Topic: Happy New Year!

[Francois]

Like I said, thank god 2022 is nearly over!
I thought that this year would never end...

So, it's time to rejoice a bit and wish you a

Happy New Year!

Hoping that 2023 will bring us all a break from all the insanity that came with the previous year.
Wishing that we all get to re-discover what is really important in life and cherish those little moments that soothe our souls.
Looking forward to a healthy new year with lots of love, enough money to feed your families and warm your homes, and the capacity to enjoy the little luxuries in life, like filmwasting.

Cheers! 🎉

[Bryan]

2022 was a good year for me, lots of exciting adventures.  I wish everyone a great new year.

Happy New Year 1951 by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[irv_b]

I wish all Filmwasters active or not a very HAPPY 2023.
 May all you wishes hopes and dreams for the new year be attained and enjoyed!
 CHEERS one and all!

[AJShepherd]

Wishing a healthy and happy new year to all Filmwasters, and plenty of opportunties for more filmwasting in 2023!

[Kai-san]

I have to agree with Bryan, 2022 was a good year, especially compared to the two preceding years. As far as I can see the madness was unleashed upon us in March of 2020, in '22 the fog started to lift. But the global elite will probably try the scaremongering once again this year since it worked so nicely (economically) for them last time. And since they control the mainstream media, many will fall for it once again. In addition the west will very likely suffer an economic breakdown in '23 which will make 2008 look like a joke. In Europe, the corrupt leadership in the EU has managed to push up the energy price way beyond the pain treshold of most people and as many as a 100.000 citizens could freeze to death this winter due to lack of money for heating.
On the personal level I've lost a very good friend due to mainstream media brainwashing, but on the positive side I've reconnected with several old ones. And yesterday I turned over the first page of the Far Side off-the-wall calendar for '23. There hasn't been a Far Side calendar since 2005, so I'm looking forward to many good laughs and insights into human nature.
Now don't get too worried by the negative outlooks for '23, remember "Always look on the bright side of life". But we need to beef up our critical thinking and not fall for the ploys of the usual supects. Non-conformance is the best defence.

All the best to the good people on this forum and keep up the good spirits!

[Francois]

I must admit that a Far Side calendar has got to be good for at least a smile or two.

On my side 2022 has been pretty s#!t all around.
Inflation has been pretty high, especially in the food sector. But at least electricity is kept at a reasonable rate by the energy council.
Petrol prices have gone through the roof more than a few times, so going on a day trip was not cheap.
We have been having extensive road work on nearly every highway in the Montreal area, so going out isn't as fun as it could be. And the big city has been turned into a huge construction site by the city. The only road that goes to the bridge that's nearest to where I live has had a dedicated bus lane added to it, so it went from a two lane street to a single lane. As such it takes over an hour just to reach the bridge to come back home.
The COVID situation is simply out of control in the province. This morning the hospitals issued a press release asking people not to go to hospital unless you're dying... Very reassuring.
We have a right wing provincial government that bought out the election by issuing checks to everybody on the condition that they are elected... And the money is coming from our own pockets.
My dad got really sick this fall and we thought he was having a stroke. Thankfully it wasn't that.
Mom broke her foot.
I'm still out of work and stuck having to pinch pennies.
My back ache is beginning to get better, but I still have to take care.
The city sent a letter saying that they will raise taxes by 5.7% yet offer no additional services.
And the electricity will go up by 3.1% (we got a letter).
Groceries are planned to go up by yet another 7% added on top of the 13% of 2022.
And it's been found that the grocery stores are taking advantage of the situation to grease their pockets. Last week we paid 4.49$ for a loaf of bread and 5.09$ for 1.5 liter of 1% milk.
Our drugstore has a hard time finding enough products to even fill-out our meds.
We have a massive shortage of acetaminophen... just ask the guy with the aching back.
Those who want to take their kids see The Nutcracker, a single kids admission is 93$... just imagine going to the museum?
Now, our backyard is flooded as all the snow has already melted. We had 3 days of snow followed by 3 days of rain.
We haven't had a sunny day since November!
I've become an expert at patching-up jeans. The only new item of clothing I've bought in about 10 years are packs of underwear and socks.
We have a new neighbor that's so noisy we have a hard time sleeping a full night.

I haven't watched the news in the last 10 years as I find it too depressing. I'd rather read art books instead.
But apart from that, everything went great!

Yet I'm still dreaming of having a Mamiya...
And I spend hours going through eBay auctions to see if I couldn't snag-up something cheap... but so far I haven't found anything in years.

[Kai-san]

Welcome to the club Francois, I haven't watched TV news for the last 20 years. From the news comimg out of Canada in the last 3 years I'm not surprised by your comments. For myself I have nothing to complain about, but it's appalling to watch our societies going to the dogs. Enough said.

PS: What kind of Mamiya are you looking for, Francois? Just curious.....

[Francois]

I would probably say anything that takes 120 
Thing is all I have is a couple of Yashicas (Yashica A and YashicaMat) that are really good in that format. I've also got a Zeiss-Ikon Nettar (no rangefinder) and a Lubitel...And for some reason they are feeling quite limiting.
The rest is either box cameras, Holgas, Dianas or a Kodak Tourist 2 that I converted to 120. While the toys are fun in a sense, they aren't as satisfying as something quality.

