This is what happens when I don’t update often enough. I’ve almost entirely forgotten what I did last Friday. Also, I think I should break up the YTTs more. Each of these subsections could be entire posts of their own instead of one big fat long post. Eh. If you don’t care, I don’t care.
h3. in a haze
Here’s what I remember from Friday. I know I edited photos. I know Jess got home later than anticipated. I remember that she and I went out for dinner at a nice mexican place near by. Jess helped me pack and get ready for Saturday morning. I went to bed around 11:30pm, if I remember right.
I also got my new photo bags on Friday and boy do I love them. It’s the best camera bag system I’ve owned yet, and I’ve owned quite a few.
h3. into the grasslands
sunrise over black creek (edit 1)
Saturday morning, I woke up around 3am. I struggled with GPS software for 30 minutes, and eventually gave up. Then, I hopped in the shower and left the house around 4:15am. I arrived in Decatur just at 5am, met up with my dad, loaded his stuff into my truck and headed into the grasslands. Around 2pm we called it quits and I was home by 3pm. I had a great time and got lots of beautiful photographs.
Jess got home from work at 3:30, gave me a kiss hello and goodbye and then headed out to babysit. I had intended on going out for more photographs but, instead, stayed in and did a bunch of photo editing. Without someone to talk to or something active to do, I get tired pretty quickly. Especially after 4 hours of sleep and a long day in the sun. By 9pm I was pretty tired. I was trying to stay up, hoping that Jess would get home by 10:30 and maybe, just maybe, we could make it out to “Sara’s”:http://fourtytwostars.livejournal.com/ party. But, alas, she didn’t get home until after midnight and I had passed out by then.
h3. unrequested flattery
I got up around 7am on Sunday, and Jess was quick to follow. She had to be at work at 1pm, but was showing up early to help out. She and I did some yard work, took a shower, had a bit of breakfast and watched some TV before she headed off to work. Then I started getting ready for a photography excursion on bike. She called me as I was almost ready to leave the house and asked if I’d bring a drill by her work. I had never been inside before, so it was nice to see. It’s a beautiful place and her co-workers were all really nice to me. One of the ladies there had seen some of my photography and commented on how much she liked my work. Jess told me later that her assistant manager said, more than once, that I was very good looking. Yay for random acts of flattery.
h3. could you be any more helpful?
After saying goodbye I headed to my first of two stops for the afternoon. When I got there, it seemed that the trail I had found in google maps didn’t exactly exist any more. Instead of wasting any more time trying to find it, I headed out to the next stop. I had been told that Collin Park, east of Plano on Parker, had a 12 mile biking trail around Lake Levon. When I got there, the lady gave me a map and basically was told me that I should start at the top or the bottom and not the middle where she was. When I asked if I could start from here she said I could, directed me to a place to park, took my $4 and I went on my way.
The problem was, the place to park didn’t exist. Further more, I couldn’t find the trail. So, with the map she gave me in hand, I opted to drive to the top of the trail. Once I got there, finding the trailhead was a piece of cake. It wasn’t until I was ready to get on the trail that I realized there was a big sign that said “NO BICYCLES”. I was upset and decided to cut my loses and head home.
h3. an eye for an eye, right?
On the way home I stopped by Erwin Park, which I had never been to before. It has some great bike trails and, on Jess’ next day off she and I are going to head up there after work.
I got out of my truck to walk around the park a bit when I saw a big, cute, puppy running in the field with a father and son. I think the puppy saw me too, because he started running toward me, much to the anger of the father. As the dog was about half way to me he started howling like mad, still running toward me. The father and son started running to him, still howling, as he continued to run toward me. I thought he had been bitten by a snake until suddenly the dog stopped running and, shortly there after, stopped howling. It’s owner, it turns out, had a remote controlled shock collar and was punishing the dog ofr not obeying his order to “stay”. Asshole. Several cyclists came over to see the commotion, like me, thinking the dog has been bitten. I wanted so badly to strap the collar around his neck and press the button. Hey, if it’s not cruel for the dog then surely you can take the pain too, right mister?
After a short walk I headed home.
h3. Ralphie May I?
Jess got home from work about 30 minutes after I got there and we both started getting ready to head to the Improv in Addison to see Ralpie May with a few friends (“Justin”:http://gentlenews.com/, “Bonnie”:http://empurple.com/, and “Rob and Vicki”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/22/rob-and-vicki-new-love/). He was pretty funny, as “Bonnie will tell you”:http://www.empurple.com/2006/06/25/finger-banging/, and all in all a great time was had.
h3. step 3: PROFIT!
On the way home from the show while talking to Jess about my hopes for the future and my desires for the future of my art, I had a stroke of genius in regard to what I needed to do to free myself up to experiment more. Of course, I had been talking so much that when I finally finished and asked Jess what she thought, I realized she was sound asleep. I think I talk too much.
We got home around 11pm and were in bed soon there after.
h3. my brother calls
While we were getting ready, my brother called me. He made no mention of the email “I sent him and his wife”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/23/ytt-welcome-to-the-grasslands/ a few days prior but, instead, was just calling to say “hi” and to ask when my mom’s birthday was because he wasn’t sure if he had missed it. It was good to hear from him. I don’t mind at all that he didn’t mention the email. In fact, I said as much in the email itself when I said that I either wanted them to speak up and tell me what I had done wrong, or just forget the whole thing and stop the silent treatment. Hopefully, I’ll hear from them again. I invited both of them to the birthday party Jess is throwing for me, but I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to make it due to work.
h3. Carrollton’s Finest
This morning on my way to work I had just gotten off the freeway and was on the service road when a man in black clothing walked into the middle of the street and held his hand out for me to stop. It was one of Carollton’s finest and I was being pulled over on foot. How humiliating.
I got a ticket for 60 in a 40. I had just gotten off the freeway. I wasn’t hurting anyone, going excessively fast, or even anywhere near any other cars. Speed limits are stupid, and so is the $200 I have to blow on this ticket. There goes any chance of getting that lens I want (“Sigma 70-200 f/2.8″:http://www.adorama.com/SG70200DGNKA.html?kbid=62466) any time soon.
My radar detector just broke a week or so ago too. Damn it.
h3. beyond
I’ve got a photo session tonight with a girl that’s not only hot, but a lot of fun to work with. She’s expressed some interest in an idea that I’ve had for quite a while now, so, hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll see the fruits of that thought this evening. Tomorrow I’ll be working from home and, as always, doing “the show”:http://gentlenews.com/theshow/ in the evening.
