mon 04 feb 2008 08:36:28 — witte de withstraat
the hello lady
while in phoenix, i stayed at a lavish resort called "desert ridge" which included several big conference halls, catering, hotel rooms, pools, an artificial river and waterfalls, a golf course, four big restaurants, lots of palm trees planted in rows. and at one end there was a desert-botanical garden where one morning i went for a walk among varieties of yucca and cactus etc. growing out of the ground next to the cacti, there were little speakers playing smooth jazzy new age music.
on the second day i met the hello lady.
i was hurrying to meet my client at the top of the escalator at 14.45 so we could attend the general session together. as i rushed through the main lobby, a woman called out "hello, sir!" and i stopped in my tracks, thinking she urgently needed to tell me something, or i had done something wrong or wasn't dressed right or something.
"yes, hello?" i said.
"hello, welcome!" she said.
"welcome to you too!" i said.
we stared at each other for a moment. she was wearing a suit and some makeup and some cosmetic surgery to snug up her face. i blinked three or four times. then i said "okay now i'd better get going, or i'll be late." and i moved on, and it dawned on me that that lady's job was to stand in the lobby and randomly say hello to people.
a few days later, as i was checking out of the hotel, the lady at the desk asked me "how was your experience here?" and i told her "pretty freakish, man, it was like opulent or something, and big and shiny!"
so that was the closest i will probably ever have come to [a] the grand canyon or [b] paolo soleri's "arcosanti" site, both of which i wished i had time to visit.
saturday afternoon as my beloved and i parted ways on cambridge street in boston i went to grab her butt, but couldn't quite reach, so she swung her hips a bit to the right to help me out.
i think jk and marina are worried about the fact that i'm still in love with a girl who dumped me six years ago and lives on different continent.
pani is back from her trip to ireland and some canaries. last night with jk and marina and pani i went to "cafe 't stoplicht" on the corner. had a good time there. the regulars were playing cards and listening to nederlands populaire music. pani told me of her plan for a television culinary tour of eastern europe.