today was a beautiful day. despite the rain, despite the bitter cold, despite the feeling of being wronged to be craving scarves and mittens and coats on a fine day in may, it was lovely nonetheless. perhaps it was the fiddleheads i had for lunch. perhaps it was the junot diaz that kept me company. perhaps none of the above.
what’s more, i got to visit the beloved 401 richmond after work. it had been too long! and walking into that beautiful exposed-brick, hardwood floor, child care playground in the quad, lush foliage covering the walls, building, i had seem to have momentarily forgotten how much affection i hold for that place. it pretty much sums up all that i want in life. the closest thing i have seen to my dream house has so far been the nooks and crannies of 401, and the loft that amanda peet keeps as her studio in that movie about delinquents in new york which i love so much (can’t seem to remember the title though. let’s go ahead and blame it on the oatmeal stout from the bar).
the all-is-well-in-the-world only crescendoed as i caught up with a good friend, learning about her new obsessions (holograms! music and physics and waves! and many more!) and sharing some of mine.
but then. the unbearable. every morning at work, we receive an email with the top searches on google, meant to direct the news coverage for the remainder of the day – it serves as a barometre for what people are up to. when i checked it this morning, the words “robin hood” topped the list. and in my over-zealous, just-out-of-college-we-are-all-hyper-liberal-progressive-policy-advocates-right mindset, i had auto-assumed that it could only mean one thing: the robin hood tax.
and then sifting through a pile of newspapers, seeing russell crowe prominently featured on the front fold, it occurred to me: no, people are most certainly not interested in reading about some left-wing progressive tax campaign. they never have and they never will. what they are more interested in, instead, is a $$$ block bustre featuring that ever-buff australian actor.
some how this aha moment made me incredibly sad. not sure why, but for now, it’s time for some ditch efforts at writing, and off to bed.
a completely unrelated thought: on my walk over from the red light/garrison, i came across an addidas advert featuring david beckham and snoop dogg. this triggered two unrelated thoughts. it reminded me of the time i complemented sporty spice on her mulberry bag (before it became big) not knowing that it was her, and how she is – as we all know – a member of spice girls together with victoria beckham who is david beckhams other. and then i remembered that other occasion when i waited what seemed like light year in newspaper time at le phoenician for snoop dogg to arrive for his – what amounted to a pointless – press conference and how i went to the show later that evening as a VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIP (oh, middle east) and how that review ran the same day as my article on the local soup kitchen and their valiant effort and bettering lives of the marginalized and how i remember thinking it was odd and sad all at once. and the girl whose house nat and i went to pick up niel from had been photographed by richard kern. whiskey tango foxtrot! i was JUST talking/thinking/wondering about him earlier last week! he had been in toronto to speak! i had almost went had it not been for too much bourbon and not enough word count! and i enjoy his photographs because they are raw and honest and naked and not pretty most of the time. and all these pixels of memories come together to remind me that the world is a small place where all that we are are derivatives of each another.
