I had a tickle in my throat when I rode my bike downtown on Tues., and then that night I started feeling sick, and I woke up with a chest cold on Wed., and since then it's continued.
Like I like to say when I'm sick, "The only thing that's productive with me right now is my cough."
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Oprah gossip.
When Oprah works out at the ritzy gym downtown, she has 3 trainers, but she doesn't actually ever work out, she just sits around and talks with them for her entire work-out time.
No word on whether the trainers are male or female, though.
No word on whether the trainers are male or female, though.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Whole Foods Checkout.
On Sat. when I was biking downtown w/my neighbor who I volunteered on the Obama campaign with in Indiana, on the way back, we both stopped at Whole Foods since she needed to return something, so I went in and while she did some shopping too, I went to go look at coffee cans, and then I went around for free samples, and I couldn't find her, so I ended up circling the store 2 more times and hitting my favorite samples again.
When I finally found her near the checkout, I got in line too near this younger (black) girl, and she asked me how I'm doing, and I was like, "Good, I lost my friend and ended up roaming the store and eating samples!", and she was like, "Then you having a fun time, then."
When I finally found her near the checkout, I got in line too near this younger (black) girl, and she asked me how I'm doing, and I was like, "Good, I lost my friend and ended up roaming the store and eating samples!", and she was like, "Then you having a fun time, then."
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Paper fight.
On Sunday I got in a fight at the local French bakery place. These two old weird guys - one white and bald on top w/a strangely dark pink face, and the other Asian and quiet with black hair, and also bald on top - were there with their new friend, this balder young German guy who always wears athletic wear and talks loudly in a thick German accent.
Anyhow, the two older men had a huge pile of all the coffee shop's copy of the Sunday NTimes on the table and none of them were reading any of it, so I went up and asked them if I could look at what sections they had, I was hoping to read the front page and the Week in Review (they had those 2, and then the Arts and Entertainment, the Styles section, the Magazine, and something else - that is, everything good, the only shit they didn't have was the Travel and Business sections).
"I'm sorry," the German guy was like, "I'm going to read that in 5 minutes," and then he picked up the papers and, while still holding them, was like, "What else do you want?"
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading the paper now?"
"No, I'm reading it in 5 minutes," the German guy was like.
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading that section of the paper now?", and I just stood there with my arms folded while the guy waited for me to tell him what section I wanted so he could dribble it out to me.
"I'm just really confused," I was like, like after about 10 seconds of pregnant pause, "Is this your paper, or the coffee shop's?", and at that the guy got embarrassed and gave me the sections I wanted, and made up some lame excuse that he never gives them out since people never bring them back.
Anyhow, after I was there and had finished the sections, I brought them back nicely, and after I gave them back, the older guy with the really pink face was like, "Pardon me young man, but are you usually that rude? You never said please, and people never come up and grab papers off of other people's tables."
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But if you have a complaint, let's talk with the manager," and then he said something combative, and I was like, "I'm sorry, I don't have to put up w/this, if you don't want to come with me, I'm going to talk to the manager now," and while he was saying "Can you believe that?" to his friends, I went up and said something to the countergirl, and she was making a cappucino (sp.?) and said she'd be right w/me, and all of a sudden this shorter woman beside me was like, "Hey, listen to him, he's a solid guy, not a crazy," and I turn and it's the communications directory from school in there with her two small children after synagogue.
Anyhow, I talked to the countergirl and she said she was sorry, and asked me if I was able to get the sections I wanted, and when I said yes, she said she wouldn't talk to the men, then.
Later, the communications director from school said that the guys are local crazies who have nothing else to do and are kind of out of it, and I shouldn't back down if they're so out of whack that they don't know common courtesy surrounding a public paper.
Anyhow, what I'm wondering is what's going to happen when I'm in there next Sat. or Sun., since these guys always hog the public paper, and though I'll be nice, there's no way I'm going to say 'please' to them.
Anyhow, the two older men had a huge pile of all the coffee shop's copy of the Sunday NTimes on the table and none of them were reading any of it, so I went up and asked them if I could look at what sections they had, I was hoping to read the front page and the Week in Review (they had those 2, and then the Arts and Entertainment, the Styles section, the Magazine, and something else - that is, everything good, the only shit they didn't have was the Travel and Business sections).
