I've been wondering lately about the ways that people can enter your life, what they do when they are knocking around in there, and how they leave it.
There are probably people out there you've had a lifelong experience with who are pretty much forgettable. Maybe they are boring, maybe they bug you. Maybe they're an employee at your parent's business, or maybe they are a faraway relative who sends you a card once a year. I doubt you'd ever tell them that they are disposable, but once they are out of your life you don't even notice.
Then there are the people who, in the grand scheme of things, are just a blip on the radar of your life, but completely unforgettable. Before I even hit kindergarten I was taking dance lessons, and I remember one assistant teacher, who was there maybe three times. Her name was Miss Pepper and she had gorgeous, long, long hair down to her bum. Because of this mane she was our "dragon" and we followed behind her in our Dragon Dance. Thirty years later, I still can't believe I remember what she looks like.
I remember a little boy who used to take the Valentines I sent him and cram them under his pillow so he could sleep with them every night. He's much older now, probably dating, getting zits, driving a car. Does he remember me?
I remember a woman who came into the store I was managing, and giving her a hug as she cried over the news that her daughter was just diagnosed with epilepsy. Does she remember how I held her up? Probably not, she barely seemed to know I was even there at the time. Would Stewart Copeland remember me as a crazed flag waver if I introduced myself to him as one? Even though we made eye contact and pointed at each other, hundreds of concerts, too many redheads, and so many flashes of green... I doubt it. Yet here I am, remembering all of this right now.
What about the folks that helped me down out of my seat when I flipped out with vertigo at the Elton John/Billy Joel concert? I suppose they don't know I remember them and yet I'm still thankful for what they did.
So many ways that we can affect people, so many small ways, and we don't even know it. It's almost frightening to think that we might have to be on our best behaviour all the time, just in case. I guess it's our own memories, though, that we really should be worrying about, and not trying to guess when we'll be in someone else's.
I was hoping to post the Eat to the Beat round up before going away for the weekend, but my schedule has been really hectic this week and I'm not going to get a chance. I promise I will post it first thing next week! We have some great entries, again.
Also, just a quick note to those of you who use a reader. Several months back, Vox randomly switched to a feed that only shows the first couple of sentences and small pictures in readers, which I found to be incredibly annoying. I was playing around trying to move my site (again) when I came across my full RSS feed. So, if you want to be able to view my entire post in your reader and not just the first few sentences, you need to subscribe to this feed: http://ellysaysopa.vox.com/library/posts/rss-full.xml
Have a wonderful 4th, all!
SELF PORTRAIT THURSDAY!
7.3.08
Astoria Bagels (Bagel?) puts TOO MUCH cream cheese on their bagels.
Just look at this big chunk of cream cheese that fell out of my everything bagel:
x!c
P.S.
No work tomorrow.
Sonic Youth tomorrow.
Fourth of July tomorrow.
Bonfire at Lillian G.'s place tomorrow.
Holler.
Show us a puppy.
I'm not a fan of hearing people whistle. Sorta annoys me.
And no, it's not because I'm jealous since I can't whistle.
I mean, I can't swim very well at all, but I don't get annoyed when I see people swimming.
(This is the best topic I could come up with after forgetting what I was originally going to write about.)
I can also talk about how Starbucks is closing 600 of their locations around the country. "Experts" think it's because the chain expanded too quickly.
I wouldn't be sad if all Starbucks went away. I don't drink/like coffee anyway.
There was this area in Houston (N. Sheperd and W. Gray) that has (had?) two Starbucks locations RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from each other.
I think that is probably one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.
And I hope both of those locations close down, too.
New shirt variations:
Sarah C. is partial to the pink t-shirt; I'm partial to the green one.
(I might keep the green prototype for myself. We'll see how I feel after I'm done here at Parachute for the day.)
Netflix sent me "The Apple" yesterday in the mail.
Have you ever seen that movie? It's really stupid and insane and funny.
But I've only seen it 1.25 times.
Today "The Brown Bunny" is being sent to me. I don't really like Vincent Gallo (seems a bit self-absorbed/self-centered---and not in the good way) that much, but I liked "Buffalo 66". So, maybe I'll like this.
I also want to see Chloe Sevigny be a respectable actress.
In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.
For crying out loud, spell it FAVOURITE if you are going to use the word to refer to Canadians.
Anyway...
My favourite Canadian would be very hard to choose, seeing as most of the people I love the most live in this beautiful country. My favourite famous Canadian would have to be, without a doubt, Margaret Atwood.
I was "assigned" her in History class, mainly because I believe Mo thought it would be funny to make me a feminist, and got hooked on her stories. I don't think Mo created anything in me that wasn't there already but he might have given me an outlet to unleash it. In those years since high school I've been an avid fan, even writing songs inspired by her writing. This one is the longest song (8 minutes, two time signatures and several movements) and is named after a phrase in "Alias Grace".
So, I never really formally actually introduced my new assistant Sarah C. to you, did I?
I've shown her photo on my blog once before, but in case you've forgotten, I'll show you again:
And the both of us:
She's only been in the US for a couple weeks now. She came here from Liverpool, but she's originally from Manchester.
She used to be my internet stalker, but all that persistence and creepiness really made an impact on me---so I decided that this girl must be good people. I figured I should just be her friend.
I call her Crompy, not Sarah, though, because I already know a Sarah. I can't keep up with more than one Sarah, especially when there's one working close to me in the same studio. Jeez.
So, Crompy is here until September. And then she'll unfortunately have to go back home to England. =(
But who knows, I COULD end up really hating her by the end of her stay because sometimes she does things that I just really don't approve of.
Exhibit A:
Today she though it'd be a good idea to put her gummy worms in her iced coffee:
And THEN she thought it'd be a better idea to drink it:
You know that I can't handle stuff like that.
(My stomach is already starting to hurt just looking at those photos...)
So, that's Crompy (aka Sarah C.).
She's just like me---but a UK female version.
And she's a good assistant.
Just an annoying person...
We need to work on that.
