Monkey see, monkey do moments ... déjà vu?
First a little bit of histrionics ... I bet we have already heard that phrase so many times .... Monkey see, monkey do is a saying that originated in Jamaica in the early 18th century and popped up in American culture in the early 1920s. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works. Another definition implies the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge of the consequences.
Have you ever have or participated in a monkey see monkey do moment as defined by the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge of the consequences? Well I have .... and had moments of déjà vu this morning when I was getting dressed in the gym after swimming laps .... there was this mother with a prolly 3-4 year old girl in the dressing room ... mom had been tweezing her brows ... then she went and sat and proceeded to get dressed ... little girl picks up tweezers... looks straight in the mirror and was about to start plucking too just as mom caught a glimpse of her and stopped her just in time..... Instant déjà vu....
That act threw me back in time and I found myself as a child growing up in Panama ... ahhh my Monkey See Monkey Do Moments.... I had several of them growing up ... but the one that came to mind this morning was me watching in AWE as my mom used a thin Gillette blade to shape her beautiful eyebrows .... AWESOME ... AWESOME ... in my 3-4 year old mind I just could not wait to grow up to do that too ... I was on the floor playing with my dolls where mom had placed me to entertain myself along with my 3 sisters ... my brother had not been born yet... but the entire time she thought we were busy playing with the dolls my eyes were glued on her as she sat at the dresser carefully thinning and arching her brows and then doing her hair and then her makeup .... as she was very pale at the end she would pinch both her cheeks ... I loved loved loved to watch her ... dad always referred to her as Maria Montez .... because her name was Maria Mercedes everyone called her Dedes for short and my dad called her Monti because she was his Maria Montez...
Mom meticulously put away her razors, the items she used for her coiffure, beautiful intricately adorned brushes and combs in ivory and gold that my sister inherited upon her demise ... she had a beautiful golden chest on her dresser with a locket and a key .... it was like a treasure chest that floated away from a ship and in my child imagination I always thought she found it floating in the river that divided our farm... the chest that floated away from Sir Francis Morgan's ship and mom found it ... yup I had a vivid and wild imagination ... compounded with grandpa's stories and tales he told us about 'old time people' like he would call them as he spoke to us in French....
The day came when mom was a bit distracted or a bit less careful ... and the razor she used earlier was accidentally left on the dresser .... where feisty eyes in my head had zoned in on it .. and a plan started to form in my head. As mom got up to go talk to her plants hanging from beautiful pottery from ceiling and encircling beams from the balcony surrounding the huge house we lived in ... the house that grandpa built, our very own Ponderosa in Panama, we all got up to follow her ... but one feisty child lingered behind ... moi ...
I tiptoed to the dresser and grabbed the razor blade .... I sat in front of the mirror but was a bit too short so I pulled both legs under me and I knelt on the stool .... the beautiful stool with the embroidered seat that stood on elaborate legs that had claws on them ... I looked at myself in the mirror ... tilted my head just like mom did ... razor in hand I proceeded to pull the razor across my brows .... when I was done I looked in the mirror aghast ... somehow my brows were not as nicely arched and pretty like my mom's .... somehow I HAD NO BROWS ... somehow monkey see monkey do played a trick on me ....and I HAD TO FIX IT ...
The best way I found to fix my brow-less face was to go symmetric ... as in brow-less face and hairless frontal view .... I had on my boina (beanie cap or Sunday cap) and I proceeded to make my face and head symmetrically equal by shaving my hairline going back to almost the center of my head and my temples going backwards towards my cap ....
Mom came into the room and screeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaamed .... grandma came running into the room and screeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaamed ...mom fell on the floor and grandma swooned just as grandpa came into the room with kerchief drenched in ammonia and for grandma he had a little green bottle of smelling salts ...
Mom came to and looked at me and screeeaaaaaaaammed again ... then she asked grandpa to fetch the AMBASSADOR ... dad's belt ... and that's when I knew Monkey See Monkey Do played a trick on me .... I know E.T. was not around at that time ....but I swear mom saw ET when she looked at me and freaked....
Yup ... Monkey See, Monkey Do DOES imply the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge of the consequences. I know this well.... I have had several of those monkey see monkey do moments .... please don't ask me to tell you how I flew down a steep slope lainding in an embankment on the farm following my cousins who were experts on the slope on their bikes .... OR when I poured #40 developer with beaching powder on my hair and fell asleep because I was exhausted ..... I am going to kill Rupaul for that platinum moment...or when I make my very own hair relaxer from scratch and put double the portion of lye in it thinking it would get rid of the frizzies ... that goodness I have horse hair it seems....
