Scopa!

Ramadhan is here and, even though I've been fasting for a month before, it always seems like it caught me off-guard. I'm not sure really where do things go wrong in my life during Ramadhan, but exhaustion and the lack of time is always hindering me in Ramadhan. Even though I do fast in a month or two before Ramadhan (in the past 3 years) and in conditions harder than in-Ramadhan conditions, yet, it is always in Ramadhan that I do suffer sleeping hardships and the lack of time to do whatever I want. Probably it has to do with the rest of the population around me and their timing as well! Not sure...

Meanwhile, after fixing the AC in the car, the honk went off and fixed a fuse or so for that thing, and the backward sensor is now off. I didn't care much about it but the honk is important to get it fixed! But now, I've decided to drop some amount of money out of my pocket for some good cause: a new PC.

Financially, it is a burden now to have such a PC. The costs were in fact higher than fixing my car's compressor at the agency itself! But well, thinking ahead, in the month of Ramadhan I have to deduct an amount of my total sum for something called Khums (Arabic: fifth), which is due in the middle of Ramadhan. After giving that due amount I don't think I will be in for much spending afterward, thus it is better to finish this plan now at once.
The specifications are put to the extreme somehow (hence the price) and I would need time to settle down with it when I receive it. I'm trying to do a slow move from the old PC to the new one. I'm looking forward to this move, as with the specifications in the new PC I would be able to stitch bigger panoramas and doing HDR panoramas would be just a piece of cake! All what would be left is, inspiration and photography!

Scopa!

Last week, as I was working on the peeling effect with my mug, I had an idea that had been cooking in my mind since then. A shot of myself with Scopa cards; One of my favorite cards games. Too bad I don't play it now as, simply put, I have no one to play with. The first headache to be dealing with is, as always, setting up the configuration. I didn't have a clear vision of what I wanted to do really but one idea in my mind: cards, and me.

Source: B&H

Typically, the headache that got the best out of my time is using the Vello 33' cable. Even though it worked fine when I used to work with the peeling effect with my mug last week, it decided to, simply, not work this time!
Anyway, it seems that somehow I've began to realize the problem (or so I think!). At the end the cable did work and I was able to control the speedlite from the camera. The speedite was situated above my head just like I positioned it before in the peeling experiment. At this moment, I'm thinking that probably the hotshoe of the cable has a tiny alignment problems making the pins of the speedlite not touching the hotshoe properly to be connected, and only when I place the speedlite horizontally (with a lateral arm), the weight of the speedlite would help on nudging the pins in their proper places inside the hotshoe. This is what I think for the time being but I'm not sure yet. Just speculating!

Scopa!
Canon EF 50mm, f/14, 200^-1sec, ISO100.

Now, to some commentary about the images taken. Lot of shots were taken with changing distance and direction of the hair light. Hair light here, of course, points to the speedlite above my head which was fixed with a reflector and a diffuser. It was hard to decide what I really wanted (and now as I write these words, it seems to me that it was better to have a portrait orientation with half face). Anyway, Scopa! above is one image from the set that I liked because of the element of mystery in it. Careful here if you are using some old laptop (with gamma level other than 1.8) that the shadows might be lighter than they really are!

Scopa!!
Canon EF 50mm, f/11, 200^-1sec, ISO100.

There were some shots when I turned my other speedlite (430EXII) on and placed it in various positions in front of my face but probably I didn't like the results as much as I liked Scopa! shot, but Scopa!! probably was the best taken with the addition of 430EXII speedlite. Mental note: more lights, do not mean necessarily a pleasant image. Scopa!! by the way is not taken in portrait, but it became like it after the crop!

There had been an idea of a panorama still cooking but I'm not sure when I shall start with that. It is a panorama indoors, and for this I need to wait for a proper time when I can get the place clear. Also, the problems with my current PC makes me awry about stitching a panorama for the time being, but I might as well use my relatively-new laptop to do this. We shall see about this matter!

Back to Geltani

The progress on the Geltani front is going on but slowly. Specially after a hectic week like this (with some health issues) that mad me dedicate more time to my camera rather than sitting down and think about aspects of Geltani (or any other conlang). The main issue remains here about fixing the syllables and sounds yet I can say that I've developed a temporary transliteration system just to record the major outline, away from concerns about the sounds. The transliteration system would be simply in the form of: X^Y, where "Y" is the driving add-on or sound for "X". Some values for these syllables had been fixed already, for example LX is pronounced Liŋ (and originally the two are derived from a specific arrangement in between Arabic and Latin letters). However, this combination just for the time being might be written as L^x. I guess it is some of the remains of my mathematical mind from old college days still persisting on involving math in matters of conlangs and con-scripts.

