Stir Crazy

The Photo That Got Away

A teenage boy sat next to his mom on the bus. When the bus arrived at the subway station I had to stop outside and put something in my backpack. They were the only people in the subway entrance when I came around the corner and saw them STEALING A SECRET KISS. So. Not so much the mom as the middle-aged girlfriend. Still. Ew.

The Mormons continue to crack me up. They talk like ’50s movie boys and they never break character. As I’ve said before, I envy them their entre into Toronto - to be able to speak to anyone and to find out all about their lives whenever you want to must be fascinating. Sometimes it backfires, though. One early morning they walked jauntily up to a man standing at a bus stop and said in chorus, “Waiting for the bus, are you?” and the man just stared at them incredulously until they looked down and shuffled their feet and went off in search of a new person to convert.

On the elevator I was reading Tanith Lee’s Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. It’s a collection of adult fairy tales with all the erotic and gruesome details you’d expect from Tanith. There were lots of people on the elevator and I wedged myself into a corner, not wanting to talk to the Mormons. But once everyone was gone except the Mormons, they zeroed in on me.

Mormon #1 Good book, huh? [This seems to be the opening gambit for everyone who wants to talk to me when I’m on the elevator.]

Sage Yup.

Mormon #2 What’s it about?

Sage, blushing Um. Adult fairy tales. Not very Mormon at all.

Mormon #2, breaking character for a moment to snort with laughter Well. But, you know? We say, if you’re reading a book, good for you! Just…reading is really good.

I am seriously stir crazy. I went outside on Saturday and haven’t left the apartment since, except to take the trash down the hall. It’s easier to be inside when I can see the city; there’s something less lonely about being able to verify the existence of other people, even though I’m not interacting with them. I’m certainly playing the radio twice as much as I usually do, just to hear an adult voice that isn’t mine. My plan was to go somewhere today, no matter what, but I woke up feeling sicker than I did yesterday and it’s a cold, dreary day outside.

Paul is tired of being inside too. I’m tempted to just say screw it and go on with our usual routine, but from past experience I can say it only makes the cold worse and last twice as long. We seem to be on a mutual rollercoaster that begins at sniping, coasts past glee and ends up at sniping again before Todd comes home and the ride is over.

I reminded myself that being inside and sick is easier when I’m being proactive instead of playing endless games of Psychobabble and feeling sorry for myself. So yesterday I left the pity party early and Paul and I made a two minute claymation movie together, which was extremely fun (and made me wonder about the feasibility of putting together a claymation movie based on the comic strip). You can see a thirteen second clip if you’d like. It’s about 11 megs. All I did was take the photos; Paul did all of the clay movements, the characters and the set himself.