Day: August 5, 2010

Saline Vienon

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This is Saline Vienon. Her name is pronounced similarly to the Canadian singer who also has a Vegas show. But yes, you’re also supposed to be thinking of salt and dying. Also, Ms. Vienon doesn’t have children and didn’t marry her much older manager. She’s on her own – no agents, no major record label – and quite successful. As you can see, Saline is on a world tour. She doesn’t have many material possessions. All her revenue from performing and touring go to causes that involve the less fortunate and blindly swift-footed. I found her in transit this morning, with a passing storm still weighing down the sky. She looked a little sad. I asked what the matter was and she said BYU canceled her campus concerts. The Honor Code cited her for immodesty. She was being a bad example, this was no place for her kind of role model, etc. We agreed that the institution should have told her not to come long before the day she arrived in Provo. It would have saved her a lot of time, and definitely a lot of mucus. She was on the steps of the northwest entrance of the bookstore, trying not to cry. I reassuringly tapped her little shell. We sat and talked for a little while until she cheered up, and Ms. Vienon kindly granted permission for me to take her picture. I ignored people’s stares as I kneeled close to her to get these shots.  Then I tossed her into a pan and sautéed her in a buttery garlic sauce.* Excellent. Best experience of my life.

*I picked her up and set her gently in some nearby brush. She thanked me, and we went our separate ways. No salt, no dying. No stomach pumping. No calls to PETA.

Little Thought

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Today I was thinking what else to pack for my trip to Australia. I then remembered that I should call Becky’s mom to ask what she needs me to bring along to give to Becky. I was imagining myself on the phone, then I envisioned Ms. Bonnie in my apartment, giving me whatever she needed to give me. Then when I visualized giving her a great big hug, I started to cry. I can’t quite grasp how hard it must be to have a child across the world. Thank goodness for Skype. But still, my heart broke a little. There’s no doubt I miss Becky, but I don’t think I can miss Becky the way Becky’s mom misses Becky.

I’m grateful for the perspective.

I Like Liz

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Yesterday, I was looking through my blog stats to see who have come to visit. Sometimes the links are from blogs whose authors I  know. When I saw the link for Liz’s blog, it occurred to me how cool she is. She’s a nurse working in DC. She’s a world traveler. She’s a humanitarian. She’s funny and spunky and thoughtful. She’s not too tall. I get the impression she’s somewhat of a romantic. When she introduces herself, it’s “Elizabeth” as she extends her hand. For some reason I really like that. She sort of rocks a pair of aviator sunglasses. We share similar opinions on the friends we keep, and we hold in very high esteem our mutual friends. I’ve only been able to hang out with her a couple of times, which is why it sometimes surprises me that she reads this blog. This also allows me to forgive her for the time we happened to attend the same temple session but then she seemed to jet at the very end. I looked for her everywhere. She said later it looked like I was praying. I guess I can’t blame her for leaving. If it looked like I was praying, and if prayers can go on for hours or days at a time, if I were her, I would have left and gotten myself a falafel sandwich. I don’t know if she got a falafel sandwich, but she was all the wiser for leaving. My side of the story is that I was in between meditation and sleep. Honestly, I was too tired to string words together in the form of a prayer inside my head, so yeah, I defaulted to meditative semi-consciousness. I opened my eyes a few minutes later and headed to the Lower East Side to meet up with her and a few others for some famous blueberry pancakes at the Clinton Street Bakery. I was relieved we didn’t lose each other. I wouldn’t feel that way if I didn’t like her so much. Seems I’m pretty dang lucky I feel that way.