August 1 - 20, 2017
Life etc.
by Jun Cordero
Not sure if we can say
we’ve had enough of this hot
summer weather, with smoke
and ash in the air from even
far away wildfires. Surely this
must be driving some people
nuts already.
Or maybe some people
are really nuts. The warm
weather brings lots of dangers,
not only from wildfires but
from wild critters - like bears
coming down into inhabited
areas. And what more can be
nuts than this Chinese guy the
other day who turned his back
into a huge wandering black
bear to take a selfie (of himself
with the bear approaching his
back). What a nut!
Now that aI mention
selfie, it wasn’t very long that
the word never existed. About
fifteen years ago I came
across a small Radio Shack
in Marysville Washington and
they were clearing some stuff.
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
I saw what resembled
a monopod that
looked like a stainless
telescopic
fishing
pole that had a threaded male
nipple at the end. Turned out
that this thing connects to the
camera’s tripod nipple, which
would allow you to take a
photo of yourself. Remember,
this was like fifteen years ago
and it was called simply a
camera rod.
There was only one on
the shelf with a clearance tag
of eight dollars so for that
price I thought it would be a
novelty, so I took it.
For some time it was
forgotten in my camera bag.
Whenever I want to include
myself in pictures I simply use
the camera timer. That’s it, so
I never thought that rod to be
of any use.
One time we went
vacationing in Hawaii I
thought about using it so I
brought it along as we toured
the island. Swell enough it
proved very handy as I took
photos, me included.
But then in the middle
of the tour my wife noticed
that people were looking at
us with a smile on their faces.
My wife thought they were
laughing at us, so I too began
to be self-conscious using
that thing. True enough, one
guy was so curious that he
came by and asked me where
I got that thing. Anyways I
didn’t want to be a laughing
stock so I stopped using that
rod.
Checking in at the
airport on the
flight home I
was held up
at the x-ray
conveyors.
It turned out
that they were
putting
my
luggage back
and
again
into the x-
ray machine
cause
of
something
that caught
Selfie
their attention.
Finally one inspector
called me and told me what
could be something inside
that looked like a metal rod.
When I opened my luggage I
showed them my camera rod
and the bewildered officers
asked me what it was. I
proudly attached my camera
at the end and showed them
how it worked. They all
congratulated me and let me
go.
Soon enough, as history
would show, the smartphone
Toronto
Calgary
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
became smarter with those
fancy cameras, and taking
own’s “selfie” photos became
popular, hence the birth of
the “selfie stick”.
I’m still proud to know
that I’m a pioneer of this
thingy, though nobody would
even care. Anyways I’m glad
with the fact that now I don’t
get stopped at x-ray machines
anymore because of that, and
I don’t have to demonstrate to
those airport guys anymore.