I walk from the train station to the office every morning. It's about ten minutes' walk, so not too far. I walk fairly quickly, mostly because I'm tall but also because I'm usually starving and can't wait to get to work so I can have my porridge.
So I try to make it there as quickly as possible, but I still like to make sure I walk enough of a distance to get the old heart rate pumping. Lately I've noticed this lady has been trying to outwalk me. She takes a different route, but we always converge at a point and walk the last few hundred feet 'together'. When we get off the train, she practically runs to get ahead of me and walks as fast as her little legs will carry her.
I noticed she was a little disappointed last week, when we came back out onto the main road, I was WELL ahead of her. I noticed this because I turned around to have a look. Admittedly, I walked that little bit faster, just because.
This morning, she bloody followed me. She took the route I always take. It vexed me so. I felt like turning around and going "What the fuck are you playing at bitch? You want some of the black girl?"
I don't know why I felt so strongly about it, or why I felt so competitive towards her. But all I knew is that I would have broken out into a sprint, if I felt like she was going to beat me.
I need help.
Monday 16 November 2009
Wednesday 4 November 2009
More than a feeling Pt 2
Today was a horrible day, weather wise. It rained this morning on my way to work (I work now. Did I forget to say?) and it rained on my way home. My feet are soaked and my hands are still kind of numb. But I had on my iPod on the train on my way back, and a song came on that made me smile.
Superman Lovers- Starlight
I had heard this song once before I went to France, somewhere in the background somewhere. I liked it but never really thought about it again. But one night everyone decided to go to the opening night of this club. It was me and the Irish and our French friend David. David drove and took me and my Irish dudes Des and Paul. We were going to meet everyone else there. There was this club called 'Pop Plage' that a lot of students went to and it had just been renovated. So as the Irish were students and I worked at a college, we thought it would be very appropriate for us to go there on its opening night. David had a job...a proper job. Not like me who was just a douchebag on placement.
Anyway, we go to Pop Plage, and it is TEEMING with people. I clock quite a few students from the college I worked at...the same students who hated me for being their age, but not having to go to class and having my own office. Plus I was black. Still am. Anyway, they were giving me evils because I rocked up there looking fucking awesome with my Irish posse, looking like I run tings. Obviously. They were playing some generic pop, you know, chart shit, but we danced and danced. And somehow we ended up on the podium.
There was a podium. There was a cage. Me and Des were in the cage. And then this song came on. The one part I remember of that night, is of me sandwiched between Paul and Des, laughing and dancing and grinding and jumping and screaming and just fucking OWNING Pop Plage and basically giving all them girls who were hating on me, the finger. It was awesome. I love the way the verses are lower down on the scale, then in the chorus, he kind of explodes into "Starlight!" It's just a great song.
I don't remember any other part of that night. But whenever I hear that song, I just feel happy and carefree again. And it makes me so very happy.
Superman Lovers- Starlight
I had heard this song once before I went to France, somewhere in the background somewhere. I liked it but never really thought about it again. But one night everyone decided to go to the opening night of this club. It was me and the Irish and our French friend David. David drove and took me and my Irish dudes Des and Paul. We were going to meet everyone else there. There was this club called 'Pop Plage' that a lot of students went to and it had just been renovated. So as the Irish were students and I worked at a college, we thought it would be very appropriate for us to go there on its opening night. David had a job...a proper job. Not like me who was just a douchebag on placement.
Anyway, we go to Pop Plage, and it is TEEMING with people. I clock quite a few students from the college I worked at...the same students who hated me for being their age, but not having to go to class and having my own office. Plus I was black. Still am. Anyway, they were giving me evils because I rocked up there looking fucking awesome with my Irish posse, looking like I run tings. Obviously. They were playing some generic pop, you know, chart shit, but we danced and danced. And somehow we ended up on the podium.
There was a podium. There was a cage. Me and Des were in the cage. And then this song came on. The one part I remember of that night, is of me sandwiched between Paul and Des, laughing and dancing and grinding and jumping and screaming and just fucking OWNING Pop Plage and basically giving all them girls who were hating on me, the finger. It was awesome. I love the way the verses are lower down on the scale, then in the chorus, he kind of explodes into "Starlight!" It's just a great song.
I don't remember any other part of that night. But whenever I hear that song, I just feel happy and carefree again. And it makes me so very happy.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
More than a feeling
I love music. I don't remember if I always loved it, but for at least the past sixteen years, I've LOVED it. I remember hating music when I was forced to take piano lessons and being very happy when I was allowed to quit (a decision I obviously regret now). But I have always enjoyed a nice song and I really enjoy singing.
