Hello and happy April 17! This would be Angela's wee little sister, Brittany, blogging on her behalf while she winds down her romp through bella Italia. I must admit, at first I questioned Angela's judgment in allowing me to guest blog. I've known Angela for most of her life--the two years before I was born and the first few years I was unaware of her as a real person notwithstanding. (Do babies understand the concept of sisters or other humans as anything other than a food source? I doubt it.) Our relationship has always been rather... tumultuous... if you will. She's blogged about it before (which I would cleverly link here now but don't know how, so instead I will just give a brief synopsis). Basically, for as long as I can remember, I've never had a better friend or a greater enemy in my sister. We have fought almost to the death to only wind up laughing hysterically moments later. As I'm sure you would guess, I have a lot of dirt on her, so when she first asked me to blog I was rather surprised.
However, I have decided that I will be:
Plus, there's absolutely nothing bad about Angela. She is, as I'm sure you all imagine, practically perfect in every way.
It's no surprise to me that Angela is a fabulous writer. It's funny how true it is that hindsight is 20/20. I look at who and what she and I have become, and I think how glaringly obvious it must have been when we were little that we would end up here. It wasn't obvious then, though, it's just obvious in hindsight. Capiche?
When we were little girls, you could usually find Angela curled up on the couch with a good book. Well, not BOOK--more like NOVEL. You know, nine year old Angela devouring Wuthering Heights or Gone With the Wind like it was a Judy Bloom story. Most of the time, though, I would interrupt her and beg her to play Barbie's with me, because NO ONE played Barbie's like Angela and I did, making it one of my very favorite past times. Typically, we would sit down with all of our dolls, get them all dressed up, and then name them--first, middle, and last names, of course. The last name was usually some sort of Italian food, like Spaghetti or Cannelloni. Next came the character autobiographies, as we would carefully detail all of their past histories.
ie Peaches and Cream Barbie (now renamed "Christiana Vanessa Spaghetti")
Head Shot:
Resume: 24 years old. Sent to an orphanage at the age of 13. Adopted at 15 by the Spaghettis. Loves to flirt with dashing men and go shopping. Scared of heights. Suicide threat.
I kid you not. We would fight for hours over whose Barbie was going to jump off the roof to her death. If the other player's Barbie got to attempt suicide, your Barbie had the option of getting pregnant or going to an orphanage. I mean, really, it's only fair. Playing Barbie's typically wound up like a season of "Days of Our Lives" or something.
One of my favorite Barbie memories would probably be when we took a large cardboard box and made a proscenium theatre in which our Barbie's could perform Greek tragedies. As I recall, the stories of Prometheus and Pandora were our favorites, and we would design the set, costumes, and hair, as well as write the script and then perform the play for our fans parents. This involved tying fishing wire to their arms so we could move them like puppets, of course--giving the illusion that the Barbie's were, in fact, moving on their own accord. Live theatre at its best.
So is it any surprise that she became an aspiring author and I an aspiring actress? I think not. We were born with a flair for the dramatic, and our Barbie Days merely laid the groundwork. (Some people say Salad Days, I think we call it the Barbie Days.) Maybe one day we will again collaborate... keep an eye out for a modern day retelling of Prometheus and Pandora. It will be theatrical gold.
Oh, you guys had the BEST Barbie stories. Yeah, it's pretty obvious your parents had a writer and an actress on their hands.
Posted by: Fraulein N | April 17, 2008 at 03:32 PM
You left out the background on the infamous flying Barbie's in the back of the van on long trips. As a public service to those who may want to read more tales of the drama queen:
http://www.foralltheworldsastage.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Old Warrior | April 17, 2008 at 04:36 PM
Haha I'm sure my Jane barbie(inspired by Tarzan stories)would have loved to play with your barbies back in the day. ;-)
Posted by: Jass | April 17, 2008 at 06:53 PM
You blog now? And conveniently right after Angela leaves for Italy? Sneaky!
Apparantly, you both were born with awesomeness in you ;-)
Posted by: Caro | April 17, 2008 at 10:51 PM
i totally had a peaches and cream barbie!! :)
you have some writing skills of your own obviously, great post!
Posted by: Michelle & the City | April 18, 2008 at 04:06 AM
I can only imagine what an extensive archive of Brittany and Angela stories your parents must have! I've never owned a real Barbie before, and now you're making me wonder if I somehow missed out... though I doubt I would have been nearly as imaginative as you guys were. On a sort of related note, Angela's right about you needing a blog!
Posted by: Girl, Dislocated | April 18, 2008 at 06:08 AM
Fraulein: Thanks for the visit! It made me really happy to have someone know of the wonderfulness that is Extras!
Jass: We never had a Jane Barbie... I'm sure she would have been more than welcome into our club of crazy characters!
Caro: Ha, I know... I have horrible timing, don't I? Welcome home gift?
Michelle: Thank you! Peaches and Cream Barbie was my very favorite! I hope to one day have a dress like that--though I hope the top doesn't crack like hers did...
Girl, Dislocated: Thank you for enjoying the story! And you know, it's never too late to buy a Barbie. Also, I did start a blog... for Angela... as soon as she left for Italy. I know, it makes absolutely no sense... it's over at www.foralltheworldsastage.blogspot.com
Posted by: Brittany | April 18, 2008 at 06:19 AM
OK, that's it. I'm adopting the lot of you. You're hilarious!
My Barbie stories are all mine. Why? I used to tell my friends what they had to make their Barbie's say and do.
Let's just say, I was a very bossy child.
Posted by: RisibleGirl | April 18, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Came from RisibleGirl... I'm so glad to know that we were not the only girls creating very dramatic soap operas with our Barbies! I have a little brother and I fear we scarred him for life by only allowing him to play with the ugly Barbies. :)
Posted by: Angie | April 19, 2008 at 01:08 AM
Oh, we had that Barbie.
We only had one Ken, so ours would always get divorced so the other Barbies would have a chance to be in a relationship with Ken.
Posted by: Stephanie | April 21, 2008 at 03:12 AM