"I'm sorry," the German guy was like, "I'm going to read that in 5 minutes," and then he picked up the papers and, while still holding them, was like, "What else do you want?"
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading the paper now?"
"No, I'm reading it in 5 minutes," the German guy was like.
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But are you reading that section of the paper now?", and I just stood there with my arms folded while the guy waited for me to tell him what section I wanted so he could dribble it out to me.
"I'm just really confused," I was like, like after about 10 seconds of pregnant pause, "Is this your paper, or the coffee shop's?", and at that the guy got embarrassed and gave me the sections I wanted, and made up some lame excuse that he never gives them out since people never bring them back.
Anyhow, after I was there and had finished the sections, I brought them back nicely, and after I gave them back, the older guy with the really pink face was like, "Pardon me young man, but are you usually that rude? You never said please, and people never come up and grab papers off of other people's tables."
"I'm sorry," I was like, "But if you have a complaint, let's talk with the manager," and then he said something combative, and I was like, "I'm sorry, I don't have to put up w/this, if you don't want to come with me, I'm going to talk to the manager now," and while he was saying "Can you believe that?" to his friends, I went up and said something to the countergirl, and she was making a cappucino (sp.?) and said she'd be right w/me, and all of a sudden this shorter woman beside me was like, "Hey, listen to him, he's a solid guy, not a crazy," and I turn and it's the communications directory from school in there with her two small children after synagogue.
Anyhow, I talked to the countergirl and she said she was sorry, and asked me if I was able to get the sections I wanted, and when I said yes, she said she wouldn't talk to the men, then.
Later, the communications director from school said that the guys are local crazies who have nothing else to do and are kind of out of it, and I shouldn't back down if they're so out of whack that they don't know common courtesy surrounding a public paper.
Anyhow, what I'm wondering is what's going to happen when I'm in there next Sat. or Sun., since these guys always hog the public paper, and though I'll be nice, there's no way I'm going to say 'please' to them.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Happenings.
1) After finding out months ago that Lars's phone is no longer in service, I ran into him on the street the other day. He said he got a new number, so I got it from him, and he was walking with 2 very short brown-haired people from the U.P., who turned out to be his parents.
2) On Sunday night a (white) friend from my program who's also an ordained minister called me up to see if I wanted to go to a year-end awards/appreciation/fund-raising banquet for area ommunity organizers since someone from his church dropped out last minute, so I went...
The place was like half-white, half-black, and the waiters were all Mexican. The two white women at our table said they were vegetarian when they served them dinner - a piece of beef, a breast of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans! - but then when they brought out the vegetarian option, a pile of white rice and some steamed broccoli and carrots, they were like, "I'd like other one back," and then they preceded to polish off the beef. At the end of the night, my friend and a (black) guy who goes to his church ("Lamar") and I were talking about that, and my friend said that they must be recovering vegetarians, and Lamar said that they definitely feel off the wagon.
Later, too, Lamar said they probably shoot up ground beef.
Also, one (black) minister at the function - dreads, nice dark suit -gave a talk where he asked everyone to raise their waterglass and thank the people who carry the water when water rolls down like justice (a biblical allusion), and afterward my friend said that last year during the election the guy had a better speech, since he said that there was a mighty river of water of justice flowing, but there was a bush blocking up the river, but we were lucky, since our God burns bushes.
3) Sunday when I did a local free walking tour of sites associated with a famous U.S. murder that happened in my neighborhood, I started talking with this short 40s-ish black woman in the group, and somehow she started talking about how her parents had taken care of her and her husband's kids the previous so they could have date night, and then her and her husband ended up driving up to the Mexican neighborhood at one-thirty in the morning to get some beef tacos.
2) On Sunday night a (white) friend from my program who's also an ordained minister called me up to see if I wanted to go to a year-end awards/appreciation/fund-raising banquet for area ommunity organizers since someone from his church dropped out last minute, so I went...
The place was like half-white, half-black, and the waiters were all Mexican. The two white women at our table said they were vegetarian when they served them dinner - a piece of beef, a breast of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans! - but then when they brought out the vegetarian option, a pile of white rice and some steamed broccoli and carrots, they were like, "I'd like other one back," and then they preceded to polish off the beef. At the end of the night, my friend and a (black) guy who goes to his church ("Lamar") and I were talking about that, and my friend said that they must be recovering vegetarians, and Lamar said that they definitely feel off the wagon.
