The most unfruitful morning
Topic: Personal
NMA was participating in the annual community cleanup event in Encanto, and as the official chapter photographer I planned to take some photos of the event. The kickoff is usually around 8am, but I was out late last night and wasn't going to make it so early, so I figured I'd drive directly to their assigned cleanup site at about 9.30ish. Sounds like a good plan, yah? I've done this the past two years and it's always worked out well - I show up, round the crew together around a stop-sign and a NMA banner, and have a great photo for the newsletter and the annual dinner.

I drive to the address given to me by the volunteer team captain, and sure enough, there was a group of people in matching t-shirts cleaning up this yard, but wait! They're far to young and lissome to be City employees! In fact, they were UCSD students. So, where is my group?

Off I drive back to the non-profit that was hosting the event, and had to go through 5 people in 'staff' t-shirts before someone can figure out where the volunteer assignments were. I was a little annoyed by that. On the one hand, I'm used to working with people who are organized and know what they're doing - sure, the UT'd probably dispute that view of City employees, but I digress - so I expected the organizers to be much better organized than they were, but on the other hand, it is a meagerly funded non-profit, and while I was trying to get the information I need, a guy on their staff had a heart attack. The ambulance and firetruck came for him, and while the medics were strapping him to the gurney, another guy comes tearing, breathlessly, into the building, and yells, "there's a terrible car-crash down the block!"

Turned out that a car had driven into the strip mall on the other side of the parking lot and plowed straight into a shop, through the plate-glass window, taking out all the shop furniture and lights (but oddly enough not the shop door, which stood unharmed and not even moved), and almost wholly disappearing into the shop itself, leaving only a morose set of tail-lights winking through the demolished frontage. [I read later that three people were hurt in the crash, one seriously. It was not clear whether they were all in the car or if there was anyone in the shop; but looking at the photo, it's pretty damned shocking that the driver managed to get the car so deeply and neatly into what really is a small space.]

So there I was, standing on the sidewalk on Imperial Avenue, with a fire-rescue unit in action in the parking lot on my right, and another unit in action the parking lot on my left. Which to photograph? Would I get in trouble if I took photos? And where is my group? 'Cause, you know, I came here this morning to take their photos, not to gawk ghoulishly at heart attacks or car wrecks.

I eventually completely failed to find the people I was supposed to photograph (either I was too late and they'd finished, or I was given bad directions, which was more probable), but ended up with a bunch of random pics of other volunteers and of course the crash. I'm going to have to have some 'splainin' to do for the team captain on Monday, but I really felt as though I was thwarted at every turn today in my attempt to complete my mission...