Very rarely, in my constant endeavour to learn new things, do I get dejected, but the past two days HAVE been days of dejection. I have been taking a series of foozly (see 's post) pictures which make me want to cry....

The camera manual is NOT dummy user-friendly. What I want is some kindly soul standing near me, telling me, the way did in Bandipur, "for this situation, do this, this and this." "Don't do this." and so on. Believe me, sometimes I have to WRITE down these instructions (absurdly simple as they probably are) and follow them verbatim several times until I get somewhat comfortable with the how-to. I hate the fact that I am SO dumb around these tech gadgets. Others, who are older than I am (KM for eg) take to them like a duck to the water, so why can't I be like them? I want to take the pictures, but I don't know the technicalities properly and without knowing it, it's like having a building on a weak foundation. It's like driving without knowing the basics of what's under the bonnet.

The thing is that this camera is NOT superior to the Canon EOS20D..and therein lies the trouble, too. That wonderful piece of equipment does much of the work for me…here, starting from the fact that the image through the viewfinder is not as sharp as through the DSLR, the camera is not as forgiving of my mistakes as the Canon 20D is. I have been driving a Lexus, and must now drive…well, perhaps,…an Octavia…and the camera is still complicated enough to deject me and make me feel that someone has wasted a lot of good money getting something for a dummy…why,WHY did I want such an expensive piece of equipment???

First of all, I want to know my way around the various modes and functions and features of the camera…even THAT is proving pretty complicated for me. I KNOW I am a reasonably intelligent individual…why does this defeat me SO easily?

I feel old, antiquated, fossilized and vegetable-for-a-brained…not really, I know this is nothing to do with age…it is due to some lack in me.

I must learn how, after taking videos, to post them to my comp, then to YouTube and then to my beloved LJ….the flash doesn’t seem to come on when I press the button, as it should, and I am unable to find out why it isn’t happening..and so the list of puzzlement goes.

I usually love learning and learn, perhaps slowly, but steadily…this is one of the few instances where I am very dispirited. And I have just one month to learn to use this camera well. Why the timeline? Ah, that will soon be revealed….