Representations

Lucy had to do a project for school a couple of weeks ago.  It's an autobiography, but with many different parts and I thought it might be fun to do it too.  I don't know.  I heard a song on the radio yesterday that maybe could fulfil the one page.

Song lyrics that represent you:

"Welcome to the real world,"  she said to me
Condescendingly
Take a seat
Take your life
Plot it out in black and white
Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings
And the drama queens
I'd like to think the best of me
Is still hiding
Up my sleeve

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you've got to rise above

So the good boys and girls take the so called right track
Faded white hats
Grabbing credits
Maybe transfers
They read all the books but they can't find the answers
And all of our parents
They're getting older
I wonder if they've wished for anything better
While in their memories
Tiny tragedies

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
But something's better
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above

The song is "No Such Thing" by John Mayer.   You can listen to it here.   I used to love John Mayer.   It's a good song.  Until the last year,  I've wanted to go back to a high school reunion and show everyone how great a life I have.   I probably still have a better life than most.  I should feel thankful.

Anyway, to me the song is about all the "lines" we put around ourselves that really aren't there.  We think there are all these things that are so important and sometimes we find out that life is better when we live outside them--not in a break the law, break the commandments sort of way.  Just in a don't try to be so perfect way. In a stop trying to live up to what's supposedly expected way--because most of the expectations are self-imposed anyway.  At 14 or 16 or 18 we think we know everything--how life should be--black and white--just like the song.  When we actually grow up, at whatever age that happens, we see there isn't some magic formula of how it's supposed to be.

Lucy also had to pick a color and a food that represented her.  I think in giving her a suggestion for the food,  I was really talking about me. 

I said potato. 

I know--weird.  Here's why--I think most people see the green plant of the potato above the ground and it's okay, not the most beautiful plant or anything, but okay. 

Hidden, where they can't see though,  is the best part.  I keep a lot hidden and so does Lucy.  I also thought of kiwi--scruffy and bland on the outside, but if you take time to peel it, it's the brightest colored, tastiest thing on the inside.  Or liver and onions--one of my favorites foods, by the way.  You really have to be a connoisseur of food to enjoy it.  You have to be willing to try it, even if your first impression is that it will be disgusting.

My color would have to be...I have no idea.  My mother-in-law says I wear brown a lot.  Somebody that came to the house once said that my sage green corian counters were just like me,  whatever that means.  Am I cold, hard, straight, beveled?  Whatever.  My favorite color is green.  The teal color that my mom swears is blue,  but really  is green.  The color red of Keith's hair has got to rank awfully high on my list.  Is there really a color that represents me?  Lucy picked orange.  Some quiz on the internet says orange is for flamboyance and exuberance and someone who demands attention.  She loved that.  I say she picked it because it was Ian's favorite color and she has taken over a lot of his favorite things. 

I guess maybe teal is a good representation of me, simply because some say it's blue and others say it's green.  

I've never gotten over the first impressions people told me they had of me.  They were so far off the mark.  I'm just not who I appear on the outside?

There have been issues with people being able to comment on my blog lately.  I hope it works now.  I know that maybe you need a google ID or some others.  Anyway, for the few of you that read this,  I'd love to hear the things that represent you and if you think the things I chose represent me.  It would be fun for me to hear someone else's  inner thoughts for a change.