Today was intense.

Yesterday I found out that I was in G's photography LDP class.
Today I was all excited when it's time to go to LDP.
When I see who all is in my LDP, I get even more excited.
Then G starts talking.
And is going on about how if you're not serious about competing in photography, you might want to switch out into some other area. And then starts to go on about how you need your own camera for competition, and you need a laptop with Photoshop on it for competition. And then realizes that he doesn't have enough cameras for everyone in the class to use.
So basically, halfway through the period I just want to slink off and go cry.
Like I said, today was intense.

Then, I'm supposed to be taking pictures at the cross country meet.
I decided not to ride up with the team, and I would just drive to Redden after school.
So I go up to G, make sure he still wants me to go, and verify that I'll come pick up the camera right after school. (Somehow I knew he wouldn't be in his room since his last period of the day was his planning period.)
After Sociology, I go down to G's.
Of course, he's not there.
But some other guy is standing there waiting, too.
I quickly realize that it was his son.
We wait.
I keep thinking I hear G's voice or his back door being opened.
Finally he comes barreling down the hallway to unlock his door.
"Did they leave already?"
"Yeah." In fact, they had left nearly forty five minutes before. "But I was just going to drive up there --"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!"
So he gives me the camera to use, drapes it around my neck, and I run off to my car wearing my broken sunglasses. (The discovery of them being broken halfway to school this morning was not very cool.)

I was totally convinced that I would be late for the meet.
I get there at 3:45, fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start. Things are starting to look up.
I walk down to the start line and begin to strategize about where to shoot from.
I play around with the camera, and get a pretty good shot of the girls starting the race. Really it was amazing.
I calculate that I'll be able to get shots of everyone twice --once each loop.
After taking a few shots, I begin to realize how difficult taking pictures of runners is hard. And that G's camera is kinda slow processing, so I could only get one picture of each runner for each lap.
Reviewing the pictures, I get the overwhelming urge to delete all of them except for the picture of the girls starting. G's LDP speech didn't really help.
Then I head back to school to return the camera, and I drive out to the practice football field.
Seeing that he was in the middle of coaching and they were running a drill, I wait on the side of the field until they take a break. In the meantime, I hear quite a lot of swearing from every side of the field. Finally he sends his guys off the field, so I walk over to him. On my way, he gets in a bit of a feud with Coach Layfield. So I finally hand off the camera, and he immediately turns it on and starts reviewing the pictures. I say "They're not very good."
He doesn't like that very much.
And he snaps on me.
And nearly screams "This is a good picture. This is a good picture. This is an excellent picture," and goes on about how I shouldn't bust on myself, and that if he had wanted bad pictures he would have sent some other person in my class to take them, and reestablished that he can always count on me to get it done without whining. By the time he's done talking, he's already walking away from me and I'm about to cry.
Because getting hundreds in my classes just doesn't have as much satisfaction as having G finally say something I had no confidence in was good.