TwoSilhouettes

In a diary entry made long ago, some jottings about a pair of people I once knew:

"B" is a student at an utterly forgettable state college. She's a friendly kid, nice and yet shockingly boring to an adult observer ... suntanned from long beach hours, chubby for her height, blonde ... and utterly disinterested in any serious subject. She's well-intentioned, to be sure, but feckless. Happy to answer the phone, but not much for complex messages, still less for independent work. A kid, oblivious thus far to the larger world ... cheerful, getting by in her studies, full of stories about parties and carousing and boys ... vaguely aiming to marry and raise some children in the country ... a life that might have been successful a century or two ago, but seems rather risky nowadays. Innocent.
"M" is an older woman, strikingly pretty ... petite, Asian, technical, sharp ... shoulder-length jet-black hair ... fast speech, accented but highly idiomatic from growing up in the South after moving to the US in early childhood. She's also angst-ridden ... frets constantly, and far from shy in disclosing her lack of self-confidence to any listener. Married, no kids, hoping but without luck thus far, envious of her little sisters who are already mothers. Goofy cheerfulness, hard-working, sensitive, smart ... she unconsciously touches the person she's talking with, on arm or shoulder, as she explains her ideas. Intense.

Quite a contrast!

Friday, April 14, 2000 at 05:44:13 (EDT) = 2000-04-14