On...
On Sentimentality...
I've been a bit overwhelmed lately at the sentimental ideas we (read: I) push upon inanimate objects. Part of this is my purging of quite a bit of my possessions in preparation for my move but mostly it's due to an unforeseen loss. Last Friday, I went bowling for a friend's birthday. Prior to lacing up my fancypants size 6 patchwork shoes I removed my rings and choose a sparkly pink bowling ball. I put the rings in a pocket of my bag. If you don't see where this is going by now get yer eyes checked. Hours later (and um, a few whiskeys) and I'm missing one. Apparently gone is the ring I bought in Tokyo with my ex-roommate. It's just a tiny silver band with a few diamond chips, probably not worth much (I really have no idea what I paid for it nor would I be able to take that number in yen and translate it to dollars). Pricey or not it meant the world to me (literally). I typically wear jewelry symbolic of my travels or friends. An obvious example is the lil silver ring from Tokyo... but also a silver band from Camden also purchased with a friend... a silver thumb ring purchased with my high school best friend in Texas... a swirly silver ring purchased in Scandinavia when I was 10... you get the idea. The Japanese ring isn't really replaceable. A little piece of me broke when I realized I couldn't find it. A few people there with me were kind enough to help me look around but no ring was found on the even-ugly-in-the-70's-when-it-was-installed carpet of the bowling alley. I walked home and looked at the blank space on my finger. When I got home I sat down at my makeshift desk and checked my email. There sitting next to my laptop... the Japanese ring. I hadn't lost it. I hadn't put it on that day probably for fear of losing it at the bowling alley later. I fired off an email to my ex-roommate (former Tokyo resident now Italian resident). Even if I had lost the ring, I wouldn't have lost her but sometimes I need those reminders to check in and track her down in those remote parts of the world she travels to*.
On Stepping Forward...
I was watching the BBC WorldService News tonight and stared at the continued atrocities in Iraq. It forced a few minutes of pondering in my head about what happens in the world when those few people who can be natural, unifying leaders don't step up (or simply don't exist in the first place). I do not condone any of the recent US actions in the middle east but right now the biggest problem appears to be the absence of leadership. There doesn't appear to be an individual or group who can unify the various factions... here or abroad. Locally, I can see the formations of that in Barack Obama but on a national scale... we are looking a little worse for wear.
In the words of Aaron Sorkin...
Lewis: People want leadership. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership, Mr. President. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
Sheperd: Lewis, we've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty, Lewis. They drink it because they don't know the difference.
On Sleep...
Once upon a time I couldn't fall asleep without the stereo on. Then I moved upstairs from a bat who hears every reverberation of sound in a 200 yard radius. After numerous complaints about the quiet sounds I used to lull myself sleep I gave it up. I have never been one who can just lay still in a dark room and instantly fall asleep. The sounds used to help soothe my internal voice. The sounds are back. I can't put up with the downstairs bat banging on my door so I've moved to headphones. I live all day with these headphones on and now, quite often, I sleep that way. Thankfully they are so comfortable I can barely feel them on my head. Surprisingly I think they've stopped me from tossing and turning as much. It's not the ideal but at least I can sleep easier lately.
*My ex-roommate just got back from Libya! LIBYA! The photos she took are phenomenal.