Day 271: The Long Road Home

Somewhere in Arizona.

We drove home today.  There's not much to say about it.  That's how it usually goes for the return trip of a vacation though.  The trip out is so much fun and there's so much excitement and anticipation for the upcoming fun, but the trip back is usually tainted with sadness since it's the end of the fun.

At least the drive went by fairly quickly this time, and at least we were blessed with good weather.

I'm not excited about returning to reality and the mess that is waiting for me at work tomorrow.

Not at all excited.

Day 113: Safety First

A fire hydrant.

I was running an errand for the office today and I was struck by just how many things around me that were red.  It was crazy!  Everywhere I looked I found a bright red object, but nothing as fun as this fire hydrant.

I don't know what made this fire hydrant so fun.  Maybe because it was at a good angle, maybe because it started sprinkling on me as I took the photo, or maybe because the words, "fire hydrant" always remind me of the time my brother Dave almost burned the house down.  I know what you're thinking, "how is that fun?"  But it is, and I'll tell you why.

When Dave was in high school and working on his Eagle Scout project with my dad in the dining room, he got hungry and decided to make a deep-fried burrito (a favorite of his at the time).  So he set a pot of oil to heat on the stove and went back to his project with my dad.  Inevitably, they both forgot about the pot of boiling oil until it heated up so much that it burst into flames.  While Dave and Dad addressed the huge flames consuming our kitchen, the fire department was called and our sick mom was rushed outside in her nightgown to wait on the front lawn with me and my brother James.

As dad hastened to try and put out the uncontrollable fire, he sent Dave to find a fire extinguisher from one of our neighbors (we didn't have one at the time).  So dad, being the action-oriented man that he is, quickly assessed the situation and began to dump copious amounts of water onto the now-raging, ceiling-high oil fire.  Not the recommended action for an oil fire, I know.  But he had no other tools to work with.

And while Dad was feverishly attempting to put out the blaze, Dave ran through the middle of our street yelling, "FIRE HYDRANT!  FIRE HYDRANT! DOES ANYONE HAVE A FIRE HYDRANT!?"  Most of our perplexed neighbors ignored him, since it didn't make any sense to them why he would be asking them if they had a fire hydrant, when we lived across the street from one.  Obviously, what he really meant to say was, fire extinguisher, but how often do we communicate at peak efficiency when we are panicked? Anyway, after what I'm certain was a very confusing conversation, full of hysterical yelling and finger pointing, Dave managed to bum a fire extinguisher from one of our neighbors and rush back to the house.

I can't remember if he got there before the fire fighters did, because when we retell the story, we always end it with Dave yelling, "FIRE HYDRANT!" through the streets of our neighborhood.  Ah...such a laugh!  At any rate, Dad miraculously managed to extinguish the oily flames using his dousing technique, and when the fire fighters arrived, all they really did was hack up our kitchen to make sure no flames were hiding in the attic...weird.

Another upside to this story: We got to eat out every night for a month while the kitchen was repaired.  Compliments of our insurance company! I was really young, 7 or 8, so that was the highlight of my summer!

Day 92: Self-awareness

Somewhere in AF.

I'm pretty in tune with myself when it comes to figuring out my flaws and processes.  I like to say that I'm self-aware, which I use as a positive thing, but at times like today, when I figure something out about myself that I don't like, I really hate that phrase.

I was talking to Christine about something I've been thinking about, and as I explained my thought process, I could hear how cynical I was being about it.  And it hit me.  I have a complete lack of confidence or faith in people.  I never thought of myself as a glass-half-empty kind of person, but when it comes to my fellow man, apparently I am.  It wouldn't be so bad if I were a cynic in general, but I'm only a cynic when it comes to people's ability to change and become better.

I don't think anyone can change?!  What!?  Me?

Yep.

It's tragic.  I'm fundamentally flawed if I think no-one has a chance to progress.  But I guess the self-aware part really helps, because I KNOW that's not true.  I seriously know better than to think that people aren't capable of progressing.  I mean, that's the whole point of this life!!  To become better, to grow, to learn!

So if I've been allowing myself to subconsciously judge my fellow man like that, then I need to stop.  Because that kind of thinking not only stops my own ability to change and grow, but it stops my ability to trust and love as well.  And what's the point of life without those things!

Day 29: Eclipse

Kim and Christine...spooky!

We went to see Eclipse tonight (which was awesome, by the way!), and afterwards we wanted to get a picture of all three of us in front of one of the posters, but we couldn't see a single poster of Eclipse (aside from a small one hidden behind a sales booth)!  So we went outside to take a picture in front of the theater instead.

I think it turned out cool!  I'm actually in this shot as well, but I cropped myself out because I look a little retarded and it ruined the shot.  We had set it up to take a timed shot so that we could all be in it.  We were going to take a few more to be sure we got a good one, but these two teenagers showed up on a bench near my camera equipment.  They were putting off some seriously creepy vibes, and I suddenly got paranoid that they were going to steal my stuff the second I walked away from my camera to take a shot.

So I called it quits on the mini photo shoot and we headed back inside to take a quick picture in front of the only Eclipse poster in the theater.

Lame photo op's, great night!

Day 1: Wimpy

It's day 1 of my project, and I have to say...wimpy beginnings!  I realized I hadn't taken a picture around 8pm, so I whipped out my camera in my sister's office parking lot and took a handful of shots.  None of them turned out, and I didn't have the energy to go outside and try for night shots in my front yard, so here you go.

I call it: Last Minute Letdown

As for the writing...another blank.  I tried to come up with something clever to write about this poor little tree in the empty parking lot, but nothing came to me except lines from poems written by other people.  Alas!  My poor tree will get nothing in effigy but this sad excuse for a blog post, and the hope for something better.

You deserve more than that little tree!  Keep struggling through your meager existence, isolated and suffocating in your concrete forest.  Don't let the gas fumes eat away at your heart.  Look to the sun as it peeks around the tall buildings and dream of green, little tree.  Dream big!