And It's All The Treasures That Shine In The Street, As We Drive Right Over Them, And It's All The Mornings We Missed For Sleep
--"Jenny, You're Barely Alive", Rilo Kiley
(original recording from cuttingroom.shelma.net)
As I sat chatting here with my friend Carly earlier this evening, talking about my almost-perfect recipe of peanut butter chip muffins, I came to the realization that, all things being equal, there is no reason I should be chatting with her at all. For all intents and purposes, the two of us should have never met nor been friends. That's when I started contemplating exactly how many random events actually have to occur for any two people to find each other. No matter how close in proximity one person is to another, there are still myriads of reasons why they could possibly never run into each other. I've heard so many times of people who supposedly lived just five miles from one another their whole lives, yet never ended up meeting until they are in their thirties or forties. Or, take for example, me. There is no reason I should have met Jina, who lived in West Virginia at the time; Tara, who lived in Maryland at the time; Breanne, who lives in Georgia; or any of a half-dozen other people it has been my pleasure to meet and be met by.
Not only is it strange that two people who can live far away from one another meet up, it's even stranger to realize that two people can be friends for a long time after such a serendipitous encounter.
There is no good reason why, after meeting her, Carly and I should remain friends, save for the fact that we are.
with your arms by your side you left it up to fate
I arrived at the Rilo Kiley concert at the Wiltern on June 19th, 2005 extremely early. For an 8:00 p.m. show, where the doors wouldn't even open till 7:00, I sat down in line at 12:15 p.m., almost a full eight hours before show time. I didn't care. It was the middle of summer and I was still remembering with fondness flying out to Boston the month before and having seen them there. Besides, I knew I would meet a few cool people in line who could help me pass the time. That's what always happens at RK concerts, you either run into people you know or you meet new people who are just as cool. The funny fact was I wasn't even the first person there. Waiting in line before were Shelma, who I'd traded messages with in the days leading up to the show, and a brunette-haired girl who I'd never met before. Settling down next to her, I attempted to read the novel I had brought along with me.
However, it wasn't before too long, that either I or she was saying hello to me and an intermittent, but informative, conversation was struck. Soon, with the arrival of more and more people, including my establishing to Shelma who I was, this new girl and I were getting along, as they say, famously. People began lining up by the dozens, included among them was the group directly behind me, about four or five younger people, who looked to me, at the time, to be in their late teens or early twenties. Yet it was the brunette girl I seemed to chat with the most. We, myself, her, Shelma, and Shelma's friend even pitched in for pizza and sodas for the whole group, which inspired the rest of the line to turn the wait into a mock block party, replete with all sorts of foodstuffs and drinks being shared among the congregation. Even my friends from San Diego, Sarah and her brother Bryan, even managed to find their way in line to me.
Meanwhile, I had started to notice the group behind me as they brought out various cards and other diversions in an attempt to relieve the tedium of the wait. I thought it was especially funny when they whipped out some "Hello, My Name Is" stickers for us to put our RK.Net screennames on. I also remembered how cute I thought it was how the lot of them were worried about where to place their cameras in order to sneak them in. They started suggesting hiding it down their tops. One of them even suggested hiding it in her crotch, which I thought especially funny. That is, until I so how well-obscured her camera became in her tan-colored pants. Then, I was just amazed.
Yet even through all that, I seemed to be talking to the brunette girl the most and seemed to be trading the most puns and whip-smart replies with. I made it a point to try and remember her screen name for when I got home after the show. Who knows, I thought, she truly may end up being someone who means something to me.
Fairly soon, the entire first twenty or so people had their name badges on and I caught a glimpse of what her screen name was and jotted it down on my arm for posterity. I also managed to find a few surprises among the group, as some of the screen names I began to recognize and would have never imagined the face to go along with the persona portrayed on the forum. I've always thought that, given a chance, people will surprise you and making the correlation between what I expected a certain individual to be and what they actually were in real-space was certainly entertaining. Sprinkled among the faces were a great many screen names I did not recognize, but not many who made as big of an impression as the brunette girl.
Before long, we went into the concert and I got separated from most of the group I had waited in line with. I pretty much hung out with the same 'ole bunch from San Diego I always party with when a Rilo Kiley/Elected/Jenny Lewis show is in town. Much fun was had by all.
It wasn't until later that night that I began my search in earnest. I started to narrow down the screen name, which towards the end of the evening became vital for me to know better. A couple of minutes later I found who I was looking for. There in a simple profile was the information I'd hoped I'd find. Not only did she have a screen name on the forum I could contact, but she also had an AIM screen name so that I could actually have the opportunity to chat with her.
Except the girl I went searching for wasn't the brunette I was talking to all day. She wasn't the girl that had occupied my thoughts for the last two hours of the concert.
