''Sometimes it seems like we're all living in some kind of prison, and the crime is how much we hate ourselves. It's good to get really dressed up once in a while and admit the truth - that when you really look closely, people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually beautiful...possibly even me'' - Angela (My So - Called Life)
My parents keep asking how school was. Itīs like saying:
'How was that drive-by shooting?'
You donīt care how it was, youīre lucky to get out alive."
Angela Chase (Claire Danes), My so-called life , episode 1
"So I started hanging out with Rayanne Graff. Just for fun. Just cause it
seemed like if I didn't, I would die or something. Things were getting to
me. Just how people are. How they always expect you to be a certain way,
even your best friend." -Angela
I don't open that wide at the dentist."
"How old are you?"
"I don't believe this. What's your point? 15."
"You act younger."
"First of all, you don't know me well enough to say how old I seem.
And second --"
"You talk a lot."
"I've said, like, eight sentences to you my entire life."
-- Angela and Jordan, the Car scene
'm starting to like Anne Frank."
"Is she a sophomore, too?"
"No, she's dead."
"Oh."
-- Angela and Graham
It's amazing the things you notice. Like the corner of his collar
that was coming undone, like he was from a poor family and couldn't
afford new shirts. That's all I could see. The whole world
was that unraveled piece of fabric. It's such a lie that you should
do what's in your heart. If we all did what was in our hearts,
the world would come to a halt."
-- Angela, on Jordan
"I wrote this about someone else... Umm... I -- this guy -- I had a
boyfriend last summer and um, I wrote everything -- I wanted to
remember him and I -- I used your name because I, I wanted -- I didn't
want other people to know it was about him, because... he died. He's
dead."
-- Angela to Jordan, after he returns
The Letter
Red"
I was going nowhere
Going nowhere fast
Drowning in my memories
Living in the past
Everything looked black til I found her
She's all I need and that's what I said
I call her Red...
She's my shelter from the storm
She's a place to rest my head
Late at night she keeps me safe and warm
I call her Red...
-- Jordan's song
hy are you like this?"
"Like what?"
"Like how you are."
"How am I?"
-- Jordan and Angela
"I did an undefendable thing. I created my own prison, and I have to exist
in it. Maybe I had a... wish... or whatever, to punish you. An unconscious
wish. You've heard of them, right?"
-- Jordan's speech to Angela
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just..."
"You need me. You must have me. As your own. You can't live another second
knowing others could possess me."
"I could just kill Tino."
-- Angela and Jordan
"And then, just as I'm realizing that there's hope, that we could actually
communicate -- he runs away."
-- Angela
"Does anybody know Jordan Catalano. That quesiton, like, got to me. I
mean, I'd had seven conversations with him, and one really bad kiss, and
one amazing one. But did I, like, know him?"
-- Angela
Can't we just..."
"Just what? Do it? Right here in a parking lot?"
"We're not in a parking lot. We're in a car. Why, where do you wanna do it?"
"Oh, I dunno, how about my room tonight, after my parents fall asleep. We'll
have to be really quiet."
-- Jordan and Angela
There's something about Sunday night that really makes you want to kill yourself." -Angela
"It shouldn't really hurt, losing something you never had." -angela
"I loved Jordan Catalano so much. And talked about him so much. And thought about him so much. It was like he lived inside me. Like he had taken possession of my soul or something. And then one day... I got over him. -Angela
You wanna have sex with him?"
"Who?"
"Who. Jordan. Catalano. Come on, I'm not gonna tell anyone, just admit it."
"I just like how he's always leaning. Against stuff. He leans great. Well, either sex or a conversation. Ideally both." -Rayanne and Angela
Dear Angela,
I know in the past I've caused you pain, and I'm sorry. And I'll
always be sorry til the day I die. And I hate this pen I'm holding, because
I should be holding you. I hate this paper under my hand because it isn't
you. I even hate this letter because it's not the whole truth. Because the
whole truth is so much more than a letter can even say. If you wanna hate
me, go ahead. If you wanna burn this letter, do it. You could burn the
whole world down. You could tell me to go to hell. I'd go. If you wanted
me to. And I'd send you a letter from there.
Sincerely,
Jordan Catalano
Have you ever just like completely given up on someone and then something
happens and you go, Oh my God. There is so much more to this person than I
ever dreamed."
-- Angela
I have all these dreams where I know exactly what to say. Then you tell
me... you know... that you forgive me."
-- Jordan, to Angela
"It's like you think you're safe or something, 'cause you can just walk away,
anytime, because you don't like, need her. You don't need anyone. But the
thing you didn't realize is, you're wrong."
-- Jordan, to Patty
