John reminds me that it is almost 14 years to the day since Tiananmen Square, which just reminds me that it was 14 years ago that I was living here, in predictably unrequited love with Mary, a waitress at Stavros' Irish Bar (see also) and one in a long line of bargirls who spurned me, drinking in life in massive great draughts, careless and happy and free and burning away brain cells at dizzying speed. I remember when one of the gorgeous French girls who worked in the time-share office at the hotel (whose front desk I was managing and software I was geeking) told me about Tiananmen and showed me the newspaper, I remember it like it was yesterday. I also remember that she was inexplicably and vocally impressed with the girth and sturdiness of my treetrunk-like thighs, although I can't for the life of me remember her name. Guess I didn't kill all the braincells, just the ones that counted.
That was one of my favorite places in a lifetime of favorite places :
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John said
I was nine, watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on a Saturday morning when Tom Brokaw broke in and told us to get our parents because something bad was happening in a faraway place called China. Doesn't have nearly the ring of your story, nor the attraction of the Greek isles, but I'll never forget it nonetheless.
June 9, 2003 4:07 PM
dan said
Mykonos looks absolutely stunning. I can't remember the exact moment of hearing the news about Tiananmen Square, but I remember writing a poem about it, which I later burned without showing to anybody because of another poem I had read, by Jon Stallworthy I think. It was stupid because I didn't even like his poem much.
I remember particularly the footage of that guy standing in front of the line of tanks and stopping them from rolling on into the square. I would have been about 17 years old at the time, and still thought that it must be possible to make the world a better place for everyone to live in. If it wasn't for people like that tank guy, I would have given up that slim hope long ago. Funny how one sometimes finds ones silver linings amidst the very darkest of clouds.
June 13, 2003 5:06 AM
Agatha said
Every New Year's I recall 1989's celebration, when the USSR fell. Whoa.
June 14, 2003 11:19 PM
dg said
For some reason, when I hear mention of Tiananmen Square, always think of that tasteless joke that went "Did you hear about the new Chinese Army knife? It has a device for getting bicycles out of tank tracks"
*consigns self to hell*
June 17, 2003 8:19 PM
Skip Oberon said
I wish that I could laugh about Tiananmen Square. I can't though, because I had a laryngectomy about a year ago. So, I ask you, Sir, do you understand why the forests are full of the stillborn silence of the treadmill barley malt? Please deposit fifteen cents for the next one minute.
July 25, 2003 9:37 AM