Days 10-13

[bironic]

10. College

Thanksgiving break, freshman year, one or two days after I'd started going out with my boyfriend L. A bunch of us—all guys in that group besides me—were hanging out at a mutual friend from high school's house, in the basement. It smelled thickly of dog. It was so late it was early. I was really tired. I was sitting next to L. on a stool or a wooden chair, and the host's dog came downstairs, a golden retriever or something, and started sniffing around, as dogs do. I was trying to push its nose out of an impolite place when L. reached over to help more firmly and said to the dog, "Hey, stop that. That's my job now." I'm sure I went beet red, but I don't think anyone else heard.


11. Pre-school

One of the few non-school memories I have of that era (age 3-4) is of watching Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments. It took a while, although I didn't mind; we may have watched it over a couple of afternoons. I think my mom once told me we watched it when I was home sick, though, so I'm not sure. I remember bits and pieces of it: dark red sky, smearing the lamb's blood on the doors, finding baby Moses in the reed basket, the whirling storm and parting sea, the chariots and Egyptians drowning, the dirt and loose clothes and sandals and beards and the women's long hair.


12. & 13. Elementary School

My friends E. and K. and I traded religious holidays a few times, like exchange students. They came over once for Hanukkah and maybe for Passover, and I spent a Christmas and an Easter at each. The unevenness of the swaps -- that, looking back now, I feel that I was more condescended to when I visited them, as if there were some element of Educating The Poor Ignorant Minority, and more of an odd curiosity when they visited me, whereas we simply explained and shared -- is a subject for another time.

The Easter I spent with E. was at her aunt and uncle's house somewhere out on the island. I remember:

- When her mom picked me up in the car, E. brought me a small Easter basket (it had a Reese's peanut butter egg) and a candy cane. *squints* I think there was a candy cane. If not, it was at Christmas. But I seem to remember that she explained the significance of the red, green and white stripes of the candy cane in the car on the way.

- E. and her mom telling me the basics of the story of Easter on the ride over: death and miraculous resurrection.

- At the house, there were jelly beans and Jordan almonds and little malted eggs. I loved the malted eggs and kept stealing them from the candy dish. There must have been relatives asking me questions, too, but I don't remember that much.

- There were little playground sets in the backyard, and we played there for the afternoon with E.'s cousins, who I think were younger. There was something unusual that they had, something other than a swing set or slide, but I can't remember what, exactly; not a bouncy castle—that's an SGA story I mixed up with this memory when I read it—but something maybe by Fisher Price.

- We had ham. I'd never had ham before, hadn't even seen a thick cooked ham, only the tissue-thin deli slices my dad would eat with Swiss cheese on his bagels.


What I remember of the Easter at K.'s:

- We went to the midnight Mass at her church (Lutheran). (Was that Easter? Is midnight Mass a Christmas thing I'm mixing up with this?) Before we left, so late at night, we were listening to the radio, some top 40-type station she liked; Desiree's big hit of the day was on.

- We brought Snapples with us; in the car, K. showed me a trick where you hit the bottom of the bottle with the heel of your hand so the cap wouldn't pop when you opened it for the first time and disrupt the service.

- Bits and pieces of the service, all mixed up with when we went at Christmas (if I'm not confusing these two and we didn't go at Easter at all) and when K. was confirmed. Latin, high walls, a choir, a sermon, a collection basket, people going up for communion, being interested and a little uncomfortable but mostly interested, and I wasn't sure whether I should mouth along to the songs and readings or sit/stand and observe.

- In the morning, K.'s mom gave us each an Easter basket. I don't remember what was in it (candy mostly, and K. got some small gifts, maybe a stuffed animal) other than lots and lots of plastic grass, which we kept finding in our basement years later.

 

Comments

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

*coughs at your first memory* oh dear. :-D
College:
I took a film theory class first year (my first college major (of quite a few) was film, and I still love it) and saw an amazing number of movies, most of which I hadn't seen before. One that sticks out was an old melodrama called 'Tol'able David' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tol'able_David) which was apparently a box office smash (in 1921). The MAJOR PLOT POINT was that he wanted to learn to drive the MILK WAGON. 99 minutes of my life I'll never get back, I swear to god.
Pre-school:
I remember hiding in the bottom of our family's linen closet (I'm honestly not sure why, but it seemed terribly important at the time.) And my mother watching General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, with the old-style beginning: "Like sands through the hourglass ..."
Elementary school: (holiday specific)
When I was nine I cried for hours because I'd just realized that OMG my family was eating an ACTUAL BIRD that used to be ALIVE. (I have no idea why I hadn't made that leap previous to that point.)
When I was eight I spent ... some holiday or another - I actually forget which one - in a double leg cast due to an orthopedic operation I'd had that year. I remember watching television, hearing the word 'telemarketing', not knowing what it meant and writing it on the thigh portion of one of my casts with a marker. This bewildered the hell out of my family, and to this day I have no idea why I did it.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's fabulous. They're all fabulous. The bird one too -- reminds me of Charlotte's Web, actually, when the girl won't let her father kill the pig to eat it. (Are you a vegetarian? Did that epiphany turn you away from meat forever?)