And I have come to realise just how many of my memories are intrinsically tied in to songs. I hear a certain song, and the period of time in which that song took centre stage comes rushing back to mind. A lot of the time it makes me very happy and very rarely it makes me sad.
Girlfriend by Alicia Keys
When I hear this song, it reminds me of the time I lived in France. It was very early 2002 and I had gone to Annecy in France for the second part of my year abroad. I was living in Centre Residence d'Evires (Evires for short) and working at IPAC (IPAC Annecy, bonjour.) It was a fairly idyllic time. It took me a while to socialise, but eventually I became really good friends with the Irish colony living in my building. They were the only acceptable people to hang out with. All the French people who lived there all appeared to be societal rejects, but that's for another day.
Alicia Keys had just released her first album but I was still immune to her apparently sizeable charms, even though Fallin' had already become the song of choice for talent show auditionees across the world. I myself preferred India.Arie and was loving 'Brown Skin' in a big way. So Paul, one of the Irish, lent me his bootleg version of 'Songs in A minor'. Girlfriend was the first 'proper' song on the album since the first track was an Intro.
I would play this CD a lot, especially on a Saturday morning as I was getting ready to go into town to knock about. So the first piano chords of this song always reminds me of coming in from the shower and picking out my clothes. I'd then sing along while I was getting dressed and feel pretty happy. I liked the way the piano sounded so jazzy, then it suddenly switched to a thumping drum machine and her voice comes in and it sounds slightly out of time "Maybe silly, for me to feel this way about you and her." I loved the lyrics and the backing vocal, and I especially loved chiming in on the chorus "I think I'm jealous of your girlfriend, although she's just a girl that is your friend." I'm sure the girl in the room next to me was dead annoyed but I couldn't help it. The lyrics were simple yet they really made sense and even though I was single and had never before experienced the feelings she was talking about, I was often the girl-friend the girlfriends were jealous about.
I'd then fast forward to Butterflies.
This song has such a 'sing-a-long' quality to it, I simply couldn't resist. Sigh! I loved the simplicity of the production. Just her and the piano. Then the backing track comes in near the end. It's so melodic and so pretty. I hear it, and I'm taken back to night time in Evires. I'd play that song in the evening, mostly because I found it very soothing and I enjoyed hearing it as I lay in bed reading or just staring into space wishing that Cute French Guy (who did indeed give me butterflies) would stop being so nice to me and ravage me behind the ugly building that housed IPAC.
D'Angelo- Playa Playa
This song is from Voodoo, the only D'Angelo album I own but one of my absolute favourites. I also borrowed this from Irish Paul and simply fell in love with it. This is the first song on the album and I love how it starts with the ambient noise. Then the instruments kick in in a sort of disjointed fashion and it all sounds so old school. I loves it! I'd also play this on Saturday mornings, usually just after I woke up and before I went for a shower. I'd do what I imagined to be a super cool dance, looking as 'edgy' and hip as I could. And I just loved singing along to it. I like the way the vocal sounds a bit out of time with the music and the way he pronounces the words, not drawing out the syllables or anything. It just sounded cool. I particularly remember one morning when it was super-cloudy and I was wondering whether I should even bother going into town. I was standing by the window of my room looking out, and singing the song in a somewhat distracted way, when the chorus finally comes and I just about burst into song. Good times.
R. Kelly- Spendin' Money
We used to have parties in the basement of our halls. In my halls there were the Irish, a couple English, an American, two Belgian, an Uruguyan and loads of French. In the other halls up the road (Pre St Jean), there were Irish, other Belgians and other people whose existence I'm not that bothered about at this point. We mostly only socialised with the Irish. So anyway, we'd often organise these parties in our basement and Paul used to DJ. I'd heard this song somewhere before and never knew who sang it. But I knew that I liked it. And then one night, Paul played it and it made me so happy. I was dancing with my friend Des (Irish Justin Timberlake type) and we were just having so much fun and it was one of the best times of my life. I especially love the part near the end when he goes "I need you baby, to share this good life. I need you baby, it's true. All that I do, I do for you." I can't really explain why I love it so much, but of course I borrowed that bad boy from Paul and played that A LOT! My room wasn't massive and once you factored in the bed and the desk it didn't really leave a lot of room for dancing. But I think I made it work. When I hear this song now, it brings a smile to my face and makes me think of a simpler time, when life was super easy and we really didn't have any hassles.