I've been eyeing the C series for a while. Also been eyeing the old folding Mamiya Six with the focal plane focus.
I know that I'll never be able to afford the 645 or the 67, and even the rest would still be a very hard pull financially.

Here, work is really hard to get, or at least for me. Thing is I live in a society that seems to cultivate ignorance. I have a B.Sc. in the wrong field, so employers don't want to even see if I could fit in any position and are too lazy to even bother inquiring as to why I want to join their company.
Heck, even the Walmart computer refused my candidacy within the first 10 minutes of me filling-in forms online! (I thought it was quite laughable for a machine to say "no" as I usually get ghosted by employers)

Before Xmas, there was a new bookstore that opened fairly close to home. I applied saying that I love books and reading (which I do as I counted I probably have over 800 read books just in the basement), that I have a very wide range of knowledge, that I have a Bachelor's degree and would be willing to accept any job just to work there. They never called me and decided to hire a guy with barely a high-school degree who worked at a grocery store placing cans on the shelf and gave him the title of head librarian... mom called to see what he was like and he doesn't know his Friedrich Nietzsche from Frederic Lenoir, his Twilight from Twilight zone, uses Google to find books instead of the specialized databases, has the same language as a farmer who never left the farm, is rude with the other employees and generally doesn't seem to know that people who frequent libraries and bookstores are expecting better than that.

That's why I am always looking for a deal of the century on pretty much anything cool that would take my mind away from the daily grind for a while.
And a Mamiya would fit into that bucket list camera category.

[Bryan]

I would probably say anything that takes 120 
Thing is all I have is a couple of Yashicas (Yashica A and YashicaMat) that are really good in that format. I've also got a Zeiss-Ikon Nettar (no rangefinder) and a Lubitel...And for some reason they are feeling quite limiting.
The rest is either box cameras, Holgas, Dianas or a Kodak Tourist 2 that I converted to 120. While the toys are fun in a sense, they aren't as satisfying as something quality.

I've been eyeing the C series for a while. Also been eyeing the old folding Mamiya Six with the focal plane focus.
I know that I'll never be able to afford the 645 or the 67, and even the rest would still be a very hard pull financially.

Here, work is really hard to get, or at least for me. Thing is I live in a society that seems to cultivate ignorance. I have a B.Sc. in the wrong field, so employers don't want to even see if I could fit in any position and are too lazy to even bother inquiring as to why I want to join their company.
Heck, even the Walmart computer refused my candidacy within the first 10 minutes of me filling-in forms online! (I thought it was quite laughable for a machine to say "no" as I usually get ghosted by employers)

Before Xmas, there was a new bookstore that opened fairly close to home. I applied saying that I love books and reading (which I do as I counted I probably have over 800 read books just in the basement), that I have a very wide range of knowledge, that I have a Bachelor's degree and would be willing to accept any job just to work there. They never called me and decided to hire a guy with barely a high-school degree who worked at a grocery store placing cans on the shelf and gave him the title of head librarian... mom called to see what he was like and he doesn't know his Friedrich Nietzsche from Frederic Lenoir, his Twilight from Twilight zone, uses Google to find books instead of the specialized databases, has the same language as a farmer who never left the farm, is rude with the other employees and generally doesn't seem to know that people who frequent libraries and bookstores are expecting better than that.

That's why I am always looking for a deal of the century on pretty much anything cool that would take my mind away from the daily grind for a while.
And a Mamiya would fit into that bucket list camera category.

Finding a job has changed a lot since I first interviewed when I got out of college, it seems like everything is vetted by computers now.  First you need to understand what the computers are seeing in your application to reject you and figure out how to work around that.  Gaps in your resume can raise a red flag for many employers.  I had a friend that was laid off a few years ago.  He had money saved so he decided to take some time off.  His mother was very sick so he helped his father out with that.  When it came time to get another job he was running into the same thing, lots of rejections.  He has an MBA and has worked at a few major corporations so you would think he would be an ideal candidate.  He finally consulted with a friend who is in upper management at Starbucks, she showed him what was wrong with his resume and he fixed that.  She also told him not to say that he just decided to take some time off.  Instead he said he was helping take care of his sick mother.  After he made these changes he quickly found a great job. 

The company I work for does just what you were talking about, people answer questions and submit a resume online.  If they answer questions wrong they are automatically rejected.  An example of that is "are you willing to travel X number of days per year?"  If they say no I will never see their resume, that's a requirement for the job.  Some may be less obvious, that's where researching this process is helpful.  Once I do see a stack of resumes it's still very difficult to tell who will end up working out or not.  We invest a lot of money for training, drug testing, physicals, etc. to get people qualified to do the work.  You don't want to do all that and find out they're worthless on their first day on a job site.  Many people we hire are through recommendations from current employees, it's far less risky that way, you have someone that has worked with them and can vouch for them. 

I hope you find something soon Francois!

[kentish cob]

Blimey Francois... for all the woe in your tale, I still find you Canadians some of the absolute nicest folk... how do you do it..?

Keep smiling old chum    and here's hoping for an upturn in fortunes through 2023 and beyond.

[Francois]

Thanks!
I sure hope it's gonna get better too, and not just for me.

As for why we're nice people? Well, it's definitely easier to be nice than to be nasty with others. It's better for them and better for me as being angry all the time is such a waste of energy.