Much Ado

I am a horrible person. I am, I am, I am. Somehow this weekend I smushed the beautiful, lovely 12X optical zoom digital camera that Tarzan gave me for Christmas. *sniff* I feel like such a stupid head. The camera still works, technically, but both the lens cap and LCD screen are cracked and I can't see what I am photographing 'cuz the viewfinder is dark as well. And I don't even know HOW I did it. Between the house, it was fine then - I checked, and Military Camp, when the parade started, it got busted. *sniff sniff* Tarzan was sweet about it, "we'll get it fixed," but that only made me feel worse. If someone else busts my stuff I can afford to be magnanimous because at least it wasn't *I* who did such a stupid thing. But this time it was me! And it sucks to be on this end of the stick. *sniff sniff sniff*
I hear you asking: Why was I at a Military Camp watching a parade and noticing the sad demise of the beautiful digital camera? Well, I'll tell you. One of the young men from Tarzan's Scout Troop was invited to go participate with the Marines at Camp Pendleton for 10 days through the Devil Pups organization. And Saturday was the graduation. Because it's an...interesting family situation and they do not have a car I drove the DevilPup's mom and brother down for the ceremony. (I love that they call them DevilPUPS) Let me tell you, the military has an odd concept of what makes for adequate driving directions. This is what I had:
Interstate S
Exit Military Camp
Follow signs to main gate
Show driver's license and registration
Follow road for 12 miles
Turn left on 13th street
See football field
Park
This seemed a straightforward kind of trip. And the first two steps were easy. It was a nice drive, not too much traffic, even through the Orange Crush and there we were exiting after only 1-1/2 hours. (We left earlier than necessary because I ALWAYS get lost the first time I drive anywhere. Always.) There was a sign at the signal light at the end of the ramp pointing east for the Military Camp. Easy. Left we go. Aaaaaaaaaand then it all fell apart. At the next light we had the choice of going one of three ways. No signs. I figured the logical thing (don't you DARE laugh Tarzan) was to go straight since no sign had indicated that I change my course. After puttering through three four way stop lights (because the power was out all over the town - what was that about?) and not seeing any signs at all we stopped to ask directions. Oh wait, we were supposed to go left back there at the three-way? So we turn around and go back. At the intersection we turn right (we're in reverse now remember) and are faced with another choice and again NO SIGNS. Crap. We veer right and after it appears we're on a state highway we find a place to turn around and go back to the same (i.e. first) intersection. We take the left and then the left again and after we almost merge with the freeway there's a huge sign, parallel to the road, and a big tent. This is the main gate. We pull up - thankfully we have almost 45 minutes until the ceremony starts - and the nice marine confirms our directions (12 miles, turn left, etc.) although he did not check my license and registration. I could have been a terrorist for heaven's sake! But I wasn't. So we pressed on. We passed 6th Street and then 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. 11th. And then 'A Street.' Wait, what? Never mind, we hadn't gone 12 miles yet. (I am not SO dumb, I did keep my eye on the odometer.) We pass the hospital and the museum and the lake and a bunch of streets with names that were not numbers and then, at the top of the hill we hit 19th Street. Well pooh. Did we miss it? We turn around and drive slower back down the hill to look for street signs. Nothing. By the time we get back to the museum we are sure we didn't pass it, so we stop and ask some dude crawling over a tank if he knows where we should be going. He doesn't know where 13th Street is and the football field he knows is on the other side (read, 200 square miles other side) of the Base. He suggests we ask at the firehouse. Good idea. Back up the hill, past 19th Street and wait a second...what if this is like 100 North and 100 South? Yeah, what if? We drive two more blocks and sure enough, 18th Street. We are declining. 17th, 16th, etc. 'Round about 14th Street there is a minuscule sign on a pole with "Special Event" on it. And lah lah lah, 13th Street where we turned left, saw the football field and parked. We had arrived at 11:59am. The graduation started at noon. Well, d***. So we hotfooted it over to the bleachers, sat down and the presentation of the colors began. Talk about timing. It was then that I opened my camera case to discover the devastating news. It was busted. I took some pictures and the ones in wide angle came out okay, but you can't tell the girls from the guys in those shots. (There were about 300 kids total divided in 6 platoons) The close-ups seemed to be mostly of trees and sky when I downloaded them back at home. I don't think the zoom works like it used to.
The good news was traffic was even better for the return trip, he seemed to have had a really good time and I didn't get lost.

This is me needing a GPS or leash or something.