something about this just makes me feel old.
dear random girl who sent me a message on facebook expressing enthusiasm at the prospect of the presence of people carrying the surname "o'connell" (including the two of us) and attending (as we do/will) salem state college,
when i was in high school, i knew a girl whose last name was o'connor. whenever we had a class together, someone would invariably ask if we were related, not bothering to notice the difference in our names. perhaps you've experienced this as well, living as we do in a world and region populated not only by many o'connors and o'donnells, but by large numbers of people who can't be bothered to imagine an irish surname that starts with "o'c" and does not end with "or" (or ends with "ell" and does not start with "o'd.")
anyway, after a while the two of us grew tired of explaining that we did not in fact share a last name and were not related. instead, we started to claim when asked that were were sister and brother. it worked, among other reasons because she was a year older. a year of plausibility.
my proposal, or at least something that i thought of when i went to write a new blog entry: it being so that we actually share a surname, if we are ever together among people who do not know either of us, we should attempt to pass ourselves off as siblings. wacky happenings may ensue, especially if we made up a significantly wacky family history. spontaneously. it does not matter that i already have a real sister, because she is not in college.
thank you,
matt o'connell
when i was in high school, i knew a girl whose last name was o'connor. whenever we had a class together, someone would invariably ask if we were related, not bothering to notice the difference in our names. perhaps you've experienced this as well, living as we do in a world and region populated not only by many o'connors and o'donnells, but by large numbers of people who can't be bothered to imagine an irish surname that starts with "o'c" and does not end with "or" (or ends with "ell" and does not start with "o'd.")
anyway, after a while the two of us grew tired of explaining that we did not in fact share a last name and were not related. instead, we started to claim when asked that were were sister and brother. it worked, among other reasons because she was a year older. a year of plausibility.
my proposal, or at least something that i thought of when i went to write a new blog entry: it being so that we actually share a surname, if we are ever together among people who do not know either of us, we should attempt to pass ourselves off as siblings. wacky happenings may ensue, especially if we made up a significantly wacky family history. spontaneously. it does not matter that i already have a real sister, because she is not in college.
thank you,
matt o'connell
previous posts
- just about the crappiest version of "louie, louie"...
- here's to keeping it summer
- arbitrary world cup picks, the aftermath
- power friends and power recommendations
- drifting patterns
- matt's arbitrary world cup picks, 2006: round of 16
- center holds it. holds it! HOLDS IT!!!
- a holiday in real time
- going for a ride
- through no windows
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also me
- city lines magazine
- twitter (annus_mirabilis)
- ashley (almost a love song)
- kayleigh (i [verb] you)
- nicole (raise your hopeful voice)
- alli (what an odd-sized explosion.)
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- purity of heart
- banana yoshimoto
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blogs
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curiosity, entertainery, and literary
about
-
me: aspiring writer, 'music nerd,' seeker of beautiful moments, college student, armchair theologian, nominal quaker, 'the diet coke of emo with no caffeine,' eclectic left-winger, and generally someone who thinks about things too much.
this: unedited, uninhibited, and uninteresting thoughts, nebulous stream-of-consciousness ramblings of memory, inside jokes, obscure references, emotional paroxysms, and slices of life. sometimes there are pictures.
what people are saying about me
'...something entirely different from anybody i've ever known.'
- krystin
'...a nice boy.'
- laura
'...a maoist!'
- greg
'...elevate[s] emotional self-destructiveness to an art form.'
- greg
'...my favorite pixie.'
- lizzie
'...a damn good conversationalist.'
- kelly
'...blue-raspberry [pie]! or or maybe cranberry raisin.'
- becky
'i feel like a wide eyed kid in the socialist candy store...and [he's] the clerk.'
- christine
'...far too sensible and perceptive to be straight.'
- catherine
'...not british.'
- catherine
'...would have made a good medieval monk. one of the non-crooked ones.'
- catherine
'...should have been born a dolphin.'
- elizabeth
ATOM 0.3
'life was just a series of things i'd read about coming true.'
-- michelle tea, the chelsea whistle
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