Action figure

1. definition
Main Entry: ac·tion noun
Etymology: Latin actio legal proceeding, from agere to do, carry out, initiate legal proceedings
a : a judicial proceeding for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offence
b : an act or decision by an executive or legislative body of a government of an organization
c : a voluntary act of will that manifests itself externally : a mode of conduct.

I’m not satisfied with any of those definitions. Where’s the one that allows for the connotation of excitement?

2. state of affairs
Up early, I’ve rearranged my cupboards and coaxed the big furry leggy spider off the kitchen ceiling and into the garden. Now I’m restless. I’m feeling the need for some of that action business, the (c) kind+excitement, the kind of act of will that propels me out of my house and into the world, the wonderful polluted world of London town.
It might involve other human beings.
I think of those kids who were told that ‘verbs are “doing words”’ and therefore believe that ‘to sleep’ or ‘to read’ are not verbs, since in their mind sleeping is not something you do and reading doesn’t qualify as action.
As if.
Still, today I seem to agree. Reading just won’t cut it.

3. the plan
…is to go shopliftingping with a friend. Is she a friend? I suppose so, since she tells me all about her tribulations and doubts, in a wide circle of questions that hasn’t changed much since we first met, four years ago. She’ll turn up, announce that she can only stay for an hour and that she can’t afford to buy anything, then drag me into every possible shop for the rest of the afternoon and try on things I wouldn’t even glance at. At 28, she can wear rags designed for slutty twelve year olds and still look good, in a punky, dyky kind of way. She will prance nearly naked outside the fitting rooms and ask what I think of her body. I will laugh and be patient and keep up my stance of the slightly jaded, superior, wiser, older friend. I’m not that much older, yet it seems to be my part, and I play it well. When I’m not up to it, we just don’t see each other. Then we’ll go sit in a smoky bar and she will tell me about the last time she called her fucked up ex and I’ll pretend to scold her.

I can’t wait.