Noni's Porch

    My family and I joke that we should write a sitcom based on our lives and entitle it "Noni's Porch." Because I'll tell you, my Noni's porch is where it all happens. (see post: My Life is a Sitcom)
    I've had some of the best times on that porch.
    I enjoy sitting with my Noni on her porch. If I didn't have anything else to do, I'll do it all the time. We sit there watching the planes landing in Avoca, observing the cars that come by, and watching all the neighbors and their daily shenanigans. Sit on that porch for a few hours and you will learn so much about everyone on that street, it's unbelievable. Sit on that porch with Noni for a few hours and you will learn those people's life stories.
    That's what I love the most about it.
    Other people's life stories.
    I like looking into other people's lives.
    I once read this book by Maya Angelou. I cannot remember really anything about it including the title, but a girl was with her grandma and they were walking along the streets of a busy city and the grandmother told her to look beyond the faces of all those people because each one of them has a story. I have never looked at people the same way since.
People walk by Noni's porch and some say hello and some just go about their business. I learn who's married to who, who divorced who, whose kids are who, whose grandkids are whose, where all their relatives live, who has a drug problem, who has a mother-in-law problem, who has problems with the other neighbors, whose dog likes whose dog, who has what kind of car, who throws slippers down the toilet.....an array of things that I find fascinating. I don't really know these people. There's a few if I saw out, I would say hello to. The rest probably have no idea who I am.
But then, I sit there and wonder. When Noni sees someone go by, she'll say, "oh that's so and so's granddaughter." I wonder if when I drive by someone on their porch if they say, "oh, that's Mary's granddaughter." It fascinates me.
    And Noni seems to know every thing about everyone. I reallyyyy get a good look into these people's lives.
    Tonight Noni and I sat out there for a while, waving to cars going by, talking about the neighbors, watering the tomato plants, watching the planes come in, and catching some fireworks from all over town. It was better to me than being out doing anything else. She has the TV on in her room and we turn the volume up loud enough so we can hear it. Saturday nights = the Pennsylvania Polka on WVIA.
    It brings me back to when I was younger and I went to Noni's every day. I'd get there and eat my cereal and Noni would sit in her front room and watch TV. The channel always stayed on WYOU. We'd watch The Price is Right and then I'd eat my lunch during the afternoon news. Then I'd go down for my nap while Noni watched her stories. I'd wake up and Montel would be on or I'd catch the end of As the World Turns, and before you knew it, it was dinner time. Noni would be yelling to the other side of the house for my Grandpa. I can hear it perfectly. "IACER, DINNER! COME ON LET'S GO!" And Grandpa would come in and sit in his chair and would change the channel on the little TV in the kitchen. Dinner was not complete without the M*A*S*H theme song in the background. I can still see it so perfectly.
    Some days when it was nice out, we'd sit on her porch where she had the little TV with the antennas. She'd watch her stories on that little black and white TV and I'd sit on the swing or play on my bike or with my Barbies. And she'd sit there and wave hello to who ever passed by. Sometimes we had some visitors, like Rosie across the street or Bonnie down the street, or Joyce down the other street. The same few people who still come around today when Noni and I are sitting out there. They'd come up and talk for hours and we'd learn even more about the rest of the neighbors' stories.
    I'm a lot like my Noni in many many ways. But I think we are definitely both alike in that we like talking to other people and learning about other people. Maybe that's why she's loved her TV "stories" so much. Soap operas are a direct look into people's lives. Pretty dramatic ones, but whatever, still a look into a whole heck of a lot of people and the way they live.
    And maybe that's why now, when I babysit my little cousin and put her down for a nap I find myself watching those "stories," though only our Young and the Restless and Bold and the Beautiful are left.
    Maybe this is also why I feel old.
    But times on that porch with my Noni are some of the best times.
    And she's just like that grandma in Maya Angelou's story. She looks beyond the faces of these people. And now, so do I.

Colors of the World! ___ Up Your Life!

