Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

TL:DR - I have no idea what just happened or how I should feel about it

So I’d been cleaning the house this morning, and since it’s nice outside I thought I’d treat myself and go buy lunch. Decided to stretch my legs while I was at it so I ended up having a walk and going into a Tim Hortons that I don’t usually pass by.

I’m making my order, and the girl behind the till does this little ‘take’. It’s a little reaction that I’ve got used to seeing people do when they realize I’m not Canadian. I give her the usual polite, slightly wane smile that forgoes the inevitable 'are you English?’ question that usually follows this reaction (to which my response is generally 'it was the teeth that gave it away wasn’t it?’ but that’s another matter).

She did not ask me if I was English. She looked rather pleased and quietly excited and asked if I could recite anything.

Naturally I was rather surprised by this. I think I blinked and looked rather unintelligent for a moment, but I looked around-  there was barely anyone in the place, and nobody in the line behind me- and I sort of thought to hell with it and nodded.

So I recited 'You are old Father William’ to a complete stranger in a coffee shop, all the while feeling uncommonly like Alice herself and wondering if all that cleaning I’d done this morning had just been another of those exhausting and frustrating dreams that you wake up from and find you have to do all the work again. In the mean time the girl’s work colleagues, supposedly similarly bored, came and stood and listened and I swear by this time my cheeks were the same colour as my hair.

I was considering the prospect of diving through the nearest window with some sincerity by the third verse, however, I am not a stranger to making an idiot of myself in public, and in for a penny in for a pound. I finished the whole poem and there was some giggling and muted (I supposed) mock applause from my small audience. She finally handed over my order and I paid, and then I asked why she had wanted me to recite.

It turned out that her grandmother had passed away not so very long ago, and she was English too. She used to recite poetry and prose by heart that she’d been taught in school, and this girl, this stranger behind the counter, had listened to that voice and loved those stories, but as much as she had tried to do the same she said she had never 'had the right accent’. When she told me that I said that it doesn’t matter what accent you use, the words are the same, but she just sort of shook her head and said 'no, they’re not.’

So I gave her a rather awkward sandwich-laden hug across the counter and said something embarrassed and supportive and she didn’t cry but I suspect she nearly did. I waved to her friends as I was leaving and I was suddenly aware that they hadn’t been joking when they’d clapped.

Anyway, I’m not quite sure what to make of all that, and I felt a bit dizzy walking home, but it’s a very nice sandwich.

btw sorry about the little deluge of London 2012 stuff I just

I think I was actually really anxious that they would be all stuffy and serious

and now that they’ve proven once again that the one thing we can still do right is make fun of ourselves

I’m just

really

relieved

I don’t think I knew how much that mattered to me but it did and yes sorry okay that’s why this is happening don’t worry I’ll stop

alwaysconcussed:

i don’t know how to not curse

i’ll mean to say, “ooh, this is pretty” and it will come out as THIS IS THE NICEST FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY WHOLE GODDAMN LIFE

it’s a problem

(via amuseoffirebane)

So this was my morning commute

YOU MEAN NOW AS IN RIGHT NOW NOW?

BUT WHAT IF YOU MEANT NOW AS IN THE NOW BEFORE I COULD OPEN PHOTOBOOTH?

WHAT IF YOU MEANT NOW AS IN WHEN YOU POSTED THAT QUESTION AND IT’S TOO LATE NOW AND WHAT IF I DIDN’T DO IT RIGHT BECAUSE RIGHT NOW FOR YOU WAS NOW BUT FOR ME IT WAS THEN AND WHAT IF THE WORLD IS GONNA END BECAUSE I DIDN’T DO IT AT THE RIGHT NOW BUT A DIFFERENT NOW?

OH GOD WHAT HAVE I WROUGHT.

Well, okay random anon, just because I’ve had the book on my mind a lot recently, I’ll confess to the film that scared me the most when I was a kid- the Wizard of Oz.

It wasn’t the flying monkeys that scared me, it wasn’t even the witch. It was the tornado with people cycling past. It was the field of poppies. It was the hourglass. It was the song in the Emerald City when they sing;

“We can make a dimple smile out of a frown.
Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown? Uh-huh!”

Those thoughts in particular terrified me: changing someone’s face like that, to be all perfect and happy and just so. I didn’t know why it scared me so much then but I have an idea now, and to this day I have an overwhelming fear of tornadoes and hurricanes, although I’ve never lived in a part of the world where they’re commonplace.

Not to say I disliked the movie. I mean, I was scared of Pinocchio too and I loved that film.

Okay, while I’ll admit the actual game play has a few issues that could do with some serious renovation *cough camera cough*…

I am loving Epic Mickey so far.

The whole run-down feel of it and the sheer number of references to the old cartoons is just amazing, not to mention the whole look of the game and the concept art you can unlock. The music is just off-kilter enough to be unsettling and the parody Disney World setting is a wonderful idea. It’s just so melancholy and tragically upbeat- there’s a delightfully horrifying sense of irony to it all, especially the fact that Mickey himself has forgotten all these character who made him as famous as he is today. I don’t know, maybe it’s being such a film and animation geek but I just adore that Disney had the balls to do this with their own history.

Oh, and dismembered animatronic Goofy?

Genius.