recent encounters

[rushthatspeaks]

I present Cambridge and Somerville as I know and love them:

-- While standing in the infinite line for the Union Square Donuts stall at the street festival tonight, I could not help but notice that a nearby keytar player was... well, I think derspatchel said it best: "This is the music they play to get everyone geared up to put on the big festival at the community center." Repertoire-wise, it seems to have been a medley of the complete works of Duran Duran. The natural motion of Earth's tectonic plates eventually got me to the front of the line, and I retreated elsewhere with people and food.

When I passed the keytarist some time later on my way home, they had been joined by a guitarist. The two of them were still doing the complete works of Duran Duran, this time in a slightly peppier manner.

The guitarist was in a full fursuit as a bear, complete with paws. I applaud both this person's amazing manual dexterity and evident total immunity to heatstroke, as if it has gotten below 80F even now at 10 p.m. I will eat my hat.

I think Simon Le Bon would approve.


-- A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on the floor of a bookstore reading something or other when a hand came down on my knee. Ordinarily I would object to this very strongly, but the hand belonged to a person approximately one and a half feet high, and he was trying to use my leg as a support to stand up. I allowed it, but it did not work, even though he came close. He looked a bit upset, so I showed him my purse, which is shaped like a penguin-- let him flap the wings, and then I worked the nose squeaker. He clearly got the concept of the nose squeaker, but he did not have the grip strength, which was, frankly, adorable, although I know it must have been frustrating from the other end.

So then we started doing the thing where we held hands to use as a lever to get him standing up, and by this time his father had appeared and was hovering so he could swoop down if his kid was bothering me and be out of the way if his kid was not. I remarked to the baby that standing up can certainly be difficult but it was obvious that he was pretty close to having it down. (He was clearly in the phase where he could crawl faster than a grown human can walk but had gotten sick of that and wanted to be bipedal already.)

His father sighed, and said long-sufferingly: "He can walk already, actually. He just has better game than I do."


-- Maybe a week ago, I saw ahead of me on the sidewalk one of those earnest young people in a vest with a clipboard who ask everyone to donate to some charity or other, and I prepared to walk by quickly staring at my shoes, because even though I know that these earnest young people have a terrible job and are working for good causes, I do not enjoy interacting with them. But then I noticed that this one had slung over his shoulder a really nice wooden sword.

I mean, it was a really nice wooden sword. I hang around with LARPers and I go to Renaissance Faires and I am consequently familiar with several levels of quality in wooden sword technology, and this was one of the nicest wooden swords I have ever seen. When I asked him about it, he was delighted to show off the obviously hand-carved detailing, and when I had finished making the appropriate approving noises, I asked why he was carrying it, because it did not seem to be in his uniform.

He mentioned that he was standing in front of the AIDS Thrift, which I had in fact noticed, and explained that a car full of people had double-parked right next to him earlier and started unloading a massive quantity of stuff to donate. He had taken his pick of the stuff, including the sword and a pair of Batman sunglasses, and just gone in and given the thrift some cash. And people had been stopping to ask him about it all day, which, since his job performance was graded by number of actual conversations, meant he was considering bringing the thing back for his next shift.

I allowed as how his boss might not like that, and he allowed as how they were pretty forgiving, which I agreed with, as one of the things that had become obvious within about the first thirty seconds of this conversation was that he was at the amiable phase of stoned. He then mentioned that the sword was just like one he'd seen in a movie of Journey to the West, and we talked about various versions of Saiyuki a little, and then he delivered a genuine, bona fide amazing stoner theory, which I am now passing on:

"So I think that the Monkey King, in Journey to the West, right, he represents all of humanity and human endeavor, and the Buddha, who keeps him from doing things he wants to do but is also taking care of him, is, like, the rest of nature, which keeps us humans all penned up here in our little world but also makes it a pretty good world. And when we can get away from our world, when we can go on to the next one-- you know, when we get a manned spacecraft up to see the other side of the moon, what we're going to find is the Buddha. You know, the moon we can see is only the bottom of the great lotus, that the Buddha sits on, and even his shadow, right beneath him, is so bright it looks like light to us. And that's why we all need to put a lot of money into the space program. It's what the Monkey King would do, isn't it?"

I have been delighted by one aspect or another of this basically continuously ever since, but mostly by the central image, of the Buddha up there, enormous and shining, calmly seated on the dark side of the moon.

