Somehow, when I see I misfit, I wonder what caused that person to cross my path. I'm not exactly sure why, except I'm not the typical person myself. Typical people aren't interesting to wonder about mostly because, well, they're typical. Misfits allow your imagination or sympathies, depending on your mood, to wander.
The other night, my roommate and I were enjoying the smokefree atmosphere of Mickey's along with a beer (or two, or three*) when a man in his 40's walked in. If you don't know Mickey's, it's the bar where someone will be arguing about the genius of alt-country, you can hear T. Rex and Johhny Cash on the juke box, and I'm at the upper end of the age range. A 40+ person is noticable. He had a supercuts hair cut, wore a Three Stooges shirt that bulged around his middle, and, well, was a misfit, at least for the location. He order a beer, sat down at the rail along the outside wall, watched the tv in the corner, and shook his leg feverously. He talked to no one, looked at no one, and was in his own world.
Now I'm working on a back story for him. I figure he's divoriced, has a 17 year-old son named Ted, works in administration for the school system, and owns his own house. Now I'm not sure why he's out for a beer. I need help on that one. Any ideas?
Oh, I also cracked a rib when I flipped off my bike a couple weeks ago and it hurts when I sneeze.
*This smoking ban in Madison is turning out to be bad for my health.
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Time to get nostalgic about a movie I saw eighteen years ago and was about a time seventeen years earlier. My college roommates can verify...
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After the post below and after finding Dave's post, I created my South Park persona after a bike ride. I think it's fitting.
...I think all his life he has been waiting for the things to fall into place for him.
ReplyDeleteEver since he was a child, he had a feelig of an emptyness inside, but he always thought something would make it better in the end.
First he thougth life would be complete when he found a girl he loved. Then he thougth it would get better when he gott married... then when he would get a house....kids....a good job.
But when he had all of that, in the end, he was still sitting with an empty feeling inside and a hollow woid in his chest, and now ther were no more excuses...
Nothig more to run after, he had reached the top point - that either would drag him down, or forze him to pull himself up.
So everythig fell apart as he wasnt up for working with the things that was in front of him, he was just used to reaching out after not feeling empty.
And now he just sees his son rarely... his wife felt betrayed by him, sice he just faded out, and they hardly ever talk.
Now he has fallen down and given in to his own inner emptyness, without tryng to reflect about where it came from or how he can work with it....
Poor guy
I feel bad for him
:)
Aasa
I often think like that when I see people. I have an overdeveloped sense of sympathy, for some reason.
ReplyDeleteHe could have had a long day and just needed a beer by himself. He could be the happiest guy in the world.
Who knows. Not me.
No one wearing a three stooges T-shirt that he purchased for $3 on Hollywood Blvd. is the happiest man alive.
ReplyDeleteHe’s Moe Howard’s illegitimate son and years of legal battles have rendered him broke and tired. He has no interest in claiming his share of the Three Stooges fortune - vast though it is. Rather, he simply wants to be recognized by his father’s family. If you had mentioned his shirt, he would have spoken at great length and with awe-inspiring sentimentality about his father’s work. How it was Moe, not Curly who developed the classic line, “Nyuk nyuk nyuk.” About how Bruce Lee stole and adapted the two-finger eye poke and never gave Moe his due credit. The list goes on. His existence is a solitary one, but his cause is noble and history may yet redeem him.
ReplyDeleteAlso, he’s a secret FBI agent and he’s been following you for two weeks.