walt, miles, & chickflicks

It’s not that I don’t like chickflicks.  I do.  I really do.  Some of them.  When I’m in a certain mood.  And want to have something on in the background.  A rainy Saturday, curled on the couch, doing busy work–that’s the perfect moment for You’ve Got Mail.  Don’t let my apparent indifference toward the genre fool you.  To call them exceptions wouldn’t be adequate.

Two men changed my life forever.  I’ve never met them before.  Never will.  And I know remarkably little about their personal lives–their feelings, thoughts, ambitions.  Explicitly, that is. 

Walt Whitman and Miles Davis introduced themselves to me in the most peculiar ways.  Ways that have one thing in common.

I never saw The Notebook in theaters, and I don’t think I would have actively pursued a viewing of it.  Coincidence led me to it one night in high school.  After that night, I felt like I’d seen part of myself on a screen (though it wasn’t until junior year of college that I could have told you why)  I don’t know who the movie’s writers were or who directed it, and I haven’t read a Nicholas Sparks book.  All I know is they’ve read Whitman.

Miles Davis and I had a similar encounter, except much earlier.  In Runaway Bride, “It Never Entered My Mind” plays on two occasions.  It only took the first for me to fall in love with Miles.  I was ten when that movie came out, and I bought his greatest hits cd. 

I think they would have been friends.  I can just picture Walt talking and Miles, unsure if he is digesting the significance of every single word, just sits, both amused and transfixed.  And Walt just wanting Miles’ deliberate calmness.  Two of the most intentional, organic creatures.  Oh, yes, they would have been friends.

Thank you, “chickflicks.”

“I heard you graduated in ‘04″

Meet Elliott.  Tall, dark, handsome, and a faithful Alabamian.  History major, future mayor of Vestavia, and wearer of belt pictured below.  Witty, likeable guy. 

Meet Keisha.  Outgoing, fiercely loyal, and invovled on campus.  Also, happens to be the a knower of all things gossip. 

Elliott, meet Keisha.

Thursday, Feb. 18 10:30ish p.m.

“Keisha, when are you graduating?” -E

“Well, I’m staying an extra year and finishing my second major, so 2011.” -K

“Are you my age?” -E

“Wait, when did you graduate from high school?  What year were you?” -K

“I was ‘06.” -E

“Oh thank God!  I heard you were ‘04 and thought you were a 6th year working on a history degree!” -K

This wasn’t the first time Keisha confronted Elliott with an “I heard…” moment, and let me tell you, all of them have been pretty great to witness.  Something about this one, though…maybe it was that he was wearing this belt?

“Another shot of whiskey, can’t stop looking at the door”

Some songs are so brilliantly honest that you just know the writer was sitting alone either very early in the morning or in the wee hours of the night, drinking (coffee or whiskey), and spilling their soul on paper.  I’m in awe of these—the ones who make these thoughts public and say, “Here I am, this is all I know right now, do with it what you like.” 

It’s funny that we see this honesty, this truth, in such different songs–Holly saw it flicker yesterday morning. 

She took out one of her headphones and said, “I just can’t stop listening to ‘Need You Now’ by Lady Antebellum.”

With no real feedback from me, she continued,“It’s just so honest, ya know?  Just think about those lyrics…I just feel like Lady Antebellum is speaking from my soul.” 

“Yeah, it’s very honest,” I replied, transfixed at the hope on Holly’s face, as she babbled about the wonder that is Lady Antebellum. 

“It’s even perfect for me to sing.  I feel like the girl singer and I have similar ranges or pitch or whatever, so I can always just sing right along with her.”

Hmmm.  I did know what she meant.  “That’s how I’ve always felt about Jewel,” I quickly shared.

“I mean, ‘I said I wouldn’t come, but I’ve lost all control, and I need you now’; it is just so honest,” her sparkling face repeated.

Holly’s Lady Antebellum is not the country-pop song permanently emblazed in our memories thanks to the radio.  When Holly hears this song, she hears someone who can say with a crystaline frankness, “I need you now.”  And, ironically and fittingly enough, she feels the pitch is just right for her to sing along.

i and love and walgreens

an ode

It’s no secret how Elizabeth and I feel about Walgreens.  It started with the mentality of, “Walgreens has everything.”  Somewhere along the way, that changed, as Elizabeth brilliantly proclaimed last night, “I just want to sit on the floor and just be here.”  I’ve actually come to associate a few rather emotional experiences with Walgreens.  Why?  Because in the midst of said experiences, Elizabeth probably suggested we go to Walgreens and walk around.  In light of this, here’s a list, an ode if you will, in the name of all the Walgreens.

reasons we love it

1. they have everything (note: once, they didn’t have a certain size bag of dark chocolate m & m’s)
2. late at night, you can wear your pajamas there
3. the employees don’t scold you when you climb up a shelf to open a box of cadberry cream eggs…in January
4. it’s comfortable (clean and never too crowded)
5. they’ve never acknowledged how strange some of our purchases have been

merry happy

I always say that I don’t like surprises.  Truth:  I don’t like bad surprises.  And I don’t thrive on big surprises.  Little things, though–little things matter.  Like whether it’s pouring down rain while you’re walking to class, or having just enough milk for your Friday morning bowl of cereal.  And a little, pleasant surprise is absolutely perfect. 

