Beautiful sunset / cursing punks

We had a beautiful sunset tonight... Unfortunately, I only had my oldest digital camera with me and the photo is only about 1/10th as impressive as reality was. I wish I could have shared the real thing with you all .... (Well, MOST of you /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

But I want to relate a strange little story that is only peripherally related to the sunset:

This photo was taken from a spot about 1/4 mile from my house. I actually stop there several times a a year to take pictures, as there is a good view of our most impressive mountain peak from there, and it is framed well by the forest, the edge of a golf course. During the fall and spring while there is snow on the mountain and green grass on the golf course, the colors and contrast between the green grass, darker green pine trees, white peaks and azure sky can just be beautiful.....

Anyway, I always pull off into this small parking lot which is almost always empty, being a substation where our local Volunteer Fire Department keeps a small engine.... (Ok, I'm trying to get to the point...)

The last three times I have been there taking photos, I have had vehicles passing by, each with two teens in them just cruising by and screaming obscenities at me. First time, about a month ago it was two girls in a little silver Miata. The second time it was two different girls in a green SUV, and tonight it was two boys in a red Mitsubishi pickup.

Now, get the picture.... It is cold here, and no one is going to be driving around with their windows open, yet each time the passenger went to the effort to roll down the window, climb halfway out and scream at me like a viscious dog will bark at you from behind a fence... (That is what it really "felt" and sounded like).

Now, none of these kids ever saw me before, haven't a clue who or what I am. I never cut them off in traffic or in any way caused them any irritation (except apperently by my very existence); They don't know my political or religious beliefs or what I think of them. And these were not "opressed minorities" or anyone who would have any reason to want to scream at some stranger.

Weird huh? I might expect something like this in "Sunnyvale" near the "Hellmouth" but here in our (mostly) peaceful, laid-back community???? Gotta be some strange occult presence in the area that makes anyone with raging hormones go momentarily insane.

The boys tonight just happened to be at the store I was heading to when I pulled in a few minutes later. I started over towards them to ask them what they had against me, but they saw me coming and peeled out of there, both with center fingers extended.

next time it happens, take their pictures, that will
REALLY freak them out, and give you amusing things
to post.

hell, video tape it.

I tried to take a picture of them this evening, but missed the button in my haste. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif

Any bumper stickers on your vehicle that might be ticking them off? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Dan

Just think Silviron: That's the generation that will be paying into your Social Security fund. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

[ QUOTE ]
PercaDan said:
Any bumper stickers on your vehicle that might be ticking them off? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to mention that in my initial post, but I figured that it was too wordy as it was....

Nope, no bumper-stickers or any kind of identification other than license plate.... Not even a dealer sticker. I know better...

Back about 12 years ago I actually wrote an article for a community "block watch" group's newsletter about personal security and one of the things I recommended is that no one have any kind of thing like that on their vehicles, No gang insignia (Like a "Raiders" football logo), no NRA stickers, no Marine Corps stickers, no "My child is an Honor student at...." stickers or any sports team paraphenalia etc. ANY of those can make you a target for the the nutcases of the world.

Maybe they're CPF lurkers.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Seriously that kind of stuff is realy unsettling. When it has happened to me, I sit and second guess myself for quite a while to see if I can come up with ANYTHING that I may have done to incite it. And except for peeing into the sunroof of their car earlier in the day, I usually come up empty /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
snuffy said:
Just think Silviron: That's the generation that will be paying into your Social Security fund. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

HA! I hope I'm never forced to collect a dime of Social Security.... the only way I'll do it is if I am disabled and lose all of the assets that I have earned or will inherit. Even then I might prefer to live in a cardboard box and eat out of the dumpster behind Mr. Burger.

Assuming I live another 14 years (or whatever it takes, I'm 51) AND assuming that Social Security even exists by then (which I doubt it will), I still won't collect any, I plan on working until I die and am opposed to that whole pyramid scheme in general.

Had a experience like that recently that was racially motivated in a gang infested area. I bent over to tie my shoelaces and the handle from my Colt Delta Elite popped out from under my jacket. Ended that. Only language they understand.

BC- Somewhere like that I would be expecting something like that, but not here.

I agree with you there. I lived in Utah for two years and almost couldn't adjust to the lack of crime and how nice people were. When driving West I got to sleep all the time in Jeep just outside Raton, NM at rest stop on the highway without a second thought. No way I would do that here.

There's a kind of aggressive craziness in adolescents and young adults that is easily triggered by almost anyone who looks vaguely different or vulnerable, either by appearance, activity or both.

Kids will express it in different ways depending on their background, genetics, upbringing, the society and culture they are part of, neighborhood etc.

It is more likely to be triggered by lone individuals than couples or groups, and unfortunately, though it means little to the rear apertures who initiate it, it can be very upsetting to its targets.

