All good things...

Today was one in which two things that were near and dear to me (in a loosely indirect way) passed on from a physical existence to one which resides purely in our hearts and the memories of those they touched.

First, Kodak announced that it was pulling the plug on its beloved Kodachrome colour slide film. If you don't know what this is, let me relate it to you this way - that famous photo of the Afghan girl that you've no doubt seen reprinted from the pages of National Geographic? Yeah, shot on Kodachrome. I'm sad to see the demise of yet another film product, as it further reinforces the notion that analogue photography is NOT the future, but also especially sad to see one so quirky as this go - the process is so specialized, there's only one commercial lab left in the entire world that processes it. I've got three rolls sitting under my desk, and am going to savour them.

Second, and actually much more personally, Anita's eldest uncle in Macau passed away today after a lengthy battle with cancer. And although I barely knew him, I did have the opportunity to have a nice long walk with him a few years ago in Macau, in which he cautioned me on the dangers of gambling (very apt, given that we were in the Vegas equivalent of SE Asia), and other bits of wisdom from a life of first hand experience. The thing that upsets me is that Anita and I were talking about him yesterday, and I said how I wished that we had gone to visit him in Macau during our recent jaunt over to Hong Kong. I knew he was ill, but had no idea that he would pass from this world within 12 hours of that conversation. Very sad.

I guess the lesson of the day is that you can't hold out on something thinking there will always be tomorrow. Seize the moment. If that means shooting your last pack of Polaroids, or going out on a whim to visit a distant relative you haven't talked to in ages, then by all means, do so. That opportunity may not be there tomorrow, and the regret and sense of loss will hit you like a freight train.

-G