Words kidnapped me! BEWARE- VERY RANDOM!

There is a book of poems called "Good Poems For Hard Times"
I read the introduction to it in the book store one day and it has stuck with me.

My grandmother clips things out of the newspaper if they remind her of one of us.
Every once in a while we get these packages of oddly disconnected newspaper articles.
The only clue stringing them together is ourself. The odd mish and mangle of interests and talents which define us.

I would like to collect words. I would like to save them up in all their disconnectedness...
and one day, I would like to mail them off in all directions...
or read them aloud on rainy afternoons.
Perhaps we could drink tea
we could talk about the weather
about our lives

I always lose my words when Im around you

If you could take comfort from words
I would send them instead of coming to visit
Im an unqualified replacement for wisdom
I should take a summer class

I would collect introductions:
"hello
"bonjour"
"good day"
"Jon this is Cynthia...Cynthia meet Jon."
"nice shoes!"
"could you tell me the way to the bus stop?"

"Miserable day isn't it?"
"Yes, but I kind of like the rain actually." -'me too,' I think to myself (it reminds me of you)
"A good day for tea!"
"Yes...(an introduction)
"Tell me about your life"
He smiles. She smiles. I catch them smiling and I smile.

He wears a sweater and he smiles in the rain. I love him.
The fire crackles and the wind blows, but I only hear the story unfold
I'm collecting his words...do you think he will mind?

A Random Selection of Facts

Things you probably never knew about me:

-I like airplane food. I like the little compartments. I like the bland frozenesque flavour.
-I also like tv dinners. I am secretly excited when people Im house sitting or babysitting for have them, and tell me to help myself to whatever.
-An honest smile from a stranger(any stranger) is one of the things I love most in the world
-One of the most memorable compliments I have ever recieved was a few years ago from two homeless men who thought I couldnt hear them. ("gorgeous girl")
-Ive never felt prettier than that moment
-I love cheesy christmas/halloween/thanksgiving made for tv movies. I seek them out.
-corky romano is one of my all time favorite movies.
-I hate sexy halloween outfits... mostly because they are so unoriginal, but a little because I cant pull them off.
-Im horribly stubborn!
-I refused to take the bus to school as a kid/teenager (except perhaps once.) I was too scared, and felt like it was just one more place I was unpopular/ignored. I told my parents it was because it added a hour on either side of my school day...which was true... and I hated it for the aformentioned reason.
-In contrast, I love taking the city bus. Nobody knows me and I can daydream immpossible interactions with them.
-Ive kissed 4 people in my life one at age 20, one at age 21, one at age 23 and one at age 25
(yes, so those first two werent solitary makeouts sessions...but the last two were)
-If I were to add up the amount of my life Ive been in a relationship, it would be less than 6 months
-If I were to count up the time it took me to get over adam ... it would be 3 years.
-I could probabaly make a list as long as im tall of all the things Im afraid of...most are things im afraid of doing
- The thing I hate most about myself is my lack of courage.
-I love liver and onions, especially if smoothered in bacon.
-As a child I once ordered liver and onions at a restaurant, and no one would believe thats what I actually wanted.
-I was born pidgeon toed and had to wear feet braces as a child.
-I also had braces on my teeth (not worth it!)
-when Im talking politics on the phone I almost always think of the possibility of my conversation being recorded..even though I have very little of interest to say
-As a child I hated french fries. It wasnt until I was about 15 that I started liking them.
- A couple summers ago I faced a period of anxiety/depression. Now that Ive past through that depression, most of my time/energy is spent avoiding falling back into it.
-I will never underestimate the power of depression...it is despair
-I admire most the people who are fearless of making themselves vulnerable.
-I see this as a complete embrace of life in all its strange contradictions.
-Even though I long for that abandon...I am too scared!
-Im secretly excited on days so rainy I get to wear my raincoat.
-Im jealous of every person I see walking a dog.
-I once owned a turtle and two salamanders... the slamanders climbed out of their cage and got stuck under the piano where we found them months later completly dried out.
- As a child I wanted to be a detective...As a teenager I wanted to be a film director...Now I have no idea

A random selection of facts.

observations/judgements

The other day I saw a man in the mall food court. He carried a tim hortons tray...and on that tray: Two Boston Cream donuts, a medium hot beverage cup(coffee?) and one package of crackers. He sat alone at a table with hands clasped and eyes closed in quiet prayer/reflection(?). He remained so for a couple of moments, then opening his eyes he hungrily dug into the package of crakers. After he was done these, he happily moved on to the donuts. Its a bit creepy, I suppose, that I was so focused on this man for such a long period of time, but I like people watching and I dont think he noticed. I hope I was more subtle than my observations would indicate.
He made me smile.
He made me think of the assumptions I make about people based on my limited observation of them.

Tomorrow is the American election. I wonder, how little we actually know about the candidates? How much of the observations we have of them are false or put on? I wonder, how much below the surface we are unaware of?

I had a fantastic weekend. Thank you.

I had dinner with Tasia tonight. It was wonderful lasagna. Thank you Tasia.