Comments

[akycha]

These are all pretty adorable, but you have seen Keytar Bear! Poor thing has been mostly famous for getting attacked and seriously injured recently.

Monkey King certainly has been turning up lately.

[rushthatspeaks]

I had no idea he was a local celebrity-ish sort of busker! As I said, I really admire the dexterity involved there. You mentioning his name caused me to Google, and he is definitely accomplishing his stated goal of being a busker who is totally noticeable and totally anonymous. In that costume he could have been black, white, male, female, none of the above, you name it.

And he does play a pretty good keytar.

[snarp]

*sends that stoner theory back in time so Osamu Tezuka can make it into a manga*

[rushthatspeaks]

Oh, man, that would look amazing in Tezuka's art style. I thoroughly second that as a course of action.

[phi]

I saw keytar bear at the festival last night and my first reaction was "it's too bad rax isn't in town to see this!" I was impressed.

[genarti]

This post delights me. All these anecdotes delight me.

But I would really, really love to see that stoner theory illustrated. Wow!

[sovay]

and even his shadow, right beneath him, is so bright it looks like light to us.

Nice.

And that's why we all need to put a lot of money into the space program. It's what the Monkey King would do, isn't it?

Please consider this a formal request for a poem about the Monkey King and the space program. Or a story. I'll take either.

Love.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

There is a reason I have been remembering this so thoroughly-- I do not usually expect this sort of imagery out of conversations with random stoned dudes on the street. If I did, I would spend more time talking to random stoned dudes, I guess.

That said, it's an amazing image, and the Monkey King does feel as though he ought to go with the space program in some way, but I haven't the foggiest how. If I ever figure out I'll let you know, but it doesn't ping, much as I wish it did.

[sovay]

I do not usually expect this sort of imagery out of conversations with random stoned dudes on the street. If I did, I would spend more time talking to random stoned dudes, I guess.

Mostly I have conversations like that with people in dreams.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

That's really cool. I almost never get actual conversations in dreams.

Mind you, I had a nightmare a few nights ago in which my mother had swiped my manuscript and was getting it published as a vanity-project manga because she insisted that was The Best Way Of Doing It And The Only Way It Could Ever Get Published, Dear, and I remember the blurb in the manga catalog verbatim and probably will for the rest of my life: "The adventures of this battling albino provide good sexy fun for the whole family!" Which, you've read the thing, I think my subconscious was in evil genius mode with that description. So it's probably just as well I don't usually get dialogue and actual verbiage.

[sovay]

That's really cool. I almost never get actual conversations in dreams.

A surprising number of my dreams are either interactions with people or some form of art that doesn't exist in the waking world. Fewer of them are storyable than I would like, but I write them down anyway.

"The adventures of this battling albino provide good sexy fun for the whole family!"

Barring the part about albinism (I thought Yetzirah was only white-haired), your subconscious writes good copy. For really malevolent values of "good."

[edit] As to the rest of that dream: GOOD GOD, SUBCONSCIOUS.

(Does your mother even read manga?)

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Yetzirah is not, in fact, an albino. Because that kind of blurb always gets at least one thing dramatically wrong.

My mother does not read manga. At all. Ever.

It was the worst dream I've had in several years, despite also being kind of blackly hilarious. I mean, there was a bit where she threatened to sue me for the rights if I tried to submit the manuscript anywhere else. Just... wow.

[sovay]

My mother does not read manga. At all. Ever.

I didn't think so.

I mean, there was a bit where she threatened to sue me for the rights if I tried to submit the manuscript anywhere else.

GOOD GOD, SUBCONSCIOUS.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

... and my jaw has now dropped even farther than it already had. Wow is right.

[obzor-inolit.livejournal.com]

The guitarist was in a full fursuit as a bear, complete with paws. I applaud both this person's amazing manual dexterity and evident total immunity to heatstroke, as if it has gotten below 80F even now at 10 p.m. I will eat my hat. *
Erm, maybe it wasn't a suit... Must be a real bear to bear such high temperatures easily...

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Those are all awesome things.

[q10.livejournal.com]

<3 camberville

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

The world is rushformed about you.

Nine

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I have seen Keytar Bear while walking through Harvard Square. That is, I assume it's the same bear you saw, even though it was playing the keytar itself rather than accompanying one a couple of miles away.

I don't know why I assume this. I should assume that more of them are arriving, and soon there will be a pedal-steel polar bear in Porter and two grizzlies with sackbuts in Magoun.