“Honey, come out here… quick!” I shouted while opening the door to the house, the fervor of shock engulfing my every act and emotion.

I had pulled into the driveway just minutes before. I was very tired from a long day at work. It was raining lightly, almost sleet like. Exiting the car, I looked down the driveway, normally to see a few leaves or the neighbor’s trashy pine tree debris scattered about. But tonight, it was the image on the driveway that immediately caught my attention.

My initial reaction was disgust. Who the fuck would do that? Spray paint some type of black outline of a death mask on someone else’s property. Must be some sort of gang initiation. Those fuckers always wanting to tag a clean surface with one of their symbols to get noticed, report back to their leader to gain admission into a group of others who have nothing else better to do than worry about their status and their exploits of property defiling.

As I began to sleuth various pieces of the crime, various scenarios consumed my thought process: When did this take place? It had to be in the daylight or early dusk. And before the rain/sleet started so it had time to dry. Which lead me to my next conclusion… no one must have been home at either my house or the neighbors, who are a fence away.

As I entered the house, the rage inside my head increased as I went from room to room looking for my wife. I wanted so bad to find out who did this and when it happened [and why] to our driveway. I found her and told her she needed to come out and see what happened. I didn’t try to explain what had happened because I didn’t really know of a way to explain it. Actually, it was more likely due to the fact that I liked the element of surprise.

Finally entering the back room downstairs, I walked up to her. “You need to come outside to see what happened to the driveway.” Her first response was, “what happened?” I tried to imagine what her reaction would be when she viewed the vandal’s creation.

“Just come out and see… it easier than trying to explain it.”

Coming out of the house in a hurried pace, we made it towards the end of the driveway. Starring at the supposed gang symbol for a few moments, my wife calmly turns to me.

“Um, dear… look up.”

I let out a sigh that was equal parts of embarrassment and relief.

History

In my quest of becoming a creative fictional writer, I toyed with the idea of taking something that happened to me in real life and adding a more dramatic twist to it. This short story was originally submitted to Thrice Fiction, but at the suggestion of Dave2, it was decided that it would be more suited as a post here on this blog.

The photos were originally submitted for week 2 of KevinIL’s Photo Scavenger Hunt contest he held last year. Reusing photos is a good thing, especially when it unleashes one’s creative writing skills.

So here’s my list of things I wished I would have done, in hindsight of course.

• Writing

I’ve had so many different opportunities to write in my life. And there has been quite a few of them that I’ve taken and they are a part of my life I cherish and remember. But in hindsight, I would have not stopped towards the end of 1995. I wished I would have kept up with the freelance work I was doing and venturing into my fictional works.

• Filming and movie making

As evidenced on this site by those who know of my videos I love to do, I’ve not done too many of them in 2010 and 2011. In hindsight, I should not have let the pressures of my day job and many, many other distractions I get multiple times a day, take me away from filming, editing and putting together even the silliest of videos.

• Giving my power away

A friend told me about 11 years ago that every time you let someone else control your life, you are giving your power away. A great piece of advice on how to live your life, which I have mostly ignored. Very similar to how I let other things distract me on a constant basis. But more along the lines of always doing what others ask of me and me almost always doing them. I don’t mind helping people, but I admit to being too nice and letting other take advantage of my time. In hindsight, I wished I had learned to politely say “NO” more often and kept my power over my life in many areas.

• Spent more time with my daughter

I do spend a good amount of time with my daughter, but there was a time during my divorce that I wished I would have spent more time with her. The many times I moved about and some of the darker times I experienced due to the lack of money and too many different substances I partook of. For the years of 2002 to 2006, I felt there wasn’t enough time I spent with her, which could have helped both of us. We have a good relationship now, but in hindsight, I think it could have been better.

• Had more video footage of my mom

Since the late 1980′s, I’ve had a video camera. And I’ve taken a ton of footage since then. But from what I remember, I don’t think I have a lot of footage of my mom. Now that she’s been gone for over 5 years, in hindsight, I wish I had more video footage of her. I look at the many photos I have and wish they could speak and move about.

