after the scandal broke. Trust me, these numbers were nowhere near what they were on February 9th and 10th.


Stats from February 9th.


Stats from February 10th.

Exhibit B: as of the scandal, these photos have currently been featured in eight articles at sites like The Globe and Mail, True/Slant and Spacing. They could end up in even more places before Toronto’s mayoral race is over.

See what happens when you accurately tag your photos (and use the right Creative Commons license)? Let this serve as more proof that there is more to the presentation of your photos than merely editing and uploading them.

The Fantastic Manual

I have a friend at my church who is an amateur photographer, like I am. A few months ago, he started reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. While we were talking one day, he suggested that I start shooting in manual mode in order to improve my understanding of exposure; he got this tip from Bryan’s book. When I first heard this suggestion, I thought that it was a bit misguided. Surely I could take good photos by shooting in program auto (P), shutter speed (S) or aperture mode (A), right?

Yes, I can – but I’m starting to think that I can take better photos when I turn my camera’s dial to “M.” In P mode, the camera controls both the shutter speed and aperture, though I’m still able to generate different combinations. In S or A mode, I control the corresponding setting, but the camera controls the other one. Relinquishing control to the camera can work either for or against you, especially if the composition of a potential photo is constantly changing. In M mode, I can have more control of my photographs and feel a greater sense of accomplishment when I’m done.

Case in point: at the WinterCity shoots on the weekend, I was planning to shoot in aperture or shutter speed mode. My thinking was that either option would have been easier on my fingers in light of the cold weather, even though I had my new gloves on. If I shot in manual mode, it would have been necessary to simultaneously scroll the command wheel and press a button in order to change the aperture setting. Nonetheless, after finding out that my new glove setup worked very well, M mode was the only way to go.

Mind you, since my DSLR’s rangefinder doesn’t work in manual mode, shooting becomes a bit more difficult, especially with moving subjects. The only way I know I’m in focus is the appearance of a dot in the bottom-left corner of my viewfinder. Having said that, I’ve gone manual for my last few shoots and this has proven to be a minor obstacle.

Chalk up another milestone on my quest to take better photographs. Thanks for the tip, Brian (and Bryan).

More Is Less

Last year, I posted photo albums which contained a lot of photos. Jully Black’s Cavalcade Of Lights concert instantly springs to mind; I kept 102 photos from that set (out of 300-something). In retrospect, that number was too high, but uploading that many photos seemed like a good idea at the time.

Recently, however, my mentality has changed. Starting with the WinterCity shoots, my strategy has been to shoot as many good photographs as possible without uploading all of them. What this means is that I’m now more judicious in editing and deleting photos than I was last year. For example, I took almost 100 photos at yesterday night’s campaign launch for Adam Giambrone, but I only uploaded 26 of them. It shouldn’t take one hour (or even thirty minutes) to go through one of my Flickr photo albums, unless the corresponding event has a large scope like Nuit Blanche.

The days of hundred-photo uploads are over. I look forward to measuring my turnaround time in minutes, not hours.

Picky Strategy

Even though I planned to shoot one event at WinterCity yesterday evening, I ended up photographing two of them, along with a few “practice” shots. In reality, there were a few events I could have photographed, ranging from the skating party to the performances of the Flaming Lotus Girls. However, I deliberately decided to concentrate on two of these events as opposed to spreading myself thin for the sake of quantity.

One of my reasons for doing this was the cold weather. Mind you, I had a new pair of gloves; along with my good old Hot Paws, they helped me keep my hands warm and shoot dexterously. Even with those facts, the chill can still get to you when you’re not at one of the warming stations. My other reason for this strategy was the desire for optimal positioning. As I found out the hard way at Faber Drive’s Cavalcade Of Lights concert, if you’re not in optimal proximity to the event, you might as well not take any photos. This ultimately depends on the lens you’re using, but don’t forget that my main lens is a 50mm prime. As a result, I’m forced to zoom with my feet.

The majority of people crowded around the events right before they began. If I followed this crowd, I might have photographed more events, but the resulting shots would have been from lackluster viewpoints. I instead found out where the shows were set up so that I could better position myself before they started, thus leaving the spectating to the spectators.

I don’t mind giving my cameras a break, but I prefer to make this decision before I leave home.

Indignation Vs. Privacy

Last year, I had an incident where a former photography teacher attempted to draw me into a debate about taking photographs without permission. Immediately after this event, I stopped taking pictures of people sleeping on public transit. Also, I’ve become much more careful about taking pictures at public events.

Needless to say, I find the recent brouhaha caused by this photo of a sleeping TTC worker very interesting. George Robitaille, the worker in the photo, obviously couldn’t ask that the photo not be taken. Regardless, he has become the lightning rod for transit users’ discontent with the TTC. In light of the recent fare hike and the bad disposition of some employees, this is not a surprise. However, it seems as if George’s right to privacy has taken a back seat to our right to use him as a whipping boy. None of the stories I’ve heard or seen about this photograph have even mentioned the privacy issue. The situation isn’t much better on the photo’s TwitPic page; only two users mentioned personal rights in their comments. Having said that, both of them made fair points.

In light of my aforementioned experience, I likely would not take a photo of a sleeping TTC worker if I saw one. Given how I handled my “debate” with the former photography teacher, I don’t think I’d be prepared for the ensuing privacy questions. Then again, since they’ve taken a backseat to customer indignation in George’s situation, I’d probably have nothing to worry about.

Increasing The Dot

As I said in my last post, I attended ING Direct’s Meet and Tweet last Thursday evening. Despite initially feeling overwhelmed due to being surrounded by strangers, disaster was definitely averted. Besides having a few new followers for my Twitter page, I also have a reconnection with a former high school classmate whom I had not seen in twelve years. Initially, I couldn’t understand his introduction, but when he pointed at his name tag, no more words were necessary.

I don’t expect this to happen at the next event I’ve signed up for, but it wouldn’t hurt. Dinnerworks is hosting a launch party at the Ultra Supper Club, where it will officially change its name to The Works. Given the environment and the type of people who will likely be in attendance, the stakes are higher for this gathering. In other words, I will either confidently break the ice with strangers or spend a few hours playing the wallflower.

As for my camera gear, it will once again stay home (apart from Old Faithful, but this is by no means guaranteed). Having said that, WinterCity is fast approaching; I’m already making plans to shoot a few of the events at Nathan Phillips Square. Seeing that this is a photoblog, I can’t talk about my socializing efforts forever…

Falling Slowly

Lately, it’s been slow here at He Shoots… I haven’t lost my will to take photographs; it’s just that there haven’t been too many events which I thought I could photograph. Worse, last year’s subway incident has made me even more hesitant in photographing events with strangers in attendance. However, weather permitting, I’m pretty sure that one of my next shoots will be the Bloor-Yorkville Ice Fest next month.

This doesn’t mean that I haven’t been out and about; au contraire, thanks to my Digital Cleanse, I’ve been seeking more opportunities to enjoy what Toronto has to offer. For example, I attended a Pillow Fight League event last week; I had a blast watching women fight each other while swinging pillows. Mind you, the intermission was a sad reminder of my inability to break into mutually exclusive clique circles, but it didn’t ruin my night by any means.

This Thursday evening, I’ll have another chance to have a fun night without any assistance from Nicky. I’ll be attending ING Direct’s Meet and Tweet at the Darkhorse Espresso Bar. I did some recon last week on the venue; it looks as if I’ll need to learn how to break the ice with strangers if I’m going to enjoy myself.