Ah, if only!
And I have come to realise just how many of my memories are intrinsically tied in to songs. I hear a certain song, and the period of time in which that song took centre stage comes rushing back to mind. A lot of the time it makes me very happy and very rarely it makes me sad.
Girlfriend by Alicia Keys
When I hear this song, it reminds me of the time I lived in France. It was very early 2002 and I had gone to Annecy in France for the second part of my year abroad. I was living in Centre Residence d'Evires (Evires for short) and working at IPAC (IPAC Annecy, bonjour.) It was a fairly idyllic time. It took me a while to socialise, but eventually I became really good friends with the Irish colony living in my building. They were the only acceptable people to hang out with. All the French people who lived there all appeared to be societal rejects, but that's for another day.
Alicia Keys had just released her first album but I was still immune to her apparently sizeable charms, even though Fallin' had already become the song of choice for talent show auditionees across the world. I myself preferred India.Arie and was loving 'Brown Skin' in a big way. So Paul, one of the Irish, lent me his bootleg version of 'Songs in A minor'. Girlfriend was the first 'proper' song on the album since the first track was an Intro.
I would play this CD a lot, especially on a Saturday morning as I was getting ready to go into town to knock about. So the first piano chords of this song always reminds me of coming in from the shower and picking out my clothes. I'd then sing along while I was getting dressed and feel pretty happy. I liked the way the piano sounded so jazzy, then it suddenly switched to a thumping drum machine and her voice comes in and it sounds slightly out of time "Maybe silly, for me to feel this way about you and her." I loved the lyrics and the backing vocal, and I especially loved chiming in on the chorus "I think I'm jealous of your girlfriend, although she's just a girl that is your friend." I'm sure the girl in the room next to me was dead annoyed but I couldn't help it. The lyrics were simple yet they really made sense and even though I was single and had never before experienced the feelings she was talking about, I was often the girl-friend the girlfriends were jealous about.
I'd then fast forward to Butterflies.
This song has such a 'sing-a-long' quality to it, I simply couldn't resist. Sigh! I loved the simplicity of the production. Just her and the piano. Then the backing track comes in near the end. It's so melodic and so pretty. I hear it, and I'm taken back to night time in Evires. I'd play that song in the evening, mostly because I found it very soothing and I enjoyed hearing it as I lay in bed reading or just staring into space wishing that Cute French Guy (who did indeed give me butterflies) would stop being so nice to me and ravage me behind the ugly building that housed IPAC.
D'Angelo- Playa Playa
This song is from Voodoo, the only D'Angelo album I own but one of my absolute favourites. I also borrowed this from Irish Paul and simply fell in love with it. This is the first song on the album and I love how it starts with the ambient noise. Then the instruments kick in in a sort of disjointed fashion and it all sounds so old school. I loves it! I'd also play this on Saturday mornings, usually just after I woke up and before I went for a shower. I'd do what I imagined to be a super cool dance, looking as 'edgy' and hip as I could. And I just loved singing along to it. I like the way the vocal sounds a bit out of time with the music and the way he pronounces the words, not drawing out the syllables or anything. It just sounded cool. I particularly remember one morning when it was super-cloudy and I was wondering whether I should even bother going into town. I was standing by the window of my room looking out, and singing the song in a somewhat distracted way, when the chorus finally comes and I just about burst into song. Good times.
R. Kelly- Spendin' Money
We used to have parties in the basement of our halls. In my halls there were the Irish, a couple English, an American, two Belgian, an Uruguyan and loads of French. In the other halls up the road (Pre St Jean), there were Irish, other Belgians and other people whose existence I'm not that bothered about at this point. We mostly only socialised with the Irish. So anyway, we'd often organise these parties in our basement and Paul used to DJ. I'd heard this song somewhere before and never knew who sang it. But I knew that I liked it. And then one night, Paul played it and it made me so happy. I was dancing with my friend Des (Irish Justin Timberlake type) and we were just having so much fun and it was one of the best times of my life. I especially love the part near the end when he goes "I need you baby, to share this good life. I need you baby, it's true. All that I do, I do for you." I can't really explain why I love it so much, but of course I borrowed that bad boy from Paul and played that A LOT! My room wasn't massive and once you factored in the bed and the desk it didn't really leave a lot of room for dancing. But I think I made it work. When I hear this song now, it brings a smile to my face and makes me think of a simpler time, when life was super easy and we really didn't have any hassles.
Ah, if only!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
