Photo finish...

Hi, my name is Terry and I'm a chronic procrastinator.

I do just about everything at the last minute. Okay, actually, I do many things AFTER the last minute. Also known as late. I often pay bills late, I always stay up too late. Late is apparently the theme of my life. (Then again, I'm early for concerts, plays, airline flights....)

Funny that I've chosen a career in which I'm under constant deadline pressure -- and have never missed a deadline, thank you very much -- but apparently, I need that kind of pressure to get things done.

One of my greatest accomplishments in college was finishing a 20-page term paper a week EARLY... because I knew I wouldn't work on it over the Thanksgiving holiday. (And what kind of teacher asks students to turn in a 20-page term paper on the Monday after Thanksgiving??)

Anyway. This terrible habit explains why I have oodles of used disposable cameras around my home, waiting to be processed. (No, I haven't converted to digital yet. I know. I know. I KNOW.) And these are pictures that date back to at least 1998. I know one camera has photos of a trip I took to Las Vegas with my friend Ellen that year. I honestly have no idea what the hell is on the other cameras. It's going to be quite a shock once I do (IF I do) get those pics developed.

Why am I bringing this up now? When my favorite Latin singer was here the other day, I brought with me a disposable camera that still had several exposures left, in case I had a photo op with him. So of course, I rushed to get that developed immediately.... and had a really good laugh once I saw the photos.

We begin at my 40th birthday party, last year, where it took me awhile to realize that it's really hard to be the guest of honor AND to take pictures of what's happening. Especially if someone keeps pouring me endless cosmos. So there are maybe seven pics from my party, and a couple of them are way off-center (apparently, the cosmos had kicked in by that time). I do not have pictures of most of the people who were there. Nice work, Terry.

I then took that camera to a concert. Which concert? I couldn't tell upon my first glance at these pictures. That's how lame they are. Oh. NOW I see. Faintly, I can make out some members of the Barenaked Ladies. And these are photos taken from the sixth row. I have some really great shots of the backs of the people who were in front of me. Cool. (And I wasn't even drinking.)

Then there are several bad pictures I took at work, to finish off the roll. In other words, there are about five pictures on this entire roll of film that are worth keeping.

The moral of the story? I am the biggest dork EVER.