Binyeke

I awoke this morning to the sound of (what I thought was) a bunch of dogs howling in pain in the distance. It erupted every few seconds and lasted for a few seconds and then subsided again. I was awakened at around 5:45am to this very noise. At first I tried to ignore it because my sleepy state was causing the hulabaloo to become part of my dream and I then forgot that it was actually happening. I remember it was 6:30am when I finally began paying attention to what it was, exactly, because it is unusual for a pack of dogs in THAT much agony to not be quieted by their master...I mean, we are in the city, and not the great outdoors or the backwoods. The breeze was chilly and my blood was not pumping yet, so I found my blanket and drew it over me, I closed my eyes, and I concentrated on that particular noise...I honed in and it became the only noise I was a aware I could hear. I finally realized that I was hearing clapping...and that the noise I thought was yowling, was really the sounds of distant encouragement from a group of people and that they were yelling, "Whoo hoo!! C'mon YEAH! WOOO!!!". I got up out of bed and stuck my head out the window to see if I could detect from which direction the sound was coming, but it was so high-pitched and distant that it echoed and bounced off of the brick walls, and made it impossible to track the direction of origin. By this time, I was ready for it to stop, so I turned on NPR....they were talking about something...something that I did not care to hear that early in the morning. So I turned it off. But the silence of my house was again disrupted by the whooping of those distant cheer-leaders...so I turned NPR back on. I suppose I did not think to turn on some of my own music. What I really wanted was peace and quiet, but that was unfortunately not on the agenda. Today is "MOVE-IN" day for both VANDY and BELMONT students...and I suppose they began to move in at 6am.
So I ate breakfast (quickly), packed my computer and headed to JJ's...my "quiet" place. It will not be quiet, soon, either. All of the Vandy kids are moving back and friday and saturday nights are already filled with the din of drunk little college kids. Last night, as I worked at the Village Market, I caught a fake i.D. or 2 (usual occurrence during the school year). The boys come in and act like they know everything there is to know about beer, trying to impress their lady-friends (and sometimes, I regret to say I would not call them "lady"). And I stand there and shake my head as they say things that are ridiculous. And the girls usually act like they have helium for brains and try to dance to my music, and get the guy's attention. The guys then look at me, faces red with embarrassment, and give me their credit cards as quickly as possible so they can get the heck out o' Dodge. Then you've got the workers from "Cabana" and "Boscos" who come over, dragging and tired of it all, looking for RED BULL and oreo cookies and cigarettes, the Dominos Pizza guys who come over for Vitamin Water, and the Vanderbilt Nurses and Doctors who come in for a beer or 2 before heading home after a long day. It really is an adventure working at the Village Market...and at the end of the night, after hearing and ignoring all of the "hey beautiful"'s, "I like your bandanna"s, "how do you get your hair to do that?!", I lock the door, close the store, Jae (my boss) comes in and wishes me a good night
, and I walk home and breathe it all out of my system. It is usually around 11:20pm when I finally reach home, read some while taking a bite to eat, and then sack out in my bed.
A guy just sat down close to me here at JJ's and he smells like the Cronicles of Narnia books that I have. He smells like the actual books...and sitting here I am having visions of the dreaded magnificent queen of darkness pulling the children down into one of the pools in "The Land Between the Worlds". Teddy (Theodor Butler) from the tatoo parlor "Lone Wolf" just came over to order his usual "large Iced Coffee...no room for cream", his loud tenor voice resonating off of the brick wall to my left, and also bouncing off of the tin boxes of tea that are on the shelf above him. He's a small little man, about my height, and small in every other particular, except his voice - which BOOMS, and his personality that makes him seem much bigger than he really is. When I am behind the counter and he laughs, the counter trembles with his laugh. He is a giant in a little-man's body. One usually does not think that a tatoo artist would want to raise chickens, or become a blacksmith with wood-burning ovens, and you wouldn't think that your hair-dresser would look like a lumber-jack and have a 300 acre farm where he raises organic and pure veggies, flowers, and dairy cows. And you wouldn't think that your local wine merchant, who is thin beyond compare and shyer than shy, has a secret desire to be a funeral-home director, and that the other one thinks he is John Lennon incarnated. And you wouldn't think that a bouncer from a pub would actually have one of the most genuine hearts and kind, soft-spoken, very masculine, spirits that you've almost ever met. Tatoo artists have a reputation for being rough and tumble and untouchable, hair dressers are usually flamboyant, bouncers have a reputation for being all brawn and no brain, and wine merchants are rather aloof. All of these people frequent JJ's and The Village Market here in good ol' Nashville Tennessee. This is only a taste of the variety of people around me. I cannot say how much I love and appreciate this beautiful opportunity that I have! How often is it that one gets to meet such interesting people and learn their dreams and what they are all about. They suddenly become more than a lump of skin walking around...they grow soul and spirit and beauty. Sometimes I am repulsed by learning what these people are about, but I am thankful even for those experiences. The tatoo artist who raises chickens keeps me updated with pictures (on his cell phone) of his chickens and their eggs, and I've looked at knife-making and blacksmithing books with another tatoo artist. I am working on one of the tatoo artists who seems to like to mock everyone and his favorite shirt is black and says, 'There IS no GOD" on the back. He seems to live up to the whole "tatoo-artist" persona - "meat & potatoes" type guy. I will be sad when I need to leave this place of many people. But I will meet new people and have more experiences and that is what is so amazing to me in life.