Another matter had been going around is the change in the possessive articles which I've developed earlier (a month or two ago?). The articles were completely different than the regular pronouns, but then after some long thought about it I've decided to pull it back and stick to a coherent grammatical structure.
In the beginning of creating this conlang, I had a vent for some Turkic characteristic to put in this conlang; mainly the arrangements of prepositions. In most Turkic languages, prepositions come after the word (and combined with it). Example (from modern Turkish):

Ev ("the" home)

Evde (at "the" home)

Another property I'm borrowing from Turkic languages is the absence of a definitive article (like The in English or like Al in Arabic) and the introduction of an indefinite article. Example (also from modern Turkish):

Ev ("the" home)
Bir Ev (a/one home)

Anyway, back to the preposition which hold the key to the change I had in mind about the possessive articles (my, your...etc). Probably forgot to the mention that also in Turkic languages in general, the possessive articles come at the end of the words as well (in Arabic as well), thus I've decided to go along that line but simplifying the matter meant lengthening the process a bit.

The new idea of possession involves the preposition W', which stands for "for" or "to". The preposition W' (where the " ' " is a simple schwa) is attached to the pronoun after the word to make a possession statement. Better illustrated in some example:

Book: Š^CA^B

I: A^ya

My Book: Š^CA^B A^yaw'

The literal translation of the statement in Geltni for My Book would be [Book I-for]. Notice that in the transliteration process I've combined A^ya and w' as one word, but in logograms, they are not merged together.

The funny part begins actually when I change the position of the preposition. With changing word placement, the (comprehensive) meaning is changed:

Š^CA^B A^yaw' = My Book

A^ya Š^CA^Bw' = I'm for (the) Book  
(well, can be meaningless for the time being but it's not!)

A^yaw' Š^CA^B = For me, (a) book
 (here, a comma is not used in the original Geltani but I suppose it should be understood as such!).

I guess it is somehow ironic how such a small preposition can change the whole meaning of a sentence by placing it in different places. I'm not deeply into Turkic languages, but I wonder if this is the case too for them. After working for some time with Ayvarith (the original conlang for which this blog was created!), I've discovered that some words I've made up did indeed exist with exact or close meaning (and some with completely different meaning), like the word ša, which is an interrogative question beginning in Ayvarith (equal to the Arabic: Hal [هل]), but in Akkadian this word means a conjunctive "who".

Finale

Source: Amazon

I'm on the verge of finishing the last book in my queue. Still, it keeps inspiring me in the field of humanities. What I like about this book is the directionality and practicality. The fields of humanities was somehow frowned upon from my side in college days but probably this is due the educational system we have, but it is welcome when it comes in the form of such book like the The Handbook for Classical Research by David M. Schaps. I have to say I'm skipping the sources section at the end of each chapter because I'm not going deeply into the matter of such studies, but the arguments and the discussions in various fields that Schaps makes in this book provides a journey for the mind into the current world we live in through the gate of his knowledge in Greek and Roman cultures. We differ, in the east, a lot in many aspects from these two cultures but it makes someone like me realize why the west is so different, and/or why what's accepted from one side is not so on the other side. Some things got roots deep into antiquity.
With the end of this book, I'd be in, let's say, hot water. A dilemma. I have no further books to read and I'm not going to order any more soon because of the heavy purchases I've made this month; from which I need some time to recover. Probably I'm going to turn back to my very old language books and try to refresh my memory about some stuff, or maybe I'm going to spend my time at work in front of Wikipedia and amuse myself with various topics. The bad thing here is, playing with Wikipedia is completely random; Start with one topic and you might end up with a completely different field without knowing. I prefer books.
It feels like if my health is deteriorating at the current time. Bleeding nose has been a nocturnal routine in my life now. I'm not sure if this is caused by the high blood pressure or simply some injury inside that caused it all. One thing for sure though: it is giving me more stress. With the coming of Ramadhan and Mom's dialysis schedule, I wonder if I will have the time to look after myself and just go to the clinic to check. I had plans to check for my sight in general and see forward if there are any signs for retinitis pigmentosa but so far, none of these plans is achieved. Talk about living single and lonely, surrounded by people...

Alexander 6, V18.

