Daily affirmations of a word mercenary
I’ve been bummed lately. I’ve got myself a little overextended and March was rough and I have a million things to do and feel myself getting to that place where I’m so overwhelmed I just start feeding on the chaos rather than focus on anything and it’s not especially good. This morning I woke up at 5:00 am just chewing over my cud of project management (I know it’s bad when I wake up midthought about something — no rest for the wicked!) and decided fuck it. I’ll just get up, make some tea, and go to the 6:30 am NIA class to work some of this out.
Tea in hand, I sat down to check my email (a bad habit — diving right from sleep to web) and what’s this? Some random person sent me a message on MySpace? Another one?
No, not another one. Check out this bit of craziness.
Ok, I could be way off and come off like a total ass, but isn’t that what life is all about? If you happened to babysit me and my sister (the Watts’s) then I would be so excited to get a hold of you because you know what? I named my daughter Ariel, and somewhat of an influence of that was the fact that the two women I’ve met named Ariel (possibly one being you?) were such well-rounded, exciting and inspiring women that I felt the name could possibly carry such honors on to my daughter. So when I ask this next question I am either some random psycho you would happily admit to never having known, or you were somewhat of an influence on my early childhood…..did you ever sing the Sesame Street theme song during camp at Twin Lakes? Hmmmm….
Holy shit! Yes, that was me, I said. (Part of me can’t believe there was ever a time I was known for belting out the Sesame Street theme on stage at a summer camp, but then part of me realizes that yeah, of course I did that. In many ways, I’m still doing that. Just different stages, and different songs.) The internet, for all its random noise, delivers little gifts out of the ether sometimes.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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brittney
April 4th, 2006 at 7:46 am
I met the little girl I was named after this weekend. She’s 8. When her mother said, “Brittney Lynn, meet Brittney Lynn,” her face fell open in confusion.
It was great.
amy.leblanc
April 4th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
that is super cool, and WOW - people you babysat are now naming kids after you? that’s a fantastic legacy.
as for Myspace, the only reason i have an account is because everyone on the east side of the Rockies seems to use it (while Tribe is west-coast centric), and so i also occassionally get messages from old high school or college buddies, etcetera, through it and that’s always nice.
Tree
April 4th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I adore that story! Yay for the inter-freaking-net!!
yelahneb
April 4th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
now it is i who am typing
Maggie
April 5th, 2006 at 9:55 am
That’s so cool! Gotta love the Internet for moments like these.
Vera
April 5th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Yay for uplifting surprises that come out of nowhere!
Hänni
April 5th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Awesome story. For all the people to talk shit about MySpace, you gotta give it props for bringing folks back together, even if its through a computer screen.
daria
April 5th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
I was recently “found”. I’m not nearly as excited though. Mostly because I question the motive. The last person to find me was looking for free room & board along with a personal driver. Sigh. To respond or not to respond.
Dawn
April 6th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
OH, what a fun story! Yay! Wow, she named her daughter after you