In a mad fit of clearing out and organizing, I came across a journal that I thought was lost. It was an interesting read. More on that later. But for tonight, since there seems to be some sort of televised gladiatorial contest today, a gem of sorts that I unearthed. I wrote it while staring out the window and trying to stay awake at the most boring job in the world - answering phones at a bank. Enjoy.
October 27, 1995: Big Brown Camaro
October 27, 1995: Big Brown Camaro
Oh big brown Camaro! How you've seen your better days. Your hood is wearing thin - spots of spray paint to stop the baldness - like Rogaine for cars. Your fish-like body slides through the street with your taillights grinning in their big-lipped delight. Delight at being a has-been, a used-to-be-somebody. Once a sporty young buck, shiny and new. The girls wanted you, the guys respected you. In your glory days. Days - I may interject - which also glorified the likes of Olivia Newton John, The BeeGees, and acid washed jeans. But now you haven't aged very well, dear Camaro. You're a rusty old man with a beat-up body from your muscle days. Your big, toothy, backward grin and your poisonous, growling cough from too many years of smoking those tailpipes. Yet you seem to notice no age, no trends. You continue in your preening strut, though now more a growling schlep. You imagine that women still want you and men still respect you, but how often sings the refrain when you drive by: "Oh big brown Camaro, how you have seen your better days!"
I love old journals. Found a few myself this week. (:
ReplyDeletePoor old Camero. I remember him. From..movies.
Oh shit! I think I AM the big brown Camaro.
ReplyDeleteDamn! I was gonna say that. ;)
DeleteHA! Camaros are decidedly male, so it cannot possibly be either of you. It also occurs to me that I wrote this when I was 21, when I considered people who were 37 to be quite elderly and used up. Ah youth.
Delete@ sebtown- hahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had persevered and kept up any of the umpteen journals I began over the years, so that I had awesome stuff like this to happen across and look back on fondly. Or maybe it would just be horrifyingly embarrassing? Either way, I love that you wrote an ode to a big brown camaro that was aging badly.
It's usually a little of both. My journals are pretty spotty, but occasionally I find some fun stuff in them. I had completely forgotten I had written this and thought "Oh! I'm so funny!" when I found it. It was like someone else had written it.
DeleteDespite being a child of the 70s and early 80s, Camaros were never my thing--Mustangs all the way, baby!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing what we can find tucked into boxes when we're digging around?
Amazing, indeed. I've never been a fan of the Camaro, either. I preferred the MG because I was always a complete nerd and anglophile. I have a sweet spot for a Chevy Nova, though.
DeleteAs I just said to Masked Mom - - journals are the best. They are fun to read years later, they are lifelines, sometimes, when we write in them. Our posterity gets to know us through journals, and they are just plain awesome
ReplyDeleteAmen. I have left strict instructions to burn all of my journals with me when I go, though.
DeleteAh, 1967 Chevy Camaro, with the spoiler on the back. It belonged to older brother Brian, who was very industrious, and bought the car outright. Cruising Whitier Boulevard on Friday and Saturday nights, was infinitely more enjoyable from the inside of a Camaro, with Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and The Chambers Brothers, Cream, and The Moody Blues keeping us company. Uh oh, I'm outta here,again, transported back in time. Thanks a lot, Lou.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite welcome. Those weekend nights of music and wind through the open windows of a car... magical, irreplaceable.
Delete1987 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28
ReplyDelete$17,995
A steal at twice the price. I'm more of a Hyundai girl now.
DeleteIf I had found a journal entry like that, that I had written, I would've had to share it somewhere, too! Proves you've been quite a creative writer for some time now!
ReplyDeleteI love this. I can feel both your boredom at work, and the glory days of that old Camaro. I drove a white '77 Camaro in high school. It was the only reason guys ever talked to me.
ReplyDelete