Desmond Tutu

The first opportunity I had to use my new camera was at a reception featuring a short "inspirational speech" by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was a reception put on by the American Program Bureau and my coworkers (those who arrange for speakers at our seminars & meetings) were invited. Luckily my boss was out of town so there was room for me to go! The reception was very nice and Desmond Tutu's speech was quite enjoyable. There's actually information about the speech and a link to it here. However, so far I'm a little disappointed in my camera as the pictures of Mr. Tutu (below) did not come out too clearly. Then again, the room was dark and poorly lit and we were near the back so maybe it's not my camera.

Now I REALLY need a new camera

What are the chances that one of the few days I find myself without a camera happens to be the day I see ten celebrities up super f'in close?

My friend Vince & I went to the Kennedy Center today to see a free performance on their Millennium Stage. They let you come in for free and watch a performance every single night of the year at 6pm. Pretty sweet deal. So the band tonight was something called Previously on Lost, which prides itself on solely providing song recaps of episodes of Lost. It was amusing although difficult to understand what they were even singing. Well, about 30 minutes in, we decided to walk around the Kennedy Center a little since neither of us had ever been there before. There was like a little red carpet set up with a bunch of photographers and velvet ropes. On the far side of the carpet were clearly fans, waiting for celebrities. Well, never one to pass on an opportunity to watch for celebrities, I convinced Vince to stand with the fans and wait for celebrities. I had no idea who to expect but we found out there was a Tribute to George Carlin show scheduled for 8pm so I figured there must be famous people attending that. Turns out all the scheduled performers hit the red carpet before the show. So, we saw: Lewis Black, Richard Belzer, Bill Maher, Joan Rivers, Garry Shandling, Denis Leary, Lily Tomlin, and Jon Stewart! I was SO excited, you have no idea. Some of the celebs walked over and talked to the fans! Bill Maher was ALMOST right next to me! Denis Leary WAS right next to me. Joan Rivers SHOOK my hand!!!!! I think it's good that Jon Stewart didn't get much closer than about ten people away or I would have probably fainted. I've had a crush on him since college. It was all very very exciting but did I have my camera in my bag ready to pull out to show you all the great pictures of the evening? No, because it's broken. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Actually, I did take a couple of pictures on my camera phone but that sucks ass so I doubt they'll be worth posting. And Vince took some pics on his camera phone, but again, not the best quality. I need a new camera pronto.

I need a new camera

I was going to walk over to the Lincoln Memorial and see the Obama message wall today - and take pictures, of course - but when I grabbed my camera, I saw that it wasn't working. I messed around with it for awhile but something's wrong and I can't seem to fix it. It lets me take pictures but they all show up as black (or black with purple streaks when I put it right into the light). It's not the screen that's the problem, though, because pictures already on my CompactFlash card show up just fine on the screen. I just can't take new pictures. Bummer. But I've had that camera for a few years (four, I think) and I have dropped it a few times so I guess it's not shocking that there's something wrong with it. Ironically, I had been thinking that I would like to get a new one that's smaller and maybe more powerful so I guess now I have a good excuse to go ahead and do it. Plus, I have birthday money that was recently given to me (thanks family! and yes, better late than never).

Lost Returns January 21st!

Start the countdown for Season 5... I'm so psyched. Lost will be back on January 21st with a three-hour event and will have a Wednesday at 9pm timeslot. Hmm, I wonder what that means for Private Practice... not that I'll miss it. I'm kind of annoyed that I watch that show regularly anyway.

To prepare for the new season, a friend of mine & I are going on Monday to see Previously on Lost, a band that writes and performs songs that are recaps of Lost episodes. I'm picturing something like the Barenaked Ladies do Lost, which sounds super entertaining.