This weekend I was going to enter the Hey, Hot Shot! 2010 photography contest, until I found out there was an $80 entry fee. I don’t really think any of my photos would have much of a chance of winning such a big contest. I’m not being negative, just realistic.
When you put money into the equation, the limit on submissions starts getting more daunting, too. You pay $80 for five chances to show that the way you’ve captured someone or something is superior to the ways thousands of other people captured someone or something. Maybe even the same someones and somethings.
I’m a bad editor. It’s hard for me to delete a photo. Sure, I know when one’s bad. But it’s hard to get rid of a flower that blew in the wind right as I snapped the picture. Beauty’s in the blur.
I have a propensity for interesting interactions with strangers. My college boyfriend thought it was the product of being a young, wide-eyed blonde who made too much of things. Another person I dated figured I was a redhead hunting for something to write about.
But no, I really do think there is something about me that makes some people - usually men, I can admit it - open up. (Also: I’ve decided to leave my hair alone for the time being).
But if anyone was ever typecast as the slightly off guy someone will settle for who represents the webmail provider someone will settle for, I guess this is the shining example.
Feeling inspired by a book I’m reading, I decided to organize the drawer in my living room/home office where I store my weekly to-do lists and old calendars.
I found this jotted down on my list for the week of September 15, 2008:
Put your arms around me and squeeze me like a book deal will come out of my ass. You have everything, and I want it.
I’m not one to give many updates on my daily life. I know I did in my earlier days of blogging, but now I’m conscious of writing to say something interesting (or what I think is interesting). I keep the lists of things I need and want to do to myself in a sea of Post-It notes and Word documents.
But I’ve continued to feel like this blog and I are old friends who are growing apart, and I don’t know how to remedy that.
Some of it is not being able to invest as much time as I’d like into sitting down and blogging. It doesn’t take hours to craft a post - and believe me, I have at least 12 drafts waiting to be finished right now - but it does take a while to figure out how to write about something in a way that’s honest about my experience, yet won’t compromise my relationships with other people.
The beauty of having a blog that people read is that it gives you a sounding board.
Now entering that point in the day where I start talking to myself a little too much... 1 hour ago
"10 Mating Rituals We're Glad Humans Don't Do." But animals deserve some credit -- they'd never try online dating. http://bit.ly/cpruFr10 hours ago
@heatherparlier The collection wouldn't be complete without yuppies considering white flight. I love the little girls going to Coney Island. 10 hours ago
