Random Comment.

The summer after my freshmen year of college I went out with this guy who was a tennis player for the Citadel. He was in my physics class, so mostly we just went to IHOP to study. We'd be sitting there engrossed in our physics and he would think of something and pop his head up and say "Random comment..." and then go on to say something truly random. I started doing it too. That was how we lived. So now...Random comment...

(1) My friends and I have talked alot about how lonely it can be to live in NYC. Surrounded by thousands of people all that time, yet knowing none of them. But today, I was encouraged by none other than the man who owns my neighborhood grocery store. I was there buying my consumables for the week, when he asked me where I'd been. He noticed that I hadn't been around for the past few days. I hadn't come in to buy anything and he hadn't seen me pass by. It makes me feel good that I have been here long enough to be noticed, and thought of. That I am not an anonymous person here. One day a few months ago we had a conversation about the Selena song on the radio and about how I was from Selena's hometown. He said "Oh, you're from Texas. I'm from Libya. It's alot like Texas."

(2) Some of my friends have been putting up the Top Ten songs on their iTunes Shuffle list. It says something about a person. Here's mine:

1. Ohio (Come Back to Texas) Bowling for Soup—Because you maybe want someone to ask you to do just that.
   
2. You Give Love a Bad Name Bon Jovi—Because you gotta love Bon Jovi.
3. Sweet Adeline Elliott Smith—Because Elliott Smith was amazing.
4. Jesus Walks Kanye West—Because I secretly love him, and he's a frequent guest on my talk show.
5. Give me Novacaine/She's a Rebel Green Day—Because both of these statement are true and right.
6. More than Words Extreme—Because knowing all the words to this song in 6th grade made you cool.
7. Move Along All-American Rejects—Because we are...moving along, that is.
8. Strength, Courage, and Wisdom India Arie—Because we could all use some.
9. Dancing with Myself Billy Idol—Because Billy Idol is awesome.
10. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) The Proclaimers—Because it makes you want to jump up and down.

(3) I found my new favorite place last night. The IFC Center. Having long been a fan of IFC, because it makes me feel bohemian, I decided to go see a movie there last night. It was called Factotum, and is based on a book by Charles Bukowski, one of my favorite authors during my Beatnik period (though the good people of Wikipedia say it's a mistake to call him a Beatnik). And I really like the fact that the title of the movie (which was first the title of a book) is written phonetically and includes the definition of the word. People who do such things, who make grammar and spelling and definition creative are people worth reading, I think.

And so I end this big ball of random with one of Mr. Bukowski's balls of random...a poem...the house.