I went searching for the girl who had stuffed a camera down her crotch. That's what I remembered and had me smiling all show long.
I went searching for the girl I'd probably said four words to the whole day.
I went searching for a girl named Carly.
you've been searching your whole life
something to mute, change, or just distract you
something to put inside you to give the illusion of life
At first, I was hesitant to say hello, because even I find it odd to just startle somebody with a greeting, especially somebody I was sure had no clue who I was or where she had seen me. Yet there was something about the ease of her laughter and the impulsiveness of her spirit that had caught my attention. I would have certainly been remiss to let that kind of character pass into and out of my life so easily. I took a chance and typed the first few words that would lead to thousands of more.
As aforementioned, there are some huge obstacles that on paper would make it seem impossible for the two of us to be friends. I'm older than her by a stretch, we live like an hour or so from each other, and we only see each other every couple of months so. Yet there are very few people I talk to more often and more openly than her (unless, of course, your name is Breanne). Maybe it's because of the fact that I know I won't be seeing her any time soon that allows me to open up, but I honestly do not believe that's the reason.
I think the real reason why we get along so swimmingly is that she truly is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. Even at her age, she's led a colorful life and that, in turn, has afforded her a colorful personality. Whether we're just catching up for like a minute or two, or trading a one-hour or two-hour anecdote fest, she never fails to amuse. Not only that, but she's a lot more open-minded than I originally gave her credit for. As Anne would say, she truly is a kindred spirit.
The fact that I not only did not talk to her the first time I saw her or that we failed to make a connection the instant we met makes the fact that, here it is a full fourteen months after we started being friends, and I cannot see any big reason why I would to cease knowing her all the more amazing. It makes me think that there a whole boatload of people like her that, because I never took a chance and actually tried to get to know, I may have missed out on. It's true that you never know who you're going to become close with because Miss Carly would have certainly not been on top of the list had you asked me within mere minutes of seeing her for the first time.
Now she's right up there with anybody else who's currently in my life. I don't consider her a close, close friend, but she is among the select few I have trusted some of my more less innocent and less flattering stories. She's also one of the few people I have known for a lengthy period of time who has yet to annoy me to any sizable degree. I don't know--I guess I just get along with her. It's my assertion that I am lucky to have met her and lucky that I didn't let my reluctance to initiate contact with her prevent me from the mere act of saying hello.
Else, I might have missed out on a real gem of a person.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
(original recording from cuttingroom.shelma.net)
As I sat chatting here with my friend Carly earlier this evening, talking about my almost-perfect recipe of peanut butter chip muffins, I came to the realization that, all things being equal, there is no reason I should be chatting with her at all. For all intents and purposes, the two of us should have never met nor been friends. That's when I started contemplating exactly how many random events actually have to occur for any two people to find each other. No matter how close in proximity one person is to another, there are still myriads of reasons why they could possibly never run into each other. I've heard so many times of people who supposedly lived just five miles from one another their whole lives, yet never ended up meeting until they are in their thirties or forties. Or, take for example, me. There is no reason I should have met Jina, who lived in West Virginia at the time; Tara, who lived in Maryland at the time; Breanne, who lives in Georgia; or any of a half-dozen other people it has been my pleasure to meet and be met by.Not only is it strange that two people who can live far away from one another meet up, it's even stranger to realize that two people can be friends for a long time after such a serendipitous encounter.
There is no good reason why, after meeting her, Carly and I should remain friends, save for the fact that we are.
with your arms by your side you left it up to fate
I arrived at the Rilo Kiley concert at the Wiltern on June 19th, 2005 extremely early. For an 8:00 p.m. show, where the doors wouldn't even open till 7:00, I sat down in line at 12:15 p.m., almost a full eight hours before show time. I didn't care. It was the middle of summer and I was still remembering with fondness flying out to Boston the month before and having seen them there. Besides, I knew I would meet a few cool people in line who could help me pass the time. That's what always happens at RK concerts, you either run into people you know or you meet new people who are just as cool. The funny fact was I wasn't even the first person there. Waiting in line before were Shelma, who I'd traded messages with in the days leading up to the show, and a brunette-haired girl who I'd never met before. Settling down next to her, I attempted to read the novel I had brought along with me.
However, it wasn't before too long, that either I or she was saying hello to me and an intermittent, but informative, conversation was struck. Soon, with the arrival of more and more people, including my establishing to Shelma who I was, this new girl and I were getting along, as they say, famously. People began lining up by the dozens, included among them was the group directly behind me, about four or five younger people, who looked to me, at the time, to be in their late teens or early twenties. Yet it was the brunette girl I seemed to chat with the most. We, myself, her, Shelma, and Shelma's friend even pitched in for pizza and sodas for the whole group, which inspired the rest of the line to turn the wait into a mock block party, replete with all sorts of foodstuffs and drinks being shared among the congregation. Even my friends from San Diego, Sarah and her brother Bryan, even managed to find their way in line to me.
