Get It All Down: kisses and love won't carry me 'til you marry me

12.15.2010

If you are the sort to flip someone the bird, what were the circumstances surrounding your most recent flip? If you’re not that type, have you ever, ever used that gesture? I don't know whether I did exactly that, but I was prevented from crossing the street this morning (it was VERY cold) by a woman driving a car very indecisively. She seemed to be taking time to plan her route...while...driving.... At the same time, I was freezing my ass off and becoming even later for work. By the time she did actually get out of my path, traffic had picked up from the opposite direction. It was pretty irritating.

What’s a gesture you’ve made up, or what’s a gesture made up by (and shared with) your friends or family? when I was in college, working and living with my friend Maureen, we created a "subtle" language of double-meanings and gestures so that we could talk about coworkers, her family (especially her children), and the objects of my affection without their specific knowledge. The results were mixed.

Are there any gestures that have specific, unique meanings in your workplace? Maureen would often flash the "V" sign (with her fore- and middle fingers), and I would always ask, "Peace? Victory?", to which she would inevitably reply, "Two."

Have you ever received an anonymous gesture of kindness or affection? in high school, a guy who liked me somehow tracked down the combination to my locker and left a progression of gifts for me, from tube socks (OK, yeah, that was pretty damned weird) to sonnets to, eventually, money.

One May when I was in college, in a fit of emotion, I bought a flat of May baskets (upon which I spent way more money than I had), which I sort of ding-dong-ditched on some friends' doorsteps. It seemed just nice and affectionate at the time; looking back, it seems stalker-creepy now. Won't be doing that again.

[from The Cat, who got it here; title quote from Maureen's theme song]

12.15.2010