Filed under: Life
Several months ago I did my usual grocery shopping trip after work at the very classy Walmart down the street. The first catastrophe of the trip occurred when I ran into a very, very annoying old co-worker who decided to talk to me for 30 minutes about her quite trashy life. I finally break away from her and continue with my shopping, only to have this blonde girl approach me a few aisles later and strike up a conversation about my coat. Ok, nothing wrong with that. She likes my coat. She wants to know where I got it. That’s fine. I tell her and start to move on. Except she stops me again and tells me that I look familiar and wants to know where I went to college, high school, etc. She keeps me there for about 10 minutes, talking to me about random topics. I was nice & polite and finally said my “nice to meet you” and moved on. Three aisles later she comes up to me again. “Oh, haha we keep running into each other.” To this, she starts talking to me about my job and what kind of work I do, yadda yadda. At this point I’m wondering if I’m being scammed or something and start looking around to make sure nobody is sneaking into my purse while my back is turned or something of the sort. No such luck. This chick just wants to talk. So, after ANOTHER 10 minutes of random talking we actually say our goodbyes and I make my way home.
Cut to today. I’m back at walmart for another after work shopping adventure and guess who makes another appearance. Yep. Crazy blonde girl. This time she comes up to me and tells me that she loves my purse. She wants to know where I got it…all the same things she was asking me about my coat. I could not believe my eyes and ears. Are you kidding me? Really? I mean………………..REALLY? How does this happen to me? She talks to me like she’s never seen me before. Except this time I was smart. This time the second she got quiet and turned away from me I jolted. Turned my cart around and ran. Then I grabbed my phone and started calling people to make SOMEONE stay on the phone with me until I was ready to leave.
I’m still unsure of what this chick’s story is. I can’t decide if I think she’s actually crazy or if she has some sort of agenda. Since she never approached me with any agenda, I’m going with crazy until proven differently.
Filed under: Theatre
Last night Alex & I went to see UAB’s production of The Vagina Monologues. I had never seen it before and I really hadn’t read enough about it to really know what it was about. Obviously I knew that it was about female empowerment and such, but I don’t think I expected it to be quite like it actually was.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it. It was funny and sad. Entertaining and informative. But yeah, it was pretty graphic at times and I totally wasn’t expecting it. I probably should have – considering the title and all. But……yeah, all the moaning and talk of cunt and such. I couldn’t help look around at all the older women my grandmother’s age who were in the room, probably their supporting their granddaughters who were acting in the production, and I just kept thinking “oh my God I’d die having to sit through this with my grandmother.” Dead.
I did get a kick ass “I’m not a piece of meat” pin. I will wear it proudly. As was said last night – Pussies Unite!
There’s another show tonight at UAB’s Hill University Center at 7:00pm. Admission is $10 for adults / $5 for students. Go.
Filed under: Music
I’m not really a John Mayer fan. I own one shirt that I got for free at a radio station event and I have the first album that someone burned for me. I was sort of completely turned off from him once the whole rest of the world decided he was God. That said, someone showed me his blog post from today and I have to say, it’s intelligent and right on and well, he just earned a little of my respect. I think there’s something in it for everyone….and so I have to share:
THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
FROM THE HEART….
I need to write this.
I’ve been traveling alone in Japan for the better part of three weeks now, and It’s been so remarkable an experience for me that I can’t book a ticket home yet. I haven’t spoken very much out loud these days, but I’ve been thinking to myself in what feels like surround sound. I can see so many things clearly, and feel so connected to myself and the world around me that I need to share the perspective with you.
I’m already aware that when I sing, say or write anything, 50 percent of the response will be in support of it and the other 50 will want to discount it. This blog, though, is directed to 100 percent of people reading it. If my blog truly does have any cultural effect, then it should be used for more than just pictures of sneakers and funny youtube videos. (If you don’t think my blog has any effect, than you can’t by definition be reading this right now and therefore don’t have to respond to it in any way. Isn’t that tidy?)
What I’m about to write isn’t about fame or success or celebrity or the media. That’s my business.
This is about us all.
This is about a level of self consciousness so high in my generation, that it’s actually toxic.
This is about the girl in her bedroom who poses in front of the camera she’s awkwardly holding in her outstretched hand. She’ll take a hundred photos until coming up with one she’s happy with, which inevitably looks nothing like her, and after she’s done poring over images of herself, will post one on her myspace page and then write something like ” I don’t give a f*ck what you think about me.”
This is about the person trying out for American Idol, who while going off about how confident they are that they were born ready to sing in front of the world, are trembling so badly they can hardly breathe.
This is about me, the guy who walks through a throng of photographers into a restaurant like he’s Paul Newman, but who leaves a “reject” pile of clothes in his closet so high that his cleaning lady can’t figure out how one man can step into so many pairs of pants in a week.
