Idiosycratic Life

Hi.

I miss Jo. A lot. (If you are reading this, Jo, hi!) This entry may be, like, an Ode to Jo. :) (Ha ha, like Ode to Joy, but with no "y?" Get it? Ahem, lame, sorry.)

I just saw "About a Boy," which is a very nice, poignant, witty British movie by Nick Hornby. Nick Hornby movies, with the exception of High Fidelity, which was set in New York for the movie version, generally have these things in common- they are poignant (you're laughing, but- oh- (sharp intake of breath)- that's kind of true and painful, in a way), they have very attractive leading men playing the main character (Colin Firth in Fever Pitch, me-OW!), and they are, for the most part, set in London, (in North London, as a matter of fact, often in the neighborhood where Jo's parents have their flat, where Jo and I lived fall of junior year).

So I just sat in a theater, and watched Hugh Grant strut, (all the while blinking and looking disorientedly cute, in that Hugh Grant way) past this church on the corner of Gillespie Road and this street whose name I can't remember that begins with an M.

I think it's Mondale Street? Mondale? Am I just thinking of Walter Mondale? (Why would I do that? Just randomly think of Walter Mondale, I mean?)

Anyway. I used to walk on that street from the Arsenal Tube stop, and you would turn left out of the station, go down Gillespie Road, turn right on the M Street that for arguments sake I'll call Mondale St, then a left again on Ambler Road. And we were halfway down the block on the left. I did this, sometimes three times a day, and I used to think, someday I will not remember the name of this street. And I don't! I do not. I remember the name of the church! I just watched Hugh Grant strut past it!!!

And I miss Jo. Oh my God. This movie was set, not actually IN Finsbury Park, but really, really close, in Islington, just one Tube stop away. (Although, in Fever Pitch, Colin Firth actually ran right past the front door of the building where we lived. Fever Pitch is the movie that Bridget Jones goes to interview Colin Firth about in Rome in the second book.)

Do you ever just go about your life, and you know, now that we've been to college and moved a bunch of places, all the people you love just aren't in one place anymore, and you're cool with that, and you get letters from them, and talk to them, but then something- a smell, a song, SOMETHING, practically brings you to your knees with missing them? I mean, Jo is not dead. I just called her voice mail and blathered on about Mondale Street and the characters in the movie who work for Amnesty International and how they were wearing these funky, knitted British sweaters like Jo's dad wears. (Jo's dad is a Very British Man- complete with unruly eyebrows and a stiff upper lip :). And Jo had a funky British cardigan that her mom wore in the 70s that she would wear around (this was RIGHT before cardigans with belts became really popular again. Don't ask me how Jo does that, predicting trends and whatnot,) and the people were wearing funky 70s style cardigans with belts!

And it was just a hundred little things in the movie that triggered these memories. For example, there were these street signs in the neighborhood where we lived that warned drivers about speed bumps, but they said, "Humps, next 135 meters." I used to think that was so funny, like maybe there would be people humping in the street? I don't know why, but it used to crack me up. Doesn't matter.

Anyway, I suppose my missing Jo is somewhat exascerbated by the fact that I have no friends here. Which isn't entirely true. I sort of made friends with the guys who work in the cafe in Barnes and Noble when I was in there earlier today. Don't know if we'll actually ever hang out, but we talked about it.

After I hung up with Jo's voice mail, I called Stephen, and as soon as he picked up, I burst into tears. Because of missing Jo. Which is so silly. I just talked her a little more than a week ago. There was a letter from her in my mailbox on the day I arrived. (I love that, don't you just love that? There was a letter from Alissa, too. Yay! Come to think of it, Becky Long sent me a letter that was in my mailbox the day I moved into my freshman dorm. That was really great, Bek, thanks :)

Anyway, That's my Ode to Jo. And for all you beloved friends and family and boyfriend out there who read this page, I could just as easily be hit with a major case of Missing You as well, and write an Ode to Any of You as well, at any moment. Stay tuned. :)