So, I've been watching the must see TV Series which is not Game of Thrones and which is the other one..Girls. I knew I would love it and love it I do.
Watching Girls is bittersweet because I see so much of my younger self in Hannah. The lofty dreams and awkward moments. The low self esteem and crazy adventures. Watching Girls is bittersweet because I never had that notebook. I always would say to myself, I need to get this shit down but I never did. Laziness had a large pudgy hand in that. I was always too hungover, too addicted to TV, too ready to go and get smashed again. I would have fantastic prose running in my head. Perfectly pitched, funny, charged, amazing. I would smile to myself, no doubt thinking "God, I'm bloody good." Then have a cigarette to celebrate.
Fear also had something to do with the fact I never wrote anything. I was (and still largely am) that walking contradiction of revelling in my own amazing (albeit hidden and untapped) talent while at the same time believing I am as deluded as Ignatius J Reilly.
Watching Girls is bittersweet because it makes me at once jealous and inspired. Watching Girls is bittersweet because it makes me realise I am old and over the hill because Ben Mendelson is my contemporary and he plays Jesse's dad.
I've actually got two stories about Ben Mendelson, both from way back when.
Number one
I think it would have been around 1991 or 92 and I was in Dimmeys in Richmond. For those outside of Melbourne, Dimmeys is a discount department store with a rather hilarious name now that I think of it. It just sounds cheap and tacky doesn't it? Anyway, I was in there because it was the early nineties and Bonds plain dyed T-shirts were all the rage. I was fossicking through the big tangle of T-Shirts which was Dimmeys version of merchandise display and glanced up at the whiney voice next to me.I am now trying to recall what that voice said. I know he said "But Muuuummm!" like a four year old and she seemed to under react, like this public tantrum was normal yet still embarrassing. I'm sure there was a long suffering eye roll. Mother and son were beside me trying to find a T-Shirt and I think the son was shitty because they didn't have his size. The Mum also told him off. Something like 'Ben, behave yourself!"
Anyway, yes, you've guessed! The whiney man child was, indeed, Ben Mendelson. I remember feeling embarrassed that I was privy to this and didn't know where to look. Knowing me at the time I would no doubt have also gone a lovely shade of tomato red. I also thought it was kind of cute in a puzzling way.
I'm feeling annoyed at myself again for not having a notebook. I'm sure, if I did, this incident would have made it in and I would have been able to tell you exactly what he said. I know it was funny because I used to regale my friend's with this story, complete with Ben Mendelson and Mrs Mendelson impressions...ahh well.
Number two
Around the same time, as in the year, I was down at Torquay where we went for a couple of holidays. Holidays seems to be the wrong word as, for me at least, it evokes civilised family-like fun full of day trips with a respectable AM start, outings to the beach and sunset BBQ's and fish and chips at a fine dining bistro. For me and my friends during this period, however, Torquay was a destination to get drunk and meet boys in. My memory is also playing tricks on me right now as the Torquay of my memory seems so familiar, as if I went there every year for ten years.However, the reality is, I think I only went there twice.
Anyway, it was during one such 'holiday' that found me in the beer garden in the early evening along with about a hundred other revellers. It was absolutely packed. Right now as I recall this, I feel like I am walking around that crowded beer garden. I see the couple sitting cross legged and facing each on the concrete under some kind of carport structure and arguing intently. I feel the texture of the beer sogged bar runner as I order a jug of beer because it's my turn. The cigarette machine that gives change from a five dollar note.
I was walking through the crowd and this guy stopped me. It was Nick Barker who was a kind of famous musician at the time. Very cute but he wasn't my type of muso. I was into bands like Ride and Stone Roses at the time and Nick Barker and the Reptiles had a distinctly bogan edge. It didn't matter because of course I was flattered that he seemed to want to talk to me. We talked for a bit, probably lit each other's cigarettes and then he said "Are you Ben Mendelson's sister?" and chuckled. My face must have fallen because he said that I was prettier than Ben. That was that and I felt a bit insulted. I don't know why because Ben is cute.
During the night, every time he saw me, he'd yell out "Ben Mendelson's sister!"
And I honestly don't think he was trying to pick me up.
THE END
