This may have been too close

Or at least it was for the Shreveport police. I took this photo earlier today at a fire at a recycling collection site.

I try to make my photos (and writing) as interesting as possible, so angles are important. We see pictures of firefighters from far away or with their backs to us pretty often, so I wanted to get as close as I could and try to get a face in the shot.

And I did a pretty good job of it before a police officer peaked around the dumpster and found me. Busted. She kicked me out and put me with the other media folk -- in a much more boring spot. Granted, she told me she just did it for my protection, and I believe she had hers and my best interests in mind. But I wouldn't have gone there if I really felt in danger. And the firefighters and their supervisors didn't make me move... Water under the bridge.

Anyhow, I got this and the one that will appear in Saturday's paper. This firefighter, Dwayne Johnson, had a good sense of humor. When he realized I was taking his picture he asked if it was OK to turn the hose in my direction... haha. I feel like this would've been my last blog if we had destroyed the camera.

Can you feel the heat?

Thoughts on womanhood

I've been thinking about women a lot lately. (Before someone clever writes about how I'm imagining versus interacting, let me just say it's not those kind of thoughts are another blog entry.)

For some reason I've just been realizing how different a woman must feel in the world compared to the way I do. I'm not talking about how it would feel to be a woman so much as how other people treat you.

Let's start with last night. I caught the end of the Molly Ringwald's concert (sans an '80s costume), and there was a rather flexible and curvaceous woman I would guess is about my age gyrating (literally). And she liked dancing with one of the cops who was trying to keep order in the Red River District. I saw her shake it a little in the officer's vicinity (and some of my cohorts said she flashed him -- can't confirm that) and perform some simulated bedroom dirtiness with a man who appeared to be her date for the evening.

Now in most cases if a guy did anything like this, he would get kicked out of an establishment immediately. She stuck around for a while before SPD kindly escorted her away.

A few weeks back, I was helping fellow Link blogger Ashley celebrate her 24th birthday at a pool party. I entered the pool/hot tub area at a local apartment complex with her and two other lovely ladies, and the reaction was like a ants to sugar. And they were the sugar, not me.

This is not jealousy I'm writing about. There were guys all over them. I'm swimming around, they're sitting on the edge with their feet and the water and men literally start pulling on their legs. I honestly can't imagine what it's like to constantly be hit on.

Not that this is always OK, but I (and I would guess many women) would expect that kind of thing at a bar. But in the middle of the day? For someone you don't know to actually lay hands on you?

I realize the situations I'm describing are similar only because they both involve women. And it's kind of ironic that in one case the person who wanted attention was mostly getting laughed at while the other attention-grabbers didn't really want to be bothered.

So tell me, ladies, how does it feel?