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

I was actually a vegetarian for quite a few years: the main reason I went back to eating meat was because my hypoglycemia was becoming unmanageable (panic attacks/enormous mood swings/etc) without animal protein. Well, that and bacon. Bacon is a gateway drug. :-D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee. We got some bacon free at the supermarket a few weeks ago, and now I don't know how we're going to do weekend breakfasts again without those little strips to go with eggs and pancakes.

So, an omnivore for medical reasons. Interesting.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Easter is usually sunrise services, for metaphoric reasons (resurrection, etc.), whereas Christmas is midnight services, but you can mix and match, depending on the individual parish.

I've been to one seder, and it was cool. I didn't feel left out at all, even though I'm really an atheist.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah, I must be mixing up Christmas and Easter, then. But the basket was definitely Easter. :)

How did you end up at a seder? I am curious.

I've found ways over the years to integrate my own atheism with religious occasions; viewing God as a metaphor, and comparing my own faith that there isn't a higher being (rather than the perhaps more rational agnosticism) with others' faith that there is, and things like that.

I was just speaking of you! An episode of Michael Palin's New Europe was on the Travel Channel; he was visiting Serbia at the end, and under the end credits/narration was a group of people on a back patio playing gorgeous folk music, with a clarinet, violin-or-something, accordion and tambourine. They were only missing the dancers.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

10 – Guys being crude

One day a few years back, I was watching one of our men’s teams play [field] hockey. Afterwards, we went into the change rooms to drink beer. I was the only woman there, which they normally overlooked (“You’re a bloke,” my friend S said to me once. “No you’re not. Well, yes you are.”), but I guess it was situational.

On this occasion, one of the guys, A, was having a shower. My friend M dared me to walk in on A. I refused, so he said he’d give me a dollar if I did (this may as well have been grade school). I refused again, so he asked how much it would take. Like an idiot, I said $5. Of course my friend K pulls out his wallet and slaps a $5 bill on the bench next to me. I immediately try to backtrack and give him the money back, but the next thing I know, M and one of the other guys have lifted me off the bench and carried me into the shower room. I escaped as quickly as I could, and when I re-emerged, K asked what I saw. “Nothing,” I replied. “His gut was hanging too low.” I never did get the $5.

11 – Classic movie

“One of the times I nearly blinded myself…”

I think it was probably the time I turned my swim goggles inside out and snapped them into my eyes, but whichever incident it was (and there were several), I had both eyes bandaged for a day or so. The first night I was a little freaked out over being temporarily blind, but what I remember most is having oxtail soup for dinner and “watching” The Wizard of Oz on TV. I still associate both the soup and the movie with not being able to see.

12 – Easter

My cousin P, who is more than 20 years younger than me, was always super-bright, but more than a little dreamy and wonderfully gullible. One time when I was visiting – he must have been 5 or 6 – we were out for a walk and he expressed some concerns about the existence of the Easter Bunny. Apparently, he’d noticed a distinct similarity between the presents in his Easter basket and the contents of his mother’s shopping cart the day before. I pointed out to him that unlike Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny didn’t have a sweatshop full of elves making presents for kids, so he had to have a little help from mothers. EB sent out the orders and the mothers filled them for their children. That seemed to reassure him for another year!

13 – Church

I don’t remember a lot about my church-going days (United Church of Canada) until I was old enough for youth group, which mainly consisted of sitting in a circle singing folk songs – I always requested “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” because it ate away a lot of time. I have vague memories of singing in the choir, and Christmas pageants, and walking down the aisle carrying a candle. And I remember putting my change in the collection plate and working out which hymns were scheduled by looking at the numbers posted. But I think my early church years were mainly defined by how much I hated having to wear a dress. My father, who I believe was the parental figure that insisted we go to church, never went himself, though he’s now active in the Anglican Church. I questioned him once about that and apparently it was my Nana’s choice – the United Church had more social cachet at the time.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee! Love the first memory. And... you could drink Snapples during the service as long as you didn't pop them? Oooookay. Are Jordan almonds the sugared ones?

