The thing about pictures

Once upon a time cameras came with film. The time before you took twenty million shots with a digital to get the picture perfect. I remember those days, mostly from having ten blurry, underexposed, dim photos come out, out of my 24 prints. I was never good at photography. I remember taking photos when all us girls would go out, the pre-club primping, drinking some fruity alcohol wine thingy someone 21 had brought along. I have lots of those. Spring break and all our new found friends and us in our Destiny’s Child inspired outfits (oh, that’s painful to admit). And then there were the pictures, the ones I took with the guy I was dating at the time. They never came out. Never. One roll of film had me posing separately with two guys I was dating/interested/trying to figure it out with. Those two photos got triple exposed with another one. Both ruined. Which ironically mimicked the ending of each of those relationships. It had me believing that somehow my camera had a clearer picture of my life than I did. Let's liken it to a heavenly sign. So of course when the first picture I ever took with my ex-boyfriend came out perfectly, along with the beginning of our relationship, I was sure that somehow it would be forever. I mean the photo came out! That never happened! Forever lasted about as long as the era of my film camera. And when it was shoved over for the spanking new digital, so was I. I don’t really believe in signs anymore. I’m leaning more toward practicality. But every once in a while, I wish for the time before the perfect digital picture. When you took the picture, crossing your fingers that it would come out right. Because nothing was better than when it did.

The Death of Courtesy

I’ll preface by saying that driving during a holiday weekend is never the best of ideas. Sometimes however it is necessary. What is never necessary…the bad driver. Never. I understand that no one wants to be cooped up in a car, for I don’t know, say over 9 hours, but do you need to piss everyone else off with your inability to drive a straight line or go the speed limit or not speed up when I’m passing or not drive slower in the fast lane? I mean it’s not that hard. Shoot, put on cruise control and you’ve already accomplished one thing. But alas, this world is brimming with discourteousness. I hadn’t managed to drive 20 miles when some woman wouldn’t let me into the turn lane when she saw my blinker. She hit the gas. Yes I honked and mouthed at her something about her being rude and an idiot, but COME ON. Did those two seconds of trying to run me off the road save you anything! Or did you just seem like a bit of a jerk. Hmmm. I vote for number two. Then there was the gas station before California where the cars were lined up on the road to get in. It’s 112 degrees and this dude decides to leave his car parked at the pump AFTER he’s done and go into the store. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And he wasn’t the only one. The car in front of my pump had left too. I don’t get it. Do they just not see the whole slew of cars waiting? Or do they really think they are more important than everyone else that it somehow is okay? Sometimes, sometimes, I think people need to be told about themselves. I don’t really know when courtesy died, but some people are having one good ol’ time at the funeral.