the old-school guestbook archives
my amazon wish list... my favorite astrologer... my favorite artist... yerba mate revolution! erowid: a travel guide for interior journeys... no more war: MoveOn.org United for Peace and Justice True Majority seek the truth: Common Dreams Unamerican Activities The Nation people I adore, diaries I read: rev.raikes ariana cubiclegirl epiphany glitter333 laurakay wammo the music: the asylum street spankers backyard tire fire blue highway bill camplin wendy colonna freedom tribe joules graves guy forsyth band hamsa lila hanuman libby kirkpatrick leftover salmon pamela means medeski martin & wood the motet the nice outfit nickel creek open road rose polenzani railroad earth south austin jug band string cheese incident taarka tha musemeant the devil makes three tim o'brien band trolley wild sage keller williams yonder mountain string band |
back in the day... ~ 2000-12-29 - 03:16:51 I went out to dinner with my folks tonight... we ate at Beans and Barley, a health food store/restaurant that's been around forever. back in the 70's, it was an old-school co-op, now it's pretty yuppified, but it's still a good bet when it comes to feeding a vegan organic girl. the funny thing about eating there is that we always seem to get the same waiter-- kevin henderson. me and kevin went to middle school together. he was the little toadie sidekick to sadie benning, the biggest bully in the whole school. the two of them absolutely terrorized me... I was this geeky, awkward kid with bad hair and no fashion sense. middle school was this process of me figuring out that I was never going to fit in with the people around me-- and that, furthermore, I didn't want to. by eighth grade I was dressing as bizarrely as possible to distinguish myself from the masses. but back in sixth I just felt all kindsa lost. I'd just come out of a montessorri elementary school, and mainstream educational institutions were a huge shock. oh, yeah-- and I had a tendency to explode violently when pushed to a certain point. I got beat up my entire childhood, so I learned to fight young. I'm always amazed when people tell me they've never been in a fistfight. I can't even imagine. so kevin and sadie made my life hell for a while. I was an easy target. I always had my face in a book, I was a sci-fi/fantasy geek, and I didn't know how to dress. did I mention the bad hair? oh, yes. you don't brush hair like mine... it took me about 18 years to figure that out. in high school, I just shaved most of it off, and kept it that way for years. I was on the punk scene in a big way by then. but back to middle school-- bad, bad hair. and I played the violin. badly. kevin was this tiny little guy, and being sadie's toadie gave him power, in a twisted, 12-year-old kinda way. sadie later came out of the closet and mellowed out. last I heard, she was a somewhat respected lesbian filmmaker. kevin, as near as I can tell, has been a waiter at beans and barley most of his adult life. I see him whenever I eat there, but I've never been able to tell if he remembers me until tonight. when he came to the table, he broke waiter-persona and said "hey," with that yeah-I-know-you eye contact. then it was back to coffee-for-you-folks? just a split second acknowledgement of the kids we used to be. kevin's built these days-- nice body, badass biceps, a few visible tattoos. I guess he started working out when he hit that high school growth spurt. and me... I'm not nearly so awkward as I used to be. I still spend a lot of time with my nose in books, but I spend a lot of time with beautiful, creative people too. and I have good hair. the best days of my life? right here, right now, baby. I wouldn't go back if you paid me.
(((rings))) |