One thing you learn, she thought, perhaps the most valuable thing, is that it makes no sense to try to make sense of most people. Most people are just the flimsiest kind of weather. You cannot talk to them, you cannot explain yourself to them in any meaningful way. So many people like this! It is simply not worth it. Stupid or willfully stupid. If you could see the thought bubbles over their heads, they would be full of stars and exclamation marks: Be positive! Communication is the key! They might have no real idea about the subject you're talking about, no real understanding of it at all, but something they saw in a PowerPoint presentation (or a lifetime of PowerPoint presentations) and an online MBA compels them to speak. Mouth moving not listening. Never listening. In fact, they're just waiting for you to shut-up, waiting for your negative spells to float away, so they can say whatever they were going to say before you even came into the room. What they always say. Still, once you've identified these people, these people who make no sense and can't be reasoned with, because they've already got the two or three reasons they'll ever need -- then your life becomes easier. You just avoid them as much as possible. And when you do have to talk to them, you just agree to everything they say and then change the subject. Or lie. Lie and lie and lie. And then they become like clouds, and you yourself something out of time.
C is friends with the fashion stylist Rebekah Roy (left in both pics above) ... one of those people who personify calm and smiling success. On her blog she presents glamour in this very sincere, straightforward way ... whether she's taking pictures of people on the street , talking about stain removers , her favourite videos , or attending some glittering party . One minute she's ruminating on hair extensions, and in the next she reveals how she's been featured on the Vogue UK site. A real disarmer and charmer (and this without meeting her yet, although I feel like I know her because we both did our time in Winnipeg). * * * * * Coming home from Russia, we did many bad things. ; mixed media on canvas, 10 x 10 inches. In my own life, the glamour is wholly imagined. * * * * * witches, smoke ; mixed media on canvas, 10 x 10 inches. My second go at this one, and for some reason I'm painting a lot of smoke lately (note to self: tell C that I want to be cremated). *
This reminds me of a phone call I have to make this morning. I've got a lot of listening to do.
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