I first met TL via RC via MJ...that is to say, RC called MJ while we were living in Los Angeles and asked him if her friend, TL, could stay with us a night as evidently the hotel she was staying in was filled with cheerleaders and they couldn't leave the day they were supposed to - so, incoming folks had to find another place to stay. Figures, doesn't it?
TL was in Los Angeles for some sort of symposium. She had 3.5/yrs of college under her belt and was insistent on becoming a movie producer of some sort...that is until she went to Los Angeles and realized that this wasn't going to be a possible dream anytime in the near future. She quit school, left her dream and moved back home to the middle of farmland Oregon. Of course, before all this happened, I met her that night, while she shared a piece of floor with myself and 3 others. Our "apartment-mates", B & CE, rented the place MJ and I were staying, and my best friend JZ had moved in with her boyfriend (now husband of 20+ years and 3 kids). B & CE are another story, but for now the important information is that they had the 1 bedroom (which also contained the bathroom, so you had to hope they weren't having sex if you had to use it), and we all had the small floor of about 300 square feet. So...now there were 5 for a night. Because of space issues, TL and I took off and went out to get coffee or some such and we instantly hit it off. When I moved back from L.A. the following year we started to hang out incessantly. We were pretty much inseparable.
When I first went to TL's place, her parents huge, finished basement with 2 full rooms, she showed me 1) her massive shoe collection (literally she'd put Carrie on Sex and the City to shame), and 2) her Burger King Vases collection. Yes, you read that correctly; Burger King Vases. Did you know that Burger Kings used to have vases on each table? I think that TL is probably the reason they don't anymore. She had at least 30 of them sitting out, and had little labels on the bottom as to where each one came from.
Of course I inquired about these, and from then on every time we'd go out to do something and saw a Burger King, and actually wanted food from there, we'd have to go in and she'd steal another vase. She did have a rather large purse, and I was quite impressed with her stealth and ability to walk out of the restaurant with the vase, water and flowers all tucked secretly away. It kind of reminded me of my grandmother at buffet restaurants tucking half eaten chicken into greasy, semi-used white napkins into her purse for later meals.
One day TL informed me that she had a goal...the grandest, biggest heist she could pull: The Burger King on Broadway in downtown Portland had inside camera's! TL told me that if she could get one from this location, it would be the finality to her collection - the best piece she would have - the most dangerous, the most sought after. So, of course we devised a plan.
Now, I'll freely admit, TL and I did some pretty crazy crap back in they day - we were two peas in a wacky pod, so stealing a vase from a Burger King with camera's installed didn't seem all that odd...well, at least no odder than stealing a full set of silverware from Denny's over the years (TL was working on the other table items when I met her).
Unfortunately for this story, stealing the vase from Burger King was almost a little too easy. We waited, watched the camera's, watched all the people staring at us (it was night, not the best part of town, we didn't quite fit in), and she lifted the vase. We left quickly, laughing all the way to the car...and, that was that. She finally hung up her vase stealing hat for bigger and better things, like sugar holders, salt and pepper shakers, and the like. But, it was the pride factor that she had - over 40 vases in all. To my recollection, shortly after this Burger King abruptly stopped having vases on tables...and again, I swear it's all TL's doing.
-AA
Showing posts with label broadway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label broadway. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Watching myself almost 20 years later...
The other day, whilst having some Evan Williams and Pepsi, at the request of my partner ("C"), I pulled out an old VHS tape and popped it in. Among the oddball items there was one bright spot, me almost 20 years ago, videotaped by friends in downtown Portland off Stark Street. Well, it was bright for the time, I suppose - my glasses and shirt were highly dated to the early 90's, the sound was horrible, but getting to see myself all these years later was, quite honestly, nothing short of thought provoking.
