The end of my class is coming up in a few weeks, so I've been frantically working on my final project. I will most probably not be posting those photos here, they really are extremely artsy fartsy (even more than my usual level) and not that my loyal readers won't "get" them... it is just that they have to be displayed in a way that they make sense.. to get the full effect, so to speak... that that won't be possible on this blog. But I do have a story about my adventures in getting this project off the ground.

In a nutshell, I've been running around town looking for windows. They don't have to be "cool," just big. I have been eyeing the windows at my gym since I came up with this idea and had asked the front desk if they had any policy about taking photos in the gym. The feeling was, it was best to ask the management. I chose not to.

On Sunday, while scoping out other windows in the area of my gym, I noticed that there were some tree janitors trimming trees outside the window of my gym I was particularly interested in. I thought that this was a perfect juxtaposition. People trimming trees outside a place where people trim themselves. I ran inside the gym to take the picture i wanted from inside the window.

Between me taking the picture in the gym and walking outside, the trimmers had apparently contacted the gym manager. I was approached by them upon exiting the building with a trimmer's finger pointed at me and a, "That's her."

That statement is almost always a bad thing.

"I'm a member, I swear."

"I'm the general manager of the gym. What is your name?"

"Larissa Wilson. Look, I'm just an art student working on a project involving windows. I thought the tree trimmers were a fun twist."

"I was wondering if you would be willing and able to take photos of the outside of the building, I've been wanting just the right shot, with just the right lighting in this window you like so much. Do you think you could do that? I will compensate you with gym membership."

Pause. Jaw Drop.

"You scared the living bejeezes out of me!! I thought I was going to get in trouble with the authorities!"

"Well, the trimmers called me because they were worried that you were a tree hugger upset that they were 'hurting' trees and taking pictures for a newspaper or something."

At this point, I really wanted to say, "Dude, I'm wearing a LEATHER COAT. How much of a tree hugger could I POSSIBLY BE?"

Again, this the kind of thing that can ONLY happen in the PNW. Within one week, I was mistaken for a goat dealer and a tree hugging environmentalist.

SERIOUSLY.