policy, politics, poetry, and pop culture

Lunch With Long Forgotten Friends

January 13, 2012 1:26 pm

They eat chicken Caeser salads and complain of their (tall dark and poor, short blond and rich) boyfriend’s habits of waiting up for them at night, and leaving the toilet seat up. They talk of local politics, trips to the Caribbean, and of learning Italian. Anticipating with equal eagerness messages from the office or lover, they never put down their Smartphones.Stocking up on lipstick while worrying about gas mileage, rogues, and finances, they seem content.

Having (once again) misplaced my phone, my hands are free to eat a seafood salad consisting of squid and something  hidden behind  seaweed. My trips are to Berlin, Johannesburg, Miami and Argentina. Progressively interpreted my boyfriends are non-existent OR spread across the globe, dark and sweet or pale and bright. They don’t wait for me, nor I for them. In an effort to prevent dry flight lips, and to prevent the pulmonary embolus that result from the insidious blood clots formed from the stagnant extremity of long flights, I hoard chap-stick and aspirin. I worry about the refugee and the asylum seeker.

I yawn.

I am bowed, crooked, fitting in to this world only on a slant.

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Posted in Cooper Culture

34 Thoughts on “Lunch With Long Forgotten Friends”

  1. KarieNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 1:52 pm said:

    I feel like this a lot. I usually feel guilt after feeling that way, though. I guess I feel that it’s not fair for me to give people crap because they haven’t experienced as much in life as I have. Their fears, worries, ways in general are just different than mine. Even if theirs seem petty and unappreciative sometimes. Still, it doesn’t prevent me from ultimately feeling like I want to yawn (often) around these people. I do my best to pretend to be interested, then bitch about it in comments like I am right now. :}

  2. gNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 2:09 pm said:

    Times like that make me feel relieved more than anything else.
    g recently posted..The MoveMy Profile

  3. johnNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 2:15 pm said:

    You can never go back. We’ve all tried it and it rarely works.
    john recently posted..In Case You Missed ItMy Profile

  4. benNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 2:49 pm said:

    I feel like I have to slant myself when I drink the vanilla flavor coffee that comes in the variety packs of Keurig coffee I receive as gifts. I’m aware it’s not the same, but I avoid long forgotten friends at all costs. They are forgotten for a reason.
    ben recently posted..Happy New YearMy Profile

  5. Sterling CamdenNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 3:51 pm said:

    I like how you fit. The world needs reshaping.
    Sterling Camden recently posted..ProcrastinationMy Profile

  6. gillianNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 3:57 pm said:

    “and progressively interpreted my boyfriends are either non-existent or spread across the globe, dark and sweet or pale and bright”how sweet it is…what are you complaining about…;)
    gillian recently posted..Researchers Say 3 Embryos Is Too Many For IVFMy Profile

  7. piaNo Gravatar on January 13, 2012 at 8:05 pm said:

    Love Cooper culture. Especially this one :)
    pia recently posted..Psychology TodayMy Profile

  8. BennetNo Gravatar on January 14, 2012 at 7:07 am said:

    DRY CRACKED LIPS!?! Why do you have to be so mature all the time? Why not stop wax coating your lips and instead peel, wad, and flick at fellow passengers? You’d be a dead lip skin hit-woman on worldwide scale.
    I’m no expert at friends or dating (see above for example), but I tend to go on the basis that I like all women as default, and continue efforts in finding those whose crap I can best tolerate.
    So far NONE!
    This week I managed to create my own digital 3d vagina based on memory alone. GOD I NEED A WOMAN! I had to do it for a comic, and the 3D online culture’s on sale creations look terrible because I assume they haven’t seen many. I felt so stupid doing it, but I’m so proud & humiliated with myself I for succeeding.
    Bennet recently posted..Politics, Polidicks, Pile Of DicksMy Profile

  10. JasonNo Gravatar on January 14, 2012 at 2:39 pm said:

    Well you have advanced to Adulthood 499 – Travel & World Concerns, whereas, your forgotten friends are stuck in Adultish 201 – Why does my BF annoy, and do these jeans make me look fat? And where’s my lipstick?

    But hey, your Cooper – you’ll enjoy the rides you take and the people you befriend in those adventures.

    My escape to Purdue U has eerie qualities to the last time. But I expected it – so not so bothersome. Just a fact of ‘college’ life at midlife.

    My feed is jacked so, this is a more pertinent post – http://deepcenterfield.blogspot.com/2011/12/china-bubble-burst-coming-near-you-in.html turning this into a English 106 paper. Yeah.
    Jason recently posted..An Opportunity Cost: What We Treasure Depends On Our GoalsMy Profile

  11. DougNo Gravatar on January 15, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:

    Aslant suits you fine.

  12. BoneNo Gravatar on January 16, 2012 at 8:00 am said:

    I guess that’s better than Long Lunch With Forgotten Friends?

    Only you could describe lunch so, Miss Cooper. May you have chap-free travels, and that is a wish which I have never wished to anyone until now.

  13. EsotericWombatNo Gravatar on January 17, 2012 at 1:45 am said:

    I sort of cherish meetings with people from past lives. There are disappointments, but every once in a while something special happens and I discover that they’d fit just as well into my present life. Sometimes in ways that I wouldn’t have expected.

    And then there are the ones like this where you realize just how excellent you are in comparison.
    EsotericWombat recently posted..On DreamsMy Profile

  14. PeterNo Gravatar on January 17, 2012 at 10:33 am said:

    I love when I stumble across perfectly-worded posts.
    Peter recently posted..how to treat a manMy Profile

  15. ChrisNo Gravatar on January 17, 2012 at 1:50 pm said:

    I have no idea what you just said.
    Chris recently posted..Rand Paul Sends Money Back.My Profile

  16. K. SyrahNo Gravatar on January 17, 2012 at 7:52 pm said:

    This is how it feels to come back from deployment (as long as your deployment is a more humanitarian one).
    K. Syrah recently posted..Afghanistan: No one should be judged by the sins of their fathersMy Profile

  17. RichNo Gravatar on January 22, 2012 at 11:53 am said:

    I had the good fortune to sit next to a German paralympic silver medalist basketball player on a recent flight to Munich from Chicago. She was delightful company. I suspect you would be too Cooper. I enjoyed this post, you have a way with words…

  18. cooperNo Gravatar on January 22, 2012 at 8:11 pm said:

    As much as I disparage long flights, there is much to be said for them. One day I may say it.
    cooper recently posted..Lunch With Long Forgotten FriendsMy Profile

  19. billy flynnNo Gravatar on January 29, 2012 at 12:33 pm said:

    Cooper,

    As always, an arrow straight to the point! It is the bowed and crooked who make this world a worthwhile place!

    -Billy