Thursday, November 06, 2003
Your words are better than mine.
Got a new person in the desk next to me at GE. Etta. Picture a person named Etta . . . go ahead, don't worry if you think it's stereotypical, no one's going to be ashamed of you . . . got it? That's her. Exactly what you imagined. Older, gentle, real sweet lady.
And she talks to herself.
"Now let's see if we can . . ." I almost turned around when I heard this -- to say, "What's that? Something I can help with?" Because she's new and confused like any new employee. Hell, I've been there 11+ months and I'M still confused. But I didn't turn around. I didn't say anything. Her voice had turned into a whisper, so I let it go.
"Where was that ticket for the . . ." I frowned. At this point I remembered sitting in the parking lot outside of the Kohl's on Port Washington Road as a kid as my dad went to the Tyme machine that's no longer there. My mom noticed a woman driving through the parking lot, in her car by herself, singing away like she was at Carnegie Hall. That Tyme machine hasn't been there for years. The Minnesota Fabrics that used to be next to the Kohl's always had a light out on its sign and was replaced by another store a while back. The Kohl's is now out of business and will be demolished for the expansion of the nearby mall. Funny side note to the side note: Years later I was in this parking lot, about to go into the Kohl's when I saw someone, alone, walking from the store, singing away.
"I don't see an airline ticket attached. I don't like that. I'm getting a headache," Etta said, waking me from my reverie, speaking the first word of each of her sentences a little bit louder than the rest of the sentence. I grinned and remembered a Rolling Stone article I once read on Brad Pitt. The interview occurred while Pitt was filming that movie set in Tibet, I think. At some point in the interview, a Soundgarden song came on. It was their big hit off of their last album before they broke up. "Follow me," I think the chorus begins. Well, this song came on mid-interview, and Pitt just went nuts, dancing around. The writer thought to himself (as printed in the article), "What do you do when someone you're talking with decides to rock out?"
Good question.
Well, I guess Rolling Stone's good for something, yet, if I'm remembering that. Maybe not.
On an unrelated note, because not everything's related, I've started reading various new poetry in my English class, which is all fine and good. I've also begun the latest Harry Potter, and I don't care if she's labeled a children's writer: Rowling can flat-out write. As a burgeoning amateur (by the by, Glimmer Train hasn't turned me down yet!), it's easy to tell where she's going. I can tell she began a little nervously, though still completely in voice. And I can see the punches coming a little bit before I should . . . but they still hit just as hard. In a literary landscape dominated, obsessed even, by character, Rowling's not afraid to work a plot, to lean on it, and then take her characters from there, rather than vice-versa. Brave stuff.
And she talks to herself.
"Now let's see if we can . . ." I almost turned around when I heard this -- to say, "What's that? Something I can help with?" Because she's new and confused like any new employee. Hell, I've been there 11+ months and I'M still confused. But I didn't turn around. I didn't say anything. Her voice had turned into a whisper, so I let it go.
"Where was that ticket for the . . ." I frowned. At this point I remembered sitting in the parking lot outside of the Kohl's on Port Washington Road as a kid as my dad went to the Tyme machine that's no longer there. My mom noticed a woman driving through the parking lot, in her car by herself, singing away like she was at Carnegie Hall. That Tyme machine hasn't been there for years. The Minnesota Fabrics that used to be next to the Kohl's always had a light out on its sign and was replaced by another store a while back. The Kohl's is now out of business and will be demolished for the expansion of the nearby mall. Funny side note to the side note: Years later I was in this parking lot, about to go into the Kohl's when I saw someone, alone, walking from the store, singing away.
"I don't see an airline ticket attached. I don't like that. I'm getting a headache," Etta said, waking me from my reverie, speaking the first word of each of her sentences a little bit louder than the rest of the sentence. I grinned and remembered a Rolling Stone article I once read on Brad Pitt. The interview occurred while Pitt was filming that movie set in Tibet, I think. At some point in the interview, a Soundgarden song came on. It was their big hit off of their last album before they broke up. "Follow me," I think the chorus begins. Well, this song came on mid-interview, and Pitt just went nuts, dancing around. The writer thought to himself (as printed in the article), "What do you do when someone you're talking with decides to rock out?"
Good question.
Well, I guess Rolling Stone's good for something, yet, if I'm remembering that. Maybe not.
On an unrelated note, because not everything's related, I've started reading various new poetry in my English class, which is all fine and good. I've also begun the latest Harry Potter, and I don't care if she's labeled a children's writer: Rowling can flat-out write. As a burgeoning amateur (by the by, Glimmer Train hasn't turned me down yet!), it's easy to tell where she's going. I can tell she began a little nervously, though still completely in voice. And I can see the punches coming a little bit before I should . . . but they still hit just as hard. In a literary landscape dominated, obsessed even, by character, Rowling's not afraid to work a plot, to lean on it, and then take her characters from there, rather than vice-versa. Brave stuff.
