Thursday, June 30, 2005

"Glories Strung Like Beads..."

(Most directly from Tommy, by way of Norm, the ineffable Sheila, and others. And I'm not really going to look at their work too long, because i don't want to copy.)

+++++

I love in wintertime, when you're bundled, and the icy wind blasts your face, and you breathe that arctic air into your lungs. Winter "cold" has its own taste that I will always associate with college; probably because the coldest of the winters i can remember were spent there.

I love opening an ice-cold bottle of rootbeer, and the way the "fog" hangs around the opening. My mother "taught" me to blow on it, to blow the fog away, but I gulp it down with that first lovely mouthful of root beer. I swear I can taste it.

I love baseball fields. When I was heading toward McAllen, the highway passed what was either a college or semi-pro stadium. The field was low enough--or the highway was high enough--that I could look down into it and see the green of the grass, the milk-chocolate infield with its crisp white lines. And, believe it or not, I almost started crying.

I love the smell of ink. I've written a few poems and a short story about it, actually. The smell of ink in a brand-new book is beautiful and strange. Which always makes me sad, when I buy used books (as I tend to do) and that smell is gone.

I love finding old bookmarks, receipts, ticket-stubs, and other such artifacts in used books. Sometimes, this is the reason I'll buy a book. And I never ever remove these items.

I love it when girls my age wear their hair in pigtails. Don't know why. But I always feel like I can trust a girl in pigtails. (Maybe I shouldn't share that; it could be taken advantage of.) I think it's because wearing pigtails is most common in little girls, and, in my experience, little girls seldom have agendas or ulterior motives. Of course, I was probably just unaware of them, in my youth.

I love "Mystery Science Theater 3000." It's dangerous for me, though, if I watch it with people I don't know and trust. You see--I giggle. When something is continually funny, joke upon joke, I reach a point where I can't stop giggling. It's probably one of the most embarrassing of my traits. So I never watch MST3K with people I've just met. I don't want to give them the wrong idea.

I love my shoes. They're my favorite kind of shoes. I've gotten the same kind three times so far, and will probably continue to do so. Same thing with my glasses.

I love how excited my sisters get when I show up at my parents' house to visit.

I love Stephen King novels. They're great reads. And King has a great (though twisted) sense of humor.

I love the Cubs. Deeply.

I love that I fell back in love with baseball this year, and have recaptured the passion for the game that I last felt in elementary school.

I love how a great rock song is a transcendent, religious experience. How you get shivvers up and down your spine, or goosebumps on your arms, and then when the chorus hits, your eyes well up with tears.

I love blogging. I hate that I love it so much.

I love stories where the hero has to choose between doing what he knows is right, and doing what would be more comfortable/profitable/beneficial to himself. And I love when the hero chooses to be the hero.

I love cheering for the underdog. In any sporting event or story, if I don't have a real dog in the fight, I root for the one everyone counts out. But, as i said, I'm a Cubs fan.

I love the exuberance of the song "Everlasting Love" by U2.

I love getting home from work on Wednesdays, ripping off my necktie, slipping into a ratty tee shirt and shorts, and turning on something loud on the stereo.

I love how much Aslan teaches me about God.

I love meeting someone who, right off the bat, gets all my jokes and allusions, so that I never have to go back and awkwardly explain them.

I love it when--completely unplanned or uncontrolled--my favorite songs come on the radio, one right after another, during a roadtrip. In those moments, I believe all the more in Providence.

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