Kodak Gone Wrong [9.2.08]

One of the most interesting parts of observing human emotion is the aftermath of something not going right, either going wrong or just not going the way one intended. To watch one is sometimes comical, especially when the thing that went wrong is indeed a small detail in the midst of truly important aspects of the day. When my friend dropped her camera, the "nose" or "eye" was ruined, and to make matters far worse, she was forced to spend an ungodly twenty minutes on the phone. When asked for her address, she spouted off "Division highway..." but was interrupted by the Kodak representative who was clearly of Eastern descent. All I heard was "No! D as in dog!" There were recognizable sighs of impatience and looks of disdain. After what seemed like a lifetime of silence with "uh-um" and "um-um" sporadically thrown in, she hung up. One of the most entertaining attributes of the human is the impersonation of another - while angry. "No! Not C as in Charlie - D!", of course mimicked with an Indian accent. Like any decent human being, she soon apologized and asked how my day was going, with which I just nodded and replied. Her IM message read I HATE Kodak, with which she quickly commented about the stupidity of Kodak not allowing camera shops to repair their products. Amidst the coincidences of menstrual "crampiness" and things dropping, she saucily vocalized the quote known throughout mankind: "Apparently...it's not...my...day." Before lunch, we went to the post office and mailed the camera. Throughout the morning, there was a combined total of seven sighs, four grimaces, and two grumbles to which I responded with a giggle. I couldn't bring myself to sympathize with her, simply because the situation wasn't much of a situation at all. None of the events were precursors of necessary mourning or lament, but verbally that is what took place. My hyper observance and heightened sense of humanness made me sit back and chuckle. It also made me wonder - what does society deem as sob-worthy? Do all of us simply complain because there is nothing better on the boob tube? Is today's misfortune tomorrow's gossip column?