I took the metro to Qalma Chowk as usual, then hopped on a rickshaw to Hafeez Center, the place to get electronics as far as computer and phone related things in Lahore. I started in the basement looking for a Mini DV head cleaner tape and an express card with Firewire ports. Yes, this is really boring nonsense, but this is what I am up to.The process is, walking from shop to shop, asking about the items I am looking for and usually spending a while to explain what those things are, followed by a quick shake of the head ‘no’ or being directed to some other shop. I went to 2 floors of the building, which is quite large and filled with shops. Without becoming disheartened by the majority of shopkeepers who just hear the name of some item that sounds odd and shake their heads and look away, I managed to get both items. I was quite tired by the time I had them, but here was something more I could try. This has been my process with pretty much every step of working on “Risalo”. I struggle and try so many options for every bit of every step of the process, until it gets done.I went back to my friends at CheckPost who have given me a spot to try and wrestle with this problem. Mansoor’s camera and one of the computers there are the only things that have worked thus far, but it is a slow process, and I don’t want to rely on that computer being available. It is for studio use so I don’t want to occupy it when it is needed for work. I don’t want these friends to regret their kindness towards me. So while one tape was digitizing on that machine, I was busy trying to get this express card with firewire ports working on my own laptop so that it could be used for digitizing. That involved reading a ton of web pages and trying everything I could think to do. It did not work on the mac and when I booted to windows, it did not work there either. There are some incompatibilities at work here. I guess I will return it.Besides that, I went to my friend Diep ji’s office and she had brought another mini DV camera for me to use. I looked through the bag of cables but the camera or battery charger cables were not there. It is ridiculous how many cables we end up accumulating due to phones and different technology almost always using unique types of plugs. What a waste. Yet no matter how many we have, that new item always uses something different.So, I had a second camera, but would need a cable. Ok. This could still be helpful. We also noticed that one of the PCs in the room had a firewire port and I could use that to digitize. That would be very helpful. I even tried another monstrous DV deck that Sohail sahib had sent over for my benefit. Unlike the last one, my test tape did not get stuck in it. It even forwarded and played, but of course no signal was going to the computer. This is what makes it so tough. There are so many steps, and you can find success at many of them, but then it often fails at some point and you waste a lot of time trying to figure it out and make it work. What choice do I have? I have to keep trying.I’ve been digitizing tapes, this week, but there has been a lot of wasted time due to some tapes skipping so much that I can’t use the footage. Ones that skip a few times here and there can still be used, as I go back and digitize an overlapping section to patch in. This is insane. That was the day.