People

[asakiyume]

I wanted to tell you about some people I saw here and there.

Sisters
There were two little girls I saw in a Dunkin Donuts. They were very, very little--both of them, if they stood next to me, wouldn't have come up to my hip. They both had long black hair that went down their back. They were sisters: one was wearing a three-tiered ruffle skirt with a stars-and-stripes pattern, and the other was wearing an Elsa T-shirt. They loved everything in the Dunkin Donuts--the ATM, the gift cards, the counter where you pick up your order. They dashed to each of these places and called to one another and showed each other everything. Their mom bought them coolatas as big as their arms, and bought herself a smoothie.

Man with a guitar
I've written about him before, I think, but he was there again, waiting for the bus on the highway, sitting on the guard rail, playing the guitar. I had the car windows wide open, and because I've seen him before, I felt like I knew him, and because I felt like I knew him and because he was playing the guitar, I waved at him. He waved back.

Man with flowers
I was walking in the neighboring town, and an SUV pulled up next to me, and a grizzled man called to me from the window. "Would you like some flowers?" he asked. He had a cellophane-wrapped bouquet. "Are you giving them away?" I asked cautiously. "Yeah!" he said. The car was full of people: another guy, a couple of women, several children. "Okay, sure! Thank you very much! I'll remember this day because of you!" I said. And I did, and do.


Girl with the tattoo.
She works at the nearby supermarket. I may have tried to write about her before: she has a tattoo of an arrow on her arm, and fancy writing, and always I've tried to remember it, but always I've gotten it wrong. But today I have it right. It says: "Focus and keep aiming."

Okay: that can be my task. To focus and keep aiming, or vice versa, even.

[Note: In 2018, when I was transferring images from LJ to here, I didn't keep each and every image--I left two off of this entry. So comments may refer to images that are no longer in the entry.]

Comments

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

That's a great tattoo!

I've had one in my head for a while, as well as a place and an artist picked out, but I've been waiting for the right time to get it. I'm thinking this upcoming trip to Washington (her studio is in Seattle) in October might turn out to be the right time.

So I should probably email her now, given that it's a custom job and she's a popular artist. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Can you share what you're thinking of getting? (If not, I understand!)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Certainly. :) I've always loved the imagery of wings (and that's partly why I waited until now; I felt like I needed to do something important, career-wise, to earn my wings; and finding/putting so much effort into/graduating from massage school feels right to celebrate that way). For a while I was thinking about having them put on my back, but I couldn't find a design I liked that didn't feel overused.

Then I bought a pair of yoga pants at Costco with a wing design on one thigh, and loved them to death and quite literally wore them to pieces. (Alas, they seem to have been a custom job, likely that Costco bought from a failed boutique; I Googled the brand name but they only sell the plain black pants with no sign of the wing motif.) I nearly always got compliments on the design, and it finally occurred to me that that would be a great spot for a tattoo - unusual, flattering to my thigh, and (always a consideration) easy to either hide or emphasize with clothing.

(I'm going to try posting a picture of the pants here, but I'm using the iPhone app and I haven't tried this before, so if it doesn't work I'll go back and edit it later.)



ETA: Sorry, I didn't realize the app didn't automatically resize the picture - it looked fine on the phone screen! Hopefully now I'm not breaking out of your lovely page theme anymore.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

No worries! And it is absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for sharing!

What I really love--and which was really evident in the large size (but pretty in this size too) are the sparkles at the top of the wing. Plus, I really love the delicacy of each feather tip.)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love that too.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to incorporate the sparkles in the tattoo, but I'm hoping to work with the artist to find a way to preserve that delicacy while making the design a little cleaner and more geometric. (That's partly why I mentally flagged her, after having her studio recommended numerous times - her portfolio shows a nice balance between clean lines/repeating designs and more nature-type work.) We'll see how it comes out!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Lovely images!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

:-)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

and because I've seen him before, I felt like I knew him

I think little contacts like this are very important. There are lots of people I'll see on my runs, or when I swim, and all we do is nod or smile as we pass, but it feels like we're connected, even though we know nothing about each other.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it provides a sort of background of social sustenance. It's not as nourishing as more involved social interactions would be, but it really is part of the web of support we build for one another.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yes, this, these connections. They are mostly all I have in Egypt, since I don't speak the language, but I do feel like I am not surrounded by complete strangers in a strange land

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The same was true for amanen when she was in Japan for her last year of high school. The community recognized her (she kind of stood out), and they paid attention to her routines (whether she was riding a bike, walking, etc. to get to the train station, for example) A background safety net of goodwill.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Safety net of goodwill = awesome image. :D

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Awesome, and very accurate. Even when we don't know someone personally, if we get used to seeing them in a particular place/time, it twigs a "something's not right" response in the back of our head when we don't, which leads to questions. Plus it's just a nice thing, being recognized as part of the neighborhood - when I meet someone local or wander into a nearby business for the first time, I'll often hear "Oh, hey, I've seen you around, nice to finally meet you." But then, I kind of stand out too. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

t's just a nice thing, being recognized as part of the neighborhood --absolutely

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

I wonder why the man or the carload was giving away bouquets, or a bouquet?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It was a one-off bouquet from Trader Joe's. I don't know! I thought it might be a pay-it-forward, spread-goodwill type thing? Otherwise... I come up with lots of sort-of mundane explanations (they were going to someone's party and two people happened to buy the identical bouquet, and they didn't want to give two, so they thought they'd give away the extra....?)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "someone in the car is allergic" :P

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That could be it too!

[frigg.livejournal.com]

What a lovely day! :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

These were collected over a few days, but they were bright moments in the days they happened in.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

It's a good motto.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I agree.

[egg-shell.livejournal.com]

I love getting to see the world through your eyes - thanks!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad--thank you!

[sovay]

I wanted to tell you about some people I saw here and there.

Thank you for these sketches. The people are wonderful and so are the ferns.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love the ferns too. Sometimes I think the material world exists in order to display light to full advantage.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks for these glimpses - I liked reading all of them, and especially about the excited little girls, and the man with the flowers.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Glad I got a chance to share the flower story :-)

[nightynight.livejournal.com]

I enjoy your posts very much!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yay! That makes me super happy.

[syomsong.livejournal.com]

nice to read a wisdom in someone's arm; you earned the flowers, he knew it somehow.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I don't think I possibly could have earned them--that makes them an even more wonderful gift.

(Today all the blossoms are wide open on the table)

People

[theresa martin (from livejournal.com)]

These are lovely sketches. I love the connectedness of them. I love how you NOTICE them--these people, and your interconnectedness with them. It's the noticing that I think is the most important.

Re: People

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I treasure the interconnectedness so much.