Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 25
August 21, 2011
Madeleine's Lullabye
Can't figure out why it's sideways but it's kind of appropriate, I suppose. Recognize the dance? (It's electric!) The one thing that will get Madeleine to sleep lately: the electric dance and One Republic.
So Long Lotions
Just throwing out another (empty!) bottle. No more Aqua Lilly, now I'm smelling like Limon. It's only been a month or so since I committed to using all the lotions and body washes I have before buying more and despite the large quantities I think I might actually be able to get through it by January or so. Which is terrific, because that's the time of year you need way more than lotion in Minnesota to keep your skin from falling off; you need things called body butter.
Slight setback: I had two transatlantic business class seats this last week, which means I now also have two more tubes of lip balm (part of the goodies waiting for you when you get on the plane).
This made me realize that I had not taken all the lip balms acquired from each business class trip into account for my great lip balm countdown. So what was once six is now...16. I think. I might have lost count.
I will never, ever have to buy lip balm ever again. Or ear plugs. Or eye masks. And I apologize if I'm around you the next month or so and you are overwhelmed by the scent of citrus.
Slight setback: I had two transatlantic business class seats this last week, which means I now also have two more tubes of lip balm (part of the goodies waiting for you when you get on the plane).
This made me realize that I had not taken all the lip balms acquired from each business class trip into account for my great lip balm countdown. So what was once six is now...16. I think. I might have lost count.
I will never, ever have to buy lip balm ever again. Or ear plugs. Or eye masks. And I apologize if I'm around you the next month or so and you are overwhelmed by the scent of citrus.
Plagiarizing Behavior
I'm reading David Nicholls's One Day right now and really enjoying it. I just came across a line that I thought was really interesting (probably without meaning to be):
She sometimes finds herself plagiarising 'girlfriend behaviour': holding hands, cuddling up in front of the television, that kind of thing.
I love this and I completely relate. I know what a relationship is supposed to look like thanks to my one (exactly one) relationship that I didn't have to plagiarize my behavior for. Heck, I married someone based off of plagiarized behaviors--I knew how to act like I was in a serious relationship.
I realized I needed to clarify my stance on marriage yesterday, after a day of talking to people about Lost Edens. It's not at all that I'm against the idea for myself or for others (despite my four star rating for Marriage a History: How Love Conquered Marriage, and a five star rating to Against Love: A Polemic). I'm against people getting married for the sake of being married, or partnered for the sake of being partnered, or married for any reason other than two people who share sincere and authentic respect and admiration for each other.
So instead of being against marriage I am hopelessly, absolutely for marriage in the truest sense of the term. I just think more people are married in plagiarized behavior than are married because they are committed to witnessing and sharing another life till death.
Turns out I'm not a skeptic but a true romantic, right?
I still say that anyone who has been married, will be married, is married, should read Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed.
She sometimes finds herself plagiarising 'girlfriend behaviour': holding hands, cuddling up in front of the television, that kind of thing.
I love this and I completely relate. I know what a relationship is supposed to look like thanks to my one (exactly one) relationship that I didn't have to plagiarize my behavior for. Heck, I married someone based off of plagiarized behaviors--I knew how to act like I was in a serious relationship.
I realized I needed to clarify my stance on marriage yesterday, after a day of talking to people about Lost Edens. It's not at all that I'm against the idea for myself or for others (despite my four star rating for Marriage a History: How Love Conquered Marriage, and a five star rating to Against Love: A Polemic). I'm against people getting married for the sake of being married, or partnered for the sake of being partnered, or married for any reason other than two people who share sincere and authentic respect and admiration for each other.
So instead of being against marriage I am hopelessly, absolutely for marriage in the truest sense of the term. I just think more people are married in plagiarized behavior than are married because they are committed to witnessing and sharing another life till death.
Turns out I'm not a skeptic but a true romantic, right?
I still say that anyone who has been married, will be married, is married, should read Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed.
August 19, 2011
Summer is for Going Places
I've been working through the follow-up to Lost Edens, which is mainly focused around the summer two years after the events in Lost Edens took place.
I spent most of the summer in north London, in a flat with a motley crew and really had one of the better experiences of my life. I learned a lot about myself that summer. It is definitely fair to say that the people I met and who became friends changed me and the way I viewed my life. They helped me to imagine a life less ordinary--a pretty wonderful gift. It's been surprisingly difficult to relive the moments of that summer with the clarity hindsight brings. How could I have been so wise? How was I so stupid?
It's been four summers since that time but it's remarkable how clear some events and conversations are. Anyway, it brought me back to my theme song of that summer, a song I've never been able to find easily. Here it is, though, it's from what seems to be a now-defunct band called Down the Tiny Steps and the song is Summer is for Going Places.
I spent most of the summer in north London, in a flat with a motley crew and really had one of the better experiences of my life. I learned a lot about myself that summer. It is definitely fair to say that the people I met and who became friends changed me and the way I viewed my life. They helped me to imagine a life less ordinary--a pretty wonderful gift. It's been surprisingly difficult to relive the moments of that summer with the clarity hindsight brings. How could I have been so wise? How was I so stupid?
It's been four summers since that time but it's remarkable how clear some events and conversations are. Anyway, it brought me back to my theme song of that summer, a song I've never been able to find easily. Here it is, though, it's from what seems to be a now-defunct band called Down the Tiny Steps and the song is Summer is for Going Places.
Find more artists like DTTS >> Jonnie Common at Myspace Music
August 18, 2011
North Atlantic
Have you ever looked at map at all that light blue of the ocean and wondered what the heck that might actually look like? Wonder no more. Smack in the middle of the north Atlantic I got this beautiful view out my window, seat 1A, thank you very much. We flew a 767 with flat beds and I read an entire dissertation reclining with my feather pillow, and a view like this, and full meals and beverages being served a nicely paced intervals. A good day at the office!
August 17, 2011
Loving and Leaving London
One of the things I love most about London is just walking the streets. Randomly, hopefully, darting in and out of side streets desperately looking for a glimpse of something familiar. Until that something familiar appears--as if out of nowhere--and the pieces of the city you know fall into place and you realize you were never lost at all.
I love the streets, and I love Tesco Egg & Cress sandwiches, and I love the people here whom I feel lucky enough to count as friends, so tonight was a pretty darn good night because I got to enjoy all three.
I thought again of a quote from Van Booy's Everything Beautiful Began After:
For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home.
Places where lonely people can live in exile of their own lives--far from anything that was ever imagined for them.
Maybe the pull of London has lessened for me because I think I'm less lost now and more patient with the pace of my life. More patient with and accepting of things unfolding slowly. Life has become like wandering the streets of London: I feel like as long as I keep walking I'll eventually find that something familiar and know that I might not have known the route but that I always knew the way.
I love the streets, and I love Tesco Egg & Cress sandwiches, and I love the people here whom I feel lucky enough to count as friends, so tonight was a pretty darn good night because I got to enjoy all three.
I thought again of a quote from Van Booy's Everything Beautiful Began After:
For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home.
Places where lonely people can live in exile of their own lives--far from anything that was ever imagined for them.
Maybe the pull of London has lessened for me because I think I'm less lost now and more patient with the pace of my life. More patient with and accepting of things unfolding slowly. Life has become like wandering the streets of London: I feel like as long as I keep walking I'll eventually find that something familiar and know that I might not have known the route but that I always knew the way.
