Hatin'

This image was taken on campus this morning. More than anything, when I take photos I find myself really taken with what the light is doing.

***

As a child and teen I used to hang out just a bit with this kid I'll call Stu. I always thought he was a bit of a weenie, but he was part of my group, and yeah, once in a while we'd end up hanging out. I could live with it.

I remember going to his house. You had to take off your shoes upon entering. Fine, fine. We'd get sent to his room, where his meticulously made bed took up about 85% of the space, yet we were expressly forbidden from sitting on it. So we'd all stand around awkwardly in that gap between the bed and the walls or furniture. We were teenagers; we didn't need extra awkward stimuli.

And Stu's mother disliked me from the get-go. Thought I was some sort of Eddie Haskall (spelling?). You know, that creepy guy from Leave It to Beaver. Okay, so I took a flask of booze with me that time Stu's mom drove us to see Jaws 3-D . Maybe she smelled it on my breath or something. I was about 14.

The movie wasn't a bit better when tipsy, by the way.

****

Or there was a guy I'll call Oscar. See, I worked with his wife, whom I'll call, uh, Glenn Close. For whatever reason, she got a mad crush on me. MOBB knew all about this and wasn't threatened in the least.

But at a staff holiday party, MOBB and I sat with Oscar and Glenn Close. Oscar was silent until the women left to do something, when he turned to me and almost spat, "SO, you speak to MY wife in Spanish?"

"Hey hey hey, well yes, a little, but uh, hey, here come the girls!"

And that was all he said.

I gather Glenn Close just mentioned me a few too many hundred times at home.

***

In fact, for about six years after I left that organization she'd pop up once in a while, finding my new office phone number or email. The last time, in '05 sometime, she even said, "You can never hide from me."

Gulp.

She'd be all cheerful and happy for a while, then try to get naughty. I'd shoot her down, she'd get pissed off and disappear. She was seeking me out every 18 months for a while, but she's gone an extra year now. Maybe I'm off the hook.

***

My skin's not so thick that ending up in situations like that has no effect. Gotta say, though, that I feel pretty comfortable that I'm generally considered to be a pretty good guy.