2002-02-15 -
JB and I have a video camera.
It's a recent thing, this camera, given to us as a gift by JB's
folks right before our trip to China together in December. We
taped incessantly while we were traveling. And each night we'd
watch the footage in the little display screen, almost fervently,
as though we had not just experienced those things, those places
- as if we were watching something for the very first time.
The other night we watched some
random footage together on the TV. Christmas, New Year's, this
and that. We get quiet when we watch this stuff. Sometimes we
laugh softly or groan and say something about the shot, but mostly
we watch carefully. Eyes narrowed. Trying, I think, to understand
how that person on the screen is also yourself.
I can look at myself in the
mirror and it's almost too difficult to see myself as a whole.
I'm constantly zooming in on a blemish or a wayward lock of hair
or a wrinkle or something. It's like I see myself as a mosaic
of things, some good, some bad. Sometimes I wonder if I could
pick out my own face in a crowd. Seeing yourself on video is
a shock. It's as though you are forced into a stranger's objectivity.
You still cringe inwardly at your perceived flaws, but it's absorbing,
seeing yourself through someone else's eyes.
The camera itself has a tangible
presence when we use it. Once its eye is trained on me, I am
flustered, awkward, stumbling over words, trying to cock my head
just so. I heave a sigh of relief when it's turned off. We bicker
gently about who gets to tape and who must be the tapee.
And sometimes, secretly, we
want to be taped, and we try to say things on camera that
we hope will be funny or interesting later.
We take a lot of photos, too.
Scrapbook them, put them online. Video, photos, online journals
- I guess it's all a way to make sense of that strange face in
the mirror.
And to capture. To document.
To stay this moment. To remember.
Memories are tricky, slippery,
and sometimes unfair. Why is it that I can look back on a particularly
embarrassing or painful vignette in my life and it floods me
all over again; teeth-clenchingly, face-burningly. Total recall.
And yet the most pleasant moments - those sunny beaches and grand
accomplishments - have the wispy consistency of dreams, already
faded along the edges.
I wish I could edit my own life.
There are bits and pieces I would fast forward through, zip on
by. And others I would pause, hold as long as possible.
But you know - I'd probably
skip by something important.
:::
Did you see where a cat has
been cloned now? A cutesy-wootsy itsy-bitsy calico kitten. You
know what it makes me think of? The Stephen King book Pet Sematary,
where the guy is worried sick about his kid's cat that got hit
by a car so the old guy neighbor decides to take him on this
freak journey to the Pet Sematary where he buries the cat and
then it comes back but it's totally not the same,
it's�evil? And THEN he buries his Mack-truck-flattened KID
in there?
I'm just saying.
go
back ::: forward
Did you want to read about:
2002-02-14 - dishpan
diarrhea, snag
2002-02-13 - heart-shaped
abashment
2002-02-12 - freaky
tea, hiking
ARTIFACT: Remember this view, how it feels
to walk up the hill and see the city below you.
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comments so far.
I have moved. - 1.03.2005 Obviously, a work in progress. - 12.27.2004 Happy holidays! - 12.24.2004 Listen, I am not a complete dick, it's not like I want Joe to die alone surrounded by cats or something. - 12.23.2004 Plus I am convinced my butt is extra big when it's upside down. - 12.22.2004
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