The “good” titanium plated scissors I was using for cutting fabric were not shaped well for trimming the seam allowance on flat felled seams. Since I expect to be doing quite a few of those, I looked at the store for a better pair. I splurged and bought a small pair of knife edge dressmaker’s shears made by Gingher. Wow! The difference is night and day. They cut through fabric like butter, and they operate very smoothly. I will plan to get a larger pair, and those older scissors can move to my desk drawer for cutting paper. They also make a nice set of knife edge thread snips. The ones I have by Fiskars cut very roughly, and their design does nothing to keep the blades together, which means they frequently fail to cut the thread.
I just replaced both of the strut/spring/mount assemblies in the front of my car. This has solved the groaning noise that occurred in the front whenever I would drive across the curb at the end of my driveway, though now I can hear the back doing it a little still. I’ll get those later. While I was in there, I noticed one of the CV boots was cracked and spewing grease around in the wheel well, so I replaced the CV axle on that side. After that, the alignment was so bad that I could hear the tires squealing while simply driving straight, and it was a bit of a battle to keep the car moving in a straight line. However, I’m finished replacing steering and suspension components in the front, so I had an alignment done and bought some new tires. I splurged for Michelin Defender tires, not because I think the car is worth it, but because I don’t want to experience unnecessary traction problems in snow or rain. I took the car to Dobbs for both of these things, and they tried to screw me with some outrageously high add-on fee to do the alignment right. I declined, and now I have an in-spec but not ideal alignment. I need to look into ways I can do my own alignment measurements.
I need to start making more of an effort about my appearance when I go to the auto parts store. The manager there is rather cute, and also maybe kind of close to my age.
After the car repairs were complete, I tried a sewing technique for the first time called machine darning on a hole in my work pants. One of the presser feet that came with the assortment I bought is for darning and freehand embroidery. Singer has a nice video tutorial for each presser foot they sell. I now have a nice red patch on my blue jeans where the hole used to be.
I have started watching The OA, and it really is quite good. From the people who have raved about it, I was expecting something emotionally intense. Instead, what’s good about it, aside from the mystery, is the realism that is depicted. Real people with real life challenges connecting together in a way that is directly applicable to real life. In that sense, it is inspiring.
I have purchased a Zoom F4 digital recorder. This is the first really great, purpose-built audio recorder I’ve owned for filmmaking. The H4n is a huge step up from the audio capabilities of any DSLR, but it is nevertheless a cheap consumer recorder made for musicians, with a clunky user-interface, mediocre preamps, and a form-factor that is awkward for filmmaking. The Roland R-26 was a significant improvement in quality and user-interface, but still in the awkward form-factor. The F4 has very high quality preamps, has tons of great features specifically tailored for filmmaking, and it’s in the traditional form-factor used in the field by professional film sound recordists. And it seems really rugged. All this for a very reasonable price. I wish Zoom had made this years ago. I am quite eager to use it on a film project.
Kim Harrison’s The Turn arrived today. I shall be starting it just as soon as I post this.
