Some Portraits

I was watching the Today show yesterday morning before heading off to work, as is my daily habit, and they had a short interview with President Obama's official photographer and the unveiling of his official Presidential portrait. Here it is, in case you haven't seen it yet:



It is a formality, sure, but they were listing the places where we will be seeing this particular picture in the coming years like government offices, schools, and every United States embassy in countries all over the world. That last one really hit me, really filled me with a sense of total pride. I remember going into the American Corner at the National Taichung Library and seeing President Bush's portrait there. As strange as it sounds, even seeing his photo when I was so far away from home was a little comforting, a nice reminder of my country. And I was so far past being proud of him by that point. So now I imagine going into that room next week and seeing this picture of President Obama hanging on the wall, and I feel this enormous swelling of pride and joy inside of me. He is our representative to the world now, he is the face that America is putting forward to the world, he is us. When these thoughts occurred to me I felt them so deeply, I was so moved, and I had to say, quietly and aloud, "Oh, thank God."

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Here's another portrait that I saw on the Today show that morning. Have you heard this bizarre story? He's a successful investment advisor and amateur pilot from Indiana. He was trying to escape from some poor business decisions and his life, I guess, so he set the auto-pilot on his plane and parachuted out somewhere over Birmingham where he had stashed a motorcycle in a storage facility. He tried to make a getaway, but the police caught up with him, and now he's in a bit of trouble. It is an interesting story, but I think this picture tells a much more interesting, much more ridiculous story:



Oh, where to begin? Posing with your plane? Your luxury car? Your trophy wife, in some sort of bizarre, quasi-sexy trophy pose? The whole thing makes me want to laugh and vomit simultaneously. Seriously, though, how screwed up in the head do you have to be to meticulously arrange your toys for an ultimate vanity portrait like this? I believe you might just be begging for it all to come crashing down around you.

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Speaking of vomit and in other news, I got that 24 hour flu thing that everyone has been getting on Tuesday. It was a rough day. I've harbored this little fantasy for a long time now, that someday I would take a sick day off of work and spend all day in bed watching my Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs straight through; that's like 12 hours of movie action, people. That would be a wonderful sick day! It didn't happen. I got about 2 hours in before I was feeling so sick that I couldn't even sit up in bed or focus my eyes on the screen. I had to just lay flat on my back and listen to music. I won't go into any other details of the day. You're welcome. Oh, but this: two days later and I still haven't really regained my appetite yet. And I am completely okay with that. Most of the time, eating is just one more thing for me to do that I would rather not bother with. And I don't do it very well; I'm such an unhealthy eater. Hand me those doughnuts!

Currently Watching:
The Today Show