This is about a young guy who maintains a celebrity blog that subsists on tearing other people down but who has wrestled with a lifelong battle for acceptance as a gay man.
This is about us all. Every one of us. Who all seem to know deep down that it’s incredibly hard to be alive and interact with the world around us but will try and cover it up at any cost. For as badass and unaffected as we try to come off, we’re all just one sentence away from being brought to the edge of tears, if only it was worded right. And I don’t want to act immune to that anymore. I took the biggest detour from myself over the past year, since I decided that I wasn’t going to care about what people thought about me. I got to the point where I had so much padding on that, sure, I couldn’t feel the negativity, but that’s because I couldn’t feel much of anything. And I think I’m done with that.
I’m not the first person to admit we’re all self conscious, Kanye was. But what I want to do is to shed a little light on why we’re all in the same boat, no matter the shape of the life we lead: because every one of us were told since birth that we were special. We were spoken to by name through a television. We were promised we could be anything that we wanted to be, if only we believed it and then, faster than we saw coming, we were set loose into the world to shake hands with the millions of other people who were told the exact same thing.
And really? Really? It turns out we’re just not all that special, when you break it down. Beautifully unspectacular, actually. And that truth is going to catch up with us whether we want to run from it or not. The paparazzo following me to the gym ain’t gonna be Herb Ritts and the guy he’s following ain’t gonna be Bob Dylan. It’s just a matter of how old you are once you embrace that fact. And for me, 30 sounds about right.
What now, then? I can only really say for myself: Enjoy who I am, the talents and the liabilities. Stop acting careless. In fact, care more. Be vulnerable but stay away from where it hurts. Read. See more shows. Of any kind. Rock shows, art shows, boat shows. Create more art. Wear hoodies to dinner. Carry a notebook and hand it to people when they passionately recommend something and ask them to write it down for me.
Root for others.
Give more and expect the same in return, but over time.
Act nervous when I’m nervous, puzzled when I don’t know what the hell to do, and smile when it all goes my way. And never in any other order than that.
And when it’s all over, whether at the end of this fabulous career or of this life, which I hope takes place at the same time, I should look back and say that I had it good and I made the most of it while I was able. And so should you.
I’m going quiet now.
John
Filed under: Life
I’ve managed to make it through an entire winter without being sick. That is no small feat. Typically I have one major sinus infection/cold/flu in November and one major sinus infection/cold/flu in February. This year I haven’t had anything of the sort. Vitamins apparently really do work…but don’t tell my mother that. That……and I’ve been taking airborne at the first hint of a scratchy throat or stuffy nose.
PSA here: Airborne really works if you take it the second you feel something coming on. Airborne combined with a daily vitamin. Do yourself a favor and take my advice.
Anyway, so I went to sleep last night feeling fine, yet I woke up this morning feeling no-so-fine. Isn’t it a bit early for the allergies to be starting? Yep – dry, scratchy throat, sniffles, sneezing, watery eyes. Spring has arrived. Hallelujah for that. Except not……because we’re not even into the full-on pollen filled Spring that we all know and loathe.
Now would be a good time to buy stock in Allegra.
Filed under: Books
I’ve been reading The Time Traveler’s Wife. I’m having a hard time getting into it. I think I’m 100 pages in so far and I’m just not really sure how I feel about it. I know they’re going to be making it into a film – they may actually be in production or post-production by now, I don’t actually know – and I’m reading it wondering how in the world this is going to be interesting in film form. The basic story, so far anyway, is about a time traveler named Henry who is married to a woman named Clare in present time and keeps traveling back to when she was a kid and spends time with her as she’s growing up. Their first encounter happens when she’s about 6 and I’m only up to when she’s about 17, but I just don’t really get it yet.
To be honest, it’s a little creepy. A 36 year old Henry visits a 16 year old Clare and kisses her as he’s leaving. Men get arrested for that sort of thing, don’t they? I get that he’s married to her…but he’s married to her YEARS later when she’s in her 20’s. I mean, what, did they skip over the part where he molested her when she was 6? I don’t know. Again, I just don’t get it yet.
I’m pretty much always reading something. I read every night before bed and I try to read a chapter a night – so however many chapters the book has, that’s typically how many days it takes me to read the book. Unless of course the chapters are short or I’m really into it and then I’ll double up. Then there are the books like this one where I just really can’t get into it so I struggle to finish a chapter every night. Reading when you’re sleepy isn’t easy, and it’s even harder to do it when the book isn’t holding your attention. Next up is Catcher in the Rye. It’s the last of the books that I received for Christmas. Strangely enough, I haven’t had to buy a book since 2006 because I’ve gotten enough books as gifts to keep me occupied for well over a year.
Enough about books. My friend Jana is going to be on Wheel of Fortune on Tuesday, April 1st. Unless this is her April Fool’s joke on everyone. Doubtful. Everyone watch her and cheer her on.
