Encounters!
People! Carbon based life forms going from point A to point B during a life span of approximately 71.4 years. A fascinating specimen that has been probe worthy for aliens for decades (not a scientific fact).
Even though the very thought of an alien existence scares the living crap out of me, we do share a common interest - ethnology!
Being nosy and all up peoples personal space is insanely fun and for an actor it is a gold mine when it comes to creating a fictional creature to dress in for the stage.
I find strangers spellbinding and a random weirdo approaching me from time to time (within a safe environment) has led to some amazing stories that I am going to share with you now.
Los Angeles airport, 2012. I was traveling alone on my way back to Sweden and had sat down to grab some lunch before take off. While scouting the surrounding area for something to look at in lack of a tv, this Japanese, Men in Black suited, business man sits down next to me.
There were no one else around and therefor nothing fun to look at so I decided to talk to the man. After having exchanged the basic information about one another we got into talking about the important things in life - horror movies!
The major topic was - What scares people from different cultures around the world?
Without a posteriori knowledge, I made a vague presumption that the occult was THE scare factor in Sweden - ghosts, poltergeists, non-of-this-world kind of things (at least those are my things).
My temporary airport friend, lets call him Henry, in return, told me that the main thing in the Japanese horror genre was - hair!
It is my honest to Santa truth... and when you think about it, The Ring and The Grudge to name a few are both focused a lot around just this very body part. It is growing out of walls and ceilings and the creepy crawling "thing" on the floor always has a tapestry of keratin covering the face.
To explain this fascination further Henry explained to me that in Japan (don´t know if it is limited to just this country but...) when talking to each other, they don´t look into the other persons eyes but on their hairline.
I mean come on! What text book has ever taught me something like that???!!! (Non).
With this "short" introduction I can now move on to tell you about some encounters I have done so far in my capital D.
Encounter 1:
Taxi driver nr. 1.
I took a cab the other day and my driver, this super sweet and chatty, elderly man, had the most broad Dublin accent I have ever heard in my life... and he had no front teeth! It was a struggling 25 min I can tell you that.
We arrive at my house and I hand him my card and the man does not accept cards!
I am sitting there speechless and embarrassed thinking I have to take an extra ride with him to the nearest ATM.
Now, what this incredible man does is to stop the meter, he helps me carry in my bags into the house and then gives me a free ride to my local grocery store, I hand him the money and then he offers to drive me back home again.
Encounter 2:
Dan the Pigeon man and the coolest person so far!
I met him in St. Stephen´s Green park and since I am a major bird fan (having raised budgies and finches myself) I walked up to him and we started talking. He gave me seeds in both my hands and man was I popular! While my newly made oviparous friends literally feasted on me, Dan, or Daniel, told me that he is working as a geneticist and that he, in his spare time, volunteers at homeless shelters and taking care of the birds, Friday-Sunday.
(If you have seen Home Alone maybe you can remember the bird lady in the park that gets a pair of turtle doves from Kevin during Christmas time... I think maybe that might be me and Dan this year!)
Encounter 3:
Taxi driver nr. 2.
I was on my way home alone from a night out on the town while my friend was somewhere on the loose. It was 5 am in the morning and my, once again, super sweet driver had just started his shift.
He asked me how I was doing and I handed him the words - I am starving!
Like a very big and hairy grandma the driver turned to me and said - "We can´t have that. We need to get you some food!"
So there we were, on the look out for a place that serves warm food 5.08 in the morning... and we found it.
I told the man I was going to be quick, but he just looked at me, stopped the meter, turned the engine off and went inside with me and placed an order for himself.
I don´t know what kind of taxi driver schools they have over here but they sure do deliver them alright.
Encounter 4:
My, to put it nicely, paranoid neighbour.
I am on my way to work, waiting for the bus listening to Eminem to help me curse another early morning, when I, in my periphery see a man wheeling himself towards me in his chair using only his foot.
He parks next to me and I give him a friendly smile. That was apparently an invite from my side and his life story soon mine to engage in.
His name was James, not high on life I can tell you that, but something else and smoked like a chimney. His second sentence to me was that his girlfriend robs his pockets and cheats on him with all his cousins - to prove a point! His navy friend had stabbed him in the back with a knife and to top it off - James is up for death row for a murder he did not commit.
I am sitting there, cursing the Dublin bus I know once again will not show up to save me from this and in order to look busy, so he would stop talking, I started playing with my phone. Bad idea!
Now I had turned into a spy recording his story for the government.
I kindly assured him that was not my occupation and with that kind smile of mine, I all of a sudden transformed into Anna, his former physiotherapist whose job was, to quote him: "to help him help himself".
It took me an additional 10 min and being two other helpful physiotherapists before I managed to get a taxi away from there.
Encounters that early in the morning is not my thing, I realise that now, but compared to what my neighbour is going through on a daily basis, whether imaginary or not... I am less of a complainer about my own life now, that is for sure. I might just need to kevlar coat my personal space bubble some more for those high maintenance story tellers, especially without coffee or alcohol in my system.
But over all, it is because of encounters like these I get the chance to be a better person. The micro perspective of things. This world is made up of people, all around you! People with stories that are the very foundation of actions and reactions... if you just only listen to them.
For me, these kind of stories broadens my mind, demolishes prejudice and stereotypes and lets me take part of amazing stories that money can´t buy, that aren´t fictional and can be the reason for MY butterfly effect on the world around me.
