I was recently uploading some pictures from my camera, and I like to look through them as they are on my computer screen & remember what has happened in my life over the span of time. As much as I hate to admit, I don't sync my phone like I should. In fact, I probably do it like, twice a year. GASP!
I don't like to admit that I'm challenged in the technology area, because I'm not completely helpless... yet. But here's the thing, I don't understand the "Cloud". But really, does anyone understand the Cloud? I mean, everything mysteriously disappears from your phone & ends up there... but I couldn't find it again if my life depended on it. So okay, maybe I am a little challenged in the technology department. I'm sure I could ask my 4 year old great-nephew to explain it to me someday. For the time being, I'll just wing it.
Our little smart phones do so much for us, but I think they do it for us a little too much. I mean, we don't have to carry around a separate camera, calculator, compass, map, iPod, calendar... okay, you get the idea. Everything is compact & cute right there in our hands. When I think about it, do my kids know how to read a map? I doubt it. They have Siri, why do they need to read a map? Siri just tells them where to go! Now I'm wondering, do they even still sell maps?! Remember the gigantic Rand McNally atlas that we all used to have in our cars? Y'know, just in case you decided to hop in your car & take a cross-country trip... when in reality, we probably just stayed in our respective states -- but we were prepared, just in case!
So the point I'm getting to is this... I'm starting to feel challenged in mundane, everyday activities. I can barely walk on a flat surface without tripping. Honest to the man upstairs, I am anything BUT graceful. I sometimes pee a little bit when I laugh now. I jogged like 4 steps & blew out my calf muscle...ended up in a walking boot (one month & still going strong!). My eyes can't focus on things up close anymore. On girls weekends, we hold menus up across the table for each other. I have to take naps. I peruse Pinterest for the latest & greatest anti-wrinkle remedy. FYI, I'm trying Castor Oil right now -- seems to be working -- and if it doesn't I'll take a teaspoon of it & I'll be regular forEVER. I highly doubt Oil of Olay will be making that claim anytime soon, amiright?
So I keep hearing "40 is the new 30". I don't know. I don't recall doing any of the above when I was 30, do you? Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually loving my 40's. I feel like I have a lot of things figured out. People, purpose, my closet. Y'know, the big things. But these things I have yet to figure out... selfies and selfie sticks. And I don't think I'm alone here. And if you were wondering, yes, these are BIG important things!
Photography is my hobby, but you won't ever find me hauling my big rig of a camera around with me to take pictures of myself. I mean, that thing is heavy for one... but trying to turn it around, getting it focused, and getting myself in the picture? Fuhgetaboutit. Enter the compact & cute smartphone I was talking about earlier. Y'know, the one with the mysterious cloud? Yeah. They've made it super duper easy to take pictures of yourself now. Well, kind of. I mean, if you're 13, you have it down to a science. If you're 40-something, you might think you have it down to a science, but you really don't. Being that I love to take pictures to remember things, I love to take pictures when I'm with my friends. I do this mainly because of my decrepit brain & the fact that I don't remember things like I used to. But who doesn't love pictures of friend get-togethers?! I happen to love looking back at us over the years.
I have a group of girlfriends from high school, and we take a "selfie" each time we're together. It's always fun to see our pictures from over the years. Usually we're in the same order, but it's a common occurrence that one of the end people gets half of their face cut off. Gretchen & I are always in the picture because DUH, we picked the prime middle spots! Tammy is always voted to take the picture because she has the longest arms, and more often than not, either she or Amy get cut out of the picture. But before the cute & compact smartphones, we had to use a regular camera, and we never could see if we all made it into the picture. And then there's the whole "wait, where do we look? Is it that little dot? The middle of the screen?" dilemma. Half of us are looking at the dot, the other half at the middle of the screen. We're hot messes.
This past Christmas, I got a selfie stick in a White Elephant gift exchange. SCORE! My immediate thought was how much cooler our Girls Weekend group pictures would be now! Flash forward to February when we had a much-needed Girls Weekend in downtown Indy. We all drove together so we could get the party started -- and by party, I mean we all considered taking a nap when we arrived, but that's beside the point. Here is our first selfie:
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See, half of Gretchen's face is cut off. But at least we're having fun!!
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So we tried the selfie stick. We decided to take it from above, y'know, so all of our chins didn't show up in the picture.
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This was apparently an action shot!
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And so was this one.
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Annnnd, this one.
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But we mean business. Sort of. See, Tammy needed that nap!
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Okay, we started to figure it out.
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Again, from up above because, chins.
If you only knew how many takes it TOOK us to get these pictures. Consider yourselves lucky that I didn't subject you to ALL of the pictures, but hey, we had fun!
So do you see what I mean with the selfies? I know some of my friends have it down -- I just don't. But you know what? I bet my picture role is waaaay funnier than theirs is! And you know what? I'd rather have that. Why? Because if you can't laugh at yourself, you're taking life too seriously. And anyone who knows me KNOWS I'm always up for a good laugh! And the other 3 ladies in these pictures? They're always up for a laugh, too. I asked them for their permission to use these, and we all had a good chuckle just remembering this weekend -- and the taking of the pictures is ALWAYS something we laugh about!
My point of this whole entry is this (and by the way, if you're still reading this without poking your own eyes out, thank you for sticking with me) -- embrace your challenges. Own them. Have FUN with them! Life is too short not to laugh. And if you need to laugh, I'll send you one of my selfies. They're guaranteed to make you laugh!
