| << Magic | 2005 > January | IBFF, 30 Jan. >> |
Tuesday, 25 January 2005
Clowning around in LA ::
To elaborate on the story I started last night...
Justin knows a group of people in LA who regularly go out dressed as clowns and perturb the inertia of the status quo. I was a bit nervous about it but thought, what the heck, no one knows who I am! We went to a roller disco, went to a taping of a silly TV show (a few of us were on camera), tried unsuccessfuly to get into see an exhibit at the science museum (open all night because it’s about to close), stopped by a after-hours party at a club in Hollywood, and went to an all-night diner.
There was something liberating about being a clown.
I was trying to dance on roller skates and there was no fear of looking silly! I’d try a move that was a little too tricky, start to lose my balance, and try to make balancing moves in time with the music too. My arms would flail anywhere from a couple of times to a dozen, and I’d either end up sailing smoothly again or stopped—I’m sure I looked ridiculous, but I never fell down. I was glad I’d played ice hockey when I was a kid.
Later, when we were wandering a street in Hollywood, looking for the club and the others who had travelled separately, everyone else on the street was looking at us. I realized that there was nothing wrong with putting on a big smile and saying “hi!” to people. Some would ignore me, others would just smile, a few laughed and said hi too. Maybe this isn’t a big deal for some people, but as my best friend likes to remind me, I once described myself as “painfully” shy.
At the diner, Justin was making animals out of balloons; he would finish one, and one of us would get up and give it to the people at another table. Our food had just arrived when a man came to our table with the balloon dog he’d been presented and said, “Thank you. Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means to me.” He was on the verge of crying for joy. We wished him well and he disappeared. Maybe 10 minutes later he came back and again told us how meaningful the gesture had been, thanked us, told us that it was his 40th birthday, and that he had paid our bill. There must have been at least 12 of us jammed into and around the booth! It was a big reminder that we go around just trying to live our lives as best we can, often with no concept of how our actions might affect others, sometimes adversely, but in this case, in a really nice way.
| << Magic | 2005 > January | IBFF, 30 Jan. >> |