Who do you think you are?

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People like to talk about themselves. Sometimes to the point of nausea if you are subjected to it for hours on end. I worked briefly with a person about five years ago who shall remain nameless that would never let you FINISH A SENTENCE (something my husband accuses me of all the time, which I admit, I do because I get enthusiastic about what he’s saying - sorry, dear), and was generally talking about himself all the time. This person annoyed me to the point where I really did not like him at all. And I like pretty much everybody unless he or she is a complete and utter jerk, in which case I just walk away.

Carousel at night 2017 2
 

This is my way of saying I try not to talk about myself all the time, but this is my blog post and I’m going to talk about myself a little bit. One thing that fascinates me is what I don’t know about a person’s interests even after knowing them for a while. I find it interesting to learn what their “avocations” or personal study interest are that are not readily apparent when you know them casually. Some of them can be quite obscure, like collecting light bulbs, for example. I read about a guy in New York who had a collection in his basement of every kind of light bulb ever invented. It makes you wonder how someone becomes fascinated by something like that in the first place.


I can’t remember what I wanted to be when I grew up when I was younger than ten years old, but I do remember being fascinated by architecture when I was in junior high and high school. I thought perhaps being an architect would be fun. Then I had trouble getting a C in algebra, and I figured there was probably a lot of math involved in that profession, so I gave that up.

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I also found myself riveted by one of the credits I took for science in college (I think we needed 3 credits or something like that) which was basic Earth Science. THAT I found absolutely fascinating. I mean who is not interested in how they measure the epicenter of an earthquake? (It has to do with rock density, wave type, etc.). And who is not amazed by the actions of a volcano? Or the reason our seasons cycle from hot to mild due to the migration of the jet stream from year to year? Probably not your cup of tea, but I think being a meteorologist or a geologist could have been professions of choice for me at some point.

In any case, since I took Spanish classes from 6th grade all the way through high school, plus a couple of French classes, I found that pretty interesting and ended up getting a degree in Spanish with a minor in French. I could study that and “get it” - no math involved. I was one of the few people in English class in high school that could correctly diagram a sentence. I don’t think they do that any more, but I’m not sure. Admittedly it’s not a skill set I’ve used recently.

Now I assume the language-related OCD among you will perhaps read through my other blog posts and pick out the grammar errors and misspellings - hey, I’m getting old and I forget things, but language fascinates me and irritates me. Like when someone says “utilize” instead of “use”. I think that makes them sound like they are trying to be more intellectual - but that’s just me.

Finally, what would I like to be remembered for? I don’t know, maybe that “she was a kind person” or, “she made me feel better when I was down”. But I would also like to be remembered as a decent photographer. It’s my passion of choice and my avocation. It’s the one thing that feels effortless to me (even when I put a lot of effort into it), and I hope I can continue with it moving into the twilight of my life. Speaking of which, I would like to do some more “twilight” and “night” photography, so perhaps that’s what I’ll work on this summer.

For more of my images, please visit
mary-bedy.pixels.com

 

Old graveyard in Boston

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