Thursday, April 03, 2008

Scribble and Scrambles - Let Them Eat Toast


We are conditioned to think that LITTLE kids are the ones with all the cute phraseology and har, har moments. But my big kids still have it.

I tend to like character studies and intricate detail in my books, movies and music. Simple is key, so no dissertations on the complexities of the tsetse fly mating ritual. But I also crave depth on some level.

The Body Farm at the University of Tennessee fascinates me. I don't think I ever want to go on a field trip and give it a look-see or scratch and sniff test but the idea, the details, wow. It's kind of a spiritual zing for me. How cool is my God Who created blood that pools a certain way in certain conditions telling a story about what happened?

I didn't care for my psychology professor so much, but he assigned the book, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Full of amazing brain malfunctions in still functioning people, and I became amazed with the idea that left could disappear completely, or that proper word choices don't necessarily make it to the mouth. (Ah. So that's my problem.)

My taste in books, movies and music reflects this. Hmmm ,I think I'll call this quality, curiosity, or maybe the sense of absurd. You can call me Abby. As in Abbynormal.

We rented the movie Once a few weeks ago. I watched it first, and then tried to describe it to the others. My family peppered me with questions and finally came out and asked, "Will I like it?" I found myself recommending it to each of them, and yet at the same time warning them away. The obvious issue was the extremely F-word-inated dialogue. Not my favorite word and it shares top billing with the music. However, if you can overlook it, the story is great.

My twenty-one-year-old finally said. "Okay. Is this one of those watch them make toast movies?"

Ha. That's it.

I love the dailiness of life when I connect with characters.
Make all the toast you want, guys, as long as you are doing something else that fascinates me! This sums up my appetite. No, not so much toast, though I do homemade oatmeal toasted with a smear of butter. But my appetite in what I devour in the arts. Give me a fascinating quirk to unearth and I'll watch you make toast for hours.