I feel like a Yo-yo

Thank goodness I don’t look like one.

Something happened today that has depressed me to the point of no return. Return to doing anything to help the community. Well not entirely true in the sense I may help in other ways, I just haven’t decided yet. At least there is symmetry. It was the explorers that breathed life back into me, not the cavern, D’ni or Yeesha but the people. They opened my eyes to the possibilities within me for which I will be forever grateful for. But some of that community have now pushed me further away.

As long I as I can remember I have helped others not for money or a pat on the back but because it is the right thing to do. Also I get great satisfaction from helping others more than helping myself. But when the intent is pure and clear, to get is thrown back at you twisted and distorted I had to ask is it all worth it. The answer I came up with is NO.

Here we go again!

Well I just couldn’t stay away but this time will be different. Gone are the days of doing so much I get stressed out. I have resumed a small part of my duties over at the Guild. I will keep it at the level it is. There are some very capable people over there trying to make a good go of it. I will try to support them as much as I can but they will have to organise themselves without me. I have faith that they can pull it off. I am not that much use to them apart from staying in the background and out of their way.

I think it is about time though that we got an office down there. So many new explorers coming in everyday but this time from all over the world. The word has certainly got out. But I fear without an organised support network these welcome new explorers might return to the surface taking their money with them. Not everything is about money I grant you but keeping this amazing underground city preserved needs money and manpower.

But what of the threat of the Bahro, is that still there, do these new comers know that danger could be around every corner or above. Might be wise to wear the DRC provide hard hats. Make the Bahro think twice...maybe. And what of Yeesha is she still lurking, watching and waiting. Old Atrus must be by now that infirmed by old age or even deceased. I wish she would pop in and give us an update on him. I often think of how kept going all those years and what of Marrim.

Oh well we may never know. But I do hope we find out....before I die....which is some way off....I hope.

Oh it's Open

Ok not quite yet! Nothing changes, one minute it is open then it's not. I thought I would have been more excited. Time to try something new. I am pretty sure my days at the Guild are over. I just have no passion for it anymore.

If there was more dedicated people around I might feel different but the plain fact is there just isn't. Yeah I know I am disabled which allows me more time to focus on projects. But many hands make light work. One person does one job properly and so on, and you have enough, then things will work a lot better and smoother. Some say "oh but it is only a cave" yes it is but you are dealing with people's time and dedication. Isn't that something to consider when stepping to do something and not doing it. I see people commenting on how it should be done but do nothing themselves.

If the cavern is to survive and this time it must or it will close forever people, need to start to or at least learn how to "work" together and to leave the ego in a little box in the corner.

I think I will carry on and see if I can get some cool technologies out of this. Bound to be some new ages found so I can plunder...Oh I mean legally obtain new gadgets and gizmos. Pocket size is good but backpack size is ok.

That's it for Uru for a while.

With no access to a publicly open cavern for some time to come I am leaving the paper behind and moving on to develop my artistic side. Join me as I venture into the world of 3D renders and Digital art at my new blog.

Easier to learn with Digital?

Some of you already know of my artistic stagnation for which changed when I found Uru. I have now had a close encounter of the Digital SLR kind.

I remember the day well at the tender age of 11 being told, by the art teacher to forget art and go and do whatever I wanted for the duration of the art lesson. Added to the problem of low self esteem, I believed him. But I have always being drawn to photography, why I have no idea. Whilst living in New Zealand I never had a descent SLR camera. When I came back to the UK I finally got a Pentax SLR. The camera came without any information on how to operate it and this was before the days of the prolific internet. I tried for years to educate myself but this was made harder by having to use film; costly process for trial and error learning. The thieves that ended up with this camera would have turned a nice profit with all the wildlife photography equipment they nabbed. Shame I was in a block of flats/apartments and neglected the contents insurance. That cut my photography learning short and learned a valuable lesson of insurance.

Fifteen years later: I found the cavern and bought a small pocket camera which served me well. Recently I brought a Canon EOS 350 D DSLR. Yes it was cheap because, well let’s face it 8 million pixels is so last year. Ok maybe a few more years older than that. Anyway it is brand spanking new one complete with case, battery charger and one EFS lens. One problem, the salesman (if you can call him that) forgot to mention the omission of a Compact Flash card, missed out on an extra sale there. The reason is that one has a choice of cards to use, type 1 or 2. Mind you it was somewhat cheaper going through E-bay for that where I got a 4 MB Extreme 3 Sandisk card. Later I will get a 16 MB one for when I go on holiday. It been a nearly three weeks since I got the card and it has been raining all the time. This gave me the chance to sit down a read the booklet from cover to cover. In a way that booklet has educated me more about Aperture and Shutter Speed settings, among others, than anything I have read previous. I did manage to play a bit the other day. Man I need glasses as I set the camera on landscape for a close up of a dragonfly. I love the auto focus part of the camera, came in handy for that dragonfly. Not needed so much for photographing flowers though. I got a shock to see what size pictures the camera can take. 3456 X 2304 and at 72 DPI that’s about 121 X 80 CM big. That is a big picture!

A few days ago a good friend of mine suggested I use the Flickr site that I set up for the BBC SpringWatch programme. Good Idea I thought so I have started with the first three pictures from the new camera and a few details along with it, yes even the mistakes. My hope is to share what I learn and therefore see the progress in quality (I hope) as I grow.