Ms. A

When I was about nine years old I was at a birthday party playing running bases. Perhaps you know the game. I was one of two throwing the ball and at one point the ball soared over my head and landed far off in the field of tall summer grass. I stooped to grab the ball and found myself in a most serene moment. Bent at the waist, my arms dangling before me, the grass so high it tickled my forehead, the sun warm on my back, the cicadas whirring beside me - I felt the peace one feels just before falling asleep. And it felt magnificent. I can still recall it. And I did not want to leave. And I heard the others calling, jeering, for me to return the ball but I ignored them, content where I was, bent like a fool in the grass, and remained there for a full minute or two. I gathered the ball and returned it to the group and left them for the house. I believe that moment says a lot about me... I am a daydreamer. I am a people watcher. I love watching people on the subway. I look for signs of life in subway tunnels; I am obsessed with spotting the mole people! I love listening to my parents tell their stories. I collect old black and white snap shots; a perfect Sunday is spent pouring through boxes of them at the Park Slope flea market. I love traveling, being somewhere new where I don't know my way... I love road trips. I have driven between Colorado and Jerz four times (the first time was by Greyhound bus, and it may sound romantic but it ain't no Simon and Garfunkel song; it's fucking hell on wheels!). I love star searching and I miss the Colorado sky (and Burns, I miss you, too!). Part of my heart will always be in Colorado, whether I move back there or not. My favorite color is a cobalt blue that can be found in the sky half an hour before twilight; it is such a rich color that I want to drink it and feel it slide down my throat like jello. I love singing in the shower and dear God, I dance like my mother. I am shy at times - a boy in college told me he had assumed I was a foreign exchange student since I never spoke in class - but I talk up a storm with my friends, and there are none better than the ones I have. When my girlfriends play that god-awful game, "Which Golden Girl Are You," I am always Dorothy. I can perform Madonna's Like A Prayer in sign language. I love the smell of carnival meat, though I don't eat it. My favorite cuisine is Thai, though I could live on rice, beans, and fried plantains (ooooh, with Lizano sauce from Costa Rica), and a good vodka martini ranks high on my list of life's essentials. On the rocks. A little dirty. With three meaty olives. My favorite word is ethereal, though I believe it should mean something else, and my favorite form of punctuation is the elipsis. I wear glitter on my eyes. I think that when I fall in love it will feel like an Iron & Wine song. I am not very good at summarizing myself. How do you summarize yourself?