Sugar Sugar

I came to my desk this evening to write a review Carol Shield's book Unless.  Alas, the song "Candy Girl" by the Archies came on the radio and temporarily sidetracked my thoughts.  It's always amazed me how certain songs can bring back not only memories of a certain time, but also the exact way you were feeling at that point in your life.  "Candy Girl", for instance, reminds me of driving in the car with my dad when I was about nine years old.  I had recently discovered his impressive collection of Archie comics.  They had been accumulating for over thirty years, only to land in the crawl space of my parents' house.  (Note: never put books of any sort in crawl spaces - it causes moisture to seep into the pages, leaving them damp and musty-smelling.  As a result the comics had to be thrown out several years ago.  Poor Archie).  As you might imagine, this enormous pile of Archies was a gold mine to a nine year old girl, and it wasn't long before I was entirely immersed in the world of high school love triangles, milkshakes, and chocklit shop philosophies of life.

So imagine the thrill when "Candy Girl" came onto the radio (sixteen years ago, not today) and my Dad announced that the band singing the song was the Archies.

You mean the real Archies?  From the comics?"

"Yup."

I was at once baffled, weirded out, and excited beyond words.  "But they're make believe characters, from the comics.  Or are the comics about the band?"

I'm sure he proceeded to explain the truth of what we were listening to, but I seem to have blocked that part from my memory.  What I do remember is being awe-struck by the Betty and Veronica lines (Betty and Veronica are singing!!!).  It was like discovering Santa Clause is actually real.  

Ahhh, for two minutes I actually felt young again.

The Reality Is...

I used to blog about my real life.  Then I realized I don't really have one - a real life, that is.  This led to a fatal lack of issues and events to write about, and the consequent abolition of my blog.  I suppose I could come home after work and blog about how much I hate getting up in the morning.  No matter how many times I hit the snooze, it never gets easier.  All it means is that I have to drag my grumbling, protesting self out of bed 20 minutes later than I would have to if my sleep-impaired hand were not compulsively drawn toward that devilish little button.  But then I would get into how this is like a metaphor for my life (i.e. the reason I still don't have a job in which I use my education in any capacity and/or that gives me any sort of benefits let alone joy is because I'm hitting the snooze button of life, not wanting to discover my true potential because I'd rather go my whole life believing I would have been capable of achieving my dreams "if I had only tried" than try and realize I'm actually an incompetent fool...etc).  Dwelling on things like that gives everyone (not to mention me) the false impression that I am in a perpetual state of melancholy.  This is very unfortunate, and I want to do all I can to discourage such opinions.

The reality is there is no reality.  I find I am better able to get through my days if I focus on imaginary things - or at least things that are so far removed from my life they seem imaginary.  Therefore this will be a blog about the topics that really do occupy my mind on a daily basis - films, books, baking, music, sports, politics, etc.  Those who know me know my dream job is to write a column for for a magazine or newspaper.  So I figure if no one is willing to give me that kind job in the real world, I'll give one to myself.  Perhaps I'll add the odd little reflection on my so-called "real life" if I find it to be sufficiently relevant or cheerful.  But for now this is what works for me.  So here goes.