Three 4th of July stories: Bestiality, Student Debt, Cleared-out Bar.

1) At the BBQ, I meet a woman from New Zealand, and like I always do when I meet someone from New Zealand, I start making jokes about sheep-fucking.

"You know...", she was like, and at that she launched into a story about how this one guy in this small town near her once got busted for sheep-fucking, and they took him to the town jail and as it got towards night, he started complaining that he was cold.

So, the cops gave him a bale of hay.

"If it's good enough for your girlfriend, it's good enough for you!", they were like.

Much afterwards, I wondered if that was a real story, or a converted joke.

2) At the same BBQ, I bumped into a former masters student from my university, who was with a nearby group and has been cobbling together part-time jobs at a community college for going on eight years.

As it turns out, she lives below the poverty line in a studio apartment, works more than full-time, and is on an income-based repayment plan.

Only, of the $300 that she pays each month on her $60K in debt, only like $19 goes towards paying down the principal.

So, she's been paying a ton for eight years, and her debt is pretty much still the same as it ever was.

Isn't that crazy?

More and more people are like that nowadays.

3) After the BBQ and fireworks, people are driving crazy, so I stop into a local bar to read a book till traffic dies down and I can go bike home.

After like 11pm, I suddenly notice that the bar is pretty cleared out, and I comment on that to the (light-skinned) (older) (black) (female) bartender.

"Yeah," she was like.

"Huh," I was like, and at that I lifted each arm and sniffed my pits.

That got her, and she laughed pretty hard.

"You crazy", she was like.