Dienstag, 7. Februar 2017

Freitag, 26. August 2016

Donnerstag, 18. August 2016

A new path.



"I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car 'OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!' She piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean ('Wooooosh' she says, making a wave gesture with her hand.
Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, boldly takes them out of his hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with an intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says 'you need chocolate.' She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her 'why are you doing this?' She responds 'Do you like Harry Potter?' and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:

'It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.'

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: 'My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.'
I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: 'I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.' And leaves. And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today."

Donnerstag, 14. Juli 2016

I'm hoping Finrod finds his way.


"Ich beneide dich um diese Zeit. Klar, es ist sicherlich anstrengend, doch auch aufregend."


Wir sollten es diskutieren,

ob X-Men
ein Teil der

heiligen Dreifaltigkeit

werden sollte.


Doch was verdränge ich dafür?

Aus mir.

Harry Potter.
 



Star Wars.


oder

Der Herr der Ringe.





Eins lässt du nicht gehen.

 Ich ein andres' nicht.


Bleibt die Kindheit, welche weicht.

Freitag, 1. Juli 2016

King's Cross? King's Landing?


Man stelle sich einen Bahnhof vor.
Viele Gleise.
Mindestens
2
...

Es fährt ein Zug ein.
Gleis 1.

Zielort:
Vielleicht.

Dann kauft man sich ein Ticket
weiß jedoch nicht, ob es gültig ist,
bis das Zugpersonal kontrolliert.

Der Zug fährt erst in ein paar Minuten ab.
Es wird nur leichtes Handgepäck mitgeführt
von daher
noch nicht einsteigen.
Frische Luft
draußen
genießen.

Windzug.

"Meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren, Ihr Zug nach "Vielleicht" hat 10 Minuten Verspätung."

Windzug.

Ein paar Sekunden später.
"Meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren, Ihr Zug nach "Vielleicht" hat 25 Minuten Verspätung."

...
Es fährt ein Zug ein.
Gleis 2.

Zielort:
Vielleicht.

Ein anderer Zug.
Ganz anders.
 Pünktlich.

Sitze, Kabinen und Innenausstattung.
Alles ganz anders.



Die Bahnsteige sind leer.
Niemand hier.
Nur ein Mensch und zwei Züge.

Vielleicht kommt man an.
Windzug.
Vielleicht nicht.
Vielleicht.


Weil man ankommen will.
Steigt man ein.

Und fährt.


Sonntag, 5. Juni 2016


Hufflepuff is staying up all night giggling with friends. It’s the sleepy “I love you” at the end of a five hour phone call. It’s a significant other running their fingers through your hair during a Sunday picnic. It’s finding a baby bird with a broken wing and nursing it back to health. It’s smiling at a stranger on the subway. Hufflepuff is picking flowers off of trees and tying them into your friend’s hair. Its wiping the sweat from your forehead after a long day’s work. It’s freshly baked bread and golden sunlight flooding through the windows. Hufflepuff is loving food way too much and crying with friends and loving until it hurts.

Gryffindor is laughing so loudly that strangers stare at you. It’s playing truth or dare at three in the morning. It’s running around like crazy people with your lover. It’s catching fireflies on a warm summer night. It’s complimenting a stranger’s crazy hair color and feeling so good when they smile. Gryffindor is hurling toilet paper over someone’s yard then laughing so hard it hurts. It’s standing up to a childhood bully. It’s unhealthy amounts of candy and fiery red sunsets. Gryffindor is being an adrenaline junkie and trying to do what’s right and getting back up after being knocked down .

Ravenclaw is 3am conversations about the meaning of life. It’s having a small close knit circle of friends who would die for each other. It’s longing to touch your lover’s soul. It’s googling pictures of llamas in tuxedos when you actually got online for a research paper. It’s feeling an instant bond with a stranger who’s wearing a band or tv show t-shirt. It’s being quirky and not caring. Ravenclaw is drinking coffee at 11pm. It’s effortlessly acing classes that you’re interested in. It’s dusty sheet music and a starry night sky. Ravenclaw is being obsessed with a certain book or show and pouring your soul into your work and expressing yourself creatively.

Slytherin is being willing to kill for the people you love. It’s having 3am gossip sessions with your best friend. It’s staring into your significant other’s eyes and instantly knowing what they’re thinking. It’s daydreaming about what the future holds. It’s always having a twinkle in your eye because you’re always one step ahead. It’s the thrill you get when you’re playing strategic board games. Slytherin is putting up walls because you feel things so deeply. It’s people being attracted to your mysterious vibe. It’s a waterfall in the middle of nowhere and an ambitious dream. Slytherin is being a natural leader and being successful and loving so much more than you let on.