Surprisingly enough, you are not the only person to whom I’ve related my tales of woe. Certain select people have also heard it, as well as just about anyone who asks. As frustrating & laughable as my situation has been lately, I’ve been equally happified by how some people have responded.
A couple weeks ago, my boss came into work with a camera bag & told me it contained my “newest expensive hobby.” That’s fuh sho! Inside the case was a Mamiya 127mm lens with a Polaroid back… geek speak for an awesome camera that I have lusted after before. This camera is the wonderful antithesis to my poor, jailed digital SLR. Every shot costs about a buck, it does nothing for you whatsoever… no light meter, one of those silly parallax focus systems, etc… but after 60 seconds of developing (& the 300 seconds it took you to set up & focus the shot) you have an actual, physical picture in your hand. It has showed me a lot already about how I take pictures, and has reaffirmed my film camera skills. It’s a great feeling to get all the settings right by intuition & experience rather than an idiot-proof couple of buttons & dials.
When I related the same sob story to the woman who owns the building where I work, I was surprised 20 minutes later by her husband leaving a sewing machine with me. Apparently it’s an “extra” that he has no use for anymore (did one of the kids in his sweatshop die?) which will make a handy backup for me.
I know it isn’t just a NY thing when things you need find their way to you by chance, but it seems more… something here. I guess it’s something about having a bigger network or knowing more people who have had equally as many diverse interests/desperate means of making rent throughout the years. And believe me, I’m not trying to pull some tough-as-steel-New-Yorkers-come-through-with-hearts-of-gold crap, I’m just psyched that people actually listen to sob stories anymore. We hear them so often I figured we just classified them as matters of the heart/financial/success & used the appropriate stock answers for the remainder of the story. Maybe I should shut up & stop giving away my secrets.