When I was in college I had Advanced Photography. Advanced Photography required twice as many rolls shot per week than regular old Photography and more time spent in the dark room. I loved all of this but I also had a very active social life so I decided to get a head start before the semester started and shoot a bunch of rolls. For one, I would get some great shots because I could travel a little further than I actually would during the actual semester--ensuring some more original shots and I would get some of the work done that I would inevitably slack on in the coming months.

I headed down the highway to the state park about twenty minutes from the college campus, my mother's hand-me-down Nikon with the coolest guitar-style strap sat impatiently on the passenger side seat of the old Chevy Caprice. I hopped out of the car, armed with the Nikon, five rolls of film and energy. Perhaps it was the weather that had me charged but I literally skipped towards the path that meandered through the woods and eventually up to a vista. I finished the first roll in under ten minutes and realized that I should probably slow down a little bit otherwise I'd miss out on the great view from the top.

Every time I venture out into the woods alone (whether it be for a couple of minutes or a couple of hours) I am always reminded of the first time I read Walden, I've always been a little jealous of Thoreau because he had the guts to live simply. Those thoughts were quickly interrupted when I came upon another person crouched on the trail apparently tying his shoe. I politely sidestepped him and gave him a,"Hey. Nice day huh?" and kept on walking. From behind me the guy says,"Hey weren't you in my Film class?"
I turned around and took a better look at the voice. Yeah, he was gorgeous. His name was Jason. He had superb broad shoulders from football, beautiful dredlocks, tan skin and the clearest pale green eyes. Oh I remembered him from film class alright.
"Yeah I remember you. Sorry didn't mean to be rude or anything, I just try not to make eye contact with anyone on the trails..." I trailed off because I really didn't know what I was saying.
"Are you hiking today?" he asked.
I held up the camera that was hanging from my neck, "I have to take pictures for a class. I kind of want to get a head start. The black room gets packed mid-semester, you know?" He nodded, but clearly did not know.
"Do you want to hike together? Or do you want to be alone with that?" pointing his hand at my camera.
"No, we can walk together, sure."
We barely talked, but it wasn't uncomfortable. He kind of just stood by while I took pictures and we chatted briefly every now and then. When we got to the top of the mountain I snapped a few pictures and then we both sat on one of the rocks and soaked up the sun. After a few minutes Jason (aka Mr. Smooth) turns to me (and quite frankly I'm glad he did this because my butt was perched on a pokey part of the rock) and says, "I always thought you were always cute in that class. Spunky. Did you and the Prof have a thing?"
"Uh no." I said with both eyebrows in the air.
"Oh well it just seemed like you did. You guys were always just joking back and forth in the class."
"Well it was a fun class."
"I guess so." (he totally didn't seem as enthused about it as I had been)
"What about that short guy you always sat with?"
"Are you my stalker? Seriously, you can tell me...I won't run or anything." (Hell yes I will)
"No. I was just always trying to figure out your deal."
"Well I was and am single. I think the "short guy" that you're referring to was my friend Dave."
"Well in that case..." and he leaned in and kissed me. The kiss turned into frantic clothes stripping. Maybe it was the location, maybe it was just hormones, maybe it was the fact that I had been living in the college town all summer with about three college students and 700 locals with five teeth (in other words M was hard up); whatever it was we both pulled off clothes like our lives depended on it.

I wish I could say that the experience was completely great and for the most part it was. The guy was gorgeous, so was the location, the sex wasn't bad but the dirt and sticks that were being crammed in places they shouldn't be crammed in weren't very cool at all. Thank God there wasn't any poison ivy around (back in my little years when I basically lived in the woods with my friends I had a bad run in with poison ivy as toilet paper and I never want to experience it again). When everything was said and done we retrieved clothes, laughed at the possibility of other hikers and wiped dirt off each other's bodies (that was kind of hot now that I think about it). We walked back down to where our cars were parked, holding hands. Yeah it was kind of corny but we both knew it was a fleeting Moment that we had just experienced. As we exited the woods, I felt like a character from A Midsummer Night's Dream. That woods held some kind of enchantment that's for sure. We got to my car and I leaned against it as I pulled Jason towards me and tasted him again briefly. "I'll see you around," as I pushed him gently away and slid into my car.
"Yeah, later" he said smiling and he leaned into the car and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
The truth is, we did see each other around on campus. We had some of the same friends and actually unbeknownst to me, I was sleeping with one of his best friends by mid-semester...so I actually saw quite a bit of him. Although perhaps not as much as I saw that one day.

A kind of funny aside was that our school did a "Men of ____(insert my college here)Calendar" and Jason was in there. Sometimes I wish I had purchased one so that when I'm old, wrinkly and the other person who thinks I'm a hottie has no teeth of his own and arthritis to boot; I could whip out that calendar, sit my granddaughter on my knee and say to her, "I hit that" pointing at Jason. (Maybe I wouldn't use that term, but I think it's funny to say)