Oops! My Age is Showing

Remember when you were a teenager and you swore there were some things you'd NEVER do as you got older? Guess what? You WILL do them.

I said I'd NEVER say: "When I was younger...," but I find myself doing it all the time these days. And I'm only 35!

Some "When I was younger" thoughts:

• It wasn't cool to talk loudly (on a cell phone, nonetheless) in ANY library
• To communicate with people, you had call them on a LAND LINE, or just visit, or *gasp* write a letter
• Texting probably meant something dirty

What prompted this? In the past few months, Mark & I have been going to quite a few live shows. My final "I remember when..."

Cameras were not allowed into performance venues. Attendees at a concert, both male & female, were always frisked/asked to open their bags, and verbally questioned by the bouncers: "You don't have a camera, right?"

Now, it is impossible to avoid people bringing cameras into a live show, and I find it quite funny to watch the inept photographers w/their digital cameras/cell phones trying to capture what shows up as ants with guitars amid smoke.

I'll never forget something my paternal grandfather told me to keep in mind while I travel the world. He was a great photographer, and always transferred his photos onto slide film to use in lectures during his own teaching. Before preparing in 2003 for a summer in Italy, he told me:

"Don't let the camera control your travels.
Remember to take in, with your own eyes,
what surrounds you.
Sometimes that leaves the most lasting impression."

With the advent of all these gimme gimme gimme, now now now visual technology toys, I think people have lost sight of what is in front of their eyes, instead of concentrating on what is in front of the lens. And yes, pun intended.