After a sickening day, I really can't imagine myself back home yesterday and STAYING awake until almost 12 a.m.. Jams, jams, jams, they were every where! After heading back home I had a gush of blood going out from my nose for some time, and I think it's all related to the high blood pressure.
 According to the agenda, where some astronomical data are given, there is supposedly a nice view in the sky for the crescent pointing upward (i.e. like a U), and Venus should be to the south of it. The observation takes place at the time of the setting of the sun, thus, it is a job for a super "fat" hero like me to go up to the roof again today. Let's hope this day passes with easiness and I can get back home with a sound mind and muscles. I will try to catch the scene with my simple telephoto (55-200mm).

I have some screwing up at work. The German ambassador is visiting us, and you can imagine all the type of fuss that will go around by next week. Also, in such a day I think no more transliteration work would be suitable at all. I have to get into one of my suits as well. I think my life shall be paralyzed. Not that it bears much important things as I go almost through the same routine every day, but the fact that I have to be formal and bear the consequences of every movement possible in front of the guests is just an idea that I can't bear within my "small" mind. I would prefer if they told me "please bring your camera to snap the ambassador," I think that would be a much greater idea. Needless to say also, how much security procedures will go on. My office is a mess here (just like any bachelor guy), and that should be soon fixed before their coming next Wednesday. One of my professors will be there as well and he knows that I used to learn some German, I just hope he won't press on me with that topic, as I've forgot a lot of my German language skills really!

Today, I thought of another change to the way I transliterate the Ayvarith text, and this time, it has nothing to do with the letters or phonemes, but with the way I should write down the prepositions (some of them). I've noticed myself that I tend to write some prepositions, when connected to small words, that I use the hyphens "-" or I just stick it to the word as one thing (like how it appears in the Ayvarith text itself).
going through it, and of course lot of the texts that I've made awould require such fix, but all might come later anyway as it is not a big issue for the time being. I made out a certain rule that I will try to follow for the next period of transliterating.
The rule is that, when the word, the transliterated word, is less than 4 letters in length, then the preposition before this word (in case of any) shall be sticked without a hyphen and become like one word, with keeping the letter that signified the beginning of the word capital. Example for that would be like this:
1. Because of: (old) li-kay, (new) liKay.
2. In something: (old) ba-mší, (new) baMší.
3. Like (similar to) him: (old) ka-hú, (new) kaHú.
4. Why: (old) li-maz, (new) liMaz.

Some exclusions are there, like "and" (vi) which is not a preposition in fact but I was thinking seriously about it because it is also a short prefix that come before words in Ayvarith. However, I shall leave it as it is. Some other prepositions are not to be touched, like "on" (ąél) and "to" (él). They are already separate in Ayvarith and no need to stick them already. The first goal was, when the hyphen was added, is that when a person reads the Ayvarith text and its transliteration, a reader would understand that this is a preposition and not part of the word. Now and in order to occupy less space, it is better to remove the hyphens a bit I presume, except for "and" which will remain as it is.

Trying to keep busy with something, I pickd my camera downstairs and I tried to catch something. Nothing was good or better than trying to find a suitable eye and a suitable position. In fact it was so hard to do this with my 18-55mm lens, but well, it did some nice job after all I guess. I took a self picture for my own eyes and in FEB (Flash Exposure Bracketing), and I snapped my sister's as well in the same way. I can't probably post her eye's image here (I didn't get her permission) but well, I can post mine I suppose.

The image here had been tone-mapped in a hasty manner of course, but I like the "were-wolf" look to it. At home, however, I'm still working on more of a "regular" version of the image (i.e. RAW image file editing). With no tone-mapping. Might post it here later on.

I think I'm going to kill one of the janitors...

Happy St Patrick Day

Lá Pádraig Shona Duit

***

_________
409. Ikilis thought for some moments and then said
410. "in the old papers that my ancestors kept,
411. there is one line I do remember clearly,
412. it was a weird line but it could be useful to you"
413. and the hero asked about the line like a hungry man
414. and Ikilis replied: "when the full moon over Daynur,
415. becomes reddish in its light and hue,
416. then watch the shake of Uhir Daynur,
417. it is then you will have the Ayvar bless"
418. Ikilis went silent and Alexander as well
419. then Alexander watched the setting sun in the horizon
420. and looked back at Ikilis and said: any ideas?
421. thus Ikilis replied: maybe I have one idea but not very useful,
422. if you are able to set a journey to the east,
423. where the nomads of Beten Yamta live,
424. just between the two waters of middle Daynur,
425. an old friend of mine lived there for a long time,
426. but I cannot say he is alive still,
427. he was a wise man more than myself,
428. and he joined the nomads to study them,
429. go there and ask for Ázilis if you will
430. and the speech of Ikilis was over
431. and the hero prepared for the next journey
432. between the two waters, to Beten Yamta