It happened to me a few times when I was younger, but once, during my drinking days (never got heavily into rec drugs) a punk-filled car stopped and for some reason I walked aggressively toward it and thrust my hand into my pocket as if to draw a (nonexistant) gun and they took off, spinning gravel! I have no idea what would have happened had they called my bluff.

The most important point I'd like to make has nothing to to with those kids. It's that beautiful picture you took. It is truly gorgeous. I subscribe to Popular Photography and I've seen many prize-winning landscape shots. I'm certainly no expert but I believe yours is at least as good as some of the best I've seen. Did you digitally alter it in any way? If you didn't then it's even more impressive.

Have you thought of entering it in POP PHOTOG or any place else? I'm saving that shot, I really like it.

Brightnorm

[ QUOTE ]
brightnorm said:
...
It happened to me a few times when I was younger, but once, during my drinking days (never got heavily into rec drugs) a car stopped and for some reason I walked aggressively toward it and thrust my hand into my pocket as if to draw a (nonexistant) gun and they took off, spinning rubber! I have no idea what would have happened had they called my bluff.


[/ QUOTE ]

and one of these days, those kids are going to enrage somebody who rages
easily, and is going to get hurt. it happens. in fact, i've witnessed it.
a goth/punk culturally speaking yoot (youth) mouthed off to a harley-guy
(beard, jacket, boots, the whole deal) who was driving a truck, and the dude
felt no qualms about slamming the kid's car off the road. boom. that kid
had a mouth too, and harley-guy coulda used him for a toothpick. yoiks.

recently, some teen in his roid mobile (hopped up eagle talon) decided to
merge at a 90 degree angle into me, and when i didn't back off fast enough,
he decided i was his "puppy" to toy with. darting all over, squirting around
traffic to catch up when he missed a pass, slamming on his brakes thinking
he was scaring me or something. i was hoping for a cop or a stupid move
on his part to auto-darwinate, but no such luck. i think if i'd been in
a harley-biker mood and had a truck, i simple woulda let him hit me the first
time and shrug off his plastic car parts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif however, i like my car and my
clean record, and didn't do anything to this joker, so i lost him /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif kids
don't know all the tricks yet, like getting their plates #s, just in case
the cops have to be called in.

Interesting info 'Norm.

Well, I'm not really too different looking; Normal number of limbs etc. A little (well, a lot) bald on top would be about the only thing that would set a young punk off.

Certainly not a bit vulnerable looking. 6-2 and 240 pounds, and most of the "beer belly is gone now.... Imagine the current Jesse Ventura shape and general look (except the mustasche), but just a little smaller overall.... No one has tried to pick a fight face-to face with me in 29 years.

Nope, there is NOTHING logical about this situation as far as I can put my finger on.

Thanks for the comment on the photo too- I consider it mediocre at best, but I really appreciate your appreciation /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif I'm working on improving my skills in that area, and have posted a few of my better ones over on a popular photography forum.
http://www3.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=80257 if anyone is interested.

The above picture has been manipulated a bit- The camera I had with me is only 1.4 MP and while it does well for daylight landscapes, it is really pretty bad for high-contrast low light situations. I had to boost the color saturation, do a bunch of noise reduction and a few other things.

Got some great pics up (about 200 shots)at the ski run yesterday, but they all need to be edited before I share them.

They must be from L.A.

You probably reminded them of an authority figure they don't like or they though you were a tourist.

[ QUOTE ]
leddite said:
[ QUOTE ]
brightnorm said:
i think if i'd been in
a harley-biker mood and had a truck, i simple woulda let him hit me the first
time and shrug off his plastic car parts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif however, i like my car and my
clean record,

[/ QUOTE ]

yes I know what you mean...my truck cost well over $30,000 but being "harley-biker" type, I regularly go around ramming unsuspecting little cars with it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Somehow I've managed to buy a Harley without a beer-gut, a beard, a pony-tail, a criminal record or a chain-drive wallet. Immagine that. The picture was taken in the church parking lot too.........shocking to you?

logical,

A little Off-topic but I just had to say thats a great sig line /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thank you X-ray. You are very kind.

[ QUOTE ]
Silviron said:
...Thanks for the comment on the photo too- I consider it mediocre at best, but I really appreciate your appreciation /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif I'm working on improving my skills in that area, and have posted a few of my better ones over on a popular photography forum.
http://www3.photosig.com/userphotos.php?id=80257 if anyone is interested.


[/ QUOTE ]

Silveron,

I looked at a couple of your photos of Las Vegas and that first mythological one. I thought they were awfully good and wanted to see more but my dialup was too slow to enlarge any others.

I was a crude point-&-shooter years ago, nowhere near your level. Seems like the expected standard in that forum is frighteningly high. I still like your original pic because it hit me emotionally and seemed eleoquent in a simple way.

Brightnorm