Since finishing my doctorate, I've been reading a ton more books for fun: the Decameron, Ursula LeGuin, some biographies and pop histories.
Often, I just sit in bed and read for a few hours, on an off night.
It's interesting to think of reading as education, apart from intensive research projects where you read scholarship.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Friday, January 12, 2018
Bloody Mary addiction.
Like over a month ago, I got together with my one friend from high school who runs a domestic violence shelter and her husband, and I stayed with them for a weekend, since we hadn't hung out in a few years.
One of the things they've started doing is pre-gaming before events with tequila shots with a Bloody Mary mix chaser, while their two year old and four year old daughters do grape juice from shot glasses set up on a separate tray.
"Shooters, shooters!", the kids were screaming and clapping, when they saw my friend and her husband pulling out shot glasses.
"Isn't this good?", my friend was like, after we did the tequila shots and Bloody Mary mix chasers.
"Yeah," I was like, "I usually don't like tequila since it gives me an upset stomach, but I like this."
"Yeah," she was like, "The Bloody Mary mix totally smooths out the bite."
I agreed, and later that weekend I'd occasionally go to the fridge and sneak a sip of Bloody Mary mix out of their plastic jug of it they had, it was so good.
Anyhow, like a month later, I was going in to one of my new jobs, and I saw a signboard out by a local bar, that they had $5 Bloody Maries on Sundays.
So, after work, I popped in and got one, and it was so fucking tasty.
"Enjoying your Bloody Mary?", the (young) (female) (kind of out-of-it and standoffish and clique-y) bartender was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "This is so fucking tasty."
"I know," she was like, and then she pulled out a bottle of their Bloody Mary mix.
"We start out with a pre-made," she was like, "But then the owners add to it and put in garlic and stuff, I don't know all what and how much, it's a secret of theirs, they keep that to themselves"
One of the things they've started doing is pre-gaming before events with tequila shots with a Bloody Mary mix chaser, while their two year old and four year old daughters do grape juice from shot glasses set up on a separate tray.
"Shooters, shooters!", the kids were screaming and clapping, when they saw my friend and her husband pulling out shot glasses.
"Isn't this good?", my friend was like, after we did the tequila shots and Bloody Mary mix chasers.
"Yeah," I was like, "I usually don't like tequila since it gives me an upset stomach, but I like this."
"Yeah," she was like, "The Bloody Mary mix totally smooths out the bite."
I agreed, and later that weekend I'd occasionally go to the fridge and sneak a sip of Bloody Mary mix out of their plastic jug of it they had, it was so good.
Anyhow, like a month later, I was going in to one of my new jobs, and I saw a signboard out by a local bar, that they had $5 Bloody Maries on Sundays.
So, after work, I popped in and got one, and it was so fucking tasty.
"Enjoying your Bloody Mary?", the (young) (female) (kind of out-of-it and standoffish and clique-y) bartender was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "This is so fucking tasty."
"I know," she was like, and then she pulled out a bottle of their Bloody Mary mix.
"We start out with a pre-made," she was like, "But then the owners add to it and put in garlic and stuff, I don't know all what and how much, it's a secret of theirs, they keep that to themselves"
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Winter wind.
It really is true that winter wind can just take the breath out of you.
The other week during a cold snap, I was hopping a bikeshare bike to go a short bit and go make a deposit at the local bank before it closed.
It had been gusting, and the wind was sweeping around and coming from all different directions from the south to the east to the north, and all of a sudden it came directly at me, and it was like it forced itself down my throat and up into my nose, this big cold grab that wouldn't let me breathe, and after the wind shut off suddenly, it took me a moment to recover and be able to breathe in and out again, it was so bad.
The other week during a cold snap, I was hopping a bikeshare bike to go a short bit and go make a deposit at the local bank before it closed.
It had been gusting, and the wind was sweeping around and coming from all different directions from the south to the east to the north, and all of a sudden it came directly at me, and it was like it forced itself down my throat and up into my nose, this big cold grab that wouldn't let me breathe, and after the wind shut off suddenly, it took me a moment to recover and be able to breathe in and out again, it was so bad.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
A story of a landlord.
The other week, a woman I was talking with said that back when she was living in this one community way out to the northwest of the city, her landlord was a farmer who just happened to have a house in town he rented out.
She said if she ever called in maintenance on something, you can tell if him or his sons stopped by when you weren't there, since the whole place smelled like horse shit.
