The sushi episode
Speedwalking has its inconvenients.
Of course, you get here or there faster than the average pedestrian. But your chances of having an accident greatly increase if you're walking very quickly. In my case, my walking speed increases exponentially as the distance gets longer, and this adds to my natural accident-prone condition. I know that shit happens, but it just happens abnormally often to me. I always wondered if I could get tax deductions from that somehow... but it's not the topic of this occurence.
That day things seemed to go pretty well. I walked at a fairly quick pace and nothing had happened to me yet, which was as itself an event of great rarity. In fact, for once, the city seemed like it actually wanted me to take a walk: I would not trip on anything, the pedestrian go-light would always be lighting up as soon as I got to an intersection, there was no rain pouring out of the blue... So I was happy with my desicion to go for a walk in the hip part of town.
Yes, the hip part of town.
Because not only I felt confident enough that day to go for a walk by myself; I also felt kinda cool. You know, when you walk along the street and you see your reflection in the passingby buses and you think "woah, I look awesome today". Well, it was one of those times. So I had a feeling my place was among the hip-chic people from that ultra trendy street with all the fancy specialty grocery stores and the designer boutiques.
So here I am, strolling down the oversized sidewalk, singing in my head some kind of "attitude song" to pace my calculated steps.
I've never been cool. So acting like I am the most rich and fashionable person in town is an activity I always found very entertaining and exotic. Anyways. As I was enjoying my imaginary almost famous status, I got in this part of the street that goes in some kind of a slant right in front of the windows of a sushi bar, the Zen Carp.
There it was.
The very first frozen sidewalk of the winter. The dreadful ennemy of any clumsy walker, i.e: me. And of course, despite my momentaneous over-coolness (you know you're cool when you start coining words to describe yourself...), the flat soles of my to-be-changed-4-years-ago Converse shoes lost their grip on the concrete and I landed on my bum right in front of the Zen Carp's bay-windows. Fortunately, although I am extremely accident-prone, I very seldom really hurt myself badly. Like those cartoon characters that come out of being slammed on the head by a huge anvil with just a bump on the head: I had nothing broken, except of course my ego, who was good for intensive care for the next decade.
As I stood back up and brushed away the snow on my coat, I noticed the astonished look of that guy eating a huge plate of nigris on the other side of the window. Apparently, he saw my embarrassing stunt and was wondering how I managed to survive. I guess every cartoon character needs a 7 year old to look at him get hurt... But as I was carefully (and painfully) starting to walk again down the street, I started wondering why he looked that upset.
Imagine you are a trendy late-twenties dynamic and successful publicist. One lunch time you go out with some co-worker to try the new sushis they have at this place a couple of friends mentionned at your last dinner together last weekend. So there you are. You just got your whole plate of carefully ordered sushis (chef's choice and discovery plates are for amateurs), and you're on the edge of taking a huge bite... then SLAM!!! The open hand of a girl hits the window by which you are sitting... besides the fact you almost choked on your pickled ginger with surprise, the incident has something very disturbing. Whoever was there, she slipped completely outta sight as soon as you turned around. Then all of a sudden , it hits you: her tapping on the window was a call. A call to you.
As a kid, you always were terrified to go to bed at night because you thought that throughout the night people might forget about you and then you'd disappear without leaving a trace: your existence was relying on the fact people knew about it, that there was always someone thinking of you somewhere, somehow. This girl was someone everyone forgot about or no one remembered... and right there, in front of you, she disappeared forever... realising what was happening, in a desperate last attempt to be seen, she tapped the window, hoping you'd notice her and see her... but you failed. You did not see her face: you were too busy eating stupid raw fish. So it hits you like a slap in the face that it's entirely your fault... that you are a murderer... that you ignored the fact that you were the only person who could save her, and you let her disappear...
This lasts about three quarters of a second.
With a closer look you realize quickly that your victim is an early-20's girl with a long coat that fell on the ice... you almost fell there yourself when you entered. As she stands up, her blue eyes meet yours. She's alive.
Of course, you get here or there faster than the average pedestrian. But your chances of having an accident greatly increase if you're walking very quickly. In my case, my walking speed increases exponentially as the distance gets longer, and this adds to my natural accident-prone condition. I know that shit happens, but it just happens abnormally often to me. I always wondered if I could get tax deductions from that somehow... but it's not the topic of this occurence.