As I think I've told you, most people I knew growing up was at least nominally Christian, so I've gone to a lot of services over the years. I generally follow along with whatever you have to do, but always get the feeling I'm missing some crucial point to the whole thing.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

How did you end up at a seder?

One of my folk dance friends invited me (and a bunch of other folk dancers) to her and her twin brother's very informal seder one year. It was a lot of fun, which is probably a terrible thing to say about something religious.

he was visiting Serbia at the end, and under the end credits/narration was a group of people on a back patio playing gorgeous folk music

Whee! Serbian music is a blast to dance to. I've got to go back to Eastern Europe at some point. *is terribly nostalgic*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Mm. I get that too -- an emotional lack, a not-getting-caught-up, an intellectual understanding of what others are getting out of it, but not experiencing it for myself. For temple and church services both, although at temple I know much better what's going on.

Jordan almonds AFAIK are the pastel candy-coated, chocolate-covered almonds. Like so (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=jordan+almonds&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2).

It does seem weird that we could bring Snapples, doesn't it? I guess it was the kids' equivalent of bringing a bottle of water in case you get thirsty during the service? Or rules were lax at midnight Mass? Or... something?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

You should do another music post sometime. *nudge nudge*

It was a lot of fun, which is probably a terrible thing to say about something religious.

Not as fun as Purim for sure, but you do drink a lot of wine and celebrate freedom after remembering the slavery, and sing a lot, and eat jellied gefilte fish, so yes. I think it can be fun. :)

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I love you for the Easter one. That is so cute.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

P was adorable when he was little. One of these days I'm going to finish writing the children's book I improvised for him one night - Chair Devils and Spring Imps - which explained why he should not be jumping on the furniture...

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

My mother pretends to be a vegetarian now and then, but for some reason it never includes (or precludes) bacon!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Jordan almonds AFAIK are the pastel candy-coated, chocolate-covered almonds.

Yes, yes, I was too lazy to google this time - I usually do :P. Although if there's chocolate involved with those things, it's news to me. The sugared ones are icky - I had them at a wedding once and was very disappointed they didn't taste nearly as good as they looked. But then, I have the same problem with marzipan :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

...And now Anthony Bourdain is in Greece, and his guide's name is Byron. I love the intersect of literature & history.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Allow me to be your personal Googler. :D

Maybe not chocolate? I don't know, I don't think I've ever actually eaten one. Almonds are nice alone (and in almond paste and marzipan, you crazy person), but not so much in things.

[recrudescence.livejournal.com]

*fumbles for Moses icon* I'm listening to Yael Naim's "Pachad" right now, appropriately.

I also remember random bits of TTC--the old dude standing up in the mud and going "you rot our bodies" always stood out in my head as a kid. The I got older and started really appreciating things, like how horrible the wigs were.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Many steak/rib places around here and, if I remember correctly, a lot of places in England, don't consider bacon a food to warn vegetarians about on the menu. "It's vegetarian -- there's no steak or chicken! It's just bacon!"

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee, that would probably save a lot of time, actually. I get distracted easily :)

I like almonds too. By themselves, in biscuits, even in chocolate. But somehow, the act of turning it into paste or adding the sugar shell or whatever changes the entire flavour. I realise this makes no sense, but it does, I tell you! On a tangential note, it's like cherries = delicious. Cherry-flavoured = the most revolting thing imaginable XD

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

I remember stopping in a logging town on Vancouver Island for lunch one time - we went through the drive-through of a fast-food place (I don't think it was a big chain) and E asked if they had any vegetarian burgers/sandwiches. The only thing they could suggest was a BLT...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

Fish I can kind of understand. The bacon thing baffles me. I am baffled.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about marzipan: it looks beautiful, but tastes icky.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Heh. And most of the acting, I'd guess. I caught some of it on TV a few years ago, but I really haven't seen it since pre-school. Or maybe summer camp on a rainy day? Would they have shown that at a non-denominational summer camp?

Yael Naim's "Pachad"

I am not familiar. Song? Pretty?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

You are all crazy but it means there is more marzipan for me in this e-buffet I've just invented, so it's okay.

Well, there's marzipan like fondant, that they fold over cakes, which tastes like paste. And there's sweet-gritty almond-paste-type marzipan like what they shape into fruit and cheese sandwiches and things (no, really -- at Mike's Pastry in Boston, they do cheese sandwiches and hot dogs out of it), which is tasty tasty tasty.