it made this loud horrible clicking sound when i tried to power it up. i've had it for almost 3 years now and today it died. i've dropped that damn thing enough times already (never on purpose, i would never willfully hurt my digital camera), so it doesn't come as a complete shock that it's finally succumbed to years of accidental abuse. however, it's survived for this long, i was sure it was going to survive a little bit longer. secretly, i've been waiting for this day, because now i have a legitimate reason to buy a brand new digital camera, to upgrade my equipment. but now that this day has finally arrived, i very much regret it. this nikon 950 (i always refer to it as the nikon 950, i always thought the coolpix designation was a little silly) has served me faithfully for the past three years. through it lens i've captures so many memories. at times, it seemed we were almost inseparable, wherever i went, my digital camera would surely follow. true, my nikon 950 was like any other nikon 950, but i've grown attached to it, it has a certain sentimental value for me that can't easily be replaced. it'd been with me through the deserts of xinjiang, china, and through the city of istanbul. it got me in trouble in amsterdam when i tried taking a photo of a prostitution sign, and in xian it narrowly avoided getting stolen by chinese pickpockets. a lot of good times were shared between me and my nikon, and through it a lot of which has been documented, immortalized forever. it's sad, i was hoping this camera of mine would be able to come with me on one more adventure this year, but alas, the gods of digital photography had different plans. so today i bid farewell to my nikon 950, serial number 323053. it's been a pleasure knowing you.

so what now you ask? what's my next camera? funny, but to be quite honest, i want to get another nikon 950. true, there are plenty of other cameras out there with more features, but call me a creature of habit, call me somebody who doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles, call me someone who's discovered the best camera isn't always the newest or the biggest or fastest. i've seen all those new models and they still can't compare to the nikon 950. i'm not saying the nikon 950 is for everybody, but for me it is. i talked with my father, who also has a nikon 950, and he's letting me use his since he doesn't use it that often. so i'm not stressed out, i'm still packing (a digital camera that is). in the meantime, i'm in the market for another camera, something smaller but with a lot of manual features plus the ability to record video with audio. why don't i just get my dead nikon 950 fixed? i thought about that too. the camera's no longer under warranty, so i'd have to pay for everything. i've been researching online and i think i read somewhere it'd probably cost at least $220 to fix. it's probably cheaper to get it repaired than to buy a brand new digital camera, and if i love the 950 so much, wouldn't i want to see it come back to life? i probably will get it fixed then, if it's only $220. but if find out the repair cost is more than that, i'm telling nikon to send my broken 950 back. i will then erect a bonfire in my backyard and burn the camera in well-deserved hero style.

apart from my camera dying, there was some other news today. i went to work this morning in nothing more than a t-shirt and a light jacket, seeing that the temperature was 47 degrees. little did i know, the temperature would plummet down to the freezing point, the eventual rain would turn to snow, and by the time i went home it became a cold and miserable commute. tonight was also john miller's big farewell send off, pizza party slash "help me move" bonanza, but because of the weather, that event was postponed. we'll see what happens tomorrow. back in the office, i'm once again on salted sunflower seeds. it's very bad for me, but amanda garnier is the devil and she fuels my sodium addiction by coming up to visit when in fact she's just trying to score some seeds of her own! remind me to erect crucifixes and wear my garlic lei. back home, back about an hour or two ago, i took some prescription cough syrup (not my prescription though, don't ask, teehee!), tussionex pennkinetic suspension. that stuff is so strong, the direction says to take only 1/2 to 1 teaspoon twice a day. despite the implied super potency, i'm still coughing, so it didn't have very much of an effect on me. maybe i should drink some more, despite the warning of drowsiness. i mean, it's close to my bedtime anyway, and i've had a lot of cough syrups in my days, but this tussionex tastes awfully good...