Later, too, Lamar said they probably shoot up ground beef.
Also, one (black) minister at the function - dreads, nice dark suit -gave a talk where he asked everyone to raise their waterglass and thank the people who carry the water when water rolls down like justice (a biblical allusion), and afterward my friend said that last year during the election the guy had a better speech, since he said that there was a mighty river of water of justice flowing, but there was a bush blocking up the river, but we were lucky, since our God burns bushes.
3) Sunday when I did a local free walking tour of sites associated with a famous U.S. murder that happened in my neighborhood, I started talking with this short 40s-ish black woman in the group, and somehow she started talking about how her parents had taken care of her and her husband's kids the previous so they could have date night, and then her and her husband ended up driving up to the Mexican neighborhood at one-thirty in the morning to get some beef tacos.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Rot 2.
I had to call the building maintenance man again the other day. The contraption that puts the plug in your bathroom sink up and down rusted through and broke off, so my plug was stuck there. So, the maintenance man worked it out with a boxcutter, asked if I ever really used the plug in my sink, and when I told him no, he threw the plug in the trash, and said not to worry, and they wouldn't replace it since you'd have to tear out and replaced the whole sink, and it wouldn't interfere with my use of the bathroom.
Now, when I put the water on, the water falls out of the faucet and right into the drain, and it makes a funny sound.
The other night I had a dream that I was in my kitchen and the fridge door was open and the fridge was empty, but there was all this moisture sitting on the sides and it was really dark and humid inside, though not moldy.
I think I had this dream since there's a lot of ice building up in my freezer, and the past few days I've been thinking of defrosting my fridge before I go on vacation.
Now, when I put the water on, the water falls out of the faucet and right into the drain, and it makes a funny sound.
The other night I had a dream that I was in my kitchen and the fridge door was open and the fridge was empty, but there was all this moisture sitting on the sides and it was really dark and humid inside, though not moldy.
I think I had this dream since there's a lot of ice building up in my freezer, and the past few days I've been thinking of defrosting my fridge before I go on vacation.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Plans for Summer.
Since my one (black) (female) (grew-up-in-the-70s) dean loves disco, and I heard that Donna Summer has one stop in the city in late August for her latest tour, I printed off a blurb from the venue and popped by my dean's office today to ask her "if she had any big plans for Summer."
As it turns out, she was ecstatic, and she's definitely going to go, and she said the week after the concert students start arriving, so it'll be a perfect end to the slow part of the school year.
"And I'll buy you a plastic glass of chardonnay," I was like, and she laughed softly and wrinkled her nose and was like, "Sounds good," and she seemed both touched and pleased.
I also said that I like "On the Radio" and "MacArthur Park", and she said her favorite is "Last Dance" -- I told her that because of the lyrics about a last dance towards the end, I always start humming the David Bowie song "Under Pressure" whenever I see the Donna Summer song, though I know they're not the same -- and that way back when when her one uncle who works for a shoe company in Connecticut and so has money used to host (black) family reunions, he, right when karoake machines came out, used to rent one, and her aunt would always sing Donna Summer's version of "MacArthur Park" and impress everyone.
I also told her how I had texted a friend about whether Donna Summer still has it, and that he texted back -
hell yes
- and she laughed, and loved that.
As it turns out, she was ecstatic, and she's definitely going to go, and she said the week after the concert students start arriving, so it'll be a perfect end to the slow part of the school year.
"And I'll buy you a plastic glass of chardonnay," I was like, and she laughed softly and wrinkled her nose and was like, "Sounds good," and she seemed both touched and pleased.
I also said that I like "On the Radio" and "MacArthur Park", and she said her favorite is "Last Dance" -- I told her that because of the lyrics about a last dance towards the end, I always start humming the David Bowie song "Under Pressure" whenever I see the Donna Summer song, though I know they're not the same -- and that way back when when her one uncle who works for a shoe company in Connecticut and so has money used to host (black) family reunions, he, right when karoake machines came out, used to rent one, and her aunt would always sing Donna Summer's version of "MacArthur Park" and impress everyone.
I also told her how I had texted a friend about whether Donna Summer still has it, and that he texted back -
hell yes
- and she laughed, and loved that.
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