ARGH!

No, I'm not "argh"-ing about Pirates. I'm just plain old frustrated. I had an idea about a blog topic, but I've been put off it for now. If you ever decide you want to zap me of all creative juices, all you need to do is yell at me. It's that simple.

Maybe I should start at the beginning with the idea I had for the blog. I've gotten a bit nostalgic lately, now that I'm moving. Since I won't be here much longer, I am paying more attention to my surroundings as I drive around town. That combined with visiting Daily Photo blogs and seeing the movie Cars inspired me to do sort of a photo around town blog. How do they all fit together? I live right off of Route 66 here in California and many of the businesses use that fact in their signage and there are "Historic Route 66" signs along the road.

So I thought it would be fun to take some photos of the signs as a kind of tribute to Route 66 and preserve my memories of the time I lived here. I was really excited until I stopped at a gas station to get some water (it is really hot here today) and take a photo of the neat sign.

Evidently one of the guys who works at the gas station didn't want me to take photos of the sign. He got really adamant about it so I told him I wouldn't take any photos. He couldn't leave it at that though. He felt he had to lecture me. He went on about would I like it if he tried to photograph my home and such. I couldn't care less as long as you aren't trying to get naked shots of me inside it! I suppose I should have asked permission. I honestly didn't think about it. I figured if it was a sign on the street, who would care if I took a picture of it? Obviously, I was wrong.

It was the way he went about it that really got to me. I felt like I was a member of the paparazi after Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or something, sheesh! Even though he really got me riled up (inside more so than I showed externally), I tried to remain polite and apologized and such. After he grilled me on why I was taking the photo (I told him it was for my personal enjoyment and because I was moving), he told me to go ahead and take the photos.

At that point, I just wanted to get out of there, but I took a couple of photos. UGH! And then it totally killed the mood for the rest of the sign pictures I wanted to take. Should I try to find someone to ask at each place? Some of them are strip mall signs. Who do I ask about those? Plus, I really don't have time to hunt someone down just to ask if I can take a few photos:/

Maybe this is why I prefer to take photos of flowers and sunsets. At least they won't come chasing after me yelling at me for taking their photos. I should hope not, anyway. Oh, I just had a premonition of my dreams tonight: being chased by life-sized flowers and a big glowing sun, what fun!

And now I can't stop thinking about the incident. It's making me nuts. It's one of those times I really wish my brain had an off switch. I decided blogging about it might help me to let it go, so here I am!

I alternate between thinking I should have asked permission and being annoyed he made a big deal about it. I could have taken the picture from across the way and he'd never have known. I just wanted a better shot. I also wonder how he thought making such a big deal about it could be a good thing. He definitely didn't make me want to ever get gas there again! I suppose maybe he thought I was some reporter doing a story on gas prices? Or that I was doing some expose? I don't know. It did make me decide to look up stuff about legality of taking photos for private use.

I also wonder why I didn't just walk away when he got all huffy. It's probably the same reason I don't hang up on telemarketers. Oh well...

Blah. I've gone on about this enough. And I do feel better now. Hopefully I can get my creative juices flowing again soon.