Friday, October 07, 2005

This afternoon I walked past Richard E Grant in the High Street. At first I didn’t recognise him; I just knew he looked familiar. We were walking in opposite directions and as he got closer, I decided to put on my half-smile that I use especially for this period from when I set eyes on someone to when my brain finally gets the work done and hands me the person’s file.
This is when I will decide on my next action; keep the half-smile and add a little headshake in the person’s direction (if it’s for example a friend of a friend that I’ve met a couple of times but don’t really know and now can’t even remember the name of) turn the half-smile into a full one to go with a hello and a how are you (for if say I used to go to college with this person) look the other way and try to pretend that my smile is for someone else (if I realise that the guy only looks familiar because I stood behind him in the queue at the supermarket yesterday).
But since more often than not my brain simply refuses to cooperate and just stands there like a bad secretary with attitude (chewing gum and filing her nails saying, 'Can’t you see I’m busy?') I usually end up just sticking to that half-smile which makes me look a bit dumb (I’m sure), but friendly (I hope).
This was exactly what happened today; I just walked past him hurrying my brain to come up with information and kept the half smile firmly in place. I think I scared him a little.
Some time later, when the lousy brain secretary finally slammed the appropriate file on my desk, in it I also found this charming and very fitting quote from Richard E Grant as Withnail (in Withnail and I), ‘I feel like a pig shat in my head.’

8 comments:

linda said...

I think I once saw the girl in "Six Feet Under," the red head in Yosemite!!!
But she is so ugly, nobody really cared and everybody including me ignored her.

nyx said...

I know exactly the feeling... I even said "hello", smiling with my whole face, before I realised it wasn't someone I knew... it was one of the actors in my favourite TV show... God, I felt stupid.

Shirin said...

Linda Did you mean the sister from Six Feet Under? I like her. I prefer Brenda though.

Nyx I once said hello and even had a little friendly chat with this guy thinking he was someone I knew. The funny thing is that he just went along with it too and never said anything and I only found out who he was when I came back to our table and my friends screamed at me, ‘How do you know the singer from Supergrass?’

Anonymous said...

Unfortanetly for me it's not exactly the same. As you know I usually remember where and when have I seen the person;I go talking to them but it's not always sure that they doremembere of me. Yes last night I couldn't seelp and came to the computer and you writings helped me not to feel that I had insomnia.

linda said...

Yeah it was the sister, clair Fisher..
And yeah once I met a dude named : "Micheal Bolton," and I went like : Are you for real?
Poor guys was like : Yeah I am Micheal BOLTON
_no, I mean are you the real one.
-Well, that's the name in my birth certificate, but I am an American Engineer..Never sang in my life...

GazanKhan said...

Yes Shirin, I guess it was that music CD, I'm not sure but I think I gave it back Kayar for some reason, I said I had copied it all on my computer and you can have it, I think.Ask him darling. And we are not in a hurry AT ALL my dear.

Anonymous said...

Hi Shirin, if only I could be around more! This was just another typical piece of you: how smile-language commicates and how decisive it can be knowing its codes, though sometimes they are not exactly percieved as we wish them to. Oh, you cannot believe how I always dreamed of having a pleasant smile, and I always keep forgetting that I may not have even half of it, yet I keep smiling whenever I feel like it.

Shirin said...

That’s so funny Roshanak. I’d forgotten how you always recognise everyone straight away. I’m so glad I halped you with your insomnia. Hope you sleep well tonight.

You’re lucky Linda he wasn’t the real thing. Once I met some bloke called Michael Jackson!

Gazankhan I can’t imagine why Kamyar would have taken that cd but I’ll ask him anyway.

Hi Behraooz, it’s good to have you back :-) You’ve been away for a while. Been busy then? Keep on smilin’ my friend ;-)