My coming back to astronomy meets with challenges along the way.
These posts for the next few sessions will be a mostly chronology of the things I needed to re-learn and fix.
State of mind at the end of July into August was downbeat and ready to quit.
I reached out to friends during these days as I originally planned to downsize aggressively and get rid of photo and astronomy gear. I contacted the Hiller Museum as well as Rich Ozer for Chabot. I made promises to follow up within a week as I started to empty out the shed.
As a result of contacting Jim Cormier, he and I started talking in detail about personal changes and how we reacted to the hobby. This conversation became a much-needed step to realizing how much my story of pushing film astrophotography meant to folks at a distance. I did not realize that my considering setting down the projects could impact others outside of my awareness.
By writing about the way I felt about things with Jim, I started to come around to the ideas of making small steps towards getting back to the hobby.
As is the way my brain works with the ADHD, once I began talking with someone about the technical challenges I had with the hobby, the more I forgot about the emotional burdens. It's strange that I remember things so differently over time and get easily distracted. From time to time, the easy distractions offer a benefit. This is an example.
Looking at the email exchanges with Jim, I see how quickly my mood and focus changed.
By the 4th of August, I had put the Titan RA back onto the tripod.
My comment at the time was that I did not remember it being as tall and that I must have shrunk.
I was worried that I had lost too much strength and the Titan RA has enough heft to continue my concerns.
Getting the 1200mm lens out of the spot in the shed also gave a chance to pause to reflect.
Putting the lens assembly on the scale, I learned it was 86.5 lbs. No wonder the mounts have struggled with managing it in the past.
I did the lift in stages, putting up the bare rings and then the lens.
I documented the final lens lift on video just in case I dropped it.
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