What If The Characters Of The RGI Novels Were Real?

I’ve got my laptop back! Just in time, too; my little vacation ends today, and I start back to work tomorrow shooting for a motorcyle shop and a wedding fashion magazine. I enjoy those wedding shoots. The “couple” always seem to get into the spirit of the moment, playing bride and groom for a few hours. There’s something about putting on a wedding dress that makes you feel like a queen, and men suddenly view you in a completely different light when you’re wearing one. When the shoot is in a secluded natural setting, it’s even more beautiful! This shoot is in one of the nicer hotels in the area. Not exactly a natural setting, but it does have some beautiful architecture.

Rowan’s been working like a madman, and it’s starting to show. He’s tossing and turning in his sleep, getting little chance to recharge himself before he’s up and tapping away at the keyboard. I keep telling him to take a break–we’re both freelancers, after all, and he can take a nice, long vacation like I did whenever he wants–but he mumbles that he “has to stay busy.” We’re not in desperate need of finances, but he’s been intensely driven lately. He seems very distracted by something.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym with Constance, who’s been out-of-sorts lately, too. She and Ben have such a strange relationship, and they’ve been in the “I can’t stand the sight of you” stage for about three weeks now. Ben’s usually pretty quick to anger, but quick to calm down, too. Whatever happened between the two of them right after New Year’s must have been something pretty big. The longest I’ve ever seen the two go without talking was about four days until this.

Oh, dear. Salinger just came up from the basement tracking cream paint all over the floor. Gotta go!

I love when I have enough time to relax and shoot what I want to instead of what the client demands

I’d be lying if I said I was busy lately.

In fact, I’ve been taking it easy. The busy holiday season allowed me to take a few weeks off–something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile now. I’d like to re-decorate the front room; flying about from shoot to shoot isn’t going to make that happen very quickly.

Why have I not blogged more often, then? Easy to tell:  Rowan.

Oh, he’s not being an amadán or anything like that. He’s just as wonderful as he always is. He hasn’t taken any time off, though. In fact, he’s been working overtime. It appears that half of St. Louis needs his services to fix their computer-related problems. Poor Rowan has been working 18-hour days for a few weeks now.

My laptop died right after Christmas. I would have bought a new one, but there are several programs I love and many, many digital images on the hard drive, and I want Rowan to see if it can be fixed before we spend money on replacing it. This is where the problem arises.

Rowan is so swamped, he hasn’t had the time to get to my computer. I’ve caught him nodding off at his desk several times and have had to remind him to eat. He tells me “it’s slowing down”, but I don’t see that happening.

It’s somewhat serendipitous that the laptop died right when I took a break from work. While I love processing film the traditional way, I primarily shoot digital images and manipulate them for clients. It allows me a faster turnaround, and I can fine tune tiny imperfections however I’d like with the computer.

My next shoot is scheduled for January 30th, and it’s for a motorcycle shop. I may have to borrow a friend’s computer if Rowan’s workload continues like this. Quite a bit of airbrushing is needed for that client.

If fate demands a new laptop, can anyone recommend a good one?