INto the Couv

Oh what a week!
Quick Recap: I finally got the truck threw DEQ and have the weekly laundry going too. Last Saturday I overloaded the electrical for my apartment and lost power to the looving room and kitchen. The electrical here is a nightmare, but nothing was lost other then food. But I'm spending the afternoon setting up the computer and tv again in the livingroom. I just have to careful of the microwave and heater I think?

Anyway, I've been following the local craiglist pretty religiously looking for canon lenes these days. I really want to upgrade my 70-200, but unless a used one comes up locally I'll be waiting till after xmass before I do buy the uber 70-200 2.8 is that I've been lusting after for years. But while following the local craiglist I've seen couple of deals come and go on several other cameras as well. One I called about a couple of weeks ago but had reservations. I don't really need it, but it kept coming back up and the guy talked about folks flaking on it. I did some investigating on it, and the actual camera body is a slight odity and I can understand folks not really wanting it. Anyway, on Friday he relisted it at a price I just couldn't say no to, especially with my bday tomorrow it would make the perfect gift to, well me! Anyway I gave him a call this afternoon expecting it to be gone and low and behold he still had it for sale so I asked if I could come and take a look at it. No problem,he'd be at home all day. He gave me directions to of all places, Vancouver Washington East Vancouver to be exact). AKA- Vantucky and/or The Couv. Honestly I think it's been years since I even took that bridge to nowhere. I hate say, I had some reservations and the thought of this camera being stolen came to mind. But the guy has had listed for literally a month, if it had been stolen, he would have been easy to catch. So it was off to the Couv.

The drive was rather easy, but ya know, once you're across the river the world seems to change. It's not liking when you go from the "City" to the "Suburbs" or to the "Country" type of change either. Vantucky is a real odity since it's a mixture of recent suburban sprawl, industry and farm land. The place reminds me of the Inland Empire back in California, jsut a lot colder and wetter. But the literally the same people you'd find down there you'd also find in Vancouver. So in the back of mind, I was hoping to run into someone like "Spock" who totally ruins my conception of who lives in a place like this. Anyway, the guy's house literally just a block away from local Fred Meyer so traffic really sucked right around his place. But I pull into block and their a guy, bigger then me with a RC off road monster truck racign that noisy ass thing up and down the block. I was tempted I hate to say to run the damn thing over mostly since he thought the thing owned the hood. I park and catch sight of the house, 5, count them, 5 vehicles in the driveway of 70's ear track ranch house. Ugh, I am in the IE, or the worse I'm in Victorville! The frotn door is open and their is a nasty ass coy pond in front with two cats stalking what's left of the poor fish. Did I mention that the front door was wide open and it's December 6th? It's actually a warm sunny December 6th btw.

ANyway I can hear kids, lots and lots of kids so when I knock on the door, there suddenly 4 kids and two women. I quickl ask that I was looking for Greg and was here to look a camera. Oh, "Greg just left torun an errand, let me give him a call". Great, fucking great! So she's on the phone and these 4 kids are now out in the front yard and playing and talking to me as if well, they've kown me all of thier lives. Holy shit, these kids are starved for attention. The oldest girl (age maybe 8 I would guess) keeps telling me her current life and how she likes to pick on her youngest sister. I hate to say it, but I am this point reminded of why I have taken the steps I have not to have had any kids in my own life. These kids were not bad or anything like that. But they honeslty craved attention and honeslty they should not be trying to get it fro a nearly 40 year stange male. I'm not sure how to say this, but if I didn't know me, I wouldn't leave kids with me. Anyway, about every 5 minutes one of the two women pops their head out to let me know Greg is on their way and to ask if I might want to buy a cat or a puppy. "Sorry, my apartment it small and I think my land lord would flip if I brought home a puppy". Oh that sounds about right, plus these fucking Pitbulls to boot.

If thei ris one breed of dogs I am exceedling wary of, it is Pitbulls. Now I've met some great Pitbulls in my life, but as whole, these is one seriously fucked up breed of dogs that humans have fucked up even more. It seems their have a small puppy breading farm out back. They get $200-$500 for each puppy. Honstly I want to run at this point. I am now inthe trashiest place I have been in quite a while which is odd, poor white people honestly scare me. I've honestly never felt scared in poor black or latino nighborhoods in my life. But poor white people put me edge. So while i'm waiting one of the women comes back out and now I get her life story. It seems they just loss their house and had to move in whith her sister. Honestly this makes a shit load of sense since the market has dropped out on real estate and all that. From what I get, this family was probobly the prime target of all that shit and they were able to bail from it finally last month. She hasn't worked in a bit, but her husband is still working at least. Their trying to unload all their excess stuff since it won't remotly fit the shared house nor do they want to keep paying for the storage unit.

About this time, dad comes home and god this guy is big. Not in a mean white trash way, just rounder then me and definitly not int he best of shape. He looks stressed out to boot. I'm actually feeling for him. He goes into one of the bedrooms (which loooks filled with crap) and emerges about 5 minutes later with the camera. It looks better in person then did in pictures. It works fine and I pay the man. Their is alook of relief. I suspect he's been dealing with flakes for weeks concerning getting rid of this camera.

Anyway, either I just bought stolen camera or I got a great deal on a camera no one wants!
Eitherway I have a Mamiya 645 medium format camera. Now to think of what the shit I can shoot with it?