9 February 2008
I’m very disappointed in myself. I spent most of my day at the Waxahachie Civic Center (a beautiful building), surrounded by people (interesting people), most of whom I love dearly. And yet, somehow, at nearly midnight, sitting in bed reading, I realized I had taken absolutely no photographs all day long.
Now, how irresponsible is that? Wouldn’t you think that after a year and three months, I’d be beyond the point of having a day like that? Grrrr.
Of course, that’s the only thing about the day that wasn’t rather perfect. I had a fabulously good time at orientation. I met with all my folks, worked out some missing order details, set up appointments for fittings, took one totally new order, to help cover the one that had cancelled, and successfully collected enough money in deposits, to cover my February bills! Woo hoo!
I can explain away the photographic irresponsibility. First the drive: driving down to Waxa, I got very frustrated as I was stuck behind a funeral procession. Now, I have no problem with being respectful of such things. I expect to sit through green lights to let the land train pass. I know to go out of my way not to get between vehicles with their headlights glowing. On city streets, I have no problem with any of this. It is common human courtesy, and I even get annoyed if I see others not showing such respect. But, on a state highway, with multiple lanes of traffic, and a speed limit of 65 miles an hour, I do not think it is reasonable for the left lane to be kept to the thirty mile an hour speed the hearse is travelling. For ten plus miles! (I even called Kyle and had him google it, and he found that there is no law requiring one to not pass a funeral procession, even with a police escort.) Needless to say, that nearly doubled my travel time to Waxahachie. So, once I got there, I was later than I’d planned. Then, I got annoyed at a display exhibited by one of the “approved” costumers for the faire. So, I stewed on that for a while. And almost immediately upon arriving, I had a line of folks waiting to talk to me. So, there was never a dull moment when I could have thought, “Gee, what shall I do now . . . Oh, I know . . . I’ll use this minute to take my photo!” I just never had that much freedom of thought. I was constantly working, constantly focused on one person or another, right up until they were counting down the minutes until we all had to be out of the building, and I had a volunteer to help me carry things out, and I was gone!
So, I lost many fabulous opportunities to have fun photos of friends. And then, Kyle and I spent the evening watching a little TV, playing with the dogs, and taking turns coughing. We watched the movie, There’s Something About Mary, which neither of us had ever seen. Amusing flick, by the way. But the point is, I didn’t really mess with the computer much when I got home. So, I didn’t have that reminder, either. I just didn’t think about the camera. <sigh>
So, my little Valentine’s Day display with red lights red candles, red hearts, and silver beads was something I could shoot without turning house lights back on, and without thinking too much. I knew Kyle had used it as a subject recently, so I wanted my photo to be totally different. I took two or three, but this close-up was the most different, and I kind of like it. So, here you go . . .
~MB
