Now I find myself green with envy. Recently people I know have been getting engaged, married, or becoming parental units. While it is all fine and dandy for them it has made me feel even more loser-like.
But Wait, There’s More
With no air conditioning I had conjured up a playful thought where I would set up my tent and sleep on my deck. With the weather getting into the mid-seventies overnight I felt like it would not only be comfortable, but also fun.
And then last night around 9pm my neighbor’s dog started barking. As much as I do not care for this dog (because it still barks at me 8.5 years after moving in) I decided that I should investigate its troubles. I opened the front door and looked around and saw nothing. Just as I was to re-enter the house I spied a police car parked at the end of my driveway. Great.
I went inside and called 911 where the dispatcher would only tell me that they were there following up on a “neighbor’s call.” Then, with my window open (that one that opens) I heard people in my back yard. I heard them make a comment about a weed whacker (keep your gardening opinions to yourself, please) and asked them if they wanted my to turn on the lights — to which they replied that it was probably too late. As they were leaving I asked them what was going on and the only answer given to me was “someone got away from us.” Thanks, but that’s not very comforting.
For the next hour the dog sporadically barked, giving my the chills (and not the type that would cool me down) each time it did.
I miss the days when the only time that I had to deal with police at my house was when the parties I was throwing were deemed to be “too loud” by the neighbors. I am getting a little tired of living with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. I am envious of those who don’t live with these issues.
Something For Which I Am Not Envious
Saturday I spent the evening with friends that I have not seen in some time. I suppose the biggest reason that I have drifted from them is because they have become parents, which for some reason means that they don’t go out and get all liquored up any longer (Randy, if you read this after your vacation perhaps you can explain? 🙂 )
While I think that I would have been an excellent father the time has passed where I had any desire to become one. Fantastic! You can now carve out another gigantic portion of the female population that I don’t wish to date — the “Clock’s Ticking” group.
Beaten By The Grip Sleeper
On Friday night I was supposed to see The Mooney Suzuki at The EARL. Sadly after consuming a few adult beverages at the Taco Mac I headed home for a Rally Nap which turned into a night-long event. I woke up a few times early enough to make it to the show, but was in no mood to get up, and then right back to sleep.
ITP Flickr Pic
I am not taking pictures. Argh! I even went out on Saturday to do just that, but wound up getting breakfast and buying new shorts instead.
Until I get something to post you will have to feast on another photo from the great vacation ’07.
Okay, I’m not terribly honest about my lack of shooting. Yesterday morning I did take my new point-and-shoot out for a test drive, but I’ve not read the manual yet to figure out how to change all of the settings so I don’t plan to post any of those shots.
Where Did It All Go South?
In the earliest part of this year I seemed to be getting friendly with a good group of Flickrites. We were having parties, I was being called to meet people for drinks, things were going well. And there was a fallout amongst some of the people and I somehow became on the outs. I’ve attempted to make contact with folks again, only to receive no response. I can come to grips with not being popular, but it would have been nice if there was something that I did in order to become excluded.
Jeepers! The Jig Is Up
[WARNING: Big Brother Spoilers]
Last night CBS got screwed by the person who rented a plane to fly a banner over the Big Brother house. More specifically Eric, America’s Pawn, got screwed because the banner outed him as a liar. (The banner also implicated Amber) Daniele won HoH and is planning on Back Dooring Eric out of the house. Of course I knew both of these were going to happen because last week I decided to start reading the spoilers thread on TVgasm.
Evil Dick, the poster boy for the Anger Management classes, got all up on Eric as he attempted squirm his way out of the predicament that America (those dumb enough to spend a dollar to vote). I was kind of hoping that they would get into a fist fight so that they’d both be marched out of the house. To be honest Dick’s constant railing on Jen has long-since grown old for me and, while at one time I wanted to see him go far, I am now ready to see him leave.
I don’t like these people.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – dreaming of better days (and if anyone, other than Kat — who probably no longer reads this, remembers the Dayroom song “Better Days” then you have my utmost music-nerd respect)
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Modest Mouse — “Florida”
Website Of The Day – I’m not sold on Digg wannabe Truemors, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t know about them.
Exercise (b)Log – hashing, I heard that trail was three miles long
Monthly Mileage – 7 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car
August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
So, did you sleep on the deck after all that?
Heck no. I was “ascared” and man enough to admit it.
I don’t think you did anything to become “unpopular” Some people just got pissy and took their toys and went elsewhere, and there hasn’t been much social activity since. On the other hand, perhaps I’m so unpopular that there is social activity going on and I just don’t know about it…wouldn’t be the first time! It looks like the APG Tuesday night group is a fun group, but I’m not that interested in shooting models. Perhaps when they start doing their official unofficial off-Tuesday shoots, I might go.
@Elizabeth: I heard most of the inside scoop about the Flickr breakdown. However, I thought that I was in good enough standing to keep my relationship with people growing. Oh well, such is life.
I went to the early Guild meetings but I too am not into shooting models. Have many Guild members as contacts (and I am sure you do as well), it’s odd to see so many shots of the same person or two when they all get around to uploading. It’s almost creepy.
I went to my first Guild meeting last week. The group photoshoot was indeed weird (one person described it as a “photographic gangbang,” and I have to say, that’s kind of how it felt). However, there’s lots of hanging out, eating, drinking, etc. that has nothing to do with taking photos of a model. (I skipped most of the model shooting part anyhow, and had a good time socializing.)
Like Elizabeth says, there’s also a casual once-in-a-while “off Tuesday night” get-together that does not involve a scripted photoshoot. Just hanging out over dinner.
I really don’t think that you did anything wrong here at all — it is just the natural ebb and flow of the local Flickr life cycle. I hope you know that you are always welcome at any event and that your fellow Flickr’ers are glad to see you when you show up!