The other morning when I was getting off the subway train, the doors close, and I see this early-20s apple-shaped (black) woman in a leather jacket and black tights and a gigantic flouncy leopard-skin bow on her head kind of running and kind of prancing down the stairs toward the train, as she's carrying a baby.
Then, the doors open just for her.
As I walked past the conductor's car, he was leaning out the window, and was this stone-faced short 20-something Mexican guy with scraggly facial hair, a nose ring, and many facial piercings.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Another dream!
I had to get up at 9am and run out the door at 9:30am for a full day at school, to finish a pop piece so I could get it to an editor by a deadline and I dreamt -
I woke up at 8am and went back to sleep.
(That might actually have been getting up for a bit.)
I wake up, make my bed, unplug my cellphone from the charger, and realize that the time there says 11:17am - and I realize that I have a 12pm appointment with my advisor that I'll never be able to make.
I woke up at 8am and went back to sleep.
(That might actually have been getting up for a bit.)
I wake up, make my bed, unplug my cellphone from the charger, and realize that the time there says 11:17am - and I realize that I have a 12pm appointment with my advisor that I'll never be able to make.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Memories of my visit home: 2 songs.
My one friend from high school who now runs a women's shelter had always had hippie-ish inclinations and listened to Pink Floyd and whatnot growing up, but then when she started doing her Ph.D. she discovered that she really liked to listen to Top 40 during her commute, and she really does have a genuine love of it.
When we were driving downstate - her and her husband always give me rides to and from the train station, since they live near it - the song "We Are Young" by F.U.N. came on, and she was like, "This is the sort of song where just listening to it you feel you've accomplished something."
(I think she meant that it is so inspiring, you felt like you had just accomplished something great, you were so high after listening to it.)
When "Empire State of Mind" came on, she said to turn the stereo up, and I mentioned how I loved how Jay-Z rapped above the beat and mostly on offbeats, and she was like, "You know, that's my favorite part of the song, it just sounds so cocky," and then we discussed how hard it would be to actually rap like that, but he makes it seem so effortless.
When we were driving downstate - her and her husband always give me rides to and from the train station, since they live near it - the song "We Are Young" by F.U.N. came on, and she was like, "This is the sort of song where just listening to it you feel you've accomplished something."
(I think she meant that it is so inspiring, you felt like you had just accomplished something great, you were so high after listening to it.)
When "Empire State of Mind" came on, she said to turn the stereo up, and I mentioned how I loved how Jay-Z rapped above the beat and mostly on offbeats, and she was like, "You know, that's my favorite part of the song, it just sounds so cocky," and then we discussed how hard it would be to actually rap like that, but he makes it seem so effortless.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Another dream of things that are slightly wrong.
Like a month ago, when I was in a new bar talking to the (Colombian) (old) (male) bartender and had to ask the bar's name, he went in back and got a 2012 calendar for me and gave it to me...
The pictures on the calendar were scenic pictures of Mexico, and it says prominently the bar's name everywhere.
Because I hate to waste anything, and the pictures are kind of nice, I rearranged my refrigerator magnets and hung it up on my fridge.
But, because I'm neurotic, I also took a pen and crossed out every date up until the day I hung it up; if I had left the months behind the current one blank, it seemed to me like it would have been bad luck.
Then, like a week later, I had a dream that I was standing in front of my fridge and flipping through the pages of the calendar, only to notice that I had gone too far crossing days off, and had crossed them off well into the current month and beyond.
Then, I woke up.
The pictures on the calendar were scenic pictures of Mexico, and it says prominently the bar's name everywhere.
Because I hate to waste anything, and the pictures are kind of nice, I rearranged my refrigerator magnets and hung it up on my fridge.
But, because I'm neurotic, I also took a pen and crossed out every date up until the day I hung it up; if I had left the months behind the current one blank, it seemed to me like it would have been bad luck.
Then, like a week later, I had a dream that I was standing in front of my fridge and flipping through the pages of the calendar, only to notice that I had gone too far crossing days off, and had crossed them off well into the current month and beyond.
Then, I woke up.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Memory of Vacation: Eagle.
The lake that my parents live on in Michigan has had a ton of wildlife this year, including no less than 3 loons, who are out during the daytime and call a lot.
An eagle has been around, too, and one day when I was looking at the lake and talking with my mom, it swooped out of nowhere and dove to the surface of the lake fifty feet out in front of our house, reeled up, went in for a 2nd dive, came up with a fish, and flew off behind trees toward the edge of our property that blocked our sight.
It was like noon when this happened, and we could hear tourists shouting and clapping after it got the fish.
The lake is pretty built up all the way around, so that's almost what makes everything so much more surprising.
An eagle has been around, too, and one day when I was looking at the lake and talking with my mom, it swooped out of nowhere and dove to the surface of the lake fifty feet out in front of our house, reeled up, went in for a 2nd dive, came up with a fish, and flew off behind trees toward the edge of our property that blocked our sight.
It was like noon when this happened, and we could hear tourists shouting and clapping after it got the fish.
The lake is pretty built up all the way around, so that's almost what makes everything so much more surprising.
Monday, October 1, 2012
I'm Surprised at Myself.
I'm surprised at myself.
The other week, I realized I study all day, and then at home at night if I'm not out, I catch up on magazines and memoirs dealing with religious stuff.
And, I was going through my CV for a fellowship app, and I realized that even though my doctoral program's taken me a long time, I have a lot to show for it.
Looking at my transcript made me think the same thing, too, with all those languages on there! The Hebrew, the Coptic, the French and German reading exams - not to mention the Greek and Latin, which don't even show up on there.
Somehow, I looked around, and I had all this stuff accomplished.
The other week, I realized I study all day, and then at home at night if I'm not out, I catch up on magazines and memoirs dealing with religious stuff.
And, I was going through my CV for a fellowship app, and I realized that even though my doctoral program's taken me a long time, I have a lot to show for it.
Looking at my transcript made me think the same thing, too, with all those languages on there! The Hebrew, the Coptic, the French and German reading exams - not to mention the Greek and Latin, which don't even show up on there.
Somehow, I looked around, and I had all this stuff accomplished.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
YouTube Muslim Movie: Reaction of My One (British) friend.
The other week I ran into my one (half-British) (half-Sudanese) (Muslim) friend at the gym.
He keeps up with all things Muslim and Middle East, and I send him articles here and there, and he brought up something about something I had sent him a few weeks ago (can't remember what).
Then, I asked him if he had been following that awful YouTube video the crazy rightwinger make.
"Oh," he was like, "I read the headlines, but that's about it."
"Really?", I was like, "I'm surprised you don't read up more on that."
"Oh, but what's there to know?", he was like. "It's the same old thing, someone says something, someone gets angry, someone gets violent."
He keeps up with all things Muslim and Middle East, and I send him articles here and there, and he brought up something about something I had sent him a few weeks ago (can't remember what).
Then, I asked him if he had been following that awful YouTube video the crazy rightwinger make.
"Oh," he was like, "I read the headlines, but that's about it."
"Really?", I was like, "I'm surprised you don't read up more on that."
"Oh, but what's there to know?", he was like. "It's the same old thing, someone says something, someone gets angry, someone gets violent."
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