(no subject)
Question of the Day: What's your most vivid memory?
SO last night, this long-forgotten childhood memory popped into my head suddenly. It was so random. My mother and I were just watching "Skating with Celebrities" (her program choice, not mine) and out of nowhere, I just soared back in time. The memory had been of me and the daughter of my mother's then-boyfriend, back when we were both seven and the best of friends. We were pretending that we were ice-skating, using the bare hardwood floors in her room as the ice, and our clean, slippery socks as skates. We had mini-Olympian competitions, and had been thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
Which had me thinking -- what makes a memory so vivid that we can re-live it like that, all the details of the surroundings so clear in your mind that it's as if it's all right in front of you? That particular memory had definitely not been my most important memory, and yet there I was, traveling through time and space as if I were still seven years old. It amazes me as well that it had happened to segue from the smallest, most random things, like watching Kurt Browning (I love him -- he's my fave male skater, next to Scott Hamilton, who unfortunately isn't skating too much anymore. But I digress) and Deborah Gibson nearly kill themselves on the ice.
Who knows what makes a memory so vivid like that...especially one that has been long-forgotten such as mine. It's definitely something we should cherish though, and appreciate with a smile on our face.
**
I forgot to mention -- exactly a week ago, guess who I met. ANTHONY RAPP from Rent!
It had been his book signing in Chelsea, NY for his memoir, Without You. He was such a joy to see in person. So intelligent and funny and articulate. He read an excerpt to us, and then had a small discussion before going through a Q&A session with the Rentheads.
The highlight, however had to be what I had dubbed the Entrance of the Important People, which occured a few minutes before "showtime". Some of the Important People had consisted of various editors and so on, but there were two that stood out greatly. The first, for what I would think were obvious reasons: we'd seen The Rapp's partner, Rodney To, whom my friend Patti (who's Filipina as well) and I had guessed was Filipino, by the looks of him. We could be wrong, though, since his last name could also be Vietnamese or Thai. Every Renthead was fawning over Rodney, I swear. I do admit, I was a little intrigued by him, and Patricia took to taking tons of not-so-discreet photos of him (he was really that handsome.)
I was more intrigued, however, by the Other Important Person that had caught my eye. Before I knew who she even was, this woman had sat down in front of Patti, Matthew and I. She'd had a Starbucks latte in hand, and a box of Godiva chocolates in the other. She had been nice enough to hand them out to us starving Rentheads, and within two minutes after she sat down again, Patti had overheard her conversation with the kid in front of us. Supposedly, Patti had told me, the woman had known Jonathan Larson (the composer of Rent who'd died ten years ago from an aortic aneurysm) since college and had even lost her virginity with him. A light bulb had flashed at the top of my head, and I knew who she was. I asked Matt, "Is that Victoria Leacock?" He nodded vigorously in reply.
I was kinda excited. This person actually knew Jonathan, and was, in a way a sort of living history --an extension-- of him. She'd had this sort of quiet melancholy and sadness as if you could just tell that she'd gone through a lot. Her sitting in front of us kinda had made my day at that point.
Oh yeah -- the signing. I felt like a Stupid Arse when I had come up to get my book and DVD signed. Here's how it went.
Anthony: (smiles) Hi.
Me: H-hi. Ummmm.
Anthony: (looks up expectantly)
Me: I, er, just want to say, uhmm, that the film really, er inspired me to, ah, perform again. I'm, ur, in the, ah, school play.
Anthony: Well, break a leg. (smiles)
Gawd, I thought I had bored the poor man. It took me like, 525,600 minutes (pun fully intended) to get all that out.
Le sigh. I'm ever the El Dorkus, aren't I? I mean, my knees were shaking!
SO last night, this long-forgotten childhood memory popped into my head suddenly. It was so random. My mother and I were just watching "Skating with Celebrities" (her program choice, not mine) and out of nowhere, I just soared back in time. The memory had been of me and the daughter of my mother's then-boyfriend, back when we were both seven and the best of friends. We were pretending that we were ice-skating, using the bare hardwood floors in her room as the ice, and our clean, slippery socks as skates. We had mini-Olympian competitions, and had been thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
Which had me thinking -- what makes a memory so vivid that we can re-live it like that, all the details of the surroundings so clear in your mind that it's as if it's all right in front of you? That particular memory had definitely not been my most important memory, and yet there I was, traveling through time and space as if I were still seven years old. It amazes me as well that it had happened to segue from the smallest, most random things, like watching Kurt Browning (I love him -- he's my fave male skater, next to Scott Hamilton, who unfortunately isn't skating too much anymore. But I digress) and Deborah Gibson nearly kill themselves on the ice.
Who knows what makes a memory so vivid like that...especially one that has been long-forgotten such as mine. It's definitely something we should cherish though, and appreciate with a smile on our face.
**
I forgot to mention -- exactly a week ago, guess who I met. ANTHONY RAPP from Rent!
It had been his book signing in Chelsea, NY for his memoir, Without You. He was such a joy to see in person. So intelligent and funny and articulate. He read an excerpt to us, and then had a small discussion before going through a Q&A session with the Rentheads.
The highlight, however had to be what I had dubbed the Entrance of the Important People, which occured a few minutes before "showtime". Some of the Important People had consisted of various editors and so on, but there were two that stood out greatly. The first, for what I would think were obvious reasons: we'd seen The Rapp's partner, Rodney To, whom my friend Patti (who's Filipina as well) and I had guessed was Filipino, by the looks of him. We could be wrong, though, since his last name could also be Vietnamese or Thai. Every Renthead was fawning over Rodney, I swear. I do admit, I was a little intrigued by him, and Patricia took to taking tons of not-so-discreet photos of him (he was really that handsome.)
I was more intrigued, however, by the Other Important Person that had caught my eye. Before I knew who she even was, this woman had sat down in front of Patti, Matthew and I. She'd had a Starbucks latte in hand, and a box of Godiva chocolates in the other. She had been nice enough to hand them out to us starving Rentheads, and within two minutes after she sat down again, Patti had overheard her conversation with the kid in front of us. Supposedly, Patti had told me, the woman had known Jonathan Larson (the composer of Rent who'd died ten years ago from an aortic aneurysm) since college and had even lost her virginity with him. A light bulb had flashed at the top of my head, and I knew who she was. I asked Matt, "Is that Victoria Leacock?" He nodded vigorously in reply.
I was kinda excited. This person actually knew Jonathan, and was, in a way a sort of living history --an extension-- of him. She'd had this sort of quiet melancholy and sadness as if you could just tell that she'd gone through a lot. Her sitting in front of us kinda had made my day at that point.
Oh yeah -- the signing. I felt like a Stupid Arse when I had come up to get my book and DVD signed. Here's how it went.
Anthony: (smiles) Hi.
Me: H-hi. Ummmm.
Anthony: (looks up expectantly)
Me: I, er, just want to say, uhmm, that the film really, er inspired me to, ah, perform again. I'm, ur, in the, ah, school play.
Anthony: Well, break a leg. (smiles)
Gawd, I thought I had bored the poor man. It took me like, 525,600 minutes (pun fully intended) to get all that out.
Le sigh. I'm ever the El Dorkus, aren't I? I mean, my knees were shaking!