susan solo photography blog

When I was about twelve, I was living in Colorado and my absolute favorite band (as in, I literally wore out tapes and CDs from playing them over and over), Depeche Mode, was touring. It was their World Violation Tour after the release of the album, Violator, and they were playing in Denver. I was a very dramatic pre-teen/teenager, and I desperately-more-than-anything-in-the-world wanted to see the Depeche Mode concert with my friends. Unfortunately, both shows were on school nights, and I might have even been grounded at the time, I can’t remember, but ultimately my parents said, ”NO.” And that was with a capital ‘N,’ capital ‘O.’ I seriously felt like I was going to die, like I needed to go to the concert just as badly as I needed air to breathe. I can remember pacing back-and-forth in my room like a caged animal, listening to the Violator CD, and just aching about the fact that my friends were at the show and I wasn’t. (I told you – dramatic!)

Well, now that I’m all grown-up, I do completely understand why my parents would have been a bit hesitant to let me run off into the city with a couple of other twelve-year-olds, unsupervised, on a school night. Not to mention I was an absolute grouch before school in the mornings and they probably didn’t want to make that even worse by letting me stay out super late. BUT as I said, I am a grown-up now, and if I want to go out on a school night I CAN. And I will!

In the past several days I’ve tried my hand at cooking a few recipes, all of which were difficult for me, frustrating, and near-disasterous. One recipe for herb and garlic roasted potatoes called for heating some oil and garlic in a pan, and then separating the garlic before pouring the oil over potatoes for roasting. Well, I didn’t separate the garlic (which was not fresh – it was from a jar), and each little piece of garlic turned the blackest of black in the pan after several minutes in the oven. I had to rescue the potatoes and transfer them to a new pan sans garlic to finish roasting them. It’s not that I can’t follow instructions, it’s just that I figured I’d “roast” the garlic, too. I’ve heard of roasted garlic, so I thought I’d just throw it in there. I guess you can’t do that.

Another night I tried to make chili, but we ended up eating other random stuff instead because I didn’t realize the chili had to simmer for 45 minutes, and even after 45 minutes it was still so watery. Today at lunch, I burned a turkey burger and spilled salsa all over the floor. I pouted for a few minutes, and then decided to take pictures of my mess. And then it hit me – I’m just not good in the kitchen, and that’s okay. It’s a skill, just like photography is a skill. I need to practice in the kitchen, just like I’ve spent years and years practicing photography. I may be clumsy and clueless in the kitchen, but I’m good with a camera!

And with that, I’m off to a wedding today! Pictures to follow shortly.

I just bumped into someone who mentioned the Caps vs. Hurricanes game on Saturday, which Chris and I attended, and that reminded me that I forgot to post this fun (point-and-shoot) picture of the players celebrating on the ice:

It was such a good game!