Back in the dark ages, I was invited to the house of a friend (let's call her Mildred) for dinner and to view pictures of her and her husband (let's call him Ernesto)'s honeymoon. Honeymoon pictures... wouldn't you go?
It was a free gourmet dinner with pleasant people. And, yeah, I was curious what I was in for, picture-wise. For better or worse, it didn't play out as you might imagine. And, really, I'm having a hard time thinking of friends I'd want to see in flagrante. This was perhaps especially true of Mildred and Ernesto. So, I guess I got lucky... not seeing them get lucky.
But seeing other people's vacation photos? Usually, anywhere from incredibly dull to depressing, right? Post them on Facebook and move on. Alas, this was pre-Facebook.
We had a perfectly pleasant dinner and then Ernesto set up the slide show and we settled in.
*click* (picture of sign)
Mildred: Here's a shot of the "Welcome to Maine" sign.
Me: Ah.
Mildred: We just loved Maine!
*click* (picture of cabin)
Mildred: This is the cabin we rented for the week. It was so great!
Me: That looks nice...
*click* (picture of living room)
Mildred: Here's the living room in the cabin.
Me, thinking it's going to be a loooong evening: Pretty...
*click* (picture of vista)
Mildred: Here's the view from the cabin.
Me: OOOooo, very nice.
Mildred: Yeah, it was pretty amazing.
*click* (picture of Ernesto in a Captain Morgan-like pose on boulders with a scarf tied pirate style on his head)
Me: Hahaha! Look at you, Ernesto! A pirate! Hahaha! That's great!
Mildred: *pause* We went hiking. It was really nice there. Some great trails.
*click* (picture of Ernesto still with the same scarf on, in front of a rocky bluff)
[Ernesto may or may not have looked exactly like this]
Me: Arrr, Matey! Hahaha!
Mildred:
Ernesto:
Me: Hahaha!
Mildred:
Ernesto:
*click* (Yet another picture of Ernesto in the scarf.)
Me: Ha...ha...*cough*
It was at this point that it occurred to me that Ernesto was not trying to be a pirate so much as cover his balding head in what he perceived as a fashion forward way.
Awkward. With a capital AWK.
Which brings us to the question du jour: Is it appropriate to show other people your vacation photos?