The first thing I noticed was the Expedition's California plate with a heart where the first letter should be, followed by "4 RLS." "Whatever," I thought. I always try to figure out vanity plates, even though I think they're kind of stupid. Centered in the rear window with geometric precision was an Obama bumper sticker with a peace sign in the O and the remaining letters in a hippy-dippy font and color scheme. To the left of this, a John Mayer sticker, placed in the left corner of the rear window so that it called to mind the Fibonacci spiral. The right of the Expedition's rear window was lettered with the words "Rick Springfield," again very thoughtfully placed. I glanced past the peace symbol covering the trailer hitch to the license plate frame, which read, "Jessie's girl made a BIG mistake!" This is not the sort of thing you see every day.
My eyes wandered onto the license plate again: "(heart) 4 RLS." Obviously, Rick Springfield's middle name begins with the letter "L." Also obviously, the middle-aged dude driving the Expedition is obsessed with a pop-culture icon I thought had fallen off the face of the planet, (how wrong I was; according to Wikipedia, Mr. Springfield reprised his early 80's General Hospital role from 2005 to 2007). The question foremost in my mind whilst contemplating all of this was, "So, is a heart a valid character on a California vanity plate?"
Obsession is such a strange thing. I've been obsessed with many things in my lifetime. Not in a creepy stalker sort of way, just in a thinking-about-X-is-more-fun-than-thinking-about-other-things sort of way. When I was little, I was totally obsessed with Atreyu from "The Neverending Story," then Sean Astin in "The Goonies." When I was a little older I moved on to the film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (I still imagine Alan Rickman's voice when I read an evil character in a novel; he is the perfect Professor Snape), then "Terminator 2," which I watched every single Saturday for a whole year after it came out on video. I was infatuated with Edward Furlong as the young John Connor, I think primarily because he resembled my sixth grade boyfriend:
Little did I know EF would turn into some sort of giant loser.
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1 comment:
Hear! Hear! What a GIANT disapointment that was. I had a crush on him, too. WTF happened?
I also had a massive crush on Brad Renfro...so too bad about his death. Keith's friend Derek met with BR to potentially cast him in a film, and said he was sad and sweet, and low, now he's dead.
Good looking? Check. Drug habit? Check. Reckless? Check. Cliche? Yep.
Good stuff, Jenny. It was *very* distracting, in all the best ways. Maybe the next one will be relaxing.
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