IF I MADE YOU REMINISCE PLEASE SHARE ... HAVE YOU HAD ANY OF THESE MOMENTS?
My journal entries this wee****ep an empowerment journal called 'A PICTURE A DAY KEEPS THE POUNDS AND THE INCHES AWAY' I look at my progress and I stay where I want to be ...because it makes me happy....
I took all my extensions out and going with my short and natural do ... as I plan on swimming laps EVERY DAY until .....
I also shared some fun and dufus moments on SI yestarday ....I have taken advantage of every single moment of my life pre and post surgery and with health and mobility nothing short of death is going to stop me
...like when I was just about 10 or 14 months out I made a dress out of my big size 22 pants and I used white remnant for contrast... I can't find the dress I think I gave it away ... it was at a time I had dropped all the way to 110 pounds ... when my ideal weight for me to maintain is between 123 and 127 pounds ... I am sitting at 120 this morning...
I was way too small in this picture taken prior to my brachioplasty...
I even had fun parading my old arse on a runway LOL ... and did it several times since and will do it again if asked and I have the disposition ... here I go pigeon toes and all walking in from the back of the store to the front where the event was held....
My life is an open book ... I am old and goofy and fun loving ... I have my fair share of life's aches and pains ... but in the equal measures that joy and misery exist I will embrace joy and MAKE IT HAPPEN TO ME ... each and every day ....
Thanks for allowing me to share ....
A dufus sista on the journey of life .... post WLS for health and mobility ...
Have you ever have or participated in a monkey see monkey do moment as defined by the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge of the consequences? Well I have .... and had moments of déjà vu this morning when I was getting dressed in the gym after swimming laps .... there was this mother with a prolly 3-4 year old girl in the dressing room ... mom had been tweezing her brows ... then she went and sat and proceeded to get dressed ... little girl picks up tweezers... looks straight in the mirror and was about to start plucking too just as mom caught a glimpse of her and stopped her just in time..... Instant déjà vu....
That act threw me back in time and I found myself as a child growing up in Panama ... ahhh my Monkey See Monkey Do Moments.... I had several of them growing up ... but the one that came to mind this morning was me watching in AWE as my mom used a thin Gillette blade to shape her beautiful eyebrows .... AWESOME ... AWESOME ... in my 3-4 year old mind I just could not wait to grow up to do that too ... I was on the floor playing with my dolls where mom had placed me to entertain myself along with my 3 sisters ... my brother had not been born yet... but the entire time she thought we were busy playing with the dolls my eyes were glued on her as she sat at the dresser carefully thinning and arching her brows and then doing her hair and then her makeup .... as she was very pale at the end she would pinch both her cheeks ... I loved loved loved to watch her ... dad always referred to her as Maria Montez .... because her name was Maria Mercedes everyone called her Dedes for short and my dad called her Monti because she was his Maria Montez...
Mom meticulously put away her razors, the items she used for her coiffure, beautiful intricately adorned brushes and combs in ivory and gold that my sister inherited upon her demise ... she had a beautiful golden chest on her dresser with a locket and a key .... it was like a treasure chest that floated away from a ship and in my child imagination I always thought she found it floating in the river that divided our farm... the chest that floated away from Sir Francis Morgan's ship and mom found it ... yup I had a vivid and wild imagination ... compounded with grandpa's stories and tales he told us about 'old time people' like he would call them as he spoke to us in French....
The day came when mom was a bit distracted or a bit less careful ... and the razor she used earlier was accidentally left on the dresser .... where feisty eyes in my head had zoned in on it .. and a plan started to form in my head. As mom got up to go talk to her plants hanging from beautiful pottery from ceiling and encircling beams from the balcony surrounding the huge house we lived in ... the house that grandpa built, our very own Ponderosa in Panama, we all got up to follow her ... but one feisty child lingered behind ... moi ...
I tiptoed to the dresser and grabbed the razor blade .... I sat in front of the mirror but was a bit too short so I pulled both legs under me and I knelt on the stool .... the beautiful stool with the embroidered seat that stood on elaborate legs that had claws on them ... I looked at myself in the mirror ... tilted my head just like mom did ... razor in hand I proceeded to pull the razor across my brows .... when I was done I looked in the mirror aghast ... somehow my brows were not as nicely arched and pretty like my mom's .... somehow I HAD NO BROWS ... somehow monkey see monkey do played a trick on me ....and I HAD TO FIX IT ...
The best way I found to fix my brow-less face was to go symmetric ... as in brow-less face and hairless frontal view .... I had on my boina (beanie cap or Sunday cap) and I proceeded to make my face and head symmetrically equal by shaving my hairline going back to almost the center of my head and my temples going backwards towards my cap ....