That day things seemed to go pretty well. I walked at a fairly quick pace and nothing had happened to me yet, which was as itself an event of great rarity. In fact, for once, the city seemed like it actually wanted me to take a walk: I would not trip on anything, the pedestrian go-light would always be lighting up as soon as I got to an intersection, there was no rain pouring out of the blue... So I was happy with my desicion to go for a walk in the hip part of town.
Yes, the hip part of town.
Because not only I felt confident enough that day to go for a walk by myself; I also felt kinda cool. You know, when you walk along the street and you see your reflection in the passingby buses and you think "woah, I look awesome today". Well, it was one of those times. So I had a feeling my place was among the hip-chic people from that ultra trendy street with all the fancy specialty grocery stores and the designer boutiques.
So here I am, strolling down the oversized sidewalk, singing in my head some kind of "attitude song" to pace my calculated steps.
I've never been cool. So acting like I am the most rich and fashionable person in town is an activity I always found very entertaining and exotic. Anyways. As I was enjoying my imaginary almost famous status, I got in this part of the street that goes in some kind of a slant right in front of the windows of a sushi bar, the Zen Carp.
There it was.
The very first frozen sidewalk of the winter. The dreadful ennemy of any clumsy walker, i.e: me. And of course, despite my momentaneous over-coolness (you know you're cool when you start coining words to describe yourself...), the flat soles of my to-be-changed-4-years-ago Converse shoes lost their grip on the concrete and I landed on my bum right in front of the Zen Carp's bay-windows. Fortunately, although I am extremely accident-prone, I very seldom really hurt myself badly. Like those cartoon characters that come out of being slammed on the head by a huge anvil with just a bump on the head: I had nothing broken, except of course my ego, who was good for intensive care for the next decade.
As I stood back up and brushed away the snow on my coat, I noticed the astonished look of that guy eating a huge plate of nigris on the other side of the window. Apparently, he saw my embarrassing stunt and was wondering how I managed to survive. I guess every cartoon character needs a 7 year old to look at him get hurt... But as I was carefully (and painfully) starting to walk again down the street, I started wondering why he looked that upset.
Imagine you are a trendy late-twenties dynamic and successful publicist. One lunch time you go out with some co-worker to try the new sushis they have at this place a couple of friends mentionned at your last dinner together last weekend. So there you are. You just got your whole plate of carefully ordered sushis (chef's choice and discovery plates are for amateurs), and you're on the edge of taking a huge bite... then SLAM!!! The open hand of a girl hits the window by which you are sitting... besides the fact you almost choked on your pickled ginger with surprise, the incident has something very disturbing. Whoever was there, she slipped completely outta sight as soon as you turned around. Then all of a sudden , it hits you: her tapping on the window was a call. A call to you.
As a kid, you always were terrified to go to bed at night because you thought that throughout the night people might forget about you and then you'd disappear without leaving a trace: your existence was relying on the fact people knew about it, that there was always someone thinking of you somewhere, somehow. This girl was someone everyone forgot about or no one remembered... and right there, in front of you, she disappeared forever... realising what was happening, in a desperate last attempt to be seen, she tapped the window, hoping you'd notice her and see her... but you failed. You did not see her face: you were too busy eating stupid raw fish. So it hits you like a slap in the face that it's entirely your fault... that you are a murderer... that you ignored the fact that you were the only person who could save her, and you let her disappear...
This lasts about three quarters of a second.
With a closer look you realize quickly that your victim is an early-20's girl with a long coat that fell on the ice... you almost fell there yourself when you entered. As she stands up, her blue eyes meet yours. She's alive.
posted by DJ Mums at 6:45 p.m.
1 Comments:
WELL Well well....
You really got your narative good this time. You're more precise and more to the point. The things you describe are really usefull. Ok I get it, I sound like a secondary school english teacher! don't say it. But still, I don't understand why you think it was better when you told it to me. This version is as clear or clearer than the oral one.
I can easally picture a spiral of thought going down and down, one thought leading to the other and so forth... Until he realizes that it's just you're brain going on overdrive for no apparent reason. Like a cumputer sometimes does. You are studying peacefully in your romm, listening to music, then, WAM, your computer spins like a crazy person for gods know why...
Well, thats it! keep up the good work Girly Girl ;)
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