Strategy is getting in the way.

June 30, 2008

O the Shame!Most Fashionable Reader! Since Zelda shamefully admitted to being Shamefully and Highly Unfashionable as of late, Zelda has discovered that it is quite therapeutic to reveal secrets of shame and great sorrow. So. Today, Most Fashionable Reader / Reader of Fashion, Zelda will reveal, for the first time publicly, one of her secrets that she deems Incredibly Shameful.

But first! A preface to the Secret of Shame! Let Zelda tell you, Most Fashionable Reader, that she has no problems talking about most anything that has to deal with her personal issues. Now, don’t get Zel wrong — she is NOT the type ofSylvia from Intervention person who goes up to strangers and says, “Well hello! My name is Zelda, and I am a sober alcoholic who has battled depression and anxiety all of her life! How are you doing this most fashionable evening?” Zelda does, however, have no qualms with discussing her issues when she deems such a discussion necessary.

But! There is one thing that Our Dearest, Most Fashionable Zelda has revealed to less than a handful of people. Here goes, Dear Reader. Are you ready? Zelda cannot believe she is actually writing this down, but oh well: Zelda has Attention Deficit Disorder. That’s right. Zelda has ADD. Now Zelda knows, Zelda knows: it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Why? Well, because, as every book on Attention Deficit Disorder tells you, most people with ADD are incredibly creative! Hooray! Wow! Awesome!!!

Zelda's Range RoverBut here’s the thing, Dearest Reader: Zelda doesn’t want to be known as a creative woman. When Zelda thinks of creativity, she thinks of windchimes made from thriftstore silverware, potholders made from bottlecaps, wreaths made from dried apple cores, etc., etc. Zelda doesn’t want to be a creative person who happens to have ADD. She wants to be a successful person who happens to have ADD. She wants a baker’s dozen of personal assistants, she wants to dictate confidential memos to her secretary, she wants a Range Rover the color of gunmetal, she wants an executive chair covered with Italian leather at the head of a boardroom table, etc., etc. This is why she found Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder so fabulous — because it gives profiles of highly successful businesspeople that include how ADD has helped their careers as well as the pitfalls of ADD.

Oh yeah! The FaOuLiPoWriMoFa [Fashionable OuLiPo Writing Month of Fashion] poem! Zelda has used a section of Judith Greenbaum and Geraldine Markel‘s Finding Your Focus: Practical Strategies for the Everyday Challenges Facing Adults with ADD entitled “How to Use Self-Talk as a Memory Aid” as her source text, and she curtailed each line.

Stop! Am I —

A quieter place. Too noisy in here.
Did I hear this time? Am I too
tired? Think. Before saying anything,

get angry, tense. What
is here? This.

Stop.

Stop!

Down the choices slowly and carefully.

I feel. I think.

Only concentrate. I’m finished.
We can go. I can —

Failing doesn’t mean. What
can I try again? Give up to keep trying.

Maybe I need this. Should I go?

The problem: the things
I need. If I go
slowly, solutions happen. Strategy

is getting in the way.


He hit so hard I saw stars.

April 22, 2008

***Disclaimer Alert! Zelda wrote the following poemlogue very late at night.***

I must admit that I read Viv’s most recent poem (Welcome back, Viv! O, we have missed you so!) before her poemlogue, and my mind immediately zoomed into the following words: “See Ruby / fall.” And I immediately thought of Kenny Rogers singing “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” And I wondered what would have happened in that song had he actually been able to move and get his gun and put Ruby in the ground. Well, I guess Ruby would have fallen.

And then I found the following video of Kenny Rogers singing “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” in 1972. It is most fabulous! Not only does Kenny Rogers look just like the next door neighbor I had during my childhood (who was a trucker. a trucker! awesome!), but he also looks EXACTLY like Kurt Russell did in Overboard — a most fashionable movie (movie of fashion). I will not reveal to you, Dear Reader, how many times I have seen Overboard, for this poemlogue is not one in which I reveal secrets.

And, as a shoutout to Earth Day, I give you the following quote from an interview with the Most Fashionable Guitarist Ever, Slash:

“People need to think more about the loss of energy and actually do something about it. For me, I try to turn off the faucet when I am brushing my teeth and I try and remember to close the refrigerator door.”

Well said, Slash. Well. Said.

My redefining

[began with a very fashionable diamond heart necklace.]


Because a City of Rock is Really a Fashionable Thing to See

April 22, 2008

Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Lost Sea — can a road trip really get any better than that? No, I say, unless, unless, UNLESS it also involves a gas station/truck stop/smoking-encouraged Wendy’s which offers, for sale, coffee cups which are emblazoned with the saying “you said you wanted half a cup of coffee” and are — I am not kidding — actually cut in half. No, really! Really! FASHION! FASHION! Brenda Dickson’s cabinets are stocked with these, I tell you, stocked. Only she fills four of them with a smoothie of her own concoction, tops it with sprouts, and then goes off to run a marathon. Now that, my friends, is fashion.

I now make four shameful admissions: I did not actually see Rock City, Ruby Falls, or the Lost Sea, and though I stood in front of them and contemplated their fashion for quite some time, I did not purchase the above-mentioned mugs. I, obviously, fail at fashion.

And so, in an attempt to redeem myself and once again gain some sense of fashion/fashion of sense, I post the following photograph for you to contemplate, which, dear readers, is only one in a series of Slash photographs which will be posted, daily, until you admit to yourselves and to the Hyacinth Girls that “November Rain” is not ONLY a song of fashion/a fashionable song, it is The Ultimate Video of Fashion/Fashionable Video:

Well hello! Welcome to the jungle. Here, we will talk about fashion until we bring you to your nanananananakneeskneeskness.

75

Is a long drive.


Non-Poem P.S. / We Want a Fast Car!

April 18, 2008

It’s Friday, and I’m taking a late lunch. Barry White is playing on the easy listening station we’re listening to at the office. I just ate a banana. Life is good. And since life is good, and since Viv is going to be on the road for a few days and may not be able to fashionably post as much as she usually does (we are all going to miss you, Dearest Viv, but I shall be the one who misses you the most!), I started thinking about road trips. Then I started to think about road trips that Viv and I could take together.

Now, I realize that if Viv and I were to take a road trip together, it would probably end up like this:

Still: the lure of the open road beckons. But I can’t decide which car we should drive! What do you think, Viv? What do you think, Dearest, Most Fashionable Readers?

Reference the Graphic of Fashion below before you vote in the poll, if need be.

Which Car Should Vivienne and Zelda Take on Their Road Trip?
( polls)