make peace your resolution tonight

A couch, a DeLorean, and the things we hold onto.

my surgery went well last week, i’m almost back to normal now (well, as normal as i get, anyway).

i’ve had this line from some movie in my head off and on over the past couple weeks, where someone says “this is just stuff.” i finally looked it up today and realized it’s from ‘american beauty’. unfortunately i couldn’t find a youtube video, but the dialogue goes like this:

Carolyn: Lester. You’re going to spill beer on the couch.
Lester: So what? It’s just a couch.
Carolyn: This is a four thousand dollar sofa upholstered in Italian silk. This is not “just a couch.”
Lester: It’s just a couch!
*Lester stands and gestures toward all the things in the room.*
Lester (cont’d): This isn’t life. This is just stuff. And it’s become more important to you than living. Well, honey, that’s just nuts.

 when i was 7 years old, my family took a trip to universal studios, florida. we saw a lot of movie props, rode several rides, and even sat in the audience for a taping of ‘double dare’. at one point, we rode the ‘back to the future’ ride, which basically consists of a delorean-shaped room mounted on pistons. when we left the ride, i whispered to my father, “hey dad… i don’t think we actually went back in time! i think the car we were in just moved around on springs and they played a movie to make us think we were moving!” my dad replied, “shh! don’t spoil the fun.” there are few experiences in my childhood that i remember clearly, but none of them do i recall as vividly as the moment my imagination began to die. 

speaking of movies and childhood…
my top 5 favorite/most-watched movies as a kid :
5. e.t.
4. the princess bride
3. the land before time
2. newsies
1. the brave little toaster 

that’s all for now… and in the words of doc brown from bttf III:
“[…] Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.”

current mood: relaxed

current music: the killers – move away

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3 responses to “make peace your resolution tonight”

  1. lietuvaite Avatar
    lietuvaite

    there was a time i wasn’t conscious of my imagination and all that i had imagined i thought to be real or could be real it was just a matter of getting the formula to the magic right.

    now, my imagination just gets me into trouble. it has been stuck in trying to imagine the future and has me changing professions every other day.

    Reply
  2. kirkjerk Avatar
    kirkjerk

    Read “Still Life with Woodpecker”, than maybe you’ll rethink your bias against objects just because they’re not alive. (Or “inanimate americans”, as I think they prefer to be called.)

    But seriously; I think it’s good to be respectful of stuff, appreciate how it makes our lives better, be grateful to, thankful for its relation to us. The problem with the “four thousand dollar sofa upholstered in Italian silk” is that its becoming a status symbol, and whenever you put symbols ahead of people (or stuff) you’re in for trouble.

    The imagination talk reminds me of this:
    “My earliest memory is of water. I was submerged in it. I had stepped off a dock into Clark Lake. Before my Aunt Rui jumped in after me, I had time to hit bottom- about three feet down- and look around. A bubble formed around my head and I could breathe in it. I was two and a half. I learned this much: adults couldn’t breathe underwater, but a child could do anything. About four years later I held a paper bag above my head and jumped off a roof. I reached full speed and slammed into the ground. I learned this much: adulthood begins at six.”
    –Leo Kottke

    Reply
  3. void22 Avatar
    void22

    you rule, i’ll see you soon buddy.
    -b

    Reply

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