Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Touching Velvet

I was in a fabric store briefly the other day to check out one of the clearance bins and couldn't resist going over and running my hands over the velvet samples hanging on the rack. I'm very tactile and I really love velvet, so I couldn't help myself and had to touch it. It struck me that the name that I assumed for blogging was more appropriate than I had previously realized. People used to touch me all the time. My clothes, my hair, shoulders, back, arms, whatever.

Before you think that this is a post about sex, it wasn't that kind of touching. It wasn't grabbing or groping (I think people knew better than to try that), but people would just come up and touch me in a fairly non-threatening way. I never knew that this wasn't the norm for everyone until I was at a bar with several friends, knocking back a few beers and having a rather spirited discussion along the lines of "dontcha hate it when that happens?"

"Dontcha hate it when people just come up and touch you?" I asked. If this had been a commercial, this is where they would have put the "needle scratching across a record" sound effect. They all stared at me. The conversation started again and it came out that, apparently, I was the only one who this happened to. Even the guy who I was seeing at the time didn't really believe me. It was a startling revelation for me, though. I never knew that this wasn't normal.

Later, while my boyfriend and I were playing pinball, I was in the middle of a good game and felt some hands running down the hair on my back.

"Who's there?" I called back, unfazed and without taking my eyes off my game. An unfamiliar female voice answered.

"I just saw your hair flowing down your back and I had to touch it. Sorry!" Alright. Whatever. I was used to it and, to be truthful, it really didn't bother me. While I respect others' personal space, I'm fairly flexible with my own. She walked off and when I finally lost my ball and stepped aside so that my boyfriend could take his turn, he just stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't believe it," he said. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Told you," was all I could think of to say.

This all stopped when I moved to a part of the country where people will barely talk to you, let alone touch you. Here, heaven forbid you talk to the stranger next to you while standing in a line because they'll look at you like you just peed on the floor. Ah, it's just as well. My husband wouldn't be all that crazy if people still came up to touch me and it's been so long that I probably wouldn't be so crazy about it either.

9 comments:

  1. People don't usually touch me. They smell me. No, not from a distance. But they lean in and smell me. I used to have a sign on my desk at work that read: Please don't smell the hired help.

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  2. mist-

    Wow, how odd!

    I can honestly say that's never happened to me, at least not while I was sober enough to remember it. Of course, in that case I know what I smelled like... booze.

    -velvet

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  3. VG...
    That was a touching story...haha. What? Do you live in NY? It's a sad, cold world.

    Thanks for visiting my blog! Your opinions and suggestions are not only welcomed but encouraged!! I agree with the milk. I made this mock-up on my lunch hour because the execs needed some art for a meeting. I couldn't find any milk images on the internet to steal so i left it out for time. The final will have it. I promise it will look nice and velvety!

    Chris

    P.S. The "announcement" on my blog, which i now legally cannot post on said blog yet is that Cartoon Network bought Adventures in Milk and want it as a full length movie for their channel. I am going to start writing it soon. Hopefully I will be able to blog about its progress and hopefully you will stop back by and lemme know what you think!

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  4. Chris-

    Nope, I don't live in NY (sadly enough). I live somewhere far less friendly. Most of my friends are people who aren't originally from here... what does that say?

    Congrats that Cartoon Network picked up Adventures in Milk. That's awesome!!! I'll definitely stop back and check it out. And I'm looking forward to seeing lots of velvety milk. ;)

    Thanks for stopping by and good luck on the project!

    -velvet

    PS "touching story"? Ha! :)

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  5. Steve-

    "YOu talk to people in line!?!"


    Not anymore. The tar and feathers from the first time that I did it took forever to get out of my hair. I won't make that mistake again.

    -velvet

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  6. trying to recall some some other things that are nice to touch...

    -jell-o/flan : nice for your mouth to touch
    -bunnies : yeah
    -motor oil : the post-oil change kind
    -click wheel on a mouse : just so satisfying
    -water running out of a faucet : the steady mellow flow, not the all over place throw-up style running

    hmm, thats all i could think of, and it took about 10 minutes at that! i don't really pay much attention to things im touching. but those came to mind.

    any other suggestions?

    -alex

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  7. alex-

    Great list! Hmm, I've never felt used motor oil, so that's a new one. But I know exactly the kind of water that you're talking about, the kind that comes out of the faucet in a smooth stream. Yup, that's quite nice. I like the mouth-feel of jello, puddings and custards, too, not to mention the "yum" factor, but taste is a whole other list!

    Hmmm. Let's see... some things I like to touch:

    New Books, more specifically, the fancy paperbacks with the matte plastic-coated paper covers. I like touching them almost as much as I like reading them.

    Flower petals.

    Silk, the smooth, shiny kind.

    Lush, cool lawn grass.

    Old cotton sheets, when they've gotten really, really soft and worn.

    Soft, dry sand.

    Hair (depending on texture, cut and cleanliness, of course).

    Cut, polished stone.

    Chinchilla: nice. Chinchilla bites: not so nice.

    Well sanded wood.

    Running my hands through large quantities of small, smooth objects like beads, dried beans, small marbles etc.

    Running my fingertips through the surface of water.

    Typing on our laptop.

    For mouth feel, melted chocolate, but that's so good on so many levels.

    I could go on and on. Senses are a huge part of my life, so it never really has an end, but this is a good start.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    -velvet

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  8. Being a "transplant" from the Northeast it took little time to get used to the Southern ways. I love being here. not only the warm winters but the true friendliness of the people.
    If you do not respond to small talk while standing in line you may get that stare "like you just peed on the floor"!

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  9. ame-

    Yes, it certainly is a different world down south... slower and definitely friendlier! It must have been a shock after living in the Northeast, but in a good way.

    -velvet

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