2001-04-29

Kiki-isms

Today was a lovely, sunny Sunday, and after I got out of church (yes, readers, I am a practicing Catholic, despite the many problems I have with the Church. The thing is, Catholicism is as much a part of me as is my tendency to sunburn), I decided to go rollerskating in the Arboretum. Note that I said "rollerskating." I do not believe in rollerblades. I refuse to buy a pair. I'm sure they're better for my feet and ankles, but you know what? Rollerskating is much, much cooler. I have me a pair of Old School, white, lace-up rollerskates that I bought at Boomerangs and they kick major ass. I had such a revelation as I wheeled my way through the Arboretum in my rollerskates, my cuffed-to-hell Levi's and my Police concert t-shirt, and that is that I deeply and genuinely enjoy being a complete and total anachronism. I got so many bemused looks today, it just made me giggle. I eventually had to take off my headphones (I was, of course, listening to the greatest album ever recorded: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!" which, arguably, is not what one should be listening to while rollerskating see: Xanadu) so that I might hear what people were actually saying as I glided blissfully past them. Mostly, people just sort of blurted the obvious: "Wow. Rollerskates."

What I need to have, to complete the image, are rainbow knee-high socks and laces with my name on 'em. Hell, yeah. I want to completely externalize my dorkiness.

Another thing I was doing, as I skated along, involved putting myself in "Kiki Mind." My four-year-old god-daughter has this uncanny bebop sense of verbiage; she'll just blurt out these fantastic free-form improvisations. Last weekend I was reading "Peter Rabbit" to her, and she was leaning on my shoulder, looking at the pictures and listening, and all of a sudden she started in with: "Peter Rabbit's muuuutherrrrr is wearrrrinnnng a bluuuue dress, ooohhhhh yeahhhh." In that exact cadence. And I just looked at her like, "Where did you come from?" She's a goddamn genius, that's what she is.

Anyway, I was skating along, observing people, and in my head I was composing little Kiki-isms: "Goths in the park, ohhhhh yeahhhh" I highly recommend it.

lisamcc at 8:12 p.m.

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