I spent a good portion of my Saturday at Starkey Park in Zionsville with a group of 7 teenagers and several other other adults. We were recreating a youth camping adventure for me to photograph for work. It turned out to be quite the day. First off, this park is serene. It was like my parent’s backyard. Secondly, these 7 teenagers turned out to be quite amazing.

I didn’t know what to expect this day…I was nervous to say the least since photographing people is not my thing and further, this was a one-chance thing. When I think of 14-year-olds, I don’t have the most pleasant associations, but despite some expected behavior, these kids were pretty damn cool. One of the boys lived 2 miles from Speedway and he was a cute kid but quite the whiner :) However, this photo was set up by him. He saw me taking pics and said “wait, let me…” and he hung the compass on the tree bark. So after that, he became my little photo helper. He said he’d done some photography after I asked and I was sure to tell him he had a good eye.

His friend was way ahead of everyone else as we were hiking back to the cars. I caught up with him, and was like, “I’m always so far ahead. I stop and wait for them to catch up and then they’re just back behind just as far a little bit later.” Turns out he was his football team’s MVP last year…some crazy stats he rambled off for their final game. The kid seriously plays every sport under the sun.

So after hiking in the woods for a bit over 2 hours, we went to Zionsville middle school for some classroom shots (insanely nice middle school, mind you). So we end up in the Spanish room, and one of the kids just starts translating this Spanish notebook. One of the girls was in her second year of Latin. I was just floored by these kids. I mean damn…they’re freshman! I didn’t know what a foreign language was until I was their age. It was just really nice to be around some good kids like that. I really enjoyed their company.

I took Kurt along as my assistant. I think he was looking forward to the whole experience a lot more than I was. Despite enjoying meeting the kids, my ideal twist on the day would have been me alone in this park with my camera…and maybe Snippy because I’m missing her.

We walked the trails once to scout locations before the kids arrived, so walking it twice was a bit much. I was just exhausted when I got home. Of course, my housemate calls me at 9:30pm, once I’m already in my PJs, telling me she missed the bus and needs a ride. The real kicker is she was standing just over by the stadium and the Purdue/Notre Dame game was just finishing up. Oh no but wait, I finally make it over there, find a place to park very close and try calling her 3 times…each time straight to voicemail. So I have to turn off the car in the illegal dorm parking and walk around looking for her. She’s like “oh did you know this match was happening??” “Umm, no I thought the massive amounts of people and police blocking the roads was just a routine thing…argh!!!” so we get home…not even a fricken “thank you” and now it’s Oct. 2, and I’m going to have to tell her to pay her rent since she’s apparently also not responsible enough to realize when it’s the first of the month. And I had to mow my yard up til the lightning seemed really close this morning because the radar showed showers til 3pm, but surprise, surprise, that was wrong. I have my first house showing tomorrow so everything needs to be perfect but right now, my kitchen reeks of scorched rice and there is a rice cooker in my pantry still full of rice (2 days later) for some reason that is well beyond me. Not knowing when to throw food away seems to be a recurring problem in this house.

I’m so tired and frustrated beyond belief, and the week shall only get better as I slave over a project using a technology I despise and try to salvage some decent meals out of my sparse fridge & pantry. So much more to do today, but I think I’m gonna need a nap before I can make it any further.