This is one in a series of images I took in 2004 and 2005 with a couple of toy cameras I have. Some images are local, and some are from a vacation taken to the Northwest.

Both cameras use medium format film, which is expensive to get index prints of, because an “index” print is essentially separate 4X4 pictures, rather than the usual contact sheet with lots of little thumbnails. Anyway, I have several rolls of these negatives lying around, and after reading about someone else’s method of digitizing them, I decided to give it a try.

Basically, you hold the negative up to a good light and take a photo of the negative with a digital camera, then fiddle around with the image in photoshop. These are the ones that turned out fairly well. I even left them in their plastic sleeves, and while that added some texture, I still got a pretty good idea of what each picture would look like if I were to pay to have it developed for real.

Click on the image above to see the others.

“a. slang (chiefly U.S.). [A humorous formation, the origin of which is lost: the first part of the word was perhaps suggested by catamount, or ? by words in Gr.]

Fierce, unsparing, destructive. Also, askew, awry. (A high-sounding word with no very definite meaning.)

Hence catawampus n., a bogy, a fierce imaginary animal; catawampously, catawamptiously adv., ‘fiercely, eagerly. To be catawamptiously chawed up is to be completely demolished, utterly defeated’ (Bartlett Dict. Amer.).”

This fellow is not fierce. He is, however, askew, awry, and eager. Very friendly. Has had far too much coffee, and is singeing his whiskers with that fire stick. Also, he’s a little oily, rather mangy, and some jerk spilled wax on him. It is a sad state. Still, there he is, ready to bring warmth, loyal to the end. And always willing to share a gold-flecked Americano with anyone who may care to join him.

Quinoa is one of my staple foods..I can’t say enough good things about it.

After 2 years, I have the preparation nearly down to an art, so I decided to draw a little comic about it.

Except, in typical Nomi fashion, I left out one step. Which is that when you put the bowl of quiona into the steamer, it should have, oh, just the tiniest bit of water to soak up in the steam–not even enough to really break the surface. That’s it. Kind of like cooking rice, only better for you.

If you’re not familiar with Quinoa, check out the wikipedia article on it. It’s a super food! A complete protein, full of iron, amino acids + fiber. Even Noah loves it! It rocks!

Every year, Noah gets one big present, which I refer to as “The Crux of Christmas”. This year I got him the Lego Star Wars AT-AT, a motorized walking version of the machines seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Noah’s had his eye on this set since he was about 3 and a half, when my ArtyPapers friend bought it and put it together. It is VERY cool. Click below to see more fun lego construction.

Here he is with the usual lego piece salvage yard I build for him, as his Piece Finding and Organizing Assistant. A noble job, really. This set is so large (1100 pieces–most of them very tiny) we had to get tupperware containers so we can put everything away at night and keep them safe from Louie The Terrible, who would love nothing more than to bat all the pieces under the couch and refrigerator.

An engine piece that I thought was neat:

until today, I had no idea these existed:

but, apparently they do, even though I must admit, it seems kind of..urban legend-ish.

metal whiskers: the silent killer.

are you at risk??