Flaws And Charms
I used to wonder about impersonators who could do loads of other voices and I mull over why they chose to talk the way they do.
It’s like actors who can behave in loads of different ways at the drop of a hat and I’d think: “If you can be funny and confident and personable and kind, then why are you such a shallow miserable git off the set?”
It’s a good point, although a stupid one, because I realise just because people can behave in a certain way, it don’t mean they’re gonna.
Take me, for example. I can make an astounding pumpkin and ricotta ravioli. I use normal flour instead of 00 because it holds together better and you need that toughness to bind the parcels. The trick’s really in the best olive oil you can find. Ooh, and pine nuts. And nutmeg. But not just virgin olive oil, but extra virgin, that’s been rolled on the thighs of other virgins. And it’s hard to find that many virgins, unless you’re like are a suicide bomber, apparently. What? Fuck those guys, OK? My site.
Anyway, how many times (what?) - how many times have I cooked this manna from heaven? Twice. Once in Villefranche-Sur-Mer in March 1999 and once in Bethnal Green, London, in the mid 1990’s.
Why, if it’s all that? Because I’m lazy.
I’m no slouch - I’ll do myself a nice stir-fry; I’ll throw something together with cheese and homebaked bread, pears and really nice chocolate, but I’m doing other things instead of taking the time do so something I know would taste even better.
Most folks you meet aren’t going to always be at their finest hour or do the best they can for everyone else, let alone themselves, and that’s not just their fallibility, it’s our own as well.
Whether it’s Christmas spirit, or a moment of selfish madness, a person is who they are.
I’ll take someone who can do their own best instead of someone else’s. They’re only human, like you and me, all flaws and charms.
February 28th, 2007 at 8:56 am
I hope your wife doesn’t work.
February 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Mrs This cooks a mean Key Lime Pie.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I am not convinced that extra virgin olive oil is “rolled”. I believe it is “pressed”.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Attack of the killer pedantics. Sorry. Sorry.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Pressed between the thighs of so many virgins is even scarier.
I think people act so they can become the people they aren’t. A lot of my job is a complete act - I have to give students the go-getting leader of a dynamic organisation, and the University want a diplomatic negotiator, someone who can politely tell them they’re doing everything wrong in a way which makes the whole process seem right. I have to make good speeches, smile at parties and dress like a student at the weekend.
I can do none of those things, except perhaps in short bursts, but it helps keep everything working if everyone pretends that I can.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Yeah. It’s a weird thing, this being yourself. I used to scoff when people would talk about going off to find themselves - I mean, who was doing the looking?
It’s only now, though, in my late 30s that I think I’m getting to know me, and feel relaxed enough to show ‘me’ to a small group of trusted others. Although - having said that, I think ‘me’ is different depending on who I’m with. The me I show my boss is not the same me my friends or kids know, and I think that’s okay.
Still, no excuse for the shallow git actor.
Dunno. It’s late.