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Local fire, and charity.
The other week before Christmas, me and my one old neighbor who went through Katrina in New Orleans went to go pick out toys for a toy drive, to take to the local police station.
While we were at the local drug store picking out toys, she told me about this four building fire that had happened the previous night, and how the fire skipped houses, and how some people lost everything, just before the holidays.
"I don't think anybody was hurt," she was like, "But damage was bad."
She then got a bit distant and said how hard it was to start over when you lost everything, and then she came to a bit and said that she was going to ask at the police station, if they were collecting for the people who lost homes.
There, the (black) (female) officer on duty said she'd get someone to talk to us, and she called these (older) (Italian-American) townies out of the back community liaison office, and the guys said that one of the fire victims was an officer and that they weren't sure if they were collecting for the fire victims, but if she wanted to bring in stuff, they'd take it anyways, and they'd make sure it got to someone who needed it even if there wasn't a collection taken up for the people who were affected by that specific fire.
It was so natural for her to go and ask that, and the way they responded was so natural, too.
She's told me before, that she comes from the (Italian-American) section of New Orleans and a lot of locals remind her of people she knows from there, and I could tell that from the way she was interacting with them...
She's (Italian-American), too.
Also, back when she was discussing the fire, she said it's horrible that it had to happen to anyone, but at least it happened to people with nicer homes who were more likely to have insurance.
While we were at the local drug store picking out toys, she told me about this four building fire that had happened the previous night, and how the fire skipped houses, and how some people lost everything, just before the holidays.
"I don't think anybody was hurt," she was like, "But damage was bad."
She then got a bit distant and said how hard it was to start over when you lost everything, and then she came to a bit and said that she was going to ask at the police station, if they were collecting for the people who lost homes.
There, the (black) (female) officer on duty said she'd get someone to talk to us, and she called these (older) (Italian-American) townies out of the back community liaison office, and the guys said that one of the fire victims was an officer and that they weren't sure if they were collecting for the fire victims, but if she wanted to bring in stuff, they'd take it anyways, and they'd make sure it got to someone who needed it even if there wasn't a collection taken up for the people who were affected by that specific fire.
It was so natural for her to go and ask that, and the way they responded was so natural, too.
She's told me before, that she comes from the (Italian-American) section of New Orleans and a lot of locals remind her of people she knows from there, and I could tell that from the way she was interacting with them...
She's (Italian-American), too.
Also, back when she was discussing the fire, she said it's horrible that it had to happen to anyone, but at least it happened to people with nicer homes who were more likely to have insurance.
Monday, January 8, 2018
A sight from public transportation (2 of 2): Welding.
The other week, I was taking the subway north of the city, and as we were pulling out of this one elevated station and twisting away, I looked back and tucked under the station side were 2 workers in neon green vests, welding the underside of the tracks or platform or something, sparks just flying everywhere in a patch of orange that just got smaller and smaller as we pulled farther and farther away.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
A sight from public transportation (1 of 2): Trestles.
The other week, I was taking the subway into one of my jobs in the late morning, and I was on this elevated above-ground section south of the city.
There were some workers in the car, and the train eventually slowed down and they pulled the emergency exit lever and went to go outside, right when we weren't even near a station or on an embankment or anything, but were on these trestles way the heck above the ground, about two stories up or so.
I kind of got up a little in my seat to go see what they were stepping out onto, and across the car this (late middle-aged) (black) lady did the same, scooting out of her seat and turning around to check out what was happening.
"Wow," I was like, "I didn't realize they had a whole sidewalk out there on the tracks," since the workers were going out onto this little boardwalk with a rail that was put up on one side of the tracks, that I had never noticed before.
"Me neither," she was like. "I thought they had to go walk around out there and could slip."
There were some workers in the car, and the train eventually slowed down and they pulled the emergency exit lever and went to go outside, right when we weren't even near a station or on an embankment or anything, but were on these trestles way the heck above the ground, about two stories up or so.
I kind of got up a little in my seat to go see what they were stepping out onto, and across the car this (late middle-aged) (black) lady did the same, scooting out of her seat and turning around to check out what was happening.
"Wow," I was like, "I didn't realize they had a whole sidewalk out there on the tracks," since the workers were going out onto this little boardwalk with a rail that was put up on one side of the tracks, that I had never noticed before.
"Me neither," she was like. "I thought they had to go walk around out there and could slip."
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