• Exercising/Working out

Back in 2000, I joined Bally’s and worked out a lot. And up until about 2009, I found ways to stay active. My growing double chin and belly are two things I look at multiple times a day and I wish they would disappear. In hindsight, I should have continued working out and staying active. Especially since my yearly physical where my doctor told me that my blood sugar was a quite a bit higher than it should be. Now I add metFormin to my 2 pills I take daily for the next 3 months. I am using a treadmill several times a week, which is a good start. Maybe posting mostly naked pictures of me again will add to the motivation.

I may think of more, but those are the ones that I think of each and every day of my life. Not so much as a burden, but things that I really wished I had done that I want to be doing now or have memories of having done.

What things do you wish you had done, in hindsight?

The whole sign… nothing but the sign.

New Category

In my efforts to take more photos AND to post them publicly on my blogs, I decided to create a new category for random photos I take. I’ve had way too many missed photo ops and this is one attempt to help me resolve that.

The two photos I posted for this debut entry are a sign near the office building I work in. I’ve seen this knocked over sign on the ground for over three weeks now and each time I see it, I would remind myself that I needed to take a picture of this sign before someone takes the sign away [or puts it back up in it's original spot after some jackass ran it over]

I also mention a few others like KevinIL and KevinAZ that take many photos and post them on their respective blogs. There’s also Megan who changed her blog to be all photos. And Lisa, who shares her skilled efforts in photography with her readers. These and many others are an inspiration to get me going with some type of nudge to start posting my amateur snapshots I see in life. Maybe if I keep it up, I’ll expand. For now, it’s simply getting into the habit of taking and posting photos.

To see larger versions of the photos, just click on each image.

Yellow

Many Yellows

Vibrant

Not the cars honking

Wallflowers of a different kind

• Not all “Free Wifi” is necessarily a good thing, regardless of the idea of being “Free”
• There are roads that say it’s 132 miles to your destination, but going 65 miles an hour and getting there in 2 hours may not be possible.
• Lunch may consist of a snack-size piece of cheese and a Vitamin Water.
• Deciding to take tons of photos on a digital camera is a good thing, even if I know that a good half of the photos may be out of focus, contain the wrong subject I was after or can’t remember where it was I took the photo.
• In line with the last thought, I’ve learned that it’s very useful to take a photo of the sign related to the photos that are taken soon after.
• Face wash, face scrub or just water splashed on your face makes you feel a hundred times more refreshed afterwards.
• Sometimes bad coffee is not bad.
• Scratch the above. It’s good to have a lot of Starbucks available.
• Nothing beats a nice bed to get a good night’s rest, even when it’s only $60/night.
• Most hotels that are $60/night don’t have nice beds.
• The 12 hours it takes to reach your destination is all worth it when you have 15 minutes to take in the beauty of nature.

Ok, I lied. There was one photo on this post. Lots more later.

Leaving Utah

We started the drive last Thursday night, but only went 2.5 hours before stopping at the Super 8 in Price UT for the night.

Passing through Moab on the way out of town was nice. It was my first time in Moab. Yes, seriously. I’m sure I’ll visit again soon.

Four Corners

I couldn’t pass up a trip heading towards New Mexico without visiting another place I’d never visited before. My wife and I decided that it was worth the extra hour to go out of our way to go to Four Corners. We didn’t stay long, but long enough to be in all four states at once.

Look at that pose

“Ribbit!

BeerHer

We didn’t make it to Santa Fe until 9pm at night, but once we checked into our room at the Sage Inn…

… we headed to the event known as BeerHer at the Santa Fe Brewing Company.

Before this event, I had only met one other blogger in person – Dave from Blogography [who would be at TequilaCon tomorrow night]. Now, I was about to meet many more bloggers in person for the first time.

Dawg and Poppy… being the cute couple they are

Wayne, Rachel and Karl (Ren was there, too, just not in any of my pics from BeerHer)

I’m not a beer person, so it was only a single pale ale for me before heading back to our room to get some much needed sleep after a long day of driving.

Santa Fe

Waking up Saturday morning, we got ready and headed to breakfast at Zia Diner with Wayne and Ren.

and enjoying a bloody mary to start the day…

Reba had to have her iced tea as well.

We spent some time walking around downtown Santa Fe and seeing the sites.

