Vanity, They name is....

On Wednesday I was supposed to take part in a live stream web chat thingy on Huffington Post. I left a comment on one of the discussions about girls in developing countries being married off at 12 and being denied education. I know a bit about the education side because of the school I support in Ghana, and I was flattered that they asked me to be on their live show. I spent more than a few hours looking up very interesting and important stuff on girls, the problems and the answers. Just to make sure I didn't look like a complete amateur.

And of course, since it was a live web chat, I had a mild panic attack about the fact that I look like a three week old cadaver on Skype or anything else where I have to sit in bad lighting and look down into my laptop. I spent more than a little time placing said laptop in front of various lamps and windows. The best spot was in the closet in my bedroom (very soft lighting) but since the wi-fi kept cutting out up there, I had to come back down and deal with the shadows and the cruel lines on my face.

Eventually I settled for a spot right in front of a big window with full sunlight coming in. Not wanting to look down at the laptop (am I the only one whose face goes weird at that angle?), I placed it on a pile of Xbox cases and hoped that no one walked past the house with a barking dog. Reminded me of the first radio interview I ever did - locked in the closet in my daughter's room!

Anyway, they didn't call back, which is not uncommon. I understand the world of journalism moves at a crazy pace, and they probably found someone with a few more credentials on the subject. Not a problem. It'd be nice if they had let me know at some point. I did end up planning my whole day around the thing. Sigh.

However, I spent some time playing around with Photo booth on my Mac. For ladies "of a certain age" some of the effects you can use are just perfect. I might have to walk around in a pencil haze from now on.