Since creativity on the writing front seems to have forsaken me for good (Muse applications are still being accepted), I'm trying to figure out whether I have any creative bones left in my body.

And, by the way, that bone-chilling scream for help in the opening paragraph was brought on by the fact that I have finally lost the last bit of my mind, because in an ongoing fit of insanity, I went and signed up for NaNoWriMo, or, as I like to call it: YetSomethingElseToProcrastinate.

And no, the above opening paragraph isn't my attempt at writing a horror story for NaNoWriMo. Neither is it the amateurish reviews of the movies Mice sent me. In fact, I haven't even written that many words for NaNoWriMo yet, which means that I'm already thirty days and fifty thousand words behind schedule. And I've just realised that November only has thirty days. Which means that I've managed to ENTIRELY miss the deadline. (Because of course there was a time when I held fast to the procrastinator's belief that I'd be able to write the required fifty thousand words in 24 hours) So let's just pretend that I've signed up way early for next year's NaNoWriMo, shall we?

So since I don't want to end up a creativeless creature, all shriveled and wrinkly, sucked dry of all creative juices, I've decided to take up... photography.

And that opening paragraph is your clue that I turned out not to be much of a shutterbug either.

I should've known though. After all, we all know that I'm not very mentally or technologically sound.

But I thought to myself: "Surely things have changed by now. After all, the photography equipment catalogues claim that sophisticated yet user friendly advances have been made since those ancient times (circa late 1980s, early to mid 1990s) when archaic practices and humourous tools, like rolls of film and manual SLR cameras, were employed."

Yes, of course I always sound like that when I think to myself!

Seriously though. A few years ago it was perfectly acceptable NOT to be good at photography. Remember? And remember those worry free days when NOBODY knew how to to set the clock or timers on their VCR's? Not like these days when one is expected to be able to perform a gazillion tasks and to do it all with the speed and skill of a seasoned pro. It seems that the more technological the world becomes, the more difficult it becomes to function as a human being. Or is it just me? (Don't answer that!)

Anyway, as usual, I'm digressing.

I think it was more acceptable to be a lousy photographer a few years ago because of the equipment. (NOT that I'm trying to point fingers here, or anything. Alas, all I ever wanted to point was a camera; point it at something and get a decipherable picture out of the experience.)

Seriously though, remember those boxy cameras where the view-finder was in one corner at the back of the camera, and so, in order to capture your entire subject instead of just half of it, you had to make tricky calculations like estimating the desired angle by adding or subtracting a few degrees?

Consequently we have family albums filled with photographs of headless relatives.

Before attempting to conquer this old hobby of mine for the second time, I had the uncharacteristic foresight to realise that I was going to need some help. Which of course called for the purchasing of a few hundred (but who's counting when the buying is done in the sacred name of Higher Learning and Art?) new How-to books.

So here I am, drowning in jargon like depth-of-field, bit-mapped, pixels and aperture.

And I find myself rapidly losing focus...