Mom came into the room and screeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaamed .... grandma came running into the room and screeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaamed ...mom fell on the floor and grandma swooned just as grandpa came into the room with kerchief drenched in ammonia and for grandma he had a little green bottle of smelling salts ...
Mom came to and looked at me and screeeaaaaaaaammed again ... then she asked grandpa to fetch the AMBASSADOR ... dad's belt ... and that's when I knew Monkey See Monkey Do played a trick on me .... I know E.T. was not around at that time ....but I swear mom saw ET when she looked at me and freaked....
Yup ... Monkey See, Monkey Do DOES imply the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge of the consequences. I know this well.... I have had several of those monkey see monkey do moments .... please don't ask me to tell you how I flew down a steep slope lainding in an embankment on the farm following my cousins who were experts on the slope on their bikes .... OR when I poured #40 developer with beaching powder on my hair and fell asleep because I was exhausted ..... I am going to kill Rupaul for that platinum moment...or when I make my very own hair relaxer from scratch and put double the portion of lye in it thinking it would get rid of the frizzies ... that goodness I have horse hair it seems....
IF I MADE YOU REMINISCE PLEASE SHARE ... HAVE YOU HAD ANY OF THESE MOMENTS?
My journal entries this wee****ep an empowerment journal called 'A PICTURE A DAY KEEPS THE POUNDS AND THE INCHES AWAY' I look at my progress and I stay where I want to be ...because it makes me happy....
I took all my extensions out and going with my short and natural do ... as I plan on swimming laps EVERY DAY until .....
I also shared some fun and dufus moments on SI yestarday ....I have taken advantage of every single moment of my life pre and post surgery and with health and mobility nothing short of death is going to stop me
...like when I was just about 10 or 14 months out I made a dress out of my big size 22 pants and I used white remnant for contrast... I can't find the dress I think I gave it away ... it was at a time I had dropped all the way to 110 pounds ... when my ideal weight for me to maintain is between 123 and 127 pounds ... I am sitting at 120 this morning...
I was way too small in this picture taken prior to my brachioplasty...
I even had fun parading my old arse on a runway LOL ... and did it several times since and will do it again if asked and I have the disposition ... here I go pigeon toes and all walking in from the back of the store to the front where the event was held....
My life is an open book ... I am old and goofy and fun loving ... I have my fair share of life's aches and pains ... but in the equal measures that joy and misery exist I will embrace joy and MAKE IT HAPPEN TO ME ... each and every day ....
Thanks for allowing me to share ....
A dufus sista on the journey of life .... post WLS for health and mobility ...
RNY 2/5/07 no regain having implemented lifestyle changes....
Thanks for the laugh Marti!!
You are such a good writer- a thoroughly enjoyable memory! Thanks for sharing.
The one I can remember is from when I was 9 or so. I grew up on a farm and was just learning to show steers and bulls for livestock shows. They have to learn to wear a halter and be led by a lead rope attached to the halter. My dad made it look so easy. I grabbed the lead rope of this 1500 lb. animal and thought it would be a piece of cake. Before I even blinked my eyes, I was being dragged on the ground through dirt, muck and mud. I held onto the rope as long as I could and finally let go. NOT FUN!
But, I learned, and eventually showed many other cattle. Patience is truly a virtue.
The one I can remember is from when I was 9 or so. I grew up on a farm and was just learning to show steers and bulls for livestock shows. They have to learn to wear a halter and be led by a lead rope attached to the halter. My dad made it look so easy. I grabbed the lead rope of this 1500 lb. animal and thought it would be a piece of cake. Before I even blinked my eyes, I was being dragged on the ground through dirt, muck and mud. I held onto the rope as long as I could and finally let go. NOT FUN!
But, I learned, and eventually showed many other cattle. Patience is truly a virtue.
I really enjoyed reading that story. You are a great writer!!!!!!! I love the detal and the way you tell it. Congrats on your success and overcoming the temptation to mimic. When I see my collegues in the teachers' lounge grabbing for treats that are sometimes left on the center table, I am tempted to do exactly what they do, but stop, usually. LOL
Meredith 
Music Teacher in New Bern, NC (lost 48 lbs PRE-op!!)
http://bangertmusic.tripod.com/myweightlossjourney
Music Teacher in New Bern, NC (lost 48 lbs PRE-op!!)http://bangertmusic.tripod.com/myweightlossjourney
Most Active
Recent Topics
International Study Finds That Diet is More Important Than Exercise in Weight Loss
Batwingsman · 0 replies · 1154 views
Batwingsman · 0 replies · 1154 views