la primavera

much to my surprise, these guys bloomed a small while ago.. i moved into this place at the end of summer and i don't remember the daffodils.. they seem young and unassuming.. there are also little purple flowers sprouting up and more of these guys have yet to open their faces..

it's been pretty pleasant around here, besides the chilly wind and overcast skies.. on friday i walked down to the riverside movie theater and saw Lucky Number Slevin.. i left my house around nine fifteen, walked the long way around to the theater and still managed to be about thirty five/forty minutes early for the show..

i talked to a few strangers along the way. on the walk from my house to the theater. i passed a guy walking down the street holding a baby highchair in a sort of awkward manner. he smiled and said hello and i smiled and asked "how's it going?" as he continued on down the street he said "...it's getting better all the time". a lovely sentiment, i thought.

[i went on a walk a while ago, at about this time of night, and my townhousemate gave me a look of disapproval when i returned. she was afraid for my safety. she didn't think i should go walking around that late at night by myself. (i reassured her by telling her i had spent most of it on the celly with eQ who was on her own late night walk in a parallel universe. the th-mate felt better about it then. as if my telephone conversation had saved me from a possible attacker.)]

i thought of this conversation as i walked along..

i also thought of my sister who spends a lot of her time on the streets of the WB in That Big Apple..

i also thought of the many hours i spent walking the streets of Belfast.. the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, the explosions of "fireworks" from riots in far off neighborhoods..

and i never** really felt unsafe.. which may seem naive, i guess. as if i was only comforted by an illusion of safety. but i think i'd rather that than live my life always afraid. i'm not going to assume that every person i pass on the street at night is in a place of desperation ready to attack. it may be my sunny disposition, but i don't like to think of every moment as a possibly painful experience.. i want to be able to walk down the street at night in the place where i live without constantly wondering when It Will Happen.

but. that night in reno was nice. the weather was comfortable. and i spent those extra minutes walking along the river pausing every so often to stare at it.. i find myself at times to be subtly fascinated with rushing bodies of water.. especially in that sort of urban context.. i see it as something we take for granted or ignore, until we are forceably reminded of its presence and unharnessability.

the movie was entertaining.. while some of the actors went almost overboard, teetering on the edge of "overacting", i forgave them. ben kingsley is easily forgivable for using too much of his craft. ha. while i did find myself laughing alone at some of the more subtle moments in the film, this isn't something i have never experienced before.

the rest of the evening was spent holding a stiff drink and laughing and wondering exactly what the difference is between single and double malted - a discussion that was pretty short-lived seeing as The Vizz and i hadn't any real knowledge on the matter between us.

all in all. it was good. a good walk. a good movie. a good drink.

i'm glad to see spring is getting closer.



** there was the one moment, when craig and i walked home (an hour or so's journey) from a big multi-plex movie theater after having seen Black Hawk Down or Gosford Park or some such thing.. we were walking down a quiet street when we passed a group of teenaged kids who seemed to be up to no good.. the stereotype these kids would wear in The States would be White Trash, but in Belfast it's a different creature.. a lot of these kids get caught up in The Troubles in Belfast not entirely because of religion/politics, but because of their socioeconomic status.. and only lately has that connection been made among the Talking Heads. anyhoo. back to the story about danger and belfast and me. i was trying to look as unassuming as possible so i hadn't sneaked a glance at them.. craig did, however, and leaned into me whispering "shit.. they've got a petrol bomb." needless to say we picked up our casual pace to a more meaningful stride and got away from them as quick as we could.. so my one big moment of fear comes from a bunch of kids who had somehow inherited a highly dangerous explosive device..