Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Sad Van Memories


The "Silver Bullet" or The "Tin Can on Wheels," is what they called it (my friends and siblings). I called it embarrassing to drive. However, you could seat a bunch of fellow high school students and run down to Dean's Deli, Dairy Queen, or Denny's with no space issues. On Sunday driving around Portland I saw one of these for sell and had a instant flood of memories (which probably made my eyes roll in the back of my head for a second).
I remembered how I totally hung out with a couple of friends all the time and during free periods we would hop in the van and go have wholesome-all-American fun. That was my junior year of high school and arguably the best year of my high school career. It was the first time in my school life that I had friends I would do all kinds of stuff with. Well, my senior year I didn't get to drive the van because my mom thought it would be a good idea to carpool with a family friend to and from school. I lost my cool factor. I was sad and weirdly embarrassed about it. But, the saddest part was when my two friends that were the highlight of my junior year stopped hanging out with me. It was the first real-life lesson I learned... People will use you for your stuff even though they pretend to like you... I grew up that day (I'm just kidding, I never grew up) and felt a little betrayed and it all rushed back on some random corner in Portland Oregon. I need to cut back on free energy drinks.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I am amazed with AGATHA CHRISTIE



I've been really reading Agatha Christie for many years --and though some people would call writing murder mysteries a bit low brow-- I am continually amazed at how she writes and am often caught off guard at how funny she really is. My favorite quote is from A Murder is Announced, "...I really like dogs with legs." If you read the entire monologue the entire thing is simply hillarious. These are super fast reads and entertaining. You can usually pick one up from a used bookstore or a garage sale...step away from the t.v and try reading one if you want.

The main benefit of reading her books, for me, is they inspire me to write more...not necessarily murder mysteries, but simply writing. Agatha's life is wonderfully interesting as well.