Before Digital Cameras
I’ve been stuck in Houston for the past few weeks with almost nothing to do. Rather than continuing to play Mario Kart Wii all the time, I decided to begin a project that is unlikely to be finished before I have to return to Waco. Since Houston has had some close calls with Hurricanes in the past few years, one of the biggest problems for my parents has been deciding what to take with them when they evacuated to my apartment. The two times this has happened, they arrived with two cars completely full of important things to be saved. If they hit a bump in the road or rounded a corner too fast, I wouldn’t have been surprised to witness papers flying out windows or the trunk busting open. In fact, I think they had a lovely view of boxes in their rear-view mirror for the duration of the drive.
A large number of the boxes were dedicated completely to family photos. We take a lot of pictures around here, and since purchasing a digital camera, I have neurotically backed up every photo I take two or three times just in case one form of media storage would fail. Of course, it is infinitely easier to transport a hard drive rather than 20 boxes full of pictures. Thus, I have begun an attempt to scan in every picture my family has in case another evacuation is necessary in the future. And LET ME TELL YOU. I think this might have been the STUPIDEST idea for which I have EVER volunteered.
This is why: after spending over three hours last evening scanning pictures I had only made it three months into my life. I scanned pictures of me in the same poses looking up, looking left, frowning, cross-eyed, naked etc. Over, and over, and over. I’m already sick of looking at me.
And there are eight more albums to go. Including pictures of me from my nefarious “awkward” stage that probably lasted twice as long than a normal person’s. Meaning at some point the label is no longer “awkward,” but “beaten by the ugly stick.” If I could think of anything that a hurricane should destroy, it would be those photographs.