12 of 12 - July 2010

Here we are with July's 12 of 12, and pardon me, but this as been the most f....ed up day. It was sunny, it rained, it was sunny again, then it rained again. It was even sunny and raining at the same time. And as the weather went, so did my mood - up and down, up and down. I woke up happy and by the evening I was curled up in my childhood bed in the guestroom bawling my eyes out. As soon as I post this baby, I'm taking a Xanax and calling it a day.

So, for those new to the 12 of 12, it is the brainchild of Chad Darnell. Check out his blog and the links to other 12 of 12er's around the world.

4:05 a.m. - I never sleep more than a couple of hours, so I was up at 4:00 in the morning watching videos on YouTube. Close up screen shot from a video I'd sent to a friend earlier in the night.

6:50 a.m. - Grabbing my water for work. I hate the new thin plastic bottles that Aquafina uses now. Yes, they are supposed to be better for the environment, but the problem is that when you grasp the bottle to twist the cap off, the weak plastic collapses in your hand and the water comes spewing up out of the top as the cap loosens and half the water ends up on you.

12:45 p.m. - Lunch time trip to the post office. I went to the post office last 12 of 12 too, but it was the 24 hour post office down the road from this one. It occurred to me that technically, the 24 hour post office is called that because they are open 24 hours a day, every day, but really the service is so slow there that it kind of feels like you've been there for 24 hours when you finally get finished, so that could also be the reason. .

12:57 p.m. - So you know how the part of the post office with the boxes always sounds so echo-ey? Well, last week my friend in TX was telling me that he was all alone in the empty post office on a Sunday and it was echo-ey so he started singing a Christmas carol (Do you Hear What I Hear?) to enjoy it. So, as I was leaving the post office and got to the part with the boxes and I remembered that story, so I started singing the same song. Only, I wasn't alone. There was a guy ahead of me and a lady coming in the door. They both looked at me like I was a nut, and the guy kind of hurried out the door (to get away from the crazy lady) but the lady started laughing with me and commented that someone just breaking out in song was sort of like an episode of Glee. :-)

12:58 p.m. - Outside the post office, snapped this close up of the tree in front of my car. See how pretty the sky is behind it?

4:16 p.m. - Yeah, well, that didn't last. Started raining, thundering and lightning over my skylight. Got a little bit scary, it was coming down so hard. And of course, that was right about the time I was getting ready to leave for an appointment with my physical therapist downtown.


4:35 p.m. - Stopped in the hangar on the way out and got a unique perspective of the nose gear on the Spirit of Delta 767 from underneath. Liked the way the overhead light made everything red.
4:55 p.m. - On I-85N heading into Atlanta, just south of the capitol building. Weird thing about this photo is that while the sun is shining, it was actually still raining. (My windshield wiper had just cleared the rain from my windshield.) I always get a little creeped out when it is both sunny and rainy at the same time. It feels wrong.

4:58 p.m. - Almost at my exit and the rain is about gone again. Got the Georgia Pacific Building, the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, SunTrust Plaza and the AT&T building among others in that shot.

6:37 p.m. - and an hour and a half later, we are back raining again. Some of the same buildings in this shot. As I took this photo, "In the Air Tonight" came on the radio. Now that song, especially when the sky is all black and ominous, scares the crap outta me.

6:39 p.m. - No idea what I was trying to capture in this photo, as I tend to just snap without looking when I drive and hope for the best. But I liked the Coca-Cola sign as a little logo in the lower half of the shot of my rain soaked window.

7:47 p.m. - I was already really upset over a couple of things that had happened earlier in the day, and then got a bit shaken up by almost getting hit by a tanker truck right before my exit on the way home, so I went upstairs to my guestroom, crawled into my childhood bed and under the quilt that my great-aunt made for me and cried for about 45 minutes. When I finally settled down, it was sunny again.

9:05 p.m. - and finally my bonus photo - a recreation from last month's 12 of 12. The hat from the photo of the photo that my friend in TX (yes, him again) sent me to make me laugh. Well this month, he sent me the actual hat. So here it is again, covering my wet head.

Guess that's all for today. Hopefully I'll be taking a Xanax nap within the hour. See you next month.