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I [heart] Davids · Small World

Small World

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Small world memories

June 19, 2007 in Music, Small World by JeniQ | 7 comments

Another “small world” story.
I knew Dan Villanueva in college. He was in a band called Dorian Gray. I fell in love with their Morrissey-influenced music, and had a little crush on Dan, who was the cute lead singer. They even played a gig at my Grandmother’s house one summer!
I found Dan on-line this winter, and wrote him this letter. I never got a response, but it’s such a sentimental story, I share it with you now.

Hi Dan-Dan!

A funny thing happened to me the other day. I was listening to The Postal Service “Give Up” and for some reason, I had a flashback memory of Dorian Gray. Something about the music I was listening to jiggled a memory that was 13 years old, and make me want to pop in my Dorian Gray tape to live in the past. I got to work a few minutes later and opened my email. I found this funny little message that slipped past the spam filter. When I saw that, I thought it must be a sign. Then I found your site and wow, you’re still working with Keith on Astropop3! I am so proud of you! I listened to some of the clips and it sounds like you’ve been true to your influences. And your own label, how cool is that? When I found your website, I looked through my boxes in the attic and found a stack of your letters. I have scanned a few pictures I found. I thought you’d get a kick out of them. [Here’s a clipping from the newspaper and a photo of DG playing on Granma’s back porch.] I also found a photo of my college dorm room. You can see the Dorian Gray poster hanging proudly in my room. I wonder where that poster went? I hope you are doing well. You look good, more grown-up than the skinny kid I knew. 🙂 I, too, have grown up! You can check me at out at my silly little blog: jeniq.blogspot.com. It’s pretty random stuff. I’ll attach a recent picture, too. It’s nice to find you are alive and well. I hope you’re happy.

Jeni

Funny Story

June 11, 2007 in Alcohol, Kerri, Small World, While Driving by JeniQ | No comments

Here’s one from the Small World department. Last night Kerri called me up to go grab a beer and some dinner. We debated our choices. Lynnwood was out because they were rude to Ker. O’Malley’s was out because it’s just too smoky. Dos Taquitos was closed. And Ben’s Place was out because 1) Kerri went there on Saturday and 2) there is a total tool of a waiter who works there. He is so annoying that I decided we should just avoid the place. We ended up going to Rudino’s Rooftop.

We walked out onto the patio and it was quite crowded. As we milled, looking for a seat, two guys sitting at a large table offered us a seat at the table. There weren’t a lot of options so we sat down…with the waiter from Ben’s Place. Ha! Luckily, he left after another beer. Obnoxious and drunk, what a lovely combination.

Towards the end of the night, we ended up talking with this 7 foot tall guy. His nickname is, not surprisingly, Lurch. I can’t believe I didn’t have my camera. His license plate is a Hurricane’s vanity plate, so it has the little Hurricanes symbol on the left. On the right, it says 1LUR and the two small characters that designate the tag type are CH. Ha! How clever. If you don’t quite get it, you will the next time you see a Carolina Hurricanes vanity plate.

OMG – Ed Beals commented on my blog!

April 13, 2007 in Celebs, Media, Small World by JeniQ | 2 comments

Wow! Ed Beals commented on my blog. I haven’t been this excited since Simon Prebble didn’t comment on my blog!

Don’t know who Ed Beals is? You should!

I fell in love with Ed, or more accurately, with Plickey + Muto, about 6 years ago. I discovered the Plickey + Muto videos killing time when I worked at Microsoft. I laughed, I cried; I was definitely in love. Muto is just so sweet. He’s loyal and sensitive. When he sighs, I just about lose it – I want to reach out and pet him, offer him comfort. Not bad for a pair of antique surgical scissors.

My friend Adam got me the boxer shorts off CafePress and I made a CD with the SWF files I downloaded off the web. I made one copy for me and one for my friend Adam. Ed, I hope you don’t mind! I just needed to be able to watch the videos whenever I wanted. [Speaking of, the links from your page don’t actually seem to link to the vids, or I’m doing something wrong.]
And here’s our own Plickey and Muto. They’ve been in the family for about as long. That’s Plickey on the left.

A Mystery, Read by Simon Prebble?

April 12, 2007 in Simon Prebble, Small World by JeniQ | 5 comments

So, this is weird and strange and all coinkydental.

On March 18th, I posted a blog about Simon Prebble. I attempted to find contact information online, but was not successful. He has no home page, and he’s not obviously reachable through any of the audio book companies that he’s worked for. I was sad, because I wanted to say Hello.

