Double-Quilted Coffee + Memoirs Of A Faux-Geisha

Shortly after work, this morning, I set out to run some errands and various to-dos.

To say I "caught" the #36 Broadway bus would be an understatement ...In truth, I stood @ the bus stop for 25 mins, blinking excessively (I woke up @ 5AM, it was 1PM) and reassuring an elderly man that "Yes, the bus is coming," "Yep, this is where you stand," and "Oo of course, the bus is coming, sir".

When said bus finally arrived, I settled into this week's Reader and awaited my turn to tug the cord.

I set about my errands, my hair pulled up in my typical post-work 'do. I think my friend/coworker Russell summed it up best, shortly after meeting me, "I was working on a project, the other day, and I thought of you because your hair up like that is very geisha and I was painting a geisha like figure." Hair clip + shiny black headband = my medicating cats/outta my face/"geisha" statement.

Any make-up I managed to slap on around 5AM was by then an afterthought and the grey skies were more than likely making me look paler than I already am.

After I finished said errands, I opted to treat myself to an Intelligentsia coffee (where you can say "large" and "just black" without any furrowed brow of confusion -What a relief!) ...I headed up Broadway. As I stood at a stoplight, a rather daper looking man crossed the street ...I'm guessing he was in his early/mid 50s, dressed in his finest "casual Friday" businessman attire (meaning he was without a tie).

Daper Man: "I love your hair"
Me: "Oo, thank you"
Daper Man: "Is that your natural color? It is, right? It looks perfect"
Me: "Oo, why thank you and no, it's not my natural color"
Daper Man: "You're a gorgeous young lady ...You have a very 1940s look to you. A truly beautiful look. Do you like the 1940s?"
[Mental Thought: Do I like the 1940s? Hmm, sure, why not?]
Me: "Oo, well thank you ...Yeah, the 1940s ...Actually, I've heard that before"
Daper Man: "Well, it's a beautiful look! Your beauty is 1940s reincarnated."
Me: "Thank you ...Have a great day"
[Mental Thought: Look? Sir, can I explain to you the joys of running cat fecals at 8AM?]
Daper Man: "You have such a 1940s spirit. Have a beautiful -wonderful day, young lady!"

My cup of coffee was delicious and helped me brave the packed bus ride home. Seated nearby, a group of school children ...Where one girl (the leader of the pack) was trying to convince her pals that she (indeed, for honest) lived @ the IHOP, up the street.

Girl: "I eat pancakes everyday!"
Boy: "Even for dinner?"
Girl: "Yeah-huh!"
Boy: "Yeah right"
Girl: "I do so!"

____________


And now for a few honorable mentions:

Lexi: "Do you think the Reality Bites toilet paper in the coffee maker trick would work? I don't have any coffee filters"
Lexi: "By jove, I think it worked! Thank you, Winona Ryder"


Alexander: "I'm at a place called Big Wangs. Where did it all go wrong?"

Me: "Does Airbourne really work?"
Josh: "Alan Alda says 'If you think so it probably does'."
Me: "I can't get sick"
Josh: "I bet you can!"

Me: [telling Dave about my Airbourne purchase] "And guesswhat flavor I chose?"
Dave: "Red? Red is my favorite flavor!"

[I answer the front door, at work]
Me: "Hello?"
Woman w/ cat: "Hi! I called about an admit ...I'm Jacquelyn Smith"
[Mental Thought: No you're not!]

Reason No. 465, why I will always love a certain Mr. Nick Pyle: To Suck An Egg

On March 20th, my friend Neil + his roommates started their annual "electricity fast" going on through April 20th. For more info, feel free to check-out: Allium Collective

Me: "Are you growing a beard?"
Neil: "Well kind of, yeah ...My razor is electric."
____________

Dave is working on a project that involves a couple of questions on sound ...One question, in particular, that caught my attention was/is:

What is your best/favorite (along those lines) sound memory?

My answer? Cars (No, not Ric Ocasek) ...More specific my parents' cars.

My Father worked 5+ days a week. He'd get up around 4AM and be out the door by 5AM ...In the wintertime I'd wake to hear the hum of the engine, warming up and pulling out of the drive. I've always prefered weekdays to weekends ...Hearing my Father leave for work symbolized in my sound memory the normalcy of the work week, that above all else I always loved my welder-Father's hard work ethic and that I had two more hours before my alarm would sound for school. During my parents' inevitable divorce, the sound of my Father's vehicle would take on a different tone as he would come home. "He's home ..."

The other car sound being my Mother's car, pulling into the drive. Not necessarily an obvious and/or unusual sound but distinctive in the way that "Mom's home!" When she worked Midnights @ the hospital, I'd be up early, awaiting her sound up the drive. She's home! She's home! She's home! Hooray!