Ta, taaa!
Even though the very thought of an alien existence scares the living crap out of me, we do share a common interest - ethnology!
Being nosy and all up peoples personal space is insanely fun and for an actor it is a gold mine when it comes to creating a fictional creature to dress in for the stage.
I find strangers spellbinding and a random weirdo approaching me from time to time (within a safe environment) has led to some amazing stories that I am going to share with you now.
Los Angeles airport, 2012. I was traveling alone on my way back to Sweden and had sat down to grab some lunch before take off. While scouting the surrounding area for something to look at in lack of a tv, this Japanese, Men in Black suited, business man sits down next to me.
There were no one else around and therefor nothing fun to look at so I decided to talk to the man. After having exchanged the basic information about one another we got into talking about the important things in life - horror movies!
The major topic was - What scares people from different cultures around the world?
Without a posteriori knowledge, I made a vague presumption that the occult was THE scare factor in Sweden - ghosts, poltergeists, non-of-this-world kind of things (at least those are my things).
My temporary airport friend, lets call him Henry, in return, told me that the main thing in the Japanese horror genre was - hair!
It is my honest to Santa truth... and when you think about it, The Ring and The Grudge to name a few are both focused a lot around just this very body part. It is growing out of walls and ceilings and the creepy crawling "thing" on the floor always has a tapestry of keratin covering the face.
To explain this fascination further Henry explained to me that in Japan (don´t know if it is limited to just this country but...) when talking to each other, they don´t look into the other persons eyes but on their hairline.
I mean come on! What text book has ever taught me something like that???!!! (Non).
With this "short" introduction I can now move on to tell you about some encounters I have done so far in my capital D.
Taxi driver nr. 1.
I took a cab the other day and my driver, this super sweet and chatty, elderly man, had the most broad Dublin accent I have ever heard in my life... and he had no front teeth! It was a struggling 25 min I can tell you that.
We arrive at my house and I hand him my card and the man does not accept cards!
I am sitting there speechless and embarrassed thinking I have to take an extra ride with him to the nearest ATM.
Now, what this incredible man does is to stop the meter, he helps me carry in my bags into the house and then gives me a free ride to my local grocery store, I hand him the money and then he offers to drive me back home again.
Encounter 2:
Dan the Pigeon man and the coolest person so far!
I met him in St. Stephen´s Green park and since I am a major bird fan (having raised budgies and finches myself) I walked up to him and we started talking. He gave me seeds in both my hands and man was I popular! While my newly made oviparous friends literally feasted on me, Dan, or Daniel, told me that he is working as a geneticist and that he, in his spare time, volunteers at homeless shelters and taking care of the birds, Friday-Sunday.
(If you have seen Home Alone maybe you can remember the bird lady in the park that gets a pair of turtle doves from Kevin during Christmas time... I think maybe that might be me and Dan this year!)
Encounter 3:
Taxi driver nr. 2.
I was on my way home alone from a night out on the town while my friend was somewhere on the loose. It was 5 am in the morning and my, once again, super sweet driver had just started his shift.
He asked me how I was doing and I handed him the words - I am starving!
Like a very big and hairy grandma the driver turned to me and said - "We can´t have that. We need to get you some food!"
So there we were, on the look out for a place that serves warm food 5.08 in the morning... and we found it.
I told the man I was going to be quick, but he just looked at me, stopped the meter, turned the engine off and went inside with me and placed an order for himself.
I don´t know what kind of taxi driver schools they have over here but they sure do deliver them alright.
Encounter 4:
My, to put it nicely, paranoid neighbour.
I am on my way to work, waiting for the bus listening to Eminem to help me curse another early morning, when I, in my periphery see a man wheeling himself towards me in his chair using only his foot.
He parks next to me and I give him a friendly smile. That was apparently an invite from my side and his life story soon mine to engage in.
His name was James, not high on life I can tell you that, but something else and smoked like a chimney. His second sentence to me was that his girlfriend robs his pockets and cheats on him with all his cousins - to prove a point! His navy friend had stabbed him in the back with a knife and to top it off - James is up for death row for a murder he did not commit.
I am sitting there, cursing the Dublin bus I know once again will not show up to save me from this and in order to look busy, so he would stop talking, I started playing with my phone. Bad idea!
Now I had turned into a spy recording his story for the government.
I kindly assured him that was not my occupation and with that kind smile of mine, I all of a sudden transformed into Anna, his former physiotherapist whose job was, to quote him: "to help him help himself".
It took me an additional 10 min and being two other helpful physiotherapists before I managed to get a taxi away from there.
Encounters that early in the morning is not my thing, I realise that now, but compared to what my neighbour is going through on a daily basis, whether imaginary or not... I am less of a complainer about my own life now, that is for sure. I might just need to kevlar coat my personal space bubble some more for those high maintenance story tellers, especially without coffee or alcohol in my system.
But over all, it is because of encounters like these I get the chance to be a better person. The micro perspective of things. This world is made up of people, all around you! People with stories that are the very foundation of actions and reactions... if you just only listen to them.
For me, these kind of stories broadens my mind, demolishes prejudice and stereotypes and lets me take part of amazing stories that money can´t buy, that aren´t fictional and can be the reason for MY butterfly effect on the world around me.
Ta, taaa!
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