Outside perspective on my life…

…from an old (linguist) friend who wanted to phone-conference with me about something with the one ancient language that I’ve been studying for the past number of years and have made myself into quite the expert in, when we end up talking relatively late one evening when I’m at the local brewery having beer and reading through this strange ancient body of texts:

“Reading an old text corpus for fun? Sounds great!” – and, he then added that maybe he’s weird, but he really does wish he had more time for that, but his teaching commitments just don't allow for it.

Odds and ends:

1) The one (worked-out) (STEM) (Brazilian) said that his roommates told him that he had lost weight after a short trip this winter to the city that I used to live in, where he tagged along with me on a trip that I was making and I really took him around and showed him stuff, although he complained a lot the entire time about how much we were walking.

2) One night when I'm taking a shower a few months ago, a lot of stuff happens in my shower at once like my dwindling shampoo bar drops and then the thin plastic cover of the shower-knob pops off like it does sometimes, and I have to shift the drain-cover to get the dwindling shampoo bar off the floor where it’s stuck to it amidst the surface tension of the rushing water, only as I do that, the drain is open to the world, and the thin plastic cover of the shower-knob suddenly slides down into that and goes right down the drain, somewhere far below, never able to be retrieved again, easily.

A small sign of widened horizons:

The candy bowl at my local bank is nothing but Dum Dums, which product line apparently now includes a dragon fruit flavor.

Years ago, you never would have seen that.

Tastes have globalized.

A life reflection…

…from the (vivacious) and (warm) (Brazilian) wife of the one (older) couple who’ve lived around town for years:

In a college town, people come and go, which is sad, but otherwise you never would have had a chance to meet them.

. . .

(. . .)

Tidbits:

1) The one (older) (white) (townie) bartender at the local brewery was saying that with this one college sport that people love, long-time locals love this one radio commentator so much, and he really is the best, that they often mute their TVs and turn the radio on, so they can hear him describe the game instead of whatever the TV commentators are saying.

2) My cheap generic razor blades that dull quickly heap up in a corner of my open bathroom shelf in the corner of my bathroom, since I’m saving them there to use to strip balled-up fuzzies off my sweaters, in one last act of use before I finally am forced to throw them out.

Tidbits from my new job…

…at the (Irish-y) burger joint on the first floor of a historic hotel where I now work

1) “How are you doing?”, the one (big personality) (redheaded) (Irish-American) owner was like to me, wanting to know how my training was going.

And, she affirmed again that however long it took was fine, to take time and train more if you need it, but she was just checking in to see how it was going.

2) In the back dining room, this group of (old) (white) farmer people are having a larger (birthday?) celebration, and at the end of the meal someone breaks out several large white baker’s cartons filled with specially-made sugar cookies frosted to resemble cow’s heads.

3) “You’re [woman’s first name ending in -ie]’s son?!”, some customer asks my one (white) (young) (gay-ish) (ponytailed) coworker, who grew up a town over.

Automatic smiles.

A few months ago a(n old grad school friend) who now works in (film and TV production) was in the area for one-time event work, and we had coffee at my place on his first full day in town and then coffee again the next day before he left to go home.

And, as is often the case, he is an eccentric depressive about the state of the world and how it’s getting darker.

“That might be true,” I was like, “But you have to remember -- -- -- Luigi!”

And, as soon as I said that, he just automatically broke out in just the biggest, biggest genuine smile, the thought of Luigi warmed his heart so much.

Several other times during that visit, too, when he was getting that way, I’d be like, “But, Luigi!”, and it just brought out a smile every time, it just never, ever failed.