A Bad 4th Of July

I am glad I went out to my cousin's place to watch fireworks with him and his friends.  It's the first time I've ever done it, and it was about time, because it got me out of the house.  Besides, it's the 4th of July -- what the hell else are you supposed to do?

But I couldn't enjoy myself.  Two things.  First of all, we walked to a soccer field in order to get a good vantage point of the fireworks, so there were bugs biting the fuck out of my feet, my legs, my hands, my arms, and me.  It could have been mosquitoes, but I never heard that familiar "buzz," so they could be gnats.  Whatever they were, they bit me, like, two or three dozen goddamn times.  It got so bad that near the end of the half-hour presentation I stopped paying attention to the pyrotechnics and more on scratching my legs and feet.

I should have remembered my bug spray.  I left it at home, and I decided to wear my flip-flops.  Someone from my group brought some, and I used it, but I think it was too late.  Now I'll be scratching my feet and legs all night, and I have to work in the morning.

Worst of was something that has preoccupied my mind all day: I don't know where the hell my camera is.  I took it on vacation, and I printed some pictures for my parents, but Mother wants some more.  I finally found the USB to hook it up to my laptop ... but I actually realized yesterday that my camera is nowhere to be found.

I thought it'd be in the car, so I calmed myself down and waited till today to look for it in the trunk.  It's not there.  And now I'm scared.

One of the worst things about myself isn't that I forget things; it's that it can take me days, weeks, even months for me to realize I forget things.  I make a big deal of material items that I own, keeping them in my room just so I can be certain that I still have them in my possession, even if they may not necesssarily be in my line of sight.  But if I don't need them, they're out of my mind.  So if one day I suddenly decide I need them, there's a chance I wouldn't know where that item is.

Sadly, pathetically, that has happened to my camera.  I bought it for $300 several years ago.  I could upgrade it, but it's a good enough camera, and I don't have the money to splurge for yet another one.  I knew that thing, in its case, was so damn bulky my subconscious would make me not secure it to my belt so I could lose it.

But now I need to take a deep breath and calm down.  I can't have lost it.  The last time I knew I used it was the NHL Draft a little more than a week ago.  I put my case down to snap a photo of the draft logo wrap on the outside doors on one side of the Xcel Energy Center.  I wanted to make it quick because it was drizzling and it could have intensified.  Which means there are only three places it has to be:

1. I brought it inside the house, and it's either somewhere in my room, which I haven't completely scoured yet, or I brought it inside and Grandmother just took it.  I have a penchant for leaving things I bring inside the house on our living room couch, and Grandmother hovers a lot and sticks her nose into things she shouldn't.  It's possible she has it and knows where it is.  Once I'm done with my project (which should be tomorrow/today), I'll ask her.
2. It's still in my car.  There's a lot of shit in my trunk, and even though I looked, I haven't yet completely yanked every single fucking thing out of it.  Plus, it's possible I brought my camera inside the house, but I don't remember doing that.  It's been, what, only ten days since I last used it?  It's possible.
3. I lost it out in public.  Somehow I dropped it on my way to my car from the X.  There's, oh, a five percent chance that happened.  But if it did, well, I'm royally fucked.

You heard of RFID?  I think there's technology where you can stick these stickers onto items you constantly lose, then they can be tracked through an application on your smartphone.  From time to time I thought I could use that technology.  It would be something I would splurge on.

Man, it has to be somewhere around here, right?

This is why I need a cameraphone.  I'll give a damn about a camera if it's attached to a phone, I tell you what.