Day 63 (Tue., August 9)

Yesterday I had trouble believing that I am in small town Texas and that it's not easy getting adjusted. Today I helped the cause a little by becoming a little more West Texan and wearing a cowboy hat. Haha. I am such a dork. I never would have guessed I'd be wearing a cowboy hat. I guess I becoming bored, so I had to get one. What y'all think of this here hat?

Haha!!! Haha!

No offense to real cowboys, but I think I look funny in the hat. Well, I guess I should take advantage of the full West Texas experience now that time's running out on my internship.

Speaking of taking advantage. While driving back from Menard, where I went to follow a maintenance worker at a high school for a story we are doing on him, I made quick stop. I drove through Eden, Texas. So, I had to see if there's such thing as "The Garden of Eden". To my dismay, there was one. Kind of.

A kiosk sat in the middle of the downtown park. It's as close to "The Garden of Eden" as I am going to get, so I had to take advantage and enjoy the scenery. I was there for a brief moment and it was all very peaceful and quiet. This is a small town which prides itself as "The Center of Texas". However, the real center of the state is 18 miles away, so it's not really on the center. It's pretty close, but no cigar.

I thought my day was pretty much over when I got back from Menard, but I was given a last-minute assignment to go follow a high school football player during practice. It was fun. But I was quickly reminded that I was amid a bunch of high schoolers. As I swung around looking for angles and moments to shoot this kid, the water girls started laughing. They thought it was funny how I was "taking so many pictures of him". Their laugh was contagious as his teammates started laughing. It was then when I had to keep myself from giving this youngsters a piece of my mind. I really wanted to say "relax, it's just a camera" or "shut up, cuz you are next". But it wouldn't have been nice. I had to remind myself that I used to think the most simple things in life were hilarious when I was in high school. Also, that I laugh at dumb things even to the date. Dumb and Dumber! Napoleon Dynamite! Old School! -- I stand corrected.

Sometimes there are some distractions that come your way when you are trying to do your job. You cannot block them off as they are part of the environment you are trying to document. You always have to keep your ears, eyes and mind open to other things while shooting photos. Cool things can happen. For example, I kept my eye on the workers that were welding parts of what will be a jumbotron scoreboard on the north end of the stadium. If it wasn't because I was still paying attention to them, while following around my football subject, I would have missed this "relaxed" moment on which a worker laid on the bar and took a quick nap and the other talked on a cell phone.

It might be annoying sometimes, but you have to stay aware.

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