A sequence and a post script.

Saw a facebook ad about Mormons -->
Remembering the friendly politician fellow who turned out to be Mormon and not flirty -->
A: "how old is he?" M: "I dunno, less than 30" -->
A: *looks him up* "MARIE! HE LOOKS OLD!" -->
Oh yeah--I'm horrible at judging age.
fin

Also:

If I think someone does not look old, and he or she is not old, doesn't that make me a good judge of age? With me this far? Okay, what about when the rest of the world thinks the person does look old, even though he is she is not? That doesn't make ME any less ACCURATE, right??

It starts in my toes...

I'm being haunted the song "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat. How else do you explain it?

Background: the song's a good two or three years old, and not anything I'd ever actually LISTENED to. My roommates spring of junior year, the music therapy girls, would play it on their guitars from time to time, and that was really my only exposure to it--their nervous chattering of "tee hee it's actually about an ORGASM," all that. I didn't really care. Not really my type of music--a little too mellow, a lot too lovey-dovey.

Story: A couple weeks ago my car cd player broke, so I've been listening to the radio on drives too short to bust out the iPod. Meanwhile, two weekends ago I ended things with my first serious boyfriend. Two or three days after that all occurred, "Bubbly" came on the radio just as I turned on my car to drive to work. I listened to it out of curiosity--as I said, all I knew was the "tee hee, orgasm" thing--and, WOW, it was depressing.

the rain is falling on my window pane
but we are hiding in a safer place
under covers staying dry and warm
you give me feelings that I adore

'cause, like, the first night we were together that weekend, before I knew that I had to end it, it was all stormy...and we didn't leave the bed his apartment...

About a week later (also known as a few days ago), the song came on AGAIN on my drive to work. Here's how it went: I listened to the intro, was reminded of "Bubbly," but thought, "noooo, as old as that song is, there's no way they're playing it at the exact same time two times in a week!", but, yeah, no, that was it. I switched stations and didn't give it another thought...

...Until today. I was listening to that same station (the main Top 40 station), and they were playing Taylor Swift, so I switched to my backup station. The backup station--how do I describe it? I always think it's alternative until I hear them playing Katy Perry or Christina Aguilera, but it's not exactly Top 40. Anyhow--THE BACKUP STATION WAS PLAYING "BUBBLY." I actually shouted, "are you fucking kidding me???" and switched back to Taylor Swift.

I mean, I honestly don't think I'd ever heard the song all the way through before (except for Carrie and Kristen's virginal renditions). And to hear it on the radio across stations 3 times in like 10 days? When I listen to the radio for 10 minutes a day, tops? And that this happened right after I'd ended actually being in a place where I could actually appreciate something that happy and sappy.

lol...

Puzzling

So, does this summer's crop of girly pop feature more metaphorical references to puzzle pieces than usual, or is it just that I am more sensitive to these references now that I can't escape autism in any aspect of my life? (Puzzle pieces are a symbol for autism awareness.)

Miranda Cosgrove:
when I'm kissing you my senses come alive, almost like the puzzle piece I've been trying to find falls right into place, you're all that it takes...

and Katy Perry:
I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece; I'm complete

And how does it fit into this that for the last three months, my mom and brother have been working on a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and on multiple occasions while waiting for a late date I sat down to work on the puzzle, and never once found a piece that connected?

Never...

I guess I should have seen it coming.

Mom and Dad

Breakup advice from my mom:
"It's like a physical wound. You have to go through the healing process; it takes time. Think of it like a broken leg. And you haven't even had the cast set; you're still waiting at the emergency room."
"But I don't want to be with anyone else!"
"Well, of course not. You're not thinking about going running when your leg just broke, because it hurts."

Breakup advice from my dad:
"Geeze, don't call him! There's no need to put HIM through your emotional roller coaster."

*sigh.*

I do have awesome parents...

Inventory

Sore collarbone, shoulder, chin, flaring in pain with every well-meaning embrace.
Almost-invisible fingerprint bruises tracing up my arms and all the way down my legs.
Legs aching with every step away.

Not everything will fade so quickly.

How do I fall out of love?

Wouldn't it be nice?

I'm not the only person who listens to the Beach Boys all summer long, am I?
Anyhow, this one's my current theme song...


Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong

You know it's gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through

The happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Oh wouldn't it be nice

Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true
Baby then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't do
We could be merry
And then we'd be happy

Wouldn't it be nice

You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But lets talk about it
Oh, wouldn't it be nice

Signs I miss my kids:

I had a dream about one of my students last night. In my dream we'd gone back to school and over break he had started TALKING. He was hard to understand, but he had functional language. What I wouldn't give for that to come true!!!! :(