there is no one left to run from anymore...

as i am writing this blog i am listening to the pat benatar sung theme song to the legend of billie jean, one of my favorite movies. also a movie, much like teen witch, that i just took for granted everyone my age had seen. and everyone my age should see it. its about empowering women and standing up to authority and damning the man and being invincible. all things that i feel now i was glad to have learned when i was 8 and sitting in my living room. i mean who else was going to tell me it was okay to defy the law if they weren't seeking justice or that older people aren't always right. i remember watching helen slater as she turned from the typical timid long-haired blond beauty to a kick-ass bleach blond weird asymmetrical haired seeker of justice embodying strength and power and femininity. i don't think it was a conscious realization, but i'm sure watching her on that screen made little ol me think i could do it to, if anyone ever tried to wrong my brother and then attempt to assault me when i went to defend him and then...well, i don't want to give away the plot.

last night i went to see florence and the machine (swoon) with my ladies amanda and samantha and was joined by laura and jen, both friends and co-workers of sam. it was a flirting good time as the nearby security staffer proved to be unbelievably delicious and i had to seriously avert my eyes and try to focus on the live act in front of me and which i had paid good money to see. sam, of course, noticed my noticing and practically told him he had to date me or at least make out with me. i was glad it was dark as i turned 12 shades of pink before my composure degraded into a steady giggle that made me seem younger and less poised than these 30 years. bless her though, she wasn't wrong about being a great wingwoman. just make sure the next one doesn't have a girlfriend and is at least in the realm of possibility. i mean he was oozing yummy and i don't normally think that about someone or talk like that about anyone. so you know he was fine.

i'm sure sam will dedicate a few paragraphs to him and his long balls in her blog.

anyway it struck me that while i may not have a vicious enemy to fight and i may not ever become an urban folk hero with a cause everyone wants to fight against with me, there will probably be no grassroots movement to follow ms. rachel c and the news won't be trying to track my every movement, but in some ways i have lived up to the promise the legend of billie jean gave me. i am strong and powerful and feminine. i even sort of have the hair. i have surrounded myself with people who love me and make me laugh and one who'll tell some hot hot dude, and i'm paraphrasing here, that he should break it off with that bitch cuz my friend is awesome and another who'll get me a ticket to conan(!!!!!) without even needing to call first. and friends who'll move shit for me or drill in curtain rods without hesitation and who'll drive up from downstate to make it to my birthday.

maybe what billie jean was telling us was not necessarily to fight for justice or break and burn shit, but to stand up for ourselves and love ourselves and trust that we deserve to be loved. or maybe some hollywood movie producer just wanted to make a ridiculously awesome movie about a hot chick who runs around half dressed and needed to make it "deeper" so feminists wouldn't get all in his shit. or maybe its somewhere in between. whatever. stand up and face the enemy...we will be invincible!

florence of the machinists