E’s graduation day today at E. J. Thomas Hall. I got up real early at 6:30 to try to get there right at 8am when the door opens to get a good seat. Ha, was I in for a surprise. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. The parking lot was full and we had to circle around to park in the deck. When we walked in, there was no good seating so I chose one that’s in the center and up. It turned out to be one of the worst spot. The layout of the place has no center isle. So every one has to pass everyone else to get to where they want to sit. Although we sit in the middle of a row, it’s the row that the door opens to, so it seems like every person has passed us to get to his or her seat.
After we sat down, I started to test the camera and the new 70-200mm lens. It just won’t do anything that I learned to do. When I put it in the A mode, I can’t change the shutter speed. I tried to adjust the settings going through all the menus, no dice. It was getting close to the ceremony and I was getting a bit frustrated. I finally got the video camera out and thought I would have to just resort to the video instead of pictures.
After the ceremony started, they turned lights on on the stage. And that helped the situation a lot. After fumbling with the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speed, I finally was able to take some fuzzy test pictures. I made a mistake not bringing a tripod thinking I wouldn’t be able to put one up. So hand holding the camera produced fuzzy pictures. Since the camera bag was there, I tried to put it on my lap and then sat the camera on top of it. It finally started to take some decent pictures.
Since E’s near the end, I had lots of time practicing. When she is almost up, I handed the video camera to Leo and I set the camera to take continuous shots. The focus and everything else was already set, I just started to take as many pictures as I can while she was on stage. I actually got some decent pictures. Not as sharp as they can be if a professional was using the camera. But they are at least not blurry.
Afterwards, we went outside and took some pictures with her friends and her dad. They turned out pretty good too. I am very pleased with the photos. Finally, the camera is producing some nice photos for me at important occasions.
E and her dad and some of her friends went to Olive Garden for lunch. I was too late to suggest that we go to triple crown which would have been an excellent place since they were basically empty when Leo and I went there for lunch. I passed out when we got home and had a long nap. When I was processing the pictures after the nap, E was getting ready to go to the diner that her dad’s having. He invited me and Leo too. After a lot of going back and forth, I finally decided to go. I thought it will make everybody happy even though I feel a bit awkward. Ok, very awkward. The negative experiences from the past have made me very uncomfortable to think about being in the same room with her dad. I saw that my stress also stressed E out. And I finally decided to go so her dad wouldn’t be embarrassed if I don’t show.
But it turned out to be a world shifting dinner. J has been respectful and friendly to Leo and me when we got there. And continued to talk to us and even put food in our plates. I was very shocked about his 180 degree change of attitude towards me. He has aged a lot, the health problems probably attributed to the effects. He is not avoiding eye contact or tries to ignore my presence any more. He talks and responds. A huge change and one that I still can’t quite wrap my mind around. I appreciate this shift of attitude and I talk and interact with him throughout the dinner and we said good bye with a smile and I promised to send him links to the pictures I took today.
I am breathing a sigh or relief for the day. I have been dreading it for a week. But it turned out to be better than my wildest dream. What a day.
E, however seemed a bit down when she came home. She said she was tired and didn’t say much except that she didn’t get a cake for her friends at the dinner. It could be a very stressful day for her because of my unease with the situation. I feel partly responsible for her subdued, slightly sad feeling. I hope she feels better tomorrow. It has been a very stressful day for everybody but it turned out to be more than ok. Leo has been a sweetheart through it all. He helped to maintain the levelness in me, an anchor for my jumpy feelings all day. I am very blessed for that.