PhotoDude.com

Tue. Sep 20, 2005

A Day For Accounting 2005

Anyone who really knows me also knows that lists, statistics, and “counting” are Things Reid Likes. The following is a continuation of a now three year old tradition, “A Day for Accounting.” It was inspired by this from Crystal Lyn, and something that happened 47 years ago today.

Clicking any link below within [brackets] will show you an old photo.
0 – [At Rex Hospital]
1 – [Busted my head chasing pidgeons] (related story)
2 – [a handful, I’m sure]
3 – The first of [many ties] (that was Susan’s comment while looking through these old pictures; “Look, another suit and tie! What happened to you?”)
4 – Another year, [another tie]
5 – [kindergarten]
6 – A real slice of Americana, the 1964 portrait of my [first grade class] (I’m on the right, in red vest and bowtie, of course).
7 – [check out sister’s hair!]
8 – [Star Trek audition] (hey, we all dressed silly then)
9 – Summers at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, [catchin’ fish]. Well, hangin’ around Sportsman’s Pier while my Granddaddy [caught fish].
10 – [cub scouts]
11 – Lived in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Revelled in 5 feet of snow, as only a child can.
12 – Went to Gettysburg, my first [photo trip]
13 – Class book reports, [in character] (I’m Patton, with the revolver)
14 – Since I had my [first girlfriend], I also had to have [some wheels].
15 – Called out my high school principal in the local newspaper.
16 – Misplaced virginity (sorry, no photo).
17 – What should have been my Senior year of high school became my [Freshman year at Wake Forest University].
18 – Full time Sophomore, part time DJ at WKZL-FM, Winston-Salem, NC.
19 – Full time DJ at WKZL-FM, ending my time at Wake Forest, and beginning my detour into a Career For The Young.
20 – Graveyard shift, WRBN-FM, Macon/Warner Robins, GA
21 – Program Director [with Playboy Centerfolds] of WRBN-FM, Macon/Warner Robins, GA
22 – [Got married]. The first time. Got my [first camera].
23 – As Program Director (second-in-command), I outlasted 3 General Manager’s in one year (out of a total of 9 in five years), one of whom fired me, hired me back on 30 days probation, and then got himself fired before that probation was up. Radio was such a blast. Well, other than the Playboy Centerfolds above.
24 – Got separated. I mud wrestled women, played Donkeyball, and got my butt kicked by the Harlem Globetrotters, all in the name of my “job.”
25 – Broke my neck (spiral fracture of the C-2) and got a DUI. In one 18 hour span, I was in an accident, in jail, in court, did an airshift, then went to the ER, who zipped me to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, where the neurosurgeon’s first words to me were “you have a very interesting fracture.” It was a day worthy of Jack Bauer on 24.
26 – Got divorced. Got out of radio. Into photography (breaking your neck can be a life altering experience in more ways than one).
27 – The first part of a two year program at the St. Alban’s Academy for the Visually Illiterate, also known as the Portfolio Center.
28 – Watched yet another relationship spontaneously combust during the Holidays (which was once a disturbing long term trend for me).
29 – Entered the freelance world of advertising photography.
30 – [Camping] in the Smokies (cue banjo music).
31 – Went to Yosemite for the first time.
32 – Move into a loft. Wonderful space, but very costly.
33 – War and recession make the loft even more expensive.
34 – Adopted [my child]. Called out the President in the local (alternative) newspaper.
35 – Moved out of the expensive loft.
36 – Went back to Yosemite. Became a homeowner. Got blood poisoning. Had knee surgery (torn medial miniscus). Met my future wife, on the night the Braves won the World Series.
37 – Got my first computer. Built my first web page. Covered the Olympics online.
38 – People start paying me to make HTML products.
39 – Went on a spirit walk, Red Rock Road Trip.
40 – Big Boom Times in the photo biz, as well as in web design.
41 – My future wife moves in. I start a weblog (entirely unrelated, I promise).
42 – I get my first digital camera. Launch PixelPile.org.
43 – A year of darkness and change.
44 – I get married. And a Canon D60, too. Launch PhotoDude Labs.
45 – Totaled my wife’s car. Mistakenly identified as [pony-tailed lawyer]. Claimed a Google crown. Consummated our marriage with Leap Year Bisquits.
46 – Made a local pilgrimage in search of closure. Went on a sabbatical from politics (85 days so far). Finally Got A Mac. Started making music songs noises you can download.
47 – Don’t know. Starts today. I’ll let you know next year.

Many thanks to Mom and Dad, not only for bringing me into this world, but also for saving all those pictures from decades ago.