Monday, February 26, 2007

A day in La La Land

There can be turmoil, there can be tensions; and then there are those days when the gods bless us with time spent in La La Land.

Imagine you are travelling, and meet someone new and unexpected whom you find yourself spending an entire day with. Everything the other person says is interesting, everything you say sounds funny. It feels as if, in a different parallel place, you would have been best friends. By the time your plane leaves, the person takes you to the airport and you are almost crying when you say goodbye. This, my friend, is La La Land.

The thing about finding the entrance to La La Land is you cannot. Entrance will always be unexpected. Your prejudice about someone is disproved and talking to them proves to be balm to your soul when you need it most. You show up at a party a little too fashionably late just after the police came; the party seems over, you miss your ride home, it is three in the morning. Just when you think what a nightmare, someone comes over and takes time to listen to your (bedtime) stories for another couple of hours.

La La Land is a happy place that exists between our set ways and expectations. It is perhaps easiest found while literally moving between worlds, in travel and in change. Still, it is possible that the doors to La La Land open in the exact same physical space you move through to go to work on a daily basis. Suddenly, the musicians on the tram are playing your favourite songs. The ladies at the make-up stands switch of their unfriendly go-away faces, take half an hour to teach you a new make-up technique - now pay attention, because I want you to see how to do this curve, and load you with free samples.

La La Land is a place where you can see a full rainbow, each end raising from the water. Wind will be blowing your hair out of order and it will still look great, you will warm yourself in the sun and soothe your hangover with endless walking. Swings will be waiting for you to play around in, and a baby beach to leave your footsteps on.


Surreally happy as the land is, you'd probably become nauseous if you couldn't turn of the La La Charm. "But oh, those La La nights." (from Grease, more or less). And oh, how those La La days help you through the rougher patches.

1 comment:

Anna said...

When reading you I always feel like we're floating in some dimension of ourselves. Or like you have a special entrance into my brain and my thoughts. And today we are oficially in the same land.. I am sitting in my office, my office mate and new friend is playing Jack Johnson on the radio, the sound of printers and the coffee machine in the background. It's raining, but not very much, and everything is as it is: La la la, la la la la la, la la la (Kylie Minogue)