Garage Sales and Sandra Bernhard

[catelin]

I am a sucker for broken glass, books with missing pages, jigsaw puzzles, square pegs...anything that is odd, discarded, or doesn't quite fit in. As a kid, I wanted the misfit toys from the old Rudolph Christmas special that played on the television every year.

"You must be a fixer," someone once told me. I never thought about it. I suppose I am in many ways. I do fix things. I sew old dresses back together. I refinish old furniture. I rescue kittens. I collect junk of all sorts. I tried fixing people for a while. I figured out pretty quickly what a useless endeavor that was and went back to my junk collecting lickety-split.

I still am fascinated, though, by faces that aren't perfect...by people who don't camouflage their flaws. It's why I'll take Sandra Bernhard over Madonna any day of the week. It's why I salivate every time I see that scar on Joaquin Phoenix's lip. It's why Max Perlich's beady little eyes make me swoon. My view of the outside world is always made a bit more interesting by cracks in the windowpane. All the world, the best of it anyway, is a big rummage sale. I wonder what wonderful flea market finds we would all be?

Comments

[nandan.livejournal.com]

And here's my confession. I hate junk. My mother is an unredeemed clutter-a-holic and has turned her entire house into a slum; my husband has never met a record album or a CD he didn't have to keep; my mom, sister, and husband are incapable of getting rid of pennies and foreign coinage; and I spend my entire life trying to "clear surfaces" (did you ever see that episode of Ab Fab?) I can't repair anything, and everytime I try to paint something, sew something, or fix something it seems like 1 step forward, 3 steps back. I never finished the sewing class I took, and recently threw out my half finished project of a black velvet skirt.

On the rare occasions that I do it (I can think of one, remaking some shelves for my babies room, and it took two weeks!) there is immense satisifaction. I've had to give up my attachment to many of my broken and well worn books because they were taking over my house.

So...unlyrically, let me select only a few baubles and milk jars, and arrange my dad's old typewriter on my one display shelf, and let the rest be clean, new and above all, disposable!

Oh, and my new rule is no presents unless I either pick them out myself, or unless they are consumable (flowers, fruit, underwear, etc.)

Signed,
Uncreatively yours,

Short of Space in New York City

Re:

[catelin.livejournal.com]

Although I am a terrible clutterer, I do know that longing for clean, spare spaces. I've actually gotten better about it as I get older...but I still can't resist the occasional bits and bobs that I run across. My confession is that the only junk I can stand is my own...anyone else's will set me fuming for days. ; )

Re:

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Heh! I'll bet your house is pretty.