i've always heard people talk about holiday traffic getting out of control. i padded my schedule with plenty of extra time so as not to risk a missed flight. well as it turns out, there were roughly twelve cars on the road on the way to the airport and approximately three people in front of me in the security line.
so.
time to get comfy. as i write this, i just heard someone mention to the person next to them that the flight (my flight) has been delayed a bit. tremendous. i just want to go home.
thankfully the airport has wireless internet (and thankful i have my computer!)
this is a trip i have been looking forward to for months. months, i tell you. there are several reasons for this. 1) Christmas is coming 2) any sort of vacation is good 3) my older sister is about to birth another child. the baby is due Dec. 26th. i told my sister that the kid had better wait for his/her smashing debut until i am in the area. see, i missed the first birth because i live so far away. this time, i am determined to be around. we are working with a very narrow window here, folks. we can't afford much flexibility. i can give the baby 9, 10 days at most.
oh, and FYI. (new topic.)
last night, emily and i decided that we should be in charge of everything in the world because we are smarter and more competent than everyone else. we were only slightly joking.
at this point, ladies and gentlemen, i am stalling. i do not have much else to do. blasted flight delay! but unfortunately (while i am literally racking my brain to think of more news) i don't have much else to say. only this:
merry christmas to you. it's been a wild year for a lot of us. i'm glad that christmas time is at the end of the calender year because it forces me to reflect upon and examine my life with good perspective. after all, salvation is created. it is good to remember the hope of the world when all else seems hopeless.
Old Friends (Paul Simon) in my humble opinion, is one of the better written songs of the last forty years. it tugs on something inside of me...makes me feel both glad and sad. anyway, i stayed up into the wee hours of the morning last night with a dear friend. we talked about hope and sorrow; despair and redemption; but most importantly of all, we talked about ourselves. and i mean really talked.
there is something mysterious about deciding to be exposed and honest with another human. it keeps us sensitive and alive.
This song repeated itself in my mind last night as we talked, and it made me wonder how we will change over the years. i hope some things stay the same. well. here's to old friends.
Old friends
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends
Old friends
Winter companions
The old men
Lost in their overcoats
Waiting for the sunset
The sounds of the city
Sifting through the trees
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends
Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be seventy
Old friends
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fear...
the other day i was listening to my house mate sing a theme song he made up for his little dog. it got me thinking...somewhere in the dusty corners of my memory was a little man on a glass in a cabinet with a theme song of his own. my actual memory was very dim, but i was pretty sure it was from sesame street. long story short, i googled "sesame street man on a glass" and found this amazing clip. what a great social story! i hope you all enjoy it...especially those of you in your mid-to-late-twenties. i hope your faded memories are brightened as much as mine was.
it's true, kids. i think that i have finally finished the recording part of my cd project. it feels pretty good. there are a few finishing touches left, but i should have the album out shortly after the new year. it's been a long process for me (actually it's just been a long year!) and i am ready for it to be come to a close. it's kinda like labor pains right about now. i just want it to be BORN already!
last night i witnessed the most amazing thing. allow me to share with you. i had just stopped by a gas station after a pleasant day at work. i swiped my card, selected the grade and started operating the pump. to my right was a middle-aged man of african decent also quietly keeping to himself and pumping gas.
then it happened.
in a flash of blinding light, squealing tires and balls of fire (actually just squealing tires) a smoky-charcoal-colored car pulled up on the other side of the pump where the man was still filling his tank. the woman driving the vehicle (for all the hurry she exuded upon arrival) spent several minutes in the driver's seat.
let it be known that it was roughly 5:15pm and the station was packed. i.e. limited pumps, unlimited cars waiting.
a man driving a white truck pulled into the station, noted the woman in the other vehicle, rolled down his window and called "are you done?"
a legitimate question, some would say.
the woman (with full rage of fury) responded, "WHAT! WHAT!".
the man (slightly annoyed) called back in a louder tone, "ARE YOU DONE?"
what transpired next involved countless F-words and wild gesticulations as the woman in question literally got out of her car , began to lumber toward the truck and repeated the phrase, "Do i LOOK done?" over and over and over again in a threatening manner. whenever she took a breath the man in the truck (also angry at this point) shouted "I-DON'T-KNOW-THAT'S-WHY-I-ASKED-WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-YOUR-PROBLEM"
aforementioned woman screamed something like "NO. NO. oh NO NO. DID you see me at the Pump? DID you see me at the Pump? NO. DID you see me at the pump?"
by this time, my gas tank was long-since full. i, however, was transfixed. i quickly stole a glance at the middle-aged man on my right. he was staring at the ground with the slightest hint of a smile beginning to twitch at the corners of his mouth. i desperately fought the urge to giggle. it was like that feeling you get when something horrible and funny happens at a funeral. only worse, because heaven forbid that i inadvertently draw the attention of a large angry woman upon myself. the beast was loose, probably rabid, and i was no longer shielded by the safe protection of the inside of my car. i was completely exposed. i tried to think of it as though i was up against a pack of wild dogs. the danger increases if you make any sudden movements...
i tuned in to the shouting match once more and found that it had evolved. the woman was now shouting, "YOU don't even F-ing KNOW me. YOU DON'T KNOW ME. NO. (expletive, expletive, no no, expletive) oh no. no no NO. You don't know me. (commence wagging of finger, swiveling of head and a resurgence of "did you see me at the pump")
this eloquent monologue was accented by retorts of " MA'AM. i never said...ma'am i NEVER...I NEVER SAID I KNEW YOU." it was practically a dance remix.
i do not think i can accurately say just how long this continued. in moments like these, the very earth ceases to spin and everything is frozen in a fragile discomfort wherein i am afraid to breathe lest i throw the balance and all is lost.
in the end, the man in the white truck pealed out of the gas station saying "(unintelligible mumble jumble) CRAZY (mumble mutter)". the woman, still bobbing and swiveling, screamed "you don't know me" and "why you all up in my business" and "did you see me at the pump"
to my great shock, the woman turned around and began to heave and ho (ho ho) in my direction. i have never so quickly become intimately fascinated with my fingernails.
the woman bulldozed passed me and barreled into the mini-mart to (i assume) prepay for her gas. her swivel had somewhat subsided, though she did continue the "did you see me at the pump" mantra at a lesser volume.
i turned and looked at the quiet man whose gas tank was now most certainly full. our eyes locked. i grinned. the man chuckled softly.
when i was a little girl i had a pair of fisher price roller skates. they were blue with orange wheels and strapped onto my feet over top of my sneakers. there was this other pair of skates that were white and had shoe-laces with the words "lions tigers bears oh my" printed all over them. i thought they were the coolest shoelaces in the whole world. plus, i think i watched the Wizard of Oz every day for several years.
...and i used to repeatedly watch the part when they get to the emerald city and the door man says "not nobody not no how" and later says "why didn't you say so in the first place?" with fake tears pouring out of the brim of his hat. i was so confused.
"Remember--the root word of humble and human is the same: humus: earth. We are dust. We are created; it is God who made us and not we ourselves. But we were made to be co-creators with our maker."--Madeleine L'Engle