It's night, I'm a young dyke with a short stylish haircut, toothpick hanging out of my mouth, and a bit cocky. I should also mention the Harry Potter glasses...I was cool before he was. (LOL) I'm being interviewed by friends for a "trip video" they're doing of their journey to find k.d. lang, of all things (er, people). JG is an amazing 50 something woman, and the other friend is from the bulletin boards we all were a part of back then. They were doing a documentary, actually, and the balance of the tape is a lot of them driving up to Vancouver, B.C. looking for where Ms. lang lived, while listening to the album "Ingenue". I'm much more entertaining than that was, I'm afraid.
It was fun to watch with C, but it got me thinking, and actually brought me down a bit. I was once cute, ambitious, had a slight swagger, and really enjoyed myself. Now? I'm self admittedly at least 100 pounds heavier, not half as cute, less cocky, and while I still use toothpicks, I'm actually quite polite with that aspect now. I guess, though, I can point out that while the "cockiness" has left, that was a maturity factor - now I'm confident, and I'll take that over cocky any day of the week, thank you very much.
This process of self discovery is what really started me thinking about everything - wondering where I'm going versus where I've been, and what I might have learned or gleaned from experience along the way. Experience, in my life, is not lacking in the least. I'll freely admit that I was once a self described "mental masochist" (and some of those stories I will probably get into), and I've never been afraid to take on all that life has handed me in the emotional and mental context. Physically, that's another story, and one that is much, much shorter.
Going back to the video tape - the interview was short, for the most part. I need to burn it off onto DVD and then get some sort of software to help me clean it up (the outside noise is horrid - it wasn't this bad years ago, but I think as VHS players have progressed, and the tapes have digressed, it's affected things that I'm hoping can be patched, if nothing else). As I was standing there on the street, I was being asked about my "love of all things k.d.", and honestly denying that I was obsessed. I truly wasn't...enthralled, appreciative, enthusiastic, absolutely - but, never would I become the stalker that many others followed suit with - for me, celebrities are just people with different crap in the public eye - and I don't wish to add to that. As I'm telling JG that people told me I resembled the adorable crooner, and her telling me "I just don't see it", A.H. showed up across the street.
Ahhhh...A.H....she was a cutie. I'll have to write a following entry about her, definitely, as there's more to this thought process than I care to fill this entry with.
Anyhow, A.H. came along, un-staged, totally unexpected, and I hadn't seen her in months. She exuberantly explained to JG that while I was driving her down Broadway one night she looked over and was suddenly like, "Oh my God, I'm in the car with k.d.! Just drop me off at that Taco Bell, k.d., thanks for the ride!" LOL That was amusing, and just what they needed for their documentary that never quite saw the light of day (and ended up in my possession for many years to come). C said to me, "she was cute, what happened?" I explained, briefly, that I broke up with her. Thus, another entry all about A.H. will be coming. She was cute, so was I...and I started thinking, "ya, AA, what happened?"
Life Happened
I was discovering myself, and all the layers to myself peeling off slowly, kind of like the onion that I loathe. I was figuring life out - all that was out there was huge and amazing on many levels, and I still didn't know how to swim in the sea with all the mermaids being present - yes, they kept me off kilter much like a pirate. Some even said I was a pirate, "always out for booty", but that wasn't me - I had the player persona, I suppose, but in my mind I was only trying to make things work and make others happy while still being true to myself. Ya, that didn't work. I'm lucky, honestly, that many of my friends are still my friends after all these years - quite a few of them dated me, and that wasn't always an easy, or heart-safe task.
In short...that video made me think...about what was, what could have been, and the path's that I chose through these years I've lived so far.
I'll be honest, I was a little glum after watching it. ...This morning, C told me, while laying next to me in bed, "you know what? I was thinking about you in that video, and you now, and honestly, I like the you now better. You're cuter, you're more beautiful, and the years have been good to you. You were young and a bit cocky, and now you're older and more sure." She's right, you know. I am more confident - I can admit that without needing the self assurance of others. Sometimes, though, you just need a little nudge to realize that what you knew all along was what is really true, and that the past is the past and only helps to shape your future.
