Writing 101: Story in a Single Image

Yeah, I’m way behind with the Writing 101 prompts. It’s to be expected. YOU CAN’T RUSH ART.

I feel it should go without saying that I took this prompt to mean “find the weirdest possible image on Unsplash.”

And here we are:

Also this image made me think of my blogging partner Christa…is it just me? Maybe I love you too much, Christa, so I see you everywhere.

I was going to try something else since all of this writing about myself makes me feel like that annoying dude at a party who won’t stop talking about himself and completely fails to pick up on any hint that you’d like to talk about something else. Anything else. Fuck it, though. It’s my party, right, since it’s my blog?

I’ll be honest, guys: I would wear a deer skull as a Halloween costume if I could. It’s possible I would wear it every day if only any institution I’ve worked for would accept it as business casual. Maybe it’s me being morbid. Maybe I just like to try on different faces (metaphorically. Please be assured I mean this metaphorically). Maybe it’s nostalgia.

Years and years ago when I was maybe 13 or 14, I volunteered to help with a holiday walk at the local rec center. So I did dress up as a snowman and a reindeer and, one year, a Christmas tree where I had to show my uncomfortable teenage face and have people ask me questions I didn’t know the answers to. Honestly, it’s like what I do now except I’m older and have to wear more professional attire.

So really I suppose we can rule out my nostalgia for the days I dressed up as a deer from my list of possible motivations. I wish I could say I miss being a teen, but I don’t. Not even a little bit. And those costumes were itchy, gave you an extremely reduced line of sight, and were so hot, even in the winter. I feel this was one of the first times I learned never to volunteer for things, especially when you don’t know what they will entail. You’re probably going to end up blindly tripping along a snowy path surrounded by holiday lights as you soak in your own sweat dressed as a reindeer.