Adventures in Photography: Mt. Auburn Edition

I’m obsessed with iPhoneography – ohhhh the art and beauty that can be captured anytime, anywhere! If you know someone with ADHD, the iPhone is probably the worst invention ever. If you are ADHD, the iPhone is probably the BEST invention ever.

Wherever I go, I see photo opps, and I frequently stop to take pictures of anything I find interesting, which is just about everything. This has kind of ruined my social life since most people don’t like to stop every 50 yards to take multiple pictures of anything. I guess to them, it gets old fast. Confession: sometimes I agree to go out with people just because I want to take pictures. Heh heh.

I had a doctor’s appointment the other day, and when it was over, I decided that I was going to take my new iPhone 4s out for a spin. I was in Mt. Auburn, which isn’t really the best part of town, but it has renovated and ramshackle buildings – both of which make great subjects. I end up on Glencoe Avenue, kind of a bad street, but it’s filled with beautiful pink and blue row houses. I get totally sucked in, and continue wandering around other abandoned streets that I had no idea existed. I also know full-well that this uber-friendly suburban white girl probably shouldn’t be wandering around abandoned structures in Mt. Auburn. But working in social services for 10 years, I’m not too worried. I’d be more likely run into a few clients I know.

By the end of my walk, I’m feeling exhilarated, and listening to Broadway tunes on Pandora, singing to myself. (Okay, not really to myself. More out loud. Whatever.) I see this scary car coming up the hill that starts to slow down when the person driving notices me. Again, not really worried, but I can tell this guy is like – ummm, seriously? Do you know where you are? My train of thought went something like this: “This guy is probably wondering who I am, so I’ll let him know I’m snapping pictures. How can I do this without having to approach the car?” I flash my smile, I wave at him, I point up to a window with some cool graffiti on it, I turn back around, point to my phone, and proceed to give him the thumbs up sign. Yes, I did.

But of course, he gets it! He smiles and waves back, then drives on. In my mind, I am positive he thinks I am a really cool gal. In his mind, he was probably thinking, “That is one crazy bleeeeep bleeeeeeeep bleeeeeep! I'm just gonna smile, drive on and pretend I didn't see a thing.” 


True story. Though next time I am probably going to take someone with me. I don’t want to be a crazy bleeeep bleeeep all by myself.

The Upside of the Downsize

Oh, I so wish I were talking about my weight!

But back to reality. Today, I had the unpleasant experience of being let go from a position that I dearly loved. Basically, what I do – did, rather – is work in a community connecting people from all kinds of backgrounds who never knew the other existed. Pure bliss and incredibly gratifying since I am happiest when embedded in and connecting people in communities of any kind: gym rats, urban Cincy folks, bird nerds; it pretty much doesn’t matter who, what or where.

When talking to people today about what happened, the question I kept hearing was – Well, I’ll keep my ears open – so, what are you looking for? Huh. Stumped. I’m 38-years-old – aren’t I supposed to know this by now? But – I haven’t really thought about it from my own perspective lately, instead of CareerBuilder's. What am I looking for? It’s sort of refreshing to stop and think about it like that: In a perfect world, what would I do if I could create my own job?

Let’s see: I love to write. I am crazy cuckoo for editing. I adore grammar. I love photography. I am a communicator. I love to help. I want to help. I value humor and honesty. I like asking questions so that I can understand the way things work. I like responsibility (to a fault). I like direction. My family always comes first.

There! My resume in a nutshell: Zealous, experienced potential employee seeks long-term relationship with employer searching for an articulate, inquisitive and creative editor and/or blogger to write about and take pictures of people in communities, and pontificate about the value family and friends. Any takers out there??

So, though I am devastated that I am no longer going to be an integral part of a community that I love, I’m determined to make lemonade from this bunch of really tart lemons. And, to make that lemonade just a little sweeter, I have some extra time to spend with my son, do some real spring cleaning, stalk that elusive Pileated Woodpecker, and blog. It’s the upside to the downsize: time to myself to figure out my place in the world and get a few things checked off my list.

Send Message to Self

If any of you know me really well, you are probably painfully aware that my Blackberry is attached to me at the hip. I don’t go anywhere without it. Yup – even to Nigel’s Boot(y) Camp. It sits on top of my sweatshirt, taunting me to snap off a couple of photos and post them up on facebook. And you know I do just that: Oh, that’s hilarious! Let me take a photo…click…upload…chuckle…give myself positive self-stroke: aren’t I clever?!

So today I was doing just that: Oh, look how funny it is when Maggie (our girly Pug) licks the Cool Whip bowl and you can’t see her head! Funny to me? Hilarious! Funny to everyone else? Umm, probably not. But I have high hopes for all of you. But back to the story.

So I click a few shots of her with Cool Whip on her eyebrows, whiskers, ears (very cute, if you ask me), I click a couple of buttons on the Blackberry, and WHOA! What is that? I notice something in the menu that I have never seen before in my facebook app: Send Message to Self. I smile. Why didn’t I think of that? And this gives me an idea. Yah, baby!!

Now – if you have ever worked with me, you know that I am like a pit bull when it comes to email. Here’s a scenario: Write email, click send, get up, walk down the hall, dramatically poke head into someone else’s office, “Hey there! Did you get my email yet? What did you think?” Here’s another: receive funny email, laugh hysterically out loud till I have tears in my eyes, click forward, re-write clever subject line, send, run down the hall…well, you get it.

Scenario three. I sit down at my desk, log in, get back up, do the morning ritual: Diet Pepsi into the fridge, use the restroom, cheerfully walk around to say hello to everyone, sit back down, open Outlook. (Sound of skidding, braking car) What?! I have no email? This makes me panic a little. Is the email server down? Did all those people not get my messages? Does nobody like me?

So now, my little problem has been solved. I’ll just start sending messages to me! Think of all the fun I’ll have sending myself funny little messages, forwarding funny videos, clever photos that I’ve taken! And better yet – my Inbox will be stuffed! And I won’t have to worry about that ever again because I can reply as fast as I want – to myself! And I can relish in the fact that it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes me – because I like me, and I can make myself laugh. And in life, it really all comes down to that, doesn’t it?

If you agree, forward this blog entry to 10 of your bestest friends, but make sure to include me in the reply…