Wednesday 21 February 2007

memory brushes the same years...


It's funny how it's sometimes the littlest things that remind me.

I've just been watching "Heroes". Apparently it's the biggest show on TV; it's the TV show that has been trouncing "24" in the US ratings. It's a programme that has the distinctly "X-Men" premise that ordinary people with extra-ordinary powers are walking amongst us. On the evidence of the first episode, it seems to be pretty good. I like the characters: the invulnerable Texan cheerleader, the guy who can fly, the woman with the seemingly independent reflection, the junkie artist who can see the future.... but my favourite so far is the distinctly geeky Japanese guy who can bend time.

There was one moment though that stands apart for me: Milo Ventimiglia's character -- Peter Petrelli -- is standing on the edge of a 15 storey building, and at first all we can see of him are the edges of his sneakers hanging over the ledge as the camera pans up the side of the building. At that very moment I was reminded of my friend Justin. He used to wear trainers like that. We once got turned away from Rock City on a Saturday night because he was wearing trainers like that. He was outraged. Apparently you could get into anywhere in London with trainers like that. Justin looks a bit like Milo Ventimiglia too. It's the hair and that sulky pout. I've known Justin since I was 7 years old: we went to school together. For a brief fraction of a second, my mind flickered over fond memories of this old friend of mine. And then I remembered that Justin dropped me at the end of 2002. He severed all links with me in a single email and I've not heard from him since.

That was more than four years ago.

It still hurts.

It's just funny how sometimes it's the littlest things that remind me.

I hope he's well and that he's happy.

10 comments:

  1. I'm also watching Heroes out here in Oz, on Terrestrial TV, and its great!

    I also like the character of Hiro, the geeky/nerdy japanese chap who, after concentrating like mad, can do things like stop time. But he can do other things like teleport to New York, which begs the question: Is he altering time or altering space/time?

    We're a bit ahead of you in episodes and things are beginning to hot up now. I won't spoil it for you, but the obvious thing about Hiro's power has just happened!

    The whole show reminds me a bit of Ultra Boy - the character from Legion of Super Heroes, who had all of Superman's powers - but had the limitation that he could use only one of them at any time.

    The other thing is that I once had a dream that about Superheroes. I dreamt that I was the only non-superpowered person in a world full of "meta-humans".

    Bizarre indeed...

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  2. I got one of those "I'm dropping you as a friend" emails at the beginning of this year. Odd, arent' they?

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  3. I love the show and never miss it. There are a lot of great twists and turns, sometimes obvious and sometimes not. Hiro and Ando are great (and necessary) comic relief at times.

    Enjoy!

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  4. I've dumped many boys in my time and it's never nice, but the one time I "dumped" a female friend was the hardest thing ever.

    We'd been friends for almost ten years, but in that time circumstances had changed so much that we had very little in common any more. When we met we were both party girls. I grew out of that, but she grew into it with a vengeance. Her behaviour got to a point where I didn't feel comfortable going out with her (she had serious issues around alcohol, frequently got in fights and on two occasions spent the night in the cells) and we had a serious talk where I told her I could only meet her for lunch or in one of our homes instead of going out.

    That worked for a while, but soon it didn't. If we arranged to spend an evening watching a DVD with a bottle of wine, by 10pm she'd be desperate to go out and then we'd end up rowing. I found it really difficult.

    Almost exactly a year ago I ended contact with her. I know it was the right thing to do (for me at least) but it made me really sad and I still think about her now.

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  5. Losing a friend hurts like hell, whatever the reasons behind it.

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  6. Everybody loves the little Japanese guy in "Heroes." It's cos he's got a cute squishy face and can only speak English with a funny accent. It's a shocking indictment on society when you think about it, really. :)

    Did you know the actor who plays him has kept his day job as a consultant at Industrial Light and Magic? He's clearly no foo'...

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  7. I once "dumped" a female friend. Long story made short(ish): she and I became fast friends as neighbors and as wives of twin sons from different mothers (ie. we married the same type of guy) with kids about the same age.

    We then went through our divorces at the same time.

    Ultimately, things just sort of deteriorated, until one night when she gave me a complete dressing down - unwarranted and motivated by jealousy. It seems she thought, for some odd reason, that I was interested in her boyfriend (whom she'd been seeing while married, by the way).

    I was not at all interested in her boyfriend, but that really didn't matter, as she and I had bigger issues by this point. I felt she hadn't been a good friend to me, really, and that things had always been lopsided between us with me doing the lion's share of the caring.

    So, instead of responding to her drunken verbal abuse in the heat of the moment, I waited until the following day to email her with a scathing list of all the reasons we should no longer be friends.

    It was calculated and mean and really just awful, and I wish I could take it back, regardless of its truth or not.

    That is the only time I've ever ended a friendship on purpose. Our children, however, remain friends.

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  8. P.S. And so do our ex-husbands!

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  9. I enjoy Heroes...and love Hiro especially. I actually think he's kinda sexy...but I like geeky boys.

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  10. I'm watching Heroes right now, and have been a bit naughty by downloading episodes on bittorrent!! link here!

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