Morjes!

Welcome to my blog. I write about fitting in, sticking out, and missing the motherland as a serial foreigner.

Flashback Friday: Photos with friends from The Summer of Tennis

I managed to catch up with a few old friends while I was visiting Oregon last week, and talking with one of them reminded me of a certain stash of photos I've been hanging on to for almost ten years now. Thus, today's Flashback Friday will not be a grand narrative, but rather a collection of photographs. Some of you have been begging for more photos anyway, so consider this your lucky day.

There was one season of Seinfeld where George lost his job and declared the next few months to be "The Summer of George." Sometimes, for whatever reason, months of my life seem to take on a similar theme. The summer after my senior year of high school, 1999, was "The Summer of Tennis." A few friends and I played tennis together all summer long, all the time.

I don't know why we did. Before you get any illusions about my ability, let me tell you that there is a reason that I only ever did cross-country and track in high school: I have little to no coordination. Still, I managed to play tennis decently, I guess. Well enough that it was fun, anyway.

Two of my tennis cronies that summer were Mike and Kirk. We all went to the same high school, but Kirk and I had graduated and were both headed to the BYU in the fall. Mike had another year of high school left (even though he's two days older than me). One night, after one of those decisions that only really makes sense if you were there at the time and also 17 or 18 years old, we took the MAX train to downtown Portland with a couple of cameras and took pictures. Later, Kirk added titles to some of them. Here they are for your viewing and mocking enjoyment.


"Urban Ballet" - on the pedestrian bridge leading to the MAX station (the Sunset Transit Center for those of you in the know).


"Progression" - still on the pedestrian bridge.


"The City Mourns" - it was totally unintentional, but take a look at how the colors of our shirts actually coordinate with the lights on the bridge in the background.


"Terror Le Nocturne" - getting attacked by the statue of Mr. Portland.


"Anything but Regular" - there was some kind of festival going on down by the waterfront and there was a random Revlon promotion booth. Maybe we were just being juvenile, but you have to admit that the expression on Salma's face is a little strange.


Also in the Revlon booth, they had makeup tester samples. Take a look at that mangled mess of lipstick. Don't worry, I didn't actually touch my lips with it.


"Asymmetry" - somewhere in downtown Portland.


"Evolution, brought to you by GAP" - this was during the time when GAP had all those quirky commercials featuring songs like "I'm Just Mad About Saffron" and "Just Can't Get Enough." Remember those? We fit right in. This was in the MAX station underneath the Oregon Zoo (and the cemetery).


"Abbey Road M" - the lady in front was just a random fellow MAX passenger. What a good sport. I have no idea what the M stands for.

I have no idea if either Kirk or Mike reads this blog, or remembers these photos, or ever thought I would have the guts to actually display them publicly. When I started doing Flashback Friday, I said that I might post embarrassing or awkward photos without permission, so they can't say they weren't warned.

I think my favorite photo is "Progression." I left for college a few days after this photo extravaganza and it just gets me thinking about the whole process. The one that makes me laugh the most, though, is definitely "Anything but Regular." I guess I'm still juvenile. What are your favorites?

Running against the odds

Sounds like morning sickness