Furnace and thermostat problems.

Like the other week a month ago or so ago, it was extremely windy for like two days straight, and the wind was coming from a strange direction.

At some point during that time, my furnace stopped working, and when my landlord had his son come over to check it, it turned out that the pilot light had blown out, so he re-lit it.

Ever since then, though, the furnace has been behaving funky.  You turn it on and then it heats for a bit, and then it stops.

I thought that the pilot light went out again, but my landlord came over to check it, and it was still on.

So, he bitched at me and said to turn my thermostat all the way to the left and then to the temp I want, and I did that, and it worked, kind of.

It still doesn't heat straight up to the desired temp like it used to, though, it seems to stop heating a lot randomly at random temperatures below what I set it.

I wonder if there's some problem with the temperature gauge sticking inside of the thermostat.

A Britishcism.

The other week I was having tea ("having tea") with my one (half British) (half Sudanese) friend (the brother of the brother-sister pair who I'm friends with), and he was like, "In Britain there's a rude word 'gob' for mouth, like 'shut your gob.'"

(The British are always making small talk about inanities, I've noticed, and this was another one.)

"Really?", I was like.

. . .

Later, I realized that that word might be etymologically related to this Britishcism "gabble" that I came across in a tabloid crossword his sister brought me (it's like "yap"), and even later, that it might be related to "goblet."

It's like "thimble" is the small thing on your "thumb," some etymologies become opaque over time, though if you look at them, they're totally there.

Another anecdote of a bank employee.

When I was back in that one local bank to do some banking, I was chit-chatting again with that one bank employee who had helped me set up my account(s).

And, I mentioned that I had lately been to that one really good chili place in the city, that oddly enough also has an ice cream parlor attached.

"Oh," she was like, "I lived there when I was pregnant.  They have everything you want, chili, ice cream, hamburgers..."

My mouse for my laptop broke.

My mouse for my laptop broke.

When I got my new laptop, I made sure to get a retractable cord mouse, versus the battery one...

Why get a cordless mouse and waste all those batteries with their chemicals, when you could just get a corded mouse and it could get its electricity straight from the computer?

Also, the radio waves from the mouse might give you hand cancer, and somehow it doesn't seem like a real mouse, without a cord.

The other week, though, I went to make the cord go draw back, and I accidentally let it go and it snapped back, and as that happened, I knew that I shouldn't have done that, and that the mouse probably broke.

And, it did.

I haven't gotten a new one, though, since I've thought that maybe I could unscrew it and tighten some stuff and maybe get it to work again.

I haven't had the time, though.

Unexpected panhandling situation.

The other month like 6pm when it was already dark out, I was walking down a street with (Asian) businesses, and down the street towards this one strip there were a couple (hispanic) panhandlers.

The first asked for money, and I gave it to him.

The second asked for money in Spanish, and I gave it to him, though when I said something small back in Spanish, he switched to English for me.

Odd contrast, in work directions.

Elder care is wonderful.  I really do like working with dementia patients.  I'm there to help them lead a rich life moment-to-moment, and I can leave work behind as soon as I leave and am not there, since I'm with a good company and everyone I've met who's taking over a shift has extremely good energy, and I'm sure they'd be as skilled and conscientious with the client as I am...

Yet, it's such a strange contrast, in work directions.

Here, I have all this education, and I *do* like teaching, but it has just stopped making sense.

So, I'm with older folks, who I chit-chat with, and who forget what I'm talking about after maybe 20 minutes.

As I told my current writing students, it's such a strong contrast, that work has become so bad, I've chosen not to train young minds, but instead am working with decaying ones.

As I also told them, I'm not judging that one form of work is better than another, it's just that the contrast is striking, that's all.

Threatening behavior on the subway.

The other week I was on the subway during the middle of the day, maