December 6, 2007
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Good Omens
Something really funny happened to me this afternoon. While walking down 8th, between 36th and 37th, a man bustled up to me and exuberantly asked for my autograph.
I laughed. “What for?”
“You’re in that show – that Broadway show.”
I gave him a quick glance, looking for signs of crazy. There were none. He was just a guy, genuinely confused. “Really. I’m not. Thanks, though!”
“What? You’re not? You look just like that one girl! Are you sure you’re not her?”
“Nope. Just on my way to a job interview.”
“You’re not in theater?”
I laughed again. “Nope. Are you?”
He shook his head. “Man, I couldda sworn…”
“Have a good day!” I called over my shoulder, smiling as I continued down the street.
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Have you ever experienced something that felt like a good omen? What was it?
::Random Tangent::
I just finished Haruki Murakami’s newest English translation, After Dark. Loved it. The book takes place over the course of a single night, from 11.55 pm – 6.55 am. I’ve only ever stayed up all night perhaps 3 times in my life: once dancing my heart out at a gay bar where my friend worked, once on New Years Eve playing surrealist parlor games with friends in LA, and once playing a never-ending game of Trivial Pursuit at a friends birthday party in Glasgow. While all three instances were completely unsuited to my regular schedule (I’ve always been more naturally suited to an early-ish bedtime, dreams, and waking before the sun to go running), I loved how time in those hours means something different than time in the day. Hours drip and drop; nothing is swift. After Dark reminded me of that, made me want to swim in it a bit. I have this idea in my head that if I stay awake tonight during the hours that the book takes place in, it will be lucky. If I fall asleep, it will be unlucky. Isn’t that weird?
Comments (3)
The book thing. If you have the will to do it and you want to feel a little lucky then why not? Plus the time element has got to be great for the imagination. It might be weird but I have done similar things.
Once when I was first married my husband told me he wasn’t taking me to meet his childhood friends in NY. He didn’t tell me why and fell asleep. I stayed awake trying to figure it out and thought if I watched the minutes pass that when he woke I would believe that it wasn’t because he was embarrassed of me. There was something in the sacrifice of it. But it didn’t turn out and when the alarm rang I was still sitting up crying next to that big lug. I watched seven blurry hours of minutes tick by that night.
It’s like when I contrive good luck it doesn’t show. But when an omen shows, now that tends to gleam. Harbingers and augeries are part of the human psyche and so far it doesn’t seem to matter what mood exists prior to the “sign.” It’s like the etymological root of auger, auspex. One who watches the flight of birds. If a body is brought to notice something in the movements of the world it bears meaning on some pretty deep levels. The Greeks thought so so much they would pardon or kill with such an omen. Coming away with a good feeling, imo, means very much what it feels like. Good things are coming. If that makes sense.
I get caught up in the animals. Good omens are deer and hawks and eagles and even chipmunks who notice me and do not run right away. If they maintain nonverbal communication for a bit, then it’s a sign that I am navigating the flow naturally and that’s a calming feeling and usually an accurate predictor of coming events.
Where you are the greatest animal to watch is human and one made communication with you. It’s as if he voiced an obvious thing to come even if it is not that specific thing. Good things, like bad are predictable to a degree. And everyone that breathes can do it even unconsciously. Perhaps he was very in touch with he flow and saw the future brightness for you and in you. Just awesome that.
Sorry for the ramble, I have been doing it all over the web tonight.
Oh yes, btw, I forgot part of the ryc: It is comforting to know that you and others also look around like that in movies. It takes the maudlin self-pity right out of it. Sweet!
While people have said I sort of resemble Jerry Seinfeld or John Travolta (both never both), I have only been mistaken for not-famous people. It’s a shame, because I could do a poofy autograph pretty well.
I am a very rational person who always tests out as scarily left-brained on all those personality tests. And I believe in good omens. They take different forms for different people, but you know that’s what they are when you experience them.
I sure do hope that the interview went well for you!