"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com


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Monkey Business

When you hear a new phrase that you’ve managed to go your entire life without hearing (despite your expensive liberal arts education and grudging completion of nearly half of law school), it never fails that you immediately start to hear that phrase everywhere you go. And, if you’re like me, you start to wonder how you could have lived in the world so long without hearing it. Did you happen to always leave the room just before someone said it? Did you accidentally flip by the page of every novel where the authors used it? After the fact, it appears that you’ve done some pretty fancy maneuvers to have so long avoided this phrase that now seems horrendously overused.

A few weeks ago, J and I were watching ESPN and J said something like, “It’s time for Phil Mickelson to finally win a major. He needs to get that monkey off his back.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked incredulously. “A monkey? Who is this monkey you speak of?”

“Uh, Bekah,” J said tiredly, “It’s an expression. You’ve never heard it?”

“Um…no,” I responded brusquely, “I certainly haven’t. I don’t believe that such a ridiculous phrase exists. I think you made it up. Or maybe it’s some weird Midwestern thing. Like ‘Coney Island’ diners.”

Needless to say, I’ve been encountering that freaking monkey every day since I first heard the phrase. Everybody’s got a monkey on their back. It’s like there’s been an invasion of the goddamn flying attack monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps the most unfortunate effect of all of this is that King Kong has recently set up shop on my back, and will continue to hang around until exams are over. I think I would have been happier not knowing he was there.

posted by Bekah at 11:39 AM :: |