a strange 24 hours

First, the good news: had a fantastic time at the Boost Mobile Pro. It's one of the major stops on the tour so all the best in the world were there. Got to see Kelly Slater surf (and surf amazingly - he won!) before he retires. The semi-final heat between Slater and Taylor Knox was the best surfing I have ever seen, just like you'd see in videos. The swell, though inconsistent all day, was rolling in the whole heat, a solid 5-6 feet and breaking cleanly. They were tearing it up, huge cutbacks, 360's, airs, the works. It was back and forth the whole heat, but Slater took it with a perfect 10 wave and many other strong rides. It was amazing to see and really made me want to surf. now I'm so very exhausted and toasty after literally all day in the blazing sun.

The bad news: had some weird camera karma today. To make a long story short, I ended up buying a camera yesterday from a second seller after the first backed out. Last night at 11pm the original seller called me and said he wanted to sell after all. It was a better deal than the one I had gotten, and I knew I could sell the first on ebay or to my brother, so I told him I wanted it. We agreed to meet in the morning to make the deal. I got up early after a fairly late night, ran to the bank, waiting in the Norms parking lot for half and hour. the guy never showed. didn't answer my calls, didn't ever let me know what the hell was up. lame. ass-hole, flaky LA loser. I already have the camera, but still want his, partially because it comes with lenses and other goodies and I'm saving money in the long run, but also cause of all the crap he put me through, I feel like it should be justified, that if I got the camera it would be worth it. I'll probably never hear from him again. his loss. he doesn't deserve to sell it with behavior like that. but in the end, I still have the camera I want.

Oh, and while taking a few shots at the event, the zoom stopped working on my casio pocket-cam ( only camera until I get a lens for the 30d). crap. everything else still works, but I'm stuck all the way out wide. certainly no good for a surf competition!

oh but it wouldn't it have been sweet to catch the action with the 70-300 IS I should have had this morning instead of this wide shot (you can see a swell in the background and considering that's overhead, just how small a rider would appear).

OK, enough complaining. hopefully casio will fix the zoom.

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hidden gems:
!Lauriin's brilliant diptych
Nikos is perfect today
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Addition:
holy crap. I forgot what it was like having a real camera. took this one test shot of the guy I bought the 30d from at his studio with his lens. RAW converted, made b&w, nothing more. buttery smooth tones, amazing detail. I'm peeing my pants I can hardly wait to shoot with this thing.