    I've been having a lot of those "I feel really old" moments. I'm not a fan of it. At all really. It makes me feel like I'm on a whole different level from some people. And it's not like this has just happened to me once or twice recently, but like 100 times a day. I can't recall ever having an "I feel old" moment in my lifetime. All of a sudden it was like "OLD."
    I'm really not that old. I'm 20. But all of a sudden, I feel it....the oldness.
    I was playing taboo with my sister and the word was "Spice." So, obviously, I said, "Colors of the world, ____ up your life!" She looked at me like I was a Martian. It was my first real "I feel old" moment. I couldn't even continue to give her clues. I was dumbfounded. She really doesn't know the lyrics to a Spice Girls song? How could this be? When did this happen? Everyone knows the Spice Girls right? Every boy and every girl, SPICE up your life! How could she not know that? This is common knowledge. When did I become my grandmother? How in the Spiceworld am I going to get through life now knowing there are people who don't know Spice Girls lyrics roaming around this Earth? Why won't the Spice Girls get back together? Who am I?
It was an awful moment in which I have pondered many days and nights.
    Just the other day, I was playing Heads Up! (which, by the way, Ellen DeGeneres, is a fabulous app. I love your work. Put me on TV.) with my cousins and aunts and uncles and sisters and mother and who ever, and I picked the Just for Kids category. A thing called "Wonder Pets" came up. What in the world is a Wonder Pet? Does it pick up after itself? Does it lack bad smells? Does it not shed? How WONDERful would a pet like that be? Well, apparently, it's just a silly toy.....that I had never heard of. OLD.
    I keep thinking this old thing will pass, but in my heart I know, it will only get worse and I will have to get used to it. In the mean time, I'll be sure to educate the younger generation on the Spice Girls and, ya know, Barbie. (since she's not politcally correct and all and teaching us bad things or whatever) BARBIE IS THE QUEEN.
     Anyway, my rant on Barbie haters can be a whole other blog post...or book.
     Be sure to Spice Up Your Life today.
     Every boy and every girl, spice up your life.
     Never give up on the good times, livin it up is a state of mind.
     If you want my future, forget my past.
     Get down, get deeper and down. Saturday niight.
     All that I want from you is a promise you will be thereee.
     Slow down, baby, gotta have some fuunn.
    I remember when the first NOW! CD came out. I saw NOW! 45 in Walmart the other day. Holy old. You know what was on the first NOW! CD? My favorite Spice Girls song, "Say You'll Be There." See one of the lines of lyrics above.
    NOW! 45. Wrap your head around that.
    I remember when it was 37 cents to get on the Turnpike. It's now like... a dollar. I feel like I'm a part of an elite group of people when I drive the turnpike any more. That's a buttload of money to drive on a road for a little while...and then to go farther, you have to pay another dollar. Crazy stuff right there.
    37 cents.
    Thank God for the EZ Pass.
    And now I sound like every old person in the book.
    Oh wait, in my day, I walked through ten feet of snow, uphill both ways, just to get to school.
    There, now I sound like every old person in the book.
     

A Night on Drugs

   (For more dramatic effect, listen to the above song while reading)   
    Have you ever seen a movie that has left you speechless? I have.
    I can think of a few movies in which I couldn't say one word after. Precious (based on the novel Push by Sapphire), The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, United 93, Schindler's List....and that's all I can think of at the moment. But tonight, I took an accidental nap and woke up at 9PM and decided to watch a movie. I've had this movie on my list for years, I just haven't gotten around to it. Now that I have, I don't know if I can ever go back to it.
    I just finished Requiem for a Dream. I have never read the book and I can't even imagine what the book is like, but I knew the movie would be top notch. And it was. It is so incredibly well done. The acting is really just outstanding. Ellen Burstyn really becomes Sara Goldfarb. I was blown away by the whole thing. I was also incredibly scared.
    If you've never heard of the film or read the book, the story surrounds 4 people living in the New York area who develop or have developed drug addictions.
    This movie is rated R, but if you want to scare the crap out of your kids from using drugs, this is the movie. It creates an incredibly real picture of life as an addict and how SPOILER ALERT drugs kill your dreams...and therefore eventually kill you.
     It just amazes me how a simple two hours of staring at my television screen can change my life forever, make me look at everything in a completely different way.
    Burstyn's character is an avid television watcher. (sound familiar?) She gets a phone call saying she has been selected to be on a television show. She immediately drags out her red dress and tries to slip into to prepare for her TV debut. The dress does not fit. She decides to try some different diets, but when none of them work, she sees a doctor who gives her a prescription for diet pills. (IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE WITHOUT SPOILERS, SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH) She becomes hopelessly addicted to them and destroys her life and her dream of being on television, while unbeknownst (that's a silly word) to her, her son has a heroin addiction that is essentially killing him. There is a scene toward the end of the film where Burstyn's character goes to the television producers and asks them when she is going to be on television. She goes on and on about her red dress and her son and her deceased husband. It is heart wrenching and fabulously real, which is the scariest part.
        I'd imagine playing a role like that has to screw a person up in some ways for a little bit of time, too.
        It is now 3AM. There is no way I can sleep after that film. And no way I'll probably ever be able to watch it again. The ending is so incredibly powerful that it hurts my head. Most of the movies I listed earlier, probably with the exception of Precious, I could watch again. I don't see myself watching Requiem again any time in the next 30 years.
        I'm just amazed that something so powerful and so real....isn't actually real. It's acting. It's direction. It's a made up story with some real life elements. It is truly art. I haven't seen a really actually terribly good movie in a long time and I didn't realize it until I watched this one tonight. I remember what movies are about and what they can do, as well as what a good film looks like. Think of a movie that's brought you to tears or left you speechless. Think about how those films have made you look at your own life, have changed you in ways.
         I'd like to be in a movie. Not like. I'd LOVE to be in a movie or two or ten. A movie that could make people laugh when they are feeling low, or leave an audience speechless, or have them crying over my death or my incredible recovery from an injury to become a star soccer player. A movie that will inspire someone to blog about it like I'm doing right now. Hopefully someone important is reading this and will just shoot me an email and ask me to be in a movie. ;)
      ANYWAY
      I'm in awe of what a movie can accomplish and reminded of what inspired me to jump into the communications and film world. Movies and television provide enough escape from your life. Don't kill your dreams with heroin. (Erica's Lesson of the Day)