Cleaning up the quarry park: (moral only?) support.

The other week when I was out for the 2nd time on a nice evening picking up trash in the quarry park, a (younger) (white) (kind of hipster-ish) woman called out to me when I was by the entrance, asking me if I was doing that on my own or why I was doing that.

"I'm doing it on my own," I was like.  "I mean why not, it helps, and it's a reason to stay outside and enjoy the weather."

"You know," she was like, "I've thought about doing that too, especially after the winter, everything gets so trashed."

"You should," I was like, and I also told her to keep checking the neighborhood paper about the once-a-year spring clean-up of the park.

Environmental neuroticism: My Saturday oatmeal.

You know how bad my environmental neuroticism is?

The other Saturday when I had oatmeal, I swished some water around in the plastic baggie that had held the brown sugar in it, in order to get every little bit of taste into it before I added it into the water where the oatmeal would go.

Post-soap opera appearance sharing (2 of 2): Library coworker.

One of my library coworkers is a (female) (Syrian heritage) student doing a masters in education, and she likes the soap opera I was in a lot, and was intrigued by the idea of extra-ing.

"Do it!", I was like, but she was all like, "But would they take someone in a veil?".

"Of course!", I was like, "It totally depends on the scene," and I then mentioned a cafe or a hospital scene that I had seen advertised where she would fit the casting call and could apply to be an upscale cafe patron, a patient or family member at a hospital, etc.

"And I bet there's not many extras in veils, so you would totally have an in if you had that in your photo," I was like.

"That's true," she was like.  "Not many people who wear them would want to be an extra, I think."

She was def. intrigued, and she also said that at the hospital where her dad works, sometimes they close down an entire floor to film a hospital show there sometimes.

Isn't America great?

Post-soap opera appearance sharing (1 of 2): Random library patron.

So, after being on that major network soap opera, I told absolutely everyone how I was on camera with a major star, once I found out that I actually had been on camera with her.

The next morning, I had to re-shelve a lot of books, and was deep in the bowels of the library.

If a patron walked past - and patrons are rare in that section of the library - I'd say hello, then ask them if I could share some good news.

Like the 2nd or 3rd patron was this (late 20s/early 30s) (African-American) woman, and when I was like, "Can I share some good news?", she was like, "Of course, I'm always happy to hear good news!", and then I was like, "I was on [name of the soap opera] yesterday."

"Get out," she was like.

She then asked me what scene, and she knew exactly which scene it was, since she had watched the episode the previous night.

Then, she was like, "I want a picture with you," and she took out her camera and took a picture with me, even though I was a bit cracked out from staying out late after my viewing party, and my shirt was filthy from bookdust from these old flaking leather volumes I had been pulling all day.

Because there wasn't any internet reception down that far, she took down the name of one of my social media accounts, so she could check out the still when she got back above ground.

I encouraged her to be an extra, too, next season.

Memorable moments of the swingers at my art school sex class:

1) Regarding norms about touching at clubs and how some guys who you've never met can be aggressive and grabby and sleazy, the swinger lady I know told the students, "That's why when I go to a room at a club, I always make sure that my butt never faces the door: first of all you look better that way, second of all I can see if a guy goes to grab me."

2) The swinger lady and her partner agreed that there's a "before midnight" rule-of-thumb for migrating from the buffet/bar/dance area to private rooms.

"If you go later than that, the beds can be wet and nasty," she was like.

Public library recall!

So the other day I got a renewal notice for my 2 books out from the city's public library...

But when I went to go renew the 2 books, Edith Wharton's House of Mirth wouldn't actually renew, and when I went to go look closer at why, I saw that that was because someone else had requested it, and so I now have to go and return it when the initial time limit expires.

That kind of ticked me off at first - it was my next book up, on the recommendation of a(n elderly) (white) voice artist who I know from the student bar - but then I stopped short at that line of thinking and thought, "It's kind of lovely how two people in the city are fighting over who gets to read Edith Wharton."

How often does that happen?

I wish I knew who the other person was.

A night of odd dreams (2 of 2): Classroom explaining.

Right before my alarm went off, I dreamt -

I was in my art school sex class, and students were very fixated on a phrase from a primary text about some group having "unity of heart and mind", and they were all just taking and running with that phrase in conversation as a true-to-life descriptor without really questioning it.

"But how can be unity of heart be proven?", I was like, socratically.

Then, I woke up, and realized that the phrase sounded very "Book of Acts"-y and like a romanticized vision of the early Christian church, and I was criticizing it.