DAY IN THE LIFE: Senior Weekend
A photographic odyssey in the pursuit of chicken fingers.
Rude Awakening
My day started with a heavy stand-up fan falling on me. That’s why you don't sleep on the floor, I guess. My friend Tanner, who was sleeping on his bed, had knocked the fan over while dazedly reaching for his phone to turn off his alarm. We were both awake now.
I decided to shower while Tanner woke up his brother Steven. The three of us loaded ourselves up in the car and sang along to music while we drove. I checked my camera to make sure it was ready to go for the day.
Nothing is worse than a long car ride with garbage music.
Photography’s been a passion of mine for a few years now. Of course, anybody with a half decent cell phone can take photos. There isn’t a person I know that doesn’t document a huge portion of their life with their little convenient pocket-sized photo-taking device. (And here’s a little secret: as a photographer, you don’t really need the highest quality gear to get the job done.)
However, there is an immediate sense of respect people give you when you’re holding a fully dedicated camera. It doesn’t even have to be expensive — most people can’t tell anyway. Strangers will see me walk in a place with a bulky DSLR and think, “Oh shoot, this guy must know what he’s doing.” As long as the pictures you take don’t suck, you can have a ton of fun with it.
And We’re Off
We pulled up to a Starbucks. Not exactly my first choice, but Tanner’s girlfriend works there, so we visited her while she had a break. The four of us joked around while drinking our overly-caffeinated drinks until she had to get back to working.
Once we got in the car, we decided to go on a little road trip to Beaumont, to eat at some chicken place called Raising Cane’s that a lot of people have been talking about lately. From town, that would mean about an hour drive on the freeway, so we were all glad Tanner had an aux cord in his car. Nothing is worse than a long car ride with garbage music.
At our side trip to Cabazon, we had a grand old time waking around looking at things we couldn’t afford.
After about forty-five minutes of singing and talking about whatever nonsense that came to our heads that would result in a chuckle from one of us*, we decided to stop at the Cabazon Outlets. There’s not really much do to there because everything in those stores costs more than my house, but we had a grand old time waking around looking at things we couldn’t afford.
*Those are always the best conversations — the ones that are simple, and the only goal is for you and your friends to make each other laugh.
All that walking gave us an appetite.
Finding Fun in the Mundane
We decided it was finally time to go eat. We took some photos together on the way to the car, which was super fun, and we stopped at a gas station, which was also fun.
I think there’s a theme of mundane things being fun for no reason here.
When we finally got to Raising Cane’s, we were kinda messing with the workers and fake-arguing with them. It was all in good fun, though, and everyone got a laugh out of it. Steven thought it would be funny to order an entire cup of Cane’s sauce. We all ended up drinking out of it. I strongly advise against doing that.
Please don’t do it — it’s not worth it.
In my experience, the best things in life are sometimes the most simple.
The Road Home
Over all, the day was really really good, and we finished it off with some alright chicken. I can’t complain about it. The ride home was a completely different vibe. Singing at the top of our lungs to songs while driving down the freeway definitely became a core memory. Like I said earlier, in my experience, the best things in life are sometimes the most simple.
I was also really glad that I had brought my camera. The best part of photography to me isn’t even taking the actual pictures, it’s the social aspect of it. I love getting to know people better through photography. It makes my life a lot more fun.
Dustin Kinda is an avid photographer and a senior at YVHS.
