2 books.

I had to run to the law school library on campus to get a couple books I wanted to read recreationally a couple Mondays ago, and by the following Monday I had already finished both, they were so good!

They were:

a book about a turn-of-the-century French serial killer and how they caught him

-and-

Patti Smith's memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Two books in a week, I can't believe it!

Observation of a Korean grad student.

Through friends I met a Korean grad student who's doing his masters here in the U.S.

We were talking about that Christian terrorist attack in Norway, and of course the subject of immigration and naturalization came up.

The Korean grad student said his favorite thing about the U.S. is that no matter where he goes, people start speaking to him in English at a normal pace, since just by looking at him they have no idea if he's American or not. He said he loves that, that anyone can pass for an American, and citizenship and knowledge of English is not tied to racial looks.

Then, he said his next favorite thing is that people are very kind, and slow down for him if he's having trouble understanding them.

An exchange with my one (half-British half-Sudanese) friend.

So, the other week I ran into my one (half-British half-Sudanese) friend at the gym.

Like the British often do, he began the conversation with some inane conversational topic.

“[My name]”, he was like, “Do you realize that the drinking fountain on this floor is broken, and only gives out warm water?”.

“No,” I was like, “It’s not broken, it actually contains sophisticated technology that recognizes Europeans, and since it knows that they drink their water without ice, it gives them warm water at the fountain. You shouldn’t be upset, you should be thankful that the drinking fountain’s trying to make you feel at home.”

“But I don’t like warm water!”, he was like, “So it doesn’t work.”

“No,” I was like, “Don’t be so negative, it’s not broken, it’s just slightly miscalibrated prototype, and so it stereotypes.”

“How awful,” he was like. “I know stereotypes. It was like in my schooldays. ‘Brownie, brownie!’, they would say, and chase me through the streets. And” – and here he paused, as if on a flight of British comedic fancy – “and, they would throw their rubbish at me as I passed by!”

“Yes,” I was like, “And tear off your sister’s burkha (sp.?)!”

“Yes, exactly!”, he was like.

What I'll Never Understand About Asians.

I still don’t get how Asian people can live in this country for so long and not understand that you chew with your mouth closed. I was at a coffee shop the other day and this upscale college-age (Asian) girl was working on her brand new laptop and pulled out a ziploc bag full of almonds and ate them one-by-one with her mouth open.

Somehow, that makes me doubt that China has the savoir faire to become a superpower. It's almost like the run-of-the-mill Chinese that constitute the nation (even the upper classes) are just not with-it on some level.

Cell phone mayhem!

The girl at the store switched out my contacts from my old cell to my new cell, and I was sitting at my kitchen table and had both phones out on the table.

Then, my one friend from Buffalo calls, and both start ringing and showing that it's her calling.

I answer her on my new phone, and we're talking for like 4-5 seconds when I notice that my other phone is still ringing, and it's showing that she' s still calling there, even though I'm talking to her on my one phone.

So, I reach over and hang up on that phone (not the one I'm talking on), and suddenly we're disconnected.

Cell phones: The waste kills me.

When I went to my cheaper cell phone company last spring, I had to get a new phone.

They sold me a defective one, so I had to get a new one after that.

My new one started acting funky, so I just got a new one the other week.

With my last cell phone company, my one cell phone lasted years, and then I got a new one there (which I still have; it has prepaid minutes).

So, overall I've had 5 cells, 2 of which I still use, and all of which I hear contain very dangerous chemicals and materials for the environment.

Soul Train anniversary special dance.

The other week I went downtown for that free Soul Train anniversary special dance outside in the park.

The place was packed, including by many (older) (black) folk getting their groove on, one of whom even showed up in a big fro, a pastel bell bottom outfit, and a leather vest with long fringes with beads here and there on them.

When I was out on the floor mingling during the lesson part and they were teaching us the Bump, this (40-ish) (black) woman comes up to me, and is like, "You gonna bump?", then we partnered up.

The Bump was a lot harder than it looks, and she kept laughing (in a nice way) at how ridiculously bad I was at it.

I was better at the Push-and-Pull, though, and the Rock, though she kept telling me I had to rock my cradle more.