Meanwhile, I had started to notice the group behind me as they brought out various cards and other diversions in an attempt to relieve the tedium of the wait. I thought it was especially funny when they whipped out some "Hello, My Name Is" stickers for us to put our RK.Net screennames on. I also remembered how cute I thought it was how the lot of them were worried about where to place their cameras in order to sneak them in. They started suggesting hiding it down their tops. One of them even suggested hiding it in her crotch, which I thought especially funny. That is, until I so how well-obscured her camera became in her tan-colored pants. Then, I was just amazed.
Yet even through all that, I seemed to be talking to the brunette girl the most and seemed to be trading the most puns and whip-smart replies with. I made it a point to try and remember her screen name for when I got home after the show. Who knows, I thought, she truly may end up being someone who means something to me.
Fairly soon, the entire first twenty or so people had their name badges on and I caught a glimpse of what her screen name was and jotted it down on my arm for posterity. I also managed to find a few surprises among the group, as some of the screen names I began to recognize and would have never imagined the face to go along with the persona portrayed on the forum. I've always thought that, given a chance, people will surprise you and making the correlation between what I expected a certain individual to be and what they actually were in real-space was certainly entertaining. Sprinkled among the faces were a great many screen names I did not recognize, but not many who made as big of an impression as the brunette girl.
Before long, we went into the concert and I got separated from most of the group I had waited in line with. I pretty much hung out with the same 'ole bunch from San Diego I always party with when a Rilo Kiley/Elected/Jenny Lewis show is in town. Much fun was had by all.
It wasn't until later that night that I began my search in earnest. I started to narrow down the screen name, which towards the end of the evening became vital for me to know better. A couple of minutes later I found who I was looking for. There in a simple profile was the information I'd hoped I'd find. Not only did she have a screen name on the forum I could contact, but she also had an AIM screen name so that I could actually have the opportunity to chat with her.
Except the girl I went searching for wasn't the brunette I was talking to all day. She wasn't the girl that had occupied my thoughts for the last two hours of the concert.
I went searching for the girl who had stuffed a camera down her crotch. That's what I remembered and had me smiling all show long.
I went searching for the girl I'd probably said four words to the whole day.
I went searching for a girl named Carly.
you've been searching your whole life
something to mute, change, or just distract you
something to put inside you to give the illusion of life
At first, I was hesitant to say hello, because even I find it odd to just startle somebody with a greeting, especially somebody I was sure had no clue who I was or where she had seen me. Yet there was something about the ease of her laughter and the impulsiveness of her spirit that had caught my attention. I would have certainly been remiss to let that kind of character pass into and out of my life so easily. I took a chance and typed the first few words that would lead to thousands of more.
As aforementioned, there are some huge obstacles that on paper would make it seem impossible for the two of us to be friends. I'm older than her by a stretch, we live like an hour or so from each other, and we only see each other every couple of months so. Yet there are very few people I talk to more often and more openly than her (unless, of course, your name is Breanne). Maybe it's because of the fact that I know I won't be seeing her any time soon that allows me to open up, but I honestly do not believe that's the reason.
I think the real reason why we get along so swimmingly is that she truly is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. Even at her age, she's led a colorful life and that, in turn, has afforded her a colorful personality. Whether we're just catching up for like a minute or two, or trading a one-hour or two-hour anecdote fest, she never fails to amuse. Not only that, but she's a lot more open-minded than I originally gave her credit for. As Anne would say, she truly is a kindred spirit.
The fact that I not only did not talk to her the first time I saw her or that we failed to make a connection the instant we met makes the fact that, here it is a full fourteen months after we started being friends, and I cannot see any big reason why I would to cease knowing her all the more amazing. It makes me think that there a whole boatload of people like her that, because I never took a chance and actually tried to get to know, I may have missed out on. It's true that you never know who you're going to become close with because Miss Carly would have certainly not been on top of the list had you asked me within mere minutes of seeing her for the first time.
Now she's right up there with anybody else who's currently in my life. I don't consider her a close, close friend, but she is among the select few I have trusted some of my more less innocent and less flattering stories. She's also one of the few people I have known for a lengthy period of time who has yet to annoy me to any sizable degree. I don't know--I guess I just get along with her. It's my assertion that I am lucky to have met her and lucky that I didn't let my reluctance to initiate contact with her prevent me from the mere act of saying hello.
Else, I might have missed out on a real gem of a person.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 12:31 AM
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