So, now you know how I feel about finding these charming lemon bars and a list of tomato recipees within a 10 minute period.  All the while, Pandora’s stars are aligning just so, so behind the little surprises has been medolic wonder. 

 

flight

the most brilliant mobile

to holly, with love

My sweet roommate has this book called The Five Love Languages.  I haven’t read it, but one day she asked me what my love language would be.  Using process of elimination, I quickly dismissed “words of affirmation” and “gifts.”  “Quality time” was next to go.  Well, this is my official apology to quality time.  While you’re still my third choice, I no longer have an aversion to you.  One of my absolute favorite things occurs between the hours of 10 and 12 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  “Quality time” can mean anything.  It doesn’t have to conjur a distasteful image in my head–quality time to me, and quality time to you, and quality time to him and her are quite different.   Truth:  I don’t believe there are five love languages.  But I do believe that my idea of spending time, like those two hours on MWF, to me, is perfect.

since we’ve no place to go…let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Let me preface this with an apology:  so sorry for my complaints about the weather lately.  If it’s not pouring down rain, it looks like it’s about to pour down rain; when it’s neither of those things, it’s 65 degrees. 

I woke up this morning quite happy.  Five hours to study before my final and ready for a relaxing day.  Until…I realized I was shivering.  I made my way to the living room, prepared to find the heat set far too low, but no, it was 71.  “That’s odd,” I thought, as I turned it up uncharacteristically high.  “How cold could it possibly be outside?”

HA.  I love winter.  Really, I do.  For some reason, today’s unexpected 35 degree weather prevented me from accomplishing quite a few things:

1.  showering.  Yeah, whatever, it’s just TOO cold when you get out of the shower

2.  running.  I’m blaming it on the weather

3.  comfortable test taking.  After walking to campus from downtown, my hands were blue.  Unfortunately for me, Haley Center’s thermostat is kept in the neighborhood of 68, so my fingers were quite doomed during my test.

4.  Eating dinner.  This is saying a lot.  I do not, I repeat, do NOT skip dinner.  My normally full kitchen is dwindling, and the thought of walking outside actually made me select some rather unfulfilling soup for dinner.

5.  Renting a Christmas movie.  We really wanted to, we did.  Honest.  But once we were inside, there was really no hope of getting us to leave again.  So, Harry Potter prevailed in tonight’s movie selection process.

oh bother

In the midst of one of the best weeks of my life, a wave of sadness just passed through my life.  Visiting MK at kindergarten, cooking, beautiful weather, time with my best friend, Thanksgiving with my family, iron bowl…heck, I just had tcby.  The past week has been amazing.  I’m SO happy, and yet, right in the middle of all this happiness, I decided to try to sync my iphone to my itunes.  (yes, I have had my phone for 6 moonths, but the following story speaks for itself as to why I haven’t tried doing this before now)  So, I’ve pretty much been winging it with my phone since the day I got it.  I learned what I need to know, and have just figured out everything else on a need to know basis.  That’s problem #1.  “Everything else”=strikingly little.  I registered my phone on Kim’s laptop over the summer because my laptop died, and I’ve never changed my phone’s itunes account to match my own, rather than Kim’s.  Well, I just tried.  The result:  not only do I not have my own music, I now have no music because all of Kim’s is gone.  If you know my parents, you know we all love music, so her collection is amazing…and no longer located on my phone. 

war eagle. 

meanwhile, happy thanksgiving everyone   here’s to perfect weather, 96.7’s ode to holiday music, and abc family’s 25 days of Christmas.

happy morningtime, everyone

1.  pre-set timers on coffee pots=getting to smell coffee the second you wake up

2.  The Today Show.  Not only is this my only regular source of current events, they’re also infectiously cheerful every morning.  And I’m pleasantly surprised every single day that their clothing choices are coordinated.

3.  BREAKFAST!  The only, and I do mean ONLY reason this item is 3rd on the list is because it is in chronological order.  There are no words to describe how excited I get about eating the same bowl of cereal with a banana in it every single morning.  It’s truly the little things.

4.  Alone time.  This morning, I had class at nine, and normally I would get up at seven to have my ritualistic breakfast/coffee/Today Show time at seven, before showering for class.  This morning, showering just wasn’t in the cards for me.  Nevertheless, I woke up at 6:50 a.m. and had the most amazing hour and a half of alone time on my couch.  I have nothing to show for those two hours less of sleep, but I can promise you than my outlook on life would probably be much less sunny if I didn’t have leisurely mornings.

5.  Stuff.  Morning is the perfect time to do all of the random “stuff” you didn’t want/forgot to do last night.  This morning, I swapped over a load of clothes and finished an essay response for class.  And as an added bonus:  I am stress-free because of the activities I was able to fit into these early morning hours.