--
This is going to be
about flow. Not rhythm; more like time, chronology. How you get
from point A to point B. Or rather, how I got from point A to point
B. Two very different times.
The
first is a happy story. It's happy because point B was very clearly
an improvement over point A. I went from ignorance to knowledge, and
what I gained was fruitful and good. At point A, I was disappointed
because I had finished watching the last episode of an amazing TV
series: Coupling. Really witty British sit-com about three men and
three women in their late twenties/early thirties (I know what you're
thinking, and while teenage-me would be appalled by the words I'm
about to type, it is worlds more sophisticated and entertaining than
Friends). I was in my pajamas but it didn't matter. The point was
that I was happy, but not happiest. The show enriched my
recreational life, but then it went the way of all great art, and
ended. In my search for MORE, I stumbled upon an internet discussion
thread where users went to mourn the end of Coupling and find an
antidote to fill the gaping void. The IT Crowd was suggested,
seconded... I watched it. Bingo! I recognized Chris O'Dowd from his
role as the goofy but charming cop in Bridesmaids. Here he played a
geeky and bumbling IT worker for a large soulless corporation. His
wacky facial contortions and comedic timing were superb, but the real
show-stealer in my opinion was his clueless sidekick, Maurice Moss.
Played flawlessly by a poker-faced Richard Ayoade, “Moss” is a
socially awkward nerd of epic proportions who totes a backpack to
work, enjoys role-playing games a la Dungeons & Dragons, and
still gets beat up as if he were an easy grade school target.
Suffice it to say, I was in love. When I'd finished The IT Crowd, I
knew exactly from where my next fix would come: Ayoade. I was
dismayed to discover, however, that he hasn't exactly had the most
prolific acting career. Read: I'd just watched about 92% of it. He
had written and
directed a movie called Submarine; an indie coming-of-age flick. It
looked hit-or-miss, but I just flipped over it. Subtle but forceful,
with detestable yet sympathetic characters brilliantly portrayed by
British no-name child actors, I couldn't get enough. The soundtrack
was incredible, too. Soulful folk rock guitar tunes with a soothing
male tenor. Turns out, it was Alex Turner, a British musician with a
solo album (the movie soundtrack) and a band called the Arctic
Monkeys. Well, I was hooked. On both. On all of it. On all of
this. On the beauty
of the process. From point A to point B. One day I'm watching
Coupling, the next I'm rocking out to the Arctic Monkeys. Life.
Sweet stuff.
This next story is
a sad one. It's the age-old story of unrequited love and the poor
choices we make in the name of dulling the pain. In fact, the more I
think about it, the less interesting and noteworthy this story
becomes. I like a guy. He's (basically) married. I got drunk,
because, well, why not? Now I sit at my computer, hung-over, writing
this discourse about my course and the blood courses coarse from a
night of drinking and as a matter of course I tell myself I'll never
drink again and of course it's a lie and the course of life and love
never did run smooth of course it always seems so simple when you
think you're at rock bottom but the twists and turns are of course
inevitable and not only that they're the best part. But of course
you don't know that yet. Maybe you never will.
And of course, time
marches on.
Love & peace,
"Mary"
PS My Dad was the
one who called me that. There's a real sadness there. Of course,
there always will be.
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