-AA
It's night, I'm a young dyke with a short stylish haircut, toothpick hanging out of my mouth, and a bit cocky. I should also mention the Harry Potter glasses...I was cool before he was. (LOL) I'm being interviewed by friends for a "trip video" they're doing of their journey to find k.d. lang, of all things (er, people). JG is an amazing 50 something woman, and the other friend is from the bulletin boards we all were a part of back then. They were doing a documentary, actually, and the balance of the tape is a lot of them driving up to Vancouver, B.C. looking for where Ms. lang lived, while listening to the album "Ingenue". I'm much more entertaining than that was, I'm afraid.
It was fun to watch with C, but it got me thinking, and actually brought me down a bit. I was once cute, ambitious, had a slight swagger, and really enjoyed myself. Now? I'm self admittedly at least 100 pounds heavier, not half as cute, less cocky, and while I still use toothpicks, I'm actually quite polite with that aspect now. I guess, though, I can point out that while the "cockiness" has left, that was a maturity factor - now I'm confident, and I'll take that over cocky any day of the week, thank you very much.
This process of self discovery is what really started me thinking about everything - wondering where I'm going versus where I've been, and what I might have learned or gleaned from experience along the way. Experience, in my life, is not lacking in the least. I'll freely admit that I was once a self described "mental masochist" (and some of those stories I will probably get into), and I've never been afraid to take on all that life has handed me in the emotional and mental context. Physically, that's another story, and one that is much, much shorter.
Going back to the video tape - the interview was short, for the most part. I need to burn it off onto DVD and then get some sort of software to help me clean it up (the outside noise is horrid - it wasn't this bad years ago, but I think as VHS players have progressed, and the tapes have digressed, it's affected things that I'm hoping can be patched, if nothing else). As I was standing there on the street, I was being asked about my "love of all things k.d.", and honestly denying that I was obsessed. I truly wasn't...enthralled, appreciative, enthusiastic, absolutely - but, never would I become the stalker that many others followed suit with - for me, celebrities are just people with different crap in the public eye - and I don't wish to add to that. As I'm telling JG that people told me I resembled the adorable crooner, and her telling me "I just don't see it", A.H. showed up across the street.
Ahhhh...A.H....she was a cutie. I'll have to write a following entry about her, definitely, as there's more to this thought process than I care to fill this entry with.
Anyhow, A.H. came along, un-staged, totally unexpected, and I hadn't seen her in months. She exuberantly explained to JG that while I was driving her down Broadway one night she looked over and was suddenly like, "Oh my God, I'm in the car with k.d.! Just drop me off at that Taco Bell, k.d., thanks for the ride!" LOL That was amusing, and just what they needed for their documentary that never quite saw the light of day (and ended up in my possession for many years to come). C said to me, "she was cute, what happened?" I explained, briefly, that I broke up with her. Thus, another entry all about A.H. will be coming. She was cute, so was I...and I started thinking, "ya, AA, what happened?"
Life Happened
I was discovering myself, and all the layers to myself peeling off slowly, kind of like the onion that I loathe. I was figuring life out - all that was out there was huge and amazing on many levels, and I still didn't know how to swim in the sea with all the mermaids being present - yes, they kept me off kilter much like a pirate. Some even said I was a pirate, "always out for booty", but that wasn't me - I had the player persona, I suppose, but in my mind I was only trying to make things work and make others happy while still being true to myself. Ya, that didn't work. I'm lucky, honestly, that many of my friends are still my friends after all these years - quite a few of them dated me, and that wasn't always an easy, or heart-safe task.
In short...that video made me think...about what was, what could have been, and the path's that I chose through these years I've lived so far.
I'll be honest, I was a little glum after watching it. ...This morning, C told me, while laying next to me in bed, "you know what? I was thinking about you in that video, and you now, and honestly, I like the you now better. You're cuter, you're more beautiful, and the years have been good to you. You were young and a bit cocky, and now you're older and more sure." She's right, you know. I am more confident - I can admit that without needing the self assurance of others. Sometimes, though, you just need a little nudge to realize that what you knew all along was what is really true, and that the past is the past and only helps to shape your future.
-AA
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