Eureka! I fixed my camera

I've been having camera problems this entire trip. My point and shoot digital camera which I've had for two years was distorting the image whenever the flash discharged -- and given how dark and overcast it is in Nanchang the flash was discharging for every shot.

My pictures were coming out strangely. If you looked closely everything -- hairs, skin, etc --looked as if it was either wet or covered in glitter. Sort of like Tinkerbell had sprinkled us all with Pixie dust.

I've been trying lots of things to correct the problem -- but nothing worked. Here I am experiencing one of the most amazing moments of my life and I can't get a decent picture of anything.

Yesterday I posted the problem on the RQ (Rumor Queen) forum board. I know that RQ is a controversial site in the adoption world -- some people love it; some people hate it. I don't want to get into that debate here. But no matter what you think of the site, I have to tell you that the forum section of the site is filled with some of the most supportive and helpful adoptive parents I ever met.

In a couple hours I got information on camera stores and electronic stores all over Nanchang. People asked me questions about different things I should check. One poster -- Global Gal -- asked me to double check all of my settings and asked if I had packed my Owner's Guide.

Of course I hadn't -- it was an old camera and I thought I knew how to use it. But her suggestion encouraged me to find the manual on line. I read the entire thing -- cover to cover. I think it's the first time I read past the section called "Getting Started." What a concept. Read a owner's guide when you get a new camera. Revolutionary. A Big THANK YOU to everyone at RQ who gave me suggestions.

So as I went through the manual, I found out that a lot of my settings were out of the recommended ranges. I changed them all one by one and then took a couple test shots of Miss Libby Doodle Doo eating her beloved snack -- Cheerios. I think you'll agree that the problem is solved: