It's been over 24 hours and I'm still grinning
Every once in awhile, usually when you need it most, life throws you the kind of curveball you can knock out of the park.
(Yes, baseball season has begun, so expect the analogies to start flowing.)
I am one of the luckiest people in the world, because really great things happen to me when I least expect them. And how lucky am I that I can recognize and be grateful for my good fortune? I must be lucky squared.
After a particularly horrendous work day yesterday, I came home to find a message posted on my blog.
Now, this isn't out of the ordinary, especially since my mom has finally learned how to actually post messages instead of e-mailing me.
But this message wasn't from someone I know, or at least someone I interact with on a daily basis. Not that I don't want to. It's just that in the pantheon of great photographers, he ranks right up there. Seeing as how I'm not even within shouting distance of the pantheon of great photographers, I'd never in a million years dream about contacting him.
He took care of that, though, by contacting me.
Somehow he found my post of almost two years ago where I wrote about this really cool poster called 25 Photographic Truths. Go ahead and check it out...just click over there on the right where it says "May 2006." 25 Photographic Truths is right there at the top of the page.
He, in case you're wondering, is none other than Mr. Ted Orland, photographer, writer, and all-around good guy. And creator of the original 25 Photographic Truths poster.
He left a message here saying that he's reprinted the poster, complete with some updates, and that if I sent him my snail mail addy, he'd send me a copy.
Holy $#@&.
I think I actually did a little dance when I read that.
As soon as I got back to my computer, I sent him an e-mail. Expressing gratitude, joy, that sort of thing. And sending him my address, of course.
Then, on the phone with my sister later and laughing about my April Fools joke, it hit me.
Oh. God. Someone is playing a prank on me, and I fell for it, and now I've made a complete ass of myself by e-mailing an unsuspecting Mr. Orland, who is going to wonder what the hell I'm talking about.
I wrote another message.
You know how you do something, and then you apologize for doing it, and then somewhere after the apology you realize that the apology probably made you look like a bigger imbecile than before? Yeah, that was me last night.
M got a panicked phone call, which he barely understood as he was in a loud restaurant eating with coworkers and I sorta went off half-cocked, machine-gun style, to the tune of this: "So I got this message on the blog from Ted Orland and he said he's reprinted that awesome poster I've been looking for forever on eBay and on-line and everywhere called 25 Photographic Truths that I posted about two years ago and he said that he'd like to send me a copy and I got really excited and so I e-mailed him as soon as I could and I sent him our address and then when I was talking to Katie about the Rhode Island April Fools joke which she told me really threw Mom through a loop I realized that maybe just maybe the Ted Orland message was a joke too which means oh my God I just e-mailed Ted Orland with the most idiotic message in the world and so then I followed that up with another message which I think may have just compounded the view of my dunderheadedness and now I don't know what to do because I think maybe it's for real because I checked Mr. Orland's web site and although the new poster isn't mentioned anywhere on the site the e-mail address on the site is the same as what he left in his message but I suppose anyone could have gotten it off there but then someone would have had to go back two years to find my post and then go out and find Mr. Orland's site and get his e-mail address which isn't directly posted there because it's a mailto-type link that you have to mouse over and look at the address in the lower left corner of the window but it's not impossible that someone could do that and given how many people I sent over the edge with the Rhode Island post I wouldn't put it past someone to try to get me back and oh my God M I just e-mailed Ted Orland twice."
He said something like, "Hold on, I have to pour a drink."
Then we decided that it was too loud for him to really understand the gravity of the situation (Ted Orland!) and that we'd discuss it later.
Later, after I was in bed for the night and fighting nausea for making an ass of myself in my first interaction with a real photographer, he called me back and we talked about it, and he didn't really know what to say, although I'm pretty sure he was shaking his head and mentally confirming that he had indeed married a crazy woman. And when we got off the phone, the little red light blipped on, which meant I had gotten an e-mail while we were talking.
I figured it was from PetSmart or Borders or one of the other places I have a rewards membership that sends me coupons up the wazoo, only 10% of which ever get used, and I clicked the mail button to check it and delete it.
It wasn't PetSmart. It was Mr. Orland.
I bolted up in bed. This was not something I could read lying down.
It's really him, and he had really posted a message to my blog, and he's really sending me a poster.
I did another dance, right there in bed.
You know, I knew Ted Orland was a pretty cool guy before, but damn. This is above and beyond your average coolness.
How lucky am I?! Pretty dang lucky, I'd say. Lucky squared, even.
(Yes, baseball season has begun, so expect the analogies to start flowing.)
I am one of the luckiest people in the world, because really great things happen to me when I least expect them. And how lucky am I that I can recognize and be grateful for my good fortune? I must be lucky squared.
After a particularly horrendous work day yesterday, I came home to find a message posted on my blog.
Now, this isn't out of the ordinary, especially since my mom has finally learned how to actually post messages instead of e-mailing me.
But this message wasn't from someone I know, or at least someone I interact with on a daily basis. Not that I don't want to. It's just that in the pantheon of great photographers, he ranks right up there. Seeing as how I'm not even within shouting distance of the pantheon of great photographers, I'd never in a million years dream about contacting him.
He took care of that, though, by contacting me.
Somehow he found my post of almost two years ago where I wrote about this really cool poster called 25 Photographic Truths. Go ahead and check it out...just click over there on the right where it says "May 2006." 25 Photographic Truths is right there at the top of the page.
He, in case you're wondering, is none other than Mr. Ted Orland, photographer, writer, and all-around good guy. And creator of the original 25 Photographic Truths poster.
He left a message here saying that he's reprinted the poster, complete with some updates, and that if I sent him my snail mail addy, he'd send me a copy.
Holy $#@&.
I think I actually did a little dance when I read that.
As soon as I got back to my computer, I sent him an e-mail. Expressing gratitude, joy, that sort of thing. And sending him my address, of course.
Then, on the phone with my sister later and laughing about my April Fools joke, it hit me.
Oh. God. Someone is playing a prank on me, and I fell for it, and now I've made a complete ass of myself by e-mailing an unsuspecting Mr. Orland, who is going to wonder what the hell I'm talking about.
I wrote another message.
You know how you do something, and then you apologize for doing it, and then somewhere after the apology you realize that the apology probably made you look like a bigger imbecile than before? Yeah, that was me last night.
M got a panicked phone call, which he barely understood as he was in a loud restaurant eating with coworkers and I sorta went off half-cocked, machine-gun style, to the tune of this: "So I got this message on the blog from Ted Orland and he said he's reprinted that awesome poster I've been looking for forever on eBay and on-line and everywhere called 25 Photographic Truths that I posted about two years ago and he said that he'd like to send me a copy and I got really excited and so I e-mailed him as soon as I could and I sent him our address and then when I was talking to Katie about the Rhode Island April Fools joke which she told me really threw Mom through a loop I realized that maybe just maybe the Ted Orland message was a joke too which means oh my God I just e-mailed Ted Orland with the most idiotic message in the world and so then I followed that up with another message which I think may have just compounded the view of my dunderheadedness and now I don't know what to do because I think maybe it's for real because I checked Mr. Orland's web site and although the new poster isn't mentioned anywhere on the site the e-mail address on the site is the same as what he left in his message but I suppose anyone could have gotten it off there but then someone would have had to go back two years to find my post and then go out and find Mr. Orland's site and get his e-mail address which isn't directly posted there because it's a mailto-type link that you have to mouse over and look at the address in the lower left corner of the window but it's not impossible that someone could do that and given how many people I sent over the edge with the Rhode Island post I wouldn't put it past someone to try to get me back and oh my God M I just e-mailed Ted Orland twice."
He said something like, "Hold on, I have to pour a drink."
Then we decided that it was too loud for him to really understand the gravity of the situation (Ted Orland!) and that we'd discuss it later.
Later, after I was in bed for the night and fighting nausea for making an ass of myself in my first interaction with a real photographer, he called me back and we talked about it, and he didn't really know what to say, although I'm pretty sure he was shaking his head and mentally confirming that he had indeed married a crazy woman. And when we got off the phone, the little red light blipped on, which meant I had gotten an e-mail while we were talking.
I figured it was from PetSmart or Borders or one of the other places I have a rewards membership that sends me coupons up the wazoo, only 10% of which ever get used, and I clicked the mail button to check it and delete it.
It wasn't PetSmart. It was Mr. Orland.
I bolted up in bed. This was not something I could read lying down.
It's really him, and he had really posted a message to my blog, and he's really sending me a poster.
I did another dance, right there in bed.
You know, I knew Ted Orland was a pretty cool guy before, but damn. This is above and beyond your average coolness.
How lucky am I?! Pretty dang lucky, I'd say. Lucky squared, even.
posted by Amy at 11:00 PM
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