Photo Op, or Can You Say “Cheesy?”

Okay, so you all know I hate to have my picture taken. I am not photogenic, at all, and why any sane person would want a picture of me is a mystery. Unless they have plans to terrorize small children. Plus there’s that whole theory that pictures steal a part of your soul — hey, it could be true — so I don’t like to take any chances. Honestly? I just absolutely hate it.

But I figured if I could be the one to take the pictures, it would be okay to post them here. After a few minor threats of bodily harm, hardly worth mentioning, really, everyone else agreed. Except my camera is not the most up-to-date model. And I haven’t had any real training. And I’m not sure how to use the focus thing. But I did my best and, really, no one can expect more than that, can they?

Here is a picture of all of us together.

Of course there was quite a bit of hugging going on when we all first got there. Which was great, until RSS and McB arrived. I tried to hug McB a couple times, but missed. And my knees can’t take any more abuse. So we got creative and it was fine. Really.

Here we are having a nice lunch. Notice that JenB is Very Well Behaved — how else would you describe someone who came to lunch bearing gifts of Godiva chocolate? [JenB, my DD19 (who loves chocolate and who might start to believe you all are real if she keeps getting such gifts) says to tell you, “Thank you!”] RSS brought gifts as well, and GP shared some truly impressive hand-worked artistry with us.

Six hours later, we were still having a nice lunch. I have more pictures taken in between, but they’re pretty similar to the one above and I don’t want to bore you. The wait staff was very indulgent. They kept coming over and asking whether everything was all right. We kept saying, “Yep, just fine.” They never did figure out a better question to ask — one that might convince us to leave.

Oh, and here is a close-up of me. I’m thinking I might use it on my website someday, if I ever get published and need to worry about such nonsense. I think it captures that dignified-yet-approachable aspect of my personality.

And here we are, most of us anyway, standing outside the restaurant and saying a final farewell. It was sad. You’ll notice McB’s hands are a little blurry. Hard to focus on something that never stops moving. I think if we tied her up, she’d become mute. Hmmm.

But we are determined to meet up again soon. Before snow flies and ice coats the roads, I think is the plan. Or maybe it was before pigs fly and McB and I hit the road again. And I heard a rumour that JenB is going to arrange padded rooms for anyone who wants to join us. There are sign-up sheets over there on the corner of the bar, if anyone is interested.

Oh, and I’ve volunteered to take pictures next time, too. Yeah, I know, I’m so nice.

134 comments July 22nd, 2007

Getting Where You Want to Go

So, I went to Illinois last week.  I may or may not have a place to live.  I couldn’t read my mail at the hotel, so I’ve been doing it all afternoon.  Scope and Dee - prayers for both of you.  GP, I’m sorry about the loss of your kitchen companion.  ZaZa - I’ve never had bamboo, but it’s very renewable, since it takes so much less time to grow than a tree, so I’d love to hear about how yours works out, if you go that way.  MCB, many congrats on your hat, though I completely understand that it’s not quite the thing to wear to a luncheon in July, but maybe you brought it anyway and I’d love to see photos. But a big part of my trip was the GPS/ navigation system.

My parents got one when they bought their Acura MDX several years ago, and added an aftermarket one to the (now) 14-year old other car, because it’s so handy to have.  My sister and her husband bought one, and I used it when I went to interview in their state (no job, but I didn’t get lost in any way the GPS couldn’t get me out of).

I was looking at apartments all around 3 or 4 towns in construction season, so I figured having a GPS to tell me how to get to where I was going would be a Godsend.  So I borrowed one from friends (who have another, so they didn’t get lost while I was gone).

I drove all over everywhere and never got lost (except on foot, and I’m not sure about then, and it worked out OK).  But I’m not sure I developed much of a feeling for what was where.  I just followed the directions without getting oriented.  But the excellent thing is, if one misses a turn, it will recalculate the route so that one still ends up in the right place.
I wouldn’t want to use one all the time, because it’s good to develop a sense of where one is, but I didn’t have to call anyone to say I’d be late and WHERE AM I and How can I get to where YOU are?  And it was fun driving home, all 12 hours of it, mostly on I80 and I90, because I could watch my arrival time, see how far it was to the next turn (as much as 5 hours, in one case) etc..  And listening to Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters made being in the car lots of fun.

Then I got home, found my Deluxe edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in its special box from Amazon behind my screen door and read ’til I was done (nearly midnight).  A long day, but a good one.  And 113 comments on the last Post, so I figured I’d muse on the GPS concept. As usual, since I’m a random person, I am NOT trying to pre-empt anyone else’s Post and will keep my sniffles to myself if I get no response due to something more interesting coming along!

50 comments July 22nd, 2007