journal features

that's all garbage

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2003.07.12

I went down to Henry's today to look at some used lenses. They've re-opened the site that was briefly their 'school' as a clearance centre. They had kinds of crud in there. Including two examples of the very model I was looking for (but unfortunately, the 'entry-level' version that no longer really serves a purpose) for $60/each. They also had things like old -style leather camera bags (the guy wanted $6!) and trinkets like the reversing ring I bought last Summer in Vancouver. I paid something like $30-40 for it out there. They had them for $2 at this Henry's clearance thing.

I asked the guy if they still bought used manual-focus gear. He said that they did, at the main store. That shop had been so busy I decided not to bother on a Saturday, and went into Downtown Camera instead. The guy was going to 'maybe' give me $60 for the three lenses I wanted to price for potential sale, but he asked his manager as the latter passed.

And the manager said, "That's all garbage, I don't want it. No one wants that stuff anymore." The guy I was dealing with seemed to think that this would hurt my feelings and tried to console me "It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it...", but I'd been expecting that response (the average age of the lenses is probably within drinking/voting range). I guess I'll be finding the stuff in storage from time to time for the rest of my life.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges