Being British is highly over-rated.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Lost my hat.
I took the wrong bus yesterday and ended up having to get off like 3 blocks north of my house in light rain, and since I needed to call my parents, I put my little black Irish hat in my pocket, and when I got to my house and went to hang up my jacket, it was gone - it seems it had fallen out of my pocket somewhere between the bus stop and my house.
I retraced most of my steps, only to realize that I shouldn't be so attached to material possessions, but right before going in my door I went to the dollar store downstairs to see if it had dropped right outside the door and anyone had turned it in. The (Palestinian) owner was busy, so I looked to see if he had any cheap replacement hats, and a younger (black) woman was standing there and stepped aside and was like "Excuse me" nicely when she saw I was looking at the rack of hats behind her, and I was like, "Thank you so much, I just lost my favorite black hat."
"That is too bad!", she was like, so I was like, "Eh, what can you do."
When I went up to the counter then to ask about my hat, he said no one had turned it in, and then was like, "That is too bad," to which I responded, "Actually, people are losing their homes right now, people are losing their jobs right now, and I lost an $8 hat from Marshall's, so I'm actually doing pretty well," and from down the counter the younger (black) woman nicely butted in and was like, "True!", and then added, "But I'm sure you'll find another nice hat."
I retraced most of my steps, only to realize that I shouldn't be so attached to material possessions, but right before going in my door I went to the dollar store downstairs to see if it had dropped right outside the door and anyone had turned it in. The (Palestinian) owner was busy, so I looked to see if he had any cheap replacement hats, and a younger (black) woman was standing there and stepped aside and was like "Excuse me" nicely when she saw I was looking at the rack of hats behind her, and I was like, "Thank you so much, I just lost my favorite black hat."
"That is too bad!", she was like, so I was like, "Eh, what can you do."
When I went up to the counter then to ask about my hat, he said no one had turned it in, and then was like, "That is too bad," to which I responded, "Actually, people are losing their homes right now, people are losing their jobs right now, and I lost an $8 hat from Marshall's, so I'm actually doing pretty well," and from down the counter the younger (black) woman nicely butted in and was like, "True!", and then added, "But I'm sure you'll find another nice hat."
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Forgot.... About the black neighborhood bar.
I forgot -
So, the other week when my one friend from school with the hippie biker parents had her birthday get-together at the black neighborhood bar and students from school and some people from the restaurant where she works came, this one old Jamaican guy ("Leroy") who owns a garage about a 10min. drive south of the neighborhood but lives in the neighborhood and always comes in for a glass of wine at her restaurant came and joined everyone. He was quite the person...
We both ended up at the bar at the same time, me to get a pitcher and him to get a mixed drink for himself, and while we were standing there talking, he would tap the big black lady in a head-to-toe pink jogging outfit, and then turn away and hide his face from her with the brim of his baseball cap and pretend like he wasn't doing anything, so she'd look up at me like I was bothering her, and while I still didn't realize what was happening, he did this again, and then I realized what was happening, and I told her that it was him tapping her, and she saw him and was like, "Oh, you!", and swatted her hand, and it turns out that they had known each other for like 20 years but hadn't seen each other in a while.
Later, me and him were talking, and he started to say what an awful place the tiki bar that used to be open across the street was, and how it was the only bar open till 4am, so all the drunks and disorderlies and people up to no good late at night used to come in, especially since they also had food till 4am, and the whole place would get out of control, but the old (black) guy who owned it ("Tiki Teddy"), was too cheap to hire extra staff, so he would try to be barman/waiter/doorman while keeping a watch on everything, and meanwhile prostitutes would be having sex in the bathroom, just like they used to do at this 24-hour Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood that recently closed down, and a lot of drug deals would be going on, and it was like that till one day someone shot the ceiling up and then Tiki Teddy decided it was too much for him and his wife at their age and he closed the place down.
The place also had really good fish and chips, Leroy said, and the waitresses would steal from the customers' purses.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," I was like. "You miss it?"
"I do," Leroy said, and got a sad look on his face.
So, the other week when my one friend from school with the hippie biker parents had her birthday get-together at the black neighborhood bar and students from school and some people from the restaurant where she works came, this one old Jamaican guy ("Leroy") who owns a garage about a 10min. drive south of the neighborhood but lives in the neighborhood and always comes in for a glass of wine at her restaurant came and joined everyone. He was quite the person...
We both ended up at the bar at the same time, me to get a pitcher and him to get a mixed drink for himself, and while we were standing there talking, he would tap the big black lady in a head-to-toe pink jogging outfit, and then turn away and hide his face from her with the brim of his baseball cap and pretend like he wasn't doing anything, so she'd look up at me like I was bothering her, and while I still didn't realize what was happening, he did this again, and then I realized what was happening, and I told her that it was him tapping her, and she saw him and was like, "Oh, you!", and swatted her hand, and it turns out that they had known each other for like 20 years but hadn't seen each other in a while.
Later, me and him were talking, and he started to say what an awful place the tiki bar that used to be open across the street was, and how it was the only bar open till 4am, so all the drunks and disorderlies and people up to no good late at night used to come in, especially since they also had food till 4am, and the whole place would get out of control, but the old (black) guy who owned it ("Tiki Teddy"), was too cheap to hire extra staff, so he would try to be barman/waiter/doorman while keeping a watch on everything, and meanwhile prostitutes would be having sex in the bathroom, just like they used to do at this 24-hour Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood that recently closed down, and a lot of drug deals would be going on, and it was like that till one day someone shot the ceiling up and then Tiki Teddy decided it was too much for him and his wife at their age and he closed the place down.
The place also had really good fish and chips, Leroy said, and the waitresses would steal from the customers' purses.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," I was like. "You miss it?"
"I do," Leroy said, and got a sad look on his face.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Tennille / Meal.
So, I got my hair cut by Tennille yesterday. She had been at a regional stylists convention that weekend, so she had this combo razor-comb thing that she used to texture my hair. As it turns out, I was her second guinea pig of the day for her now toy. She told me that the stylist doing the demo was this handsome white guy with dreads, and there was this huge crowd around the place where he was styling.
"Really?", I was like.
"Yeah," she was like, "and he was handsome. I was just starting to wonder if he was married, too, when he mentioned his wife. He must have felt the heat from me thinking."
Later, I went to this lecture by the cardinal to a local group of rich people who have a group with some big-time name but is really just an excuse for a lecture series, because the conservative Catholic group on campus sponsored students for free, though I had to cough up money at the cash bar beforehand ($9 for a glass of red wine).
As it turns out, the donors for the conservative Catholic group were there and the sponsoring prof was taking them out for dinner with the cardinal and others afterwards, and I had the feeling that the mass of students who showed up (they sat us in one reserved section) was to show how the group could turn out numbers with the money the donors give.
Us students, too, had our own dinner, and 11 of us went out to a decently well-known Italian restaurant afterwards. It turns out there was free wine and a six-course meal:
1) bread basket with olive oil and grated cheese.
2) calamari and bruschetta as appetizers for the table.
3) a caesar salad, or tomatoes calabrese (i.e., with basil and mozzarella cheese).
(n.b., each plate was huge, and the calabrese was five slices of tomato with the shit on top, and I had three other slices that various people around the table didn't finish.)
4) potato gnocchi, or risotto with four kinds of cheese.
(I had the risotto, the portions were huge.)
5) entrees of veal, salmon, or chicken cacciatore.
(I had the veal, I had like a fourth of it and it was too much, I had to take it to go.)
6) a desert tray with fresh fruit, cannoli, and tiramisu, and coffee all around.
(Somehow I managed to have bits of tiramisu and cannoli, and like half an orange and a ton of cantalope and sugared strawberries.)
Afterwards, one undergraduate who came said to the other, "That was a great meal, I find it kind of funny, though, because all their lecture series this semester are about great Christian ascetics."
This morning -- and I've never had this happen before -- I so wasn't hungry for breakfast that I just had a cup of coffee, and come lunchtime, I wasn't hungry either, though since there was a light departmental lunch I was committed to going to, I valiantly choked it down.
As I write, I'm still not that hungry. Either that was some meal, or I'm losing my touch. I still feel kind of sluggish (though always when I feel sluggish, no one seems to notice, so maybe it's just mental, and not behaviorally-observable).
"Really?", I was like.
"Yeah," she was like, "and he was handsome. I was just starting to wonder if he was married, too, when he mentioned his wife. He must have felt the heat from me thinking."
Later, I went to this lecture by the cardinal to a local group of rich people who have a group with some big-time name but is really just an excuse for a lecture series, because the conservative Catholic group on campus sponsored students for free, though I had to cough up money at the cash bar beforehand ($9 for a glass of red wine).
As it turns out, the donors for the conservative Catholic group were there and the sponsoring prof was taking them out for dinner with the cardinal and others afterwards, and I had the feeling that the mass of students who showed up (they sat us in one reserved section) was to show how the group could turn out numbers with the money the donors give.
Us students, too, had our own dinner, and 11 of us went out to a decently well-known Italian restaurant afterwards. It turns out there was free wine and a six-course meal:
1) bread basket with olive oil and grated cheese.
2) calamari and bruschetta as appetizers for the table.
3) a caesar salad, or tomatoes calabrese (i.e., with basil and mozzarella cheese).
(n.b., each plate was huge, and the calabrese was five slices of tomato with the shit on top, and I had three other slices that various people around the table didn't finish.)
4) potato gnocchi, or risotto with four kinds of cheese.
(I had the risotto, the portions were huge.)
5) entrees of veal, salmon, or chicken cacciatore.
(I had the veal, I had like a fourth of it and it was too much, I had to take it to go.)
6) a desert tray with fresh fruit, cannoli, and tiramisu, and coffee all around.
(Somehow I managed to have bits of tiramisu and cannoli, and like half an orange and a ton of cantalope and sugared strawberries.)
Afterwards, one undergraduate who came said to the other, "That was a great meal, I find it kind of funny, though, because all their lecture series this semester are about great Christian ascetics."
This morning -- and I've never had this happen before -- I so wasn't hungry for breakfast that I just had a cup of coffee, and come lunchtime, I wasn't hungry either, though since there was a light departmental lunch I was committed to going to, I valiantly choked it down.
As I write, I'm still not that hungry. Either that was some meal, or I'm losing my touch. I still feel kind of sluggish (though always when I feel sluggish, no one seems to notice, so maybe it's just mental, and not behaviorally-observable).
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Two mistakes in popular books about Early Christianity --
#1 - to act as if gnosticism is early, since it's not; the earliest discernible references are from the first half of the 2nd c. (and most of the New Testament was written in the 1st c., some in the early 2nd c.).
#2 - to ignore how significant Paul was in shaping the religion that forms the basis of the one we've inherited, without him sticking up for doing away with dietary laws circumcision etc. a successful mission to the Gentiles would have been inconceivable.
#2 - to ignore how significant Paul was in shaping the religion that forms the basis of the one we've inherited, without him sticking up for doing away with dietary laws circumcision etc. a successful mission to the Gentiles would have been inconceivable.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Barber / Korean Food / Barber.
I stopped into the hair place I go to on Saturday to make an appointment with Tennille. One of the (black) male hair stylists ("Anton") was in, and it turns out that the next day he and Tennille were meeting up and going down to the big yearly regional hairstyling convention down at the local convention center, though he complained about the price of admission and the price of taking a class -- over $125 for a class with Paul Mitchell, "And he's not even a stylist, most people don't even realize that," he was like, and he added that he saw him in person once and he had an incredibly bad complexion -- and he also mentioned he's taking cash and not plastic this year, because he has a feeling people will be selling product and styling equipment real cheap on the last day, with how bad the economy is doing.
I also got Korean food that night at the restaurant down the block. It was a slow night, and the owner said Korean food was the perfect food, because it was all natural like Chinese and Japanese food, but it has less oil than Chinese food and less sugar than Japanese food.
His wife also wants to go back to Korea, so they probably will in like 4-5 years, and then he was like, "But where will all the Korean students eat?", adding that the next closest Korean restaurant was north of downtown and took like 30-40 minutes to get to.
Today I was studying at a coffee shop in a neighborhood to the decently far north, and I was staring out the window thinking when this black dude with a cap pulled down jumps in front of the window and starts making crazy faces and snarling and lolling his tongue from side to side, and I jumped, and then I looked closer, and it turned out it was Diezel, who tipped his head and had a laugh on me as he continued to walk by on the sidewalk.
I also got Korean food that night at the restaurant down the block. It was a slow night, and the owner said Korean food was the perfect food, because it was all natural like Chinese and Japanese food, but it has less oil than Chinese food and less sugar than Japanese food.
His wife also wants to go back to Korea, so they probably will in like 4-5 years, and then he was like, "But where will all the Korean students eat?", adding that the next closest Korean restaurant was north of downtown and took like 30-40 minutes to get to.
Today I was studying at a coffee shop in a neighborhood to the decently far north, and I was staring out the window thinking when this black dude with a cap pulled down jumps in front of the window and starts making crazy faces and snarling and lolling his tongue from side to side, and I jumped, and then I looked closer, and it turned out it was Diezel, who tipped his head and had a laugh on me as he continued to walk by on the sidewalk.
Forgot - black church story -
I forgot --
Like two weekends ago when I went to my one (black) friend who works the library desk on Sunday nights's church, this little storefront church down in a bad neighborhood, me and my (white) friend I went with walked in the door, and there were people hanging out all dressed up in the foyer, including this older kind of plump guy in a nice suit on a chair right by the entrance, and we all said hi cordially, and after we went to sit down and we saw our friend, she asked if we had met her father, and it turned out that that guy was her father, so when I went back into the foyer to go to the restroom, I went back to introduce myself proper.
"Hey," I was like, "So you're [my one (black) friend who works the library desk on Sunday night's] father," and he started to laugh.
"That's what they tell me," he was like, and laughed even more heartily. "That's what they tell me!"
When I told this to my friend the next time I saw her, and was like, "Hey, did you know what your dad said," she laughed pretty loud too, and was like, "That foo!"
Like two weekends ago when I went to my one (black) friend who works the library desk on Sunday nights's church, this little storefront church down in a bad neighborhood, me and my (white) friend I went with walked in the door, and there were people hanging out all dressed up in the foyer, including this older kind of plump guy in a nice suit on a chair right by the entrance, and we all said hi cordially, and after we went to sit down and we saw our friend, she asked if we had met her father, and it turned out that that guy was her father, so when I went back into the foyer to go to the restroom, I went back to introduce myself proper.
"Hey," I was like, "So you're [my one (black) friend who works the library desk on Sunday night's] father," and he started to laugh.
"That's what they tell me," he was like, and laughed even more heartily. "That's what they tell me!"
When I told this to my friend the next time I saw her, and was like, "Hey, did you know what your dad said," she laughed pretty loud too, and was like, "That foo!"
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