Kwayzaa On My Shoulder

My Dear Princess and Dear Friends,

I went to Shenée's house today. It is honestly LOVELY to visit Shenée. The welcome is always amazing. And this week she has been on her own, working from home and resting her back, so I got a big hug and an "Eeeeeee!!" noise and found she had put sweeties in bowls for me. 

She thanked me profusely for being her friend. She often does this. I find it extraordinary. I read a blog entry of mine from last year in which I mentioned how many friends she seemed to have and pondered that after the project she would probably move on. 

It is weird to think how wrong I got that. In me, I think she senses a kindred, silly spirit. That is certainly how I feel. 

And when we get together it feels almost like a doggy date but with people. We run around each other in circles, woofing and getting excited and wanting to play. When I got there she showed me her latest drawings and story ideas and I set up my projector. 

I had told her about Everything Everywhere All At Once and she was very keen to see it. And she LOVED the idea of watching it on the wall and making an experience out of it. 

See? We really ARE alike. 

The film. It is so hard to describe, so Shenée really had no idea what to expect. Here were some of her comments:

"That's horrible... that's just a horrible thing to say to her daughter..."
"Oh my god, he's so sweet and she doesn't even care."
"Look at him! He looks ridiculous! Look at him!"
"Are those... dildos? Oh my god it's a double-dildo. That's disgusting."
"This is AMAZING!"
"They must have been HIGH when they wrote this film!!!"
"This is SO F*CKING STUPID! But AMAZING!"
"Every outfit she wears is AMAZING! I want the teddy bears!"
"He isn't... is he? Up his BUTT?!? Oh my god!"

- and - 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!" (while clapping)

She is SUCH a great person to watch a movie with if you love the group experience and sharing the joy. Shenée ran the whole gamut of emotions and identified strongly with the daughter (Joy). She was in tears when Waymond delivered his speech about laundry. And she laughed so hard at the stones that she actually FARTED. All over me. 

"Sorry," she said. But I was delighted. This film is FART-WORTHY. 

The end of the film is a satisfying emotional climax that really seemed to mean a lot to Shenée. The thing is, this film deals with depression via possibly the bizarrest metaphor ever. I wondered how Shenée would handle it. But in fact, she loved that part too. "Oh my god it's ME," she told me. "That girl is ME. This is my LIFE." 

She was so excited about the movie that when Craig came home from work, she blurted out all her favourite bits. "There's this guy and he's trying to put a butt-plug up his ass and she's like BLOOP and there's these STONES and the husband said he wanted to do laundry and oh my god a raccoon who is like the puppetmaster and and and and..."

Poor Craig seemed dazed. 

"I can't believe you STARTED with the butt-plugs," I told her. 

So I had a great time on my doggy-date with Shenée. It is so gratifying to share a movie like this and I loved how much she loved it. I was also rewarded by having both Kepplar AND Kwayzaa sitting on my shoulders and my head, chirping happily. It was a nice feeling.

And now it is Friday evening. A curry has been ordered and Caro just bought a CAR! Transferred the money over 30 minutes ago and we are just awaiting delivery. It is the Toyota Yaris I told you about a few days ago. 

It really does feel like Everything Everywhere All At Once these days. Life is exciting and fun. And I cannot help but be happy with any day that includes Kwayzaa on my shoulder.

S.

p.s. The car has arrived! See extra.