I shot baseball, soccer and softball tournaments for Action Shooters in the 9 months or so before I left for the Peace Corps. It's hard to believe, but I'm back working for them again. I guess I need the money.

I went down to Pleasanton (an oxymoronic placename if ever there was one) to shoot some kids playing baseball. It was the Pirates against Diamondbacks, not that means anything. All that mattered was that I was being paid to be there and take photos.

Action Shooters still uses film, which was a strange reverse transition for me. For the first half of the first roll, I kept looking at the back of the camera to see what the pics looked like only to see the flat back where the film goes instead of an LCD screen. It was disconcerting, but I got over it.

I had some problems with AS just before I let for Samoa. Mostly because Toby, one of the owners was a complete dick. He would lie to me and the other shooters. We'd go on long road trips to Southern California and he'd be driving the van and smoking pot while I was sitting in the back in a folding lawn chair. It made me slightly uncomfortable and, since I wasn't being paid all that much, very expendable. Toby also had some odd traits like referring to change as "shrapnel" which would confuse the hell out the customers and when a parent complained about the photos, he'd pretend that he didn't own the company, which was easy for anyone to buy because the guy was a simple scumbag.

AS has since opened a branch in Orange County and Toby has moved down there so I don't have to deal with him. Most of the guys who I used to shoot with have moved on too, hopefully to better things. There is one guy that I did shoot with before who still shoots on occasion, Hassein. Hassein owes me 500 bucks so I can't wait to see him and I'm certain the feeling is mutual.