Then I had a genius idea – I had all his old letters, so I could try sending a card to his old address. Yes, the address is over 10 years old, but heck, you never know, do you? So I wrote out a nice card and placed it in the mail on March 27th, a Tuesday.

I kept expecting it to be returned in the mail, but it had not been returned by Friday so I was getting hopeful. Then, on Monday, April 2nd, I got an anonymous post on my blog that just said

Newton’s Cradle…it’s true

I was ecstatic!! He got my card! He followed the link I included! He answered my Wikiality question! Sure, it was an anonymous post, but the timing, the answered question: it was obviously him.

You might imagine my disappointment/confusion/puzzlement then, when on April 4th I received my letter, returned in the mail.
Who was that mystery poster?

Saturday Birthday Beers

April 1, 2007 in Alcohol, Small World by JeniQ | No comments

I went to Ele’s for beers on Saturday afternoon after I took a 2.3 mile powerwalk with Tyra.

It was Will’s birthday and his father William’s birthday. William and his wife Joyce knew me when I was a little kid, living in Independence, Virginia. You may remember Will and I figuring out our shared past from this post.

This was my chance to re-meet William and Joyce. Of course, I don’t remember them at all, my memory is so bad. I’m so glad I got to see them and meet them, they’re such sweet people.

Here’s us at Will and Ele’s.
Happy Birthday Will and William!

Caribou Quiz: Who’s the most famous person you know?

March 18, 2007 in Simon Prebble, Small World by JeniQ | 1 comment

This was the trivia question at Caribou on Thursday. Pretty sweet – $0.10 off your total if you can name the most famous person you’ve ever met. I let the carpooler answer this one because I couldn’t think fast on my feet. She said she met Alexander Haig, I think. Who is the most famous person I’ve ever met? It was funny, there was one name that kept running through my mind: Simon Prebble.

It was 1995, I think. I was flying to Michigan to visit Moe (David Moliterno), a boy I fell in love with by writing letters back and forth while he was stationed in Japan on the USS Independence. I had brought Stranger Music to read on the plane because I was a pretentious English major and I didn’t want to talk to any dunces. The guy next to me raised his eyebrows in impressed, highbrow surprise at my choice. He was Simon Prebble. We talked, I got his card when we landed, and we ended up corresponding for a brief time while I was at college. He was a lovely guy, from what I remember.

I just Googled him this morning. I was pleased to see that he’s really made a name for himself with audiobooks – I love audiobooks! I was also astonished to learn that he’s the inventor of Newton’s Cradle. Is that really true, or is it some crappy Wikipedia fact?

Here’s the head shot he sent me in 1995 and the New Year’s card he sent me in 1996. He was so sweet!

I’m not sure if Simon is the most famous person I know or not. Memory escapes me, and I did have that date with David Bowie….

Simon, I’m so happy to hear you’re doing well, and married in 2003, congratulations! I wish you all the best!

Friday Night out at the Mellow Mushroom

February 18, 2007 in Independence, Small World by JeniQ | 3 comments

Dave and I met Ele and Will for dinner on Friday night after work at the Mellow Mushroom downtown. We had a really nice time. They are very good people who are fun yet grown-up at the same time.

In a very freaky twist of fate, it turns out that Will grew up in Independence, VA and his family remembers me and my family from the time we lived there! How freaky is that?! We lived there only for a few years but it was such an impressionable time in my life, it was the happiest place of the many places of my childhood. Interestingly enough, Will remembers it as a big of a magical place, too.

Will called his dad who remembered me and my family, and there was this funny little exchange where I said “Ask him if he knows Sylvia…” and Will said “Delaney” becuause he knew who I was talking about. It’s clearly such a small town. Gordy Miniclier was Will’s dentist when he was a kid. My dad made the sign outside of his office. Will and Ele always visit Ogle’s on their way out of town for a sandwich, and my dad made that sign, too.

I will have to post some childhood pictures of my time in Independence. Will and I are the same age so we probably knew each other around 1983/84.
Read more at Ele’s blog. She also links to recent pictures of Will’s family in Idependence.

It’s funny, the older I get the smaller I see how the world can be. When I lived in Texas, I worked with this girl named Lindsay for about 8 months before we realized that we were practically neighbors. Then when we started hanging out more, we had a totally freaky realization one night that Lindsay’s soon-to-be-husband Tim’s best friend was a guy I dated in college named Moe, and Tim remembered all the letters that Moe and I exchanged. Of course, since she was dating Tim at the time, she remembered hearing about them too! Small world indeed!