I went for a hike yesterday with Amy, one of the people who had been on the Philippines trip. Driving
to the mountain, I stopped at an intersection where there was a lot of construction going on. I was watching the people waiting to cross the street when Amy said she always waves at the sign man. I was looking at the little blue man in the walk signal, and could picture Amy standing at the corner of the sidewalk, waving at him. So I told her how weird that is.
"What's wrong with that?" she asked. "He's a person."
I tried to explain that the man in the signal wasn't really a man. Amy strikes me as a sharply intelligent person, so I was concerned.
"I meant the construction guy holding the stop sign," she said.
Aha.
I decided from that point on to wave at the construction guy, and continue ignoring signal man. When Amy was little, she thought tiny people lived in stoplights and pushed buttons to change from red to green whenever they wanted. When I was a kid, my strange belief was in movies. I thought that when you put you tape into the VCR, a signal was sent to the en
tire cast of the film, which was waiting, in costume, in whatever location the movie took place. They then acted out the whole movie for you to watch. Naturally, my theory hit some rocks when I watched at night a movie shot during the day. How did they get it to look sunny? I also believed that if a person died on screen, the actor really died. So there was a line of people right off the set and every time some kid wanted to watch Dracula get it in a monster movie, the next guy in line was thrown into a cape and stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake. I had a nightmare once that my dad wanted to be an actor.
My dad was in the military. I told Amy about life on military bases and she laughed at my little military words, like "civilian." She said it sounded like i was talking about aliens. Of course, then she said something about BCC, a local acronym I didn't know. "Guess I'm on the outside," I said.
"You...Calvinist!" was Amy's response.
I wasn't sure what she was getting at on that one, and figured I'd been theologically insulted, but I wasn't sure how. Turns out she meant to call me a civilian...Calvinist just popped out. I totally understand-- it happens on the Navy base all the time.
I was back at the front desk at work today, thoroughly entertained by my boss' son, a six-year-old who was discussing the intricate workings of a monster truck. My boss' husband was also present, updating some computers in the office. After a few minutes of listening to us talk, he called to his son "come here! Let her work." Let me work? That's a funny way of putting it.
Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. Dressing up, scaring friends, candy, the full-fledged arrival of fall at its rightful time-- it's a good thing. In honor of La Dia de los Muertos, I give you the la palabra de los muertos para hoy:
to the mountain, I stopped at an intersection where there was a lot of construction going on. I was watching the people waiting to cross the street when Amy said she always waves at the sign man. I was looking at the little blue man in the walk signal, and could picture Amy standing at the corner of the sidewalk, waving at him. So I told her how weird that is. "What's wrong with that?" she asked. "He's a person."
I tried to explain that the man in the signal wasn't really a man. Amy strikes me as a sharply intelligent person, so I was concerned.
"I meant the construction guy holding the stop sign," she said.
Aha.
I decided from that point on to wave at the construction guy, and continue ignoring signal man. When Amy was little, she thought tiny people lived in stoplights and pushed buttons to change from red to green whenever they wanted. When I was a kid, my strange belief was in movies. I thought that when you put you tape into the VCR, a signal was sent to the en
tire cast of the film, which was waiting, in costume, in whatever location the movie took place. They then acted out the whole movie for you to watch. Naturally, my theory hit some rocks when I watched at night a movie shot during the day. How did they get it to look sunny? I also believed that if a person died on screen, the actor really died. So there was a line of people right off the set and every time some kid wanted to watch Dracula get it in a monster movie, the next guy in line was thrown into a cape and stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake. I had a nightmare once that my dad wanted to be an actor.My dad was in the military. I told Amy about life on military bases and she laughed at my little military words, like "civilian." She said it sounded like i was talking about aliens. Of course, then she said something about BCC, a local acronym I didn't know. "Guess I'm on the outside," I said.
"You...Calvinist!" was Amy's response.
I wasn't sure what she was getting at on that one, and figured I'd been theologically insulted, but I wasn't sure how. Turns out she meant to call me a civilian...Calvinist just popped out. I totally understand-- it happens on the Navy base all the time.
I was back at the front desk at work today, thoroughly entertained by my boss' son, a six-year-old who was discussing the intricate workings of a monster truck. My boss' husband was also present, updating some computers in the office. After a few minutes of listening to us talk, he called to his son "come here! Let her work." Let me work? That's a funny way of putting it.
Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. Dressing up, scaring friends, candy, the full-fledged arrival of fall at its rightful time-- it's a good thing. In honor of La Dia de los Muertos, I give you the la palabra de los muertos para hoy:
Here lies a man named Zeke.
Second fastest draw in Cripple Creek.
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