Friday, June 13, 2008

linda says she's putting all my annoyances in her mental garbage can. it's a trick our favorite therapist, Eike, taught her.

she thinks i don't listen, i don't pay attention.

that i don't wear my thinking cap enough.


on our ride last night in the beautiful balmy evening warmth as we were sailing down tunnel i said to linda, "i thought we were going to ride to Grizzly?"

she shouted, "it's filling up!"

"where's the cap?" she asks. "always, always wear the cap."

reminds me of my conversation with a certain sanchez. we were discussing our habit of losing things, getting lost, etc that happens with a frequency that we're used to but others are not.

"i make mental notes," she said. "but i lose them."

i do too. i try not to. i think put the note there. remember the note is there. and while i'm thinking hard about where the note is, i lose my keys.

my mental notes read: the cell phone is under the bed, check you turned on the burner under the kettle, not the empty saucepan, if you leave that wheel behind the back of the truck like that, you're gonna drive over it.


"why's that woman waving at us?" i asked linda as we were backing out of the parking lot after watching a crit a few weeks ago. "she's awfully friendly."

cccrrunch!

"it's filling up!" -- linda and her garbage can. starting to wear on my nerves.

she says i'm not normal. and how does one defend one's normalcy? shouting, "i am normal!" just sounds crazy.

but what's normal? is linda's habit of saving every box, packaging container, plastic baggie normal? i don't think so.

"we might need it," she says of the box from her Giro helmet purchased in 1990 that i found stuffed in the back of the closet.

"for what?" i ask.

"for something," she says and takes the box and puts it back in the closet.

Normal?

i got dressed quickly this morning. i pulled on my fabulous orange pants that have traveled up and down the central valley and a white polo shirt with a Tour de France emblem. kinda dorky but the shirt is comfortable and, i think, goes with the orange pants.

i was walking to work, trying not to drive the one mile, wearing the back-pack that linda gave to me, when i caught a glance of myself in a window.

the back pack is from our trip to France. Big old Tour de France logo on it matching my shirt.

some kid seeing me might think who is this crazy old Tour de France lady?


but it was an accident, the TdF overload. a freakin accident. these things happen, we don't plan them. yeah from a distance they might look a little looney, but they are accidents!

"hey kid, it was just an accident!"

and that's my point: accidents happen. mental notes get lost. bike wheels get run over.

too much Tour de France shit gets worn.

11 comments:

Velo Bella said...

just look pretty = shut up

Velo Bella said...

oh, and there is a use for helmet boxes. Remember the podium boy to go that Laura made?

Itinerant Rick said...

habit of saving every box, packaging container, plastic baggie normal?

Could be worse. In my Berkeley days we were cleaning out the office of a retired prof. His large desk had one drawer labelled "Pieces of string to short to use" and indeed that is what the drawer contained.

marscat said...

vb is learning the lingo...

rick...don't give her ideas

Ippoc Amic said...

rubber bands are saved not strings...on doorknobs inside the house...rubber bands on door knobs outside the house get crusty and break...i'm needing me some bella vision right now...where's my mint leaves

Lilly Bella said...

oh I got a solution to your filling up the can problema...you just need extra mental cans. Manmeat has one for me...vb has one...and now the nago has one. Whenever they fill I just start using the others, so far none have toppled over.

Oh...I guess we can't be the ones throwing the stuff in it. It might get filled with compliments or not at all.

I miss Mario, he was carjacked like your post here.
(my podium in a box boy)

I can keep some of those annoying notes if you want, thats what friends are for...but be warned they might get mental jacked and become strengths in my can.

I only forgot two things today, and they were easily solved. If it were anyone else they would have panicked so at least we have that...

marscat said...

i need me some mo mental cans.

maybe i get some for a wedding pressie.

Ippoc Amic said...

what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger...so true about not panicking over little things gone missing...

jen said...

so funny. i love me some marscat posts.

and it's almost july. so you can wear all the turdy france shit you want.

Eclectchick said...

Memorable line from my favorite musical ever, "The Fantasticks," which I totally identify with (except perhaps the mention of a deity):

"Please, God, please. Don't let me be normal!!"

marscat said...

chick -- yes, so overrated.