Health: Ok, I guess. I danced yesterday, and I’m sore.
Mental: Yes, I am.

So, still, there is a commode in my bedroom. I almost no longer notice it. Of course, when you spend your day being the amazing slug person, not much will catch your attention. I watched several unremarkable movies on cable, while intermittently reading “Moonlight and Vines”. I can usually get through about a quarter of a short story during commercial breaks… (I didn’t leave my bed except for a bit of foraging, a visit to the facilities, and now I’m sitting in front of the computer.)

Reading De Lint, however, calls to mind a friend of mine. I’ve been reading his books since they were recommended to me. Recently, I looked at this good friend of mine in a new light because of it. He wrote this character, ‘Margaret’, who is, I guess, a magpie. I’m not going to explain it, you’ll have to read the books. Anyway, this friend of mine recently revealed something of herself that I never really knew before…or maybe it was just that I never noticed…never questioned.

Magpies collect shiny, pretty things. They swipe them. They can’t help it. Or so it says in the books. I just learned that my friend does as well.

You see, she doesn’t take expensive things, like jewelry or objets d’art…but she happens to have an entire set of flatware from some big city hotel, or restaurant, I can’t remember which it is. She also has… “mementos” … from various other eateries and bars she has patronized all over the country. Here’s the funny thing. None of these bear a logo, or emblem, there’s no writing to identify where they originated. But she has a shot class from some bar in Arizona, and she remembers exactly where and when she got it. The same with all her other ‘trinkets’ she’s… accumulated. (I was going to say ‘filched’, but…that’s so incriminating.) A plain glass, a fork, a shot glass, a coffee mug, a spoon…

Her resemblance to the book character doesn’t stop there, however. She’s beautiful. (I mean beautiful in the way that book characters can be beautiful. She has that ageless beauty, that’s made up not only of perfect features, but poise, and the way you feel when you think about them…) She has the longish, shiny jet black hair. She has the fine features, the bright eyes, the open expression. You look at her, and immediately feel that she’s interested in what you’re saying. She understands things, even if she’s never studied them or heard of them before, she just immediately ‘gets’ it. She is shapely…tallish…slim…graceful. She walks into a room, and there’s a vibrance she brings with her that makes you sit taller, pay more attention, engage more playfully.

Another resemblance…the character from the book is this pseudo Native American sort of icon…described with that sort of ‘comfort in any environment’ thing… You know, how people, especially mystical and wise personages, are always comfortable in their skin? They know who they are. So does she. And she tans dark enough to warrant the cliche “brown as an Indian”. This can be attributed to the Cherokee in her bloodline, I’m sure.

In a word, and I’ve never realized this before, but she’s magical.

At least, for me, she has been. And I don’t know why she’s been on my mind so much… There aren’t a lot of people I can say that have truly impacted me on a deep personal level. I mean, everyone I come in contact with impacts my life in some way…and there have been deeply personal journeys that have been TRIGGERED by different people in my life. But there are only a few people who have done more than touch the surface of my soul. Only a few have stirred the waters that (I’m told) run so deep within me. She’s one of them. My daughter shares her name. (And some of her temperament. Who could have predicted THAT when she was born?)

I’ve been thinking of writing about her. Well, not HER exactly, but…something that she’s inspired. Funny thing. I just learned that she’s a small-time kleptomaniac, and she’s just learned that I’m a closet-writer.

Well, THIS is a random sampling. I can’t even hold one train of thought for very long. Who knows if that ‘inspired’ story will ever be written…

Other news. I have a henna’d eye of horus on my left palm, and a pretty flower-thing from an Arabic manuscript on the back of my right hand. I got them on Friday afternoon so they’d look cool when I danced on Saturday. Ok, fine. But they’ll last for at LEAST a week. (Especially the one on my palm. It’s quite dark.) It’s one thing to feel exotic and different for a day or two… I’m not sure how I feel about the long term. At least now I know a tiny bit what it feels like to have a tattoo? It’s funny…the eye on my left palm keeps surprising me at odd times. I forget it’s there, and then it shocks me. Shocked a guy at the drivethru yesterday, too. I handed him the money (with my left hand, since the windows on my left) and he sort of stared at my hand before taking the money. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t placing some weird hex on him?

…….. Having gone back to read through this, another thought strikes me. I have been blessed to, all my life, be surrounded by beautiful people. Seriously. My childhood friends were gorgeous. (At least, I thought so…and I always felt odd that they would spend their time with mousey little me…) Then as a teen, my closest friends were, again…just beautiful. Lovely. Physically and temperamentally…near-perfect. I keep finding women friends who outshine me in some way. I guess it helps me grow? Makes me strive a little more? Makes me consider that I need to at least pay a little attention to my appearance, my behavior, my kindnesses (or lack thereof), my personality, my mind?

I’m a fraud. I only pretend to be in the same league as these people. Sh. Don’t tell anybody.