Kim Boekbinder, Impossible goes BOOM BOOM BOOM

My Impossible Week:

Some people leave an indelible mark upon your soul. And you are a better person for having had the chance to get to know them, no matter how long the interaction. Such is the case of my week with The Impossible Girl, Kim Boekbinder. A truly Impossible Girl, space alien, and sister soul.

I was one of the crowdsourced minions for Kim. And this was a lesson in answering my own soul phone when someone asks. There is power in answering, when asked. Saying yes to the little nudges in your heart, even if they don’t always make sense, will lead you to miracles and wonder. They are telling you where you were meant to go. And because I answered her request for help I was given the gift of friendship, the beauty of being true to one’s inner self, and of course Neil Gaiman (see this post about chocolate).

It seemed impractical for me to agree to help her the same week I moved to Austin, as her driver and Galactic Glitter Minion. I knew nothing of the city other than I was compelled to live here. I knew nothing of SXSW other than what I had read on twitter the year before. It terrified me. I am terrified of crowds, unsure of the roads, and have absolutely no sense of direction. Yet I managed to make every part of this adventure work for both myself and Kim. I wanted the opportunity to meet new people and learn my new city. And that worked out better than either of us anticipated.

Impossible is a state of Fabulous

Our first night together was kind of a last minute invite to the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards after party. We hadn’t actually met in person before I picked her up. So we spent dinner sizing each other up. From her perspective, she was probably wondering who this strange exhausted woman sitting across from her was. From my perspective, I was trying to figure out how to form words through the layers of travel exhaustion. We managed to communicate perfectly in the form of Crème Brule.

What started out as a business arrangement turned into a friendship, a mutual appreciation for the people we are. And I think we were both thrilled in finding another member of our strange and colorful tribe. To my delight, Kim introduced me to some other wonderful tribe members: Molly Crabapple, Najva Sol, Angeliska, and many other beautiful souls that have made my soul soar.

I had planned on going into detail about the whole week and a half we spent dodging traffic, eating hotdogs, fish tacos, and drinking coffee. But I think my heart just wants to fill this page with the love I felt being in the presence of so many creative and inspiring people. I may have stayed at the periphery of most of the goings on, that doesn’t mean it didn’t expand my senses like an incandescent alien muse.

I had also planned on writing a long winded interpretation of People of Letters, an event in which Kim was featured. I didn’t get around to doing it because of life happening around me. I started a letter to my Little Red Record Player as an amalgamation of the letters read at the event.

This event struck me right in the brain of my heart. Made me think, feel, and reminisce about many things long past. Kim in particular struck a chord with her letter to the word ‘Love’. In a way it opened up how much some of us take for granted that we have an abundance of love in our lives. Only we keep searching for the one definition of love that continues to elude us. Love is so much more than one word, one meaning, one feeling.

Thank you, Kim, for that insight. This has been a prominent subject on my journey, one that only I can reconcile. And your letter has become a valuable tool in which to do that.

Our last adventure together, which I will share a brief interpretation, was an event that happened after SXSW called Gaybigaygay. It was glorious. We passed the glitter like vials of Technicolor cocaine, junkies needing their shimmering fix while listening to the thumping sound ensorseling us from the stage. (In all honesty, the glitter high had been happening the entire week.) And where else can you have gay porn to look at while using a port-a-potty after watching Kim, the silver caped space alien, parkour her way through a sea of jeweled half-naked bodies in the dwindling sun?