One of the oldest Shrines in the US

Even statues are doing the Wayne pose

Modern art has a place here, too… wait… what is that hanging from the red man?

Whoa! It’s no Dirk Diggler, but it’s artful

Gambling

Turns out there are a lot of Indian Reservations in New Mexico, which most have built casinos on, and close to the outskirts of town. Wayne and Reba wanted to go gamble. I tagged along to see if I could have fun and make a little bit of extra cash. Wayne offered to drive his convertible Mustang out to Buffalo Thunder Casino. I even have video proof:

CLICK PLAY ABOVE – Quicktime Plugin Required

For a YouTube version, click here

And here’s our exit

Wayne is anxious to gamble

After we gambled for a couple of hours [and all of us breaking even], we headed back into town to get ready for TequilaCon 09.

Mirror Mirror

TequilaCon 2009

This year the venue of choice was The Pink Adobe.

Walking upstairs to the room they put us in, I met a familiar face right away – Dave from Blogography. He was chatting it up with Brandon. I wonder what Dave is asking Brandon?

“Hey buddy, got an extra candy cigarette?”

I met up again with Karl from Secondhand Tryptophan. A great guy [and twice a guest blogger here on this blog]

Dustin from Cotters In My Tummy came out in a Tequila suit, which was a complete surprise to most of us.

Diana from Geeky Tai Tai was there, getting caught on camera by Wayne.

At the end, the planning committee got their place in the spotlight. Thanks to everything they did to make this happen.

After an awesome TequilaCon came to a close, some of us stumbled went over to the Catamount Bar a few blocks down the road and continued the party.

My wife quickly made friends – everyone liked partying with her

Heading Back To Utah

After all of the fun we had, it was time to head home.

Making the long drive home

See, I told you I would visit Moab again soon

Linkage

I think I may be the last person that went to TequilaCon to submit a post. Being last has the advantage of being able to link to all of the TC posts. If that’s too much for you, here’s the TequilaCon 09 Flickr photo pool where you can see photos taken by everyone.

• Geeky TaiTai – complete w/ video scandal
• Blogography
• Cotters In My Tummy
• / \
• Libragirl
• Bellaventa
• Dawg
• Poppy
• Sarah
• Renagerie
• Iron Fist

That’s all I could find by the time this got posted. I’m sure we are all linked and will be linked at some point. If you are a blogger and you want to meet up with others, I highly recommend something like TequilaCon. It’s a way to connect with others and a nice excuse to get plowed at the same time.

A very somber day for me that Tuesday. So sad of the destruction and lives lost. Today is a day to remember.

First Trip to NYC

Part of my memory goes back to August 2000. A good friend of mine was living and working in Lower Manhattan at the time. My current girlfriend at the time had just broken up with me. Our plan was to go to NYC for her birthday. Obviously, she didn’t go. I had contemplated not going at all, but my friend called me multiple times and told me that I needed to still make the trip. So I did. And thanks to his encouragement and hosting me at his apartment, I now have a trip that I will never regret. A few photos to remind me how very happy I was to have experienced the World Trade Center.

 

view of both WTC towers from Hudson Park
 

on top of the Observation Deck on the WTC South Tower – a view of Manhattan
 

That’s me in front of the WTC Globe, with the North Tower behind it.
 
 
Most Recent Trip to NYC

My wife and I visited New York during the first week of November in 2006. She had never been there before. Of course, one of our stops was the WTC site to see the progress and the memorial. I can tell you my visit was very full of memories, walking around the site and remembering what was once there.

Me standing inside the entrance to the WTC Memorial Site
 

We also visited Battery Park, where the remains of the Globe resides. As you can see, I had my picture taken in front of it, similar to the one taken in 2000, minus the towers.

Me standing in front of the Globe in Battery Park
 
 
Not To Take Away…

My intention of this post was to pay respect to a great city that 7 years ago today, survived one of the worst experiences any city could go through. My thoughts are with anyone who lost a loved one, a close friend, a co-worker or someone they knew.

My hope is that the spirit of what the WTC was will live inside the future WTC, when all of the rebuilding is completed. And at that time, I plan to visit and once again relive those memories.