Sunday, July 5, 1998

        Sometimes these photos just don't even look like me at all, which is sort of why I like them. It's interesting, and that's part of why I thought it would be fun to take a new photograph every day. Sometimes I don't think that I have any idea of what I really look like. Or anybody else, for that matter.

        Today was the annual reunion of my father's family in Sedalia, Missouri. Here's another weird thing: No matter how many times I drive down there, I can never remember that it actually takes an hour and a half to get there, not an hour. That's just one of those things that never seems to register. I knew that lunch was supposed to be at noon, and I planned to leave the house at 11:00. And of course, I didn't even leave at 11:00. Bob remembered that one of my tires was low, so he needed to check it and put some more air in it, and then I had to stop and get gas, and by the time I was actually on the road it was more like 11:15, at which time I realized that it takes an hour to get there from my parents' house, which is about a half-hour away from my house.

        I wasn't really worried about it, because I knew that the meal never really starts right on the dot of noon, and probably some other people would be late, too, but I knew my dad would worry. And sure enough, when I got there my nephew Kristopher told me that "Grandma and Grandpa were worried about you."

        My folks had asked me if I wanted to drive to their house and then go down the rest of the way with them rather than driving by myself, but I always sort of like to go by myself because I never really knew whether we'll want to leave at the same time. Driving down is kind of fun, but driving home is a chore. I played Pet Sounds on the way down and Lips Against the Steel on the way back, and stopped about two-thirds of the way home at a 7-Eleven to get out and stretch my legs and get something to drink.

        It was so unbearably hot that no one stayed very long. By 2:30 we were pretty much all heading home.

        These pictures aren't great (click on a thumbnail to see a larger version), but since I can only take eight pictures with this camera, I don't have a lot to choose from: First row - 1) Bob, my cousin Sue's husband, my brother Kevin and my nephew Kris; 2) my dad, two of his brothers and their cousin; 3) my dad's sister and my mother. Second row - 1) my niece Karrie; 2) Jalen and Sydney;* 3) a pretty bridge at the park where we had the picnic.

        I have a hard time figuring out the relationships of all these people to me. I mean, obviously, my dad's brothers and sister are my uncles and aunts, and I know who my cousins are. But, for instance, Sydney is my cousin's daughter. I guess that makes her my second cousin. And Jalen's grandmother is my cousin, so does that mean he's my third cousin? I don't suppose it matters, but that's something I've thought about and never really gotten straight.

        When I got home I scooped up Pyewacket and went upstairs and laid down for an hour or so until Bob came home. The combination of driving for three hours and the 100 degree heat was a little tiring. It might also have something to do with the fact that I was up until almost 3:00 a.m. last night. We got home around midnight, and I wrote the journal entry and downloaded the photographs from the camera and did some email, and by that time it was nearly 2:00. I had to bake cookies and make some more pasta salad to take today, and I either had to do it last night or get up early enough this morning to do it before I left. I knew that I wouldn't feel like getting up early this morning, and I was still pretty awake last night, so I just stayed up and did the cooking last night. I still got almost seven hours of sleep, though.

        Tonight I've been struggling with a frames-based design that just won't come together. I don't like frames in general, although they can occasionally be useful. I've never used them in my own sites, but I've worked with them enough that I do have a general familiarity with them. I need to polish up that familiarity, though, and that's what I've been trying to do tonight. I'm missing some essential element, though, and it may be because I'm tired, so I think I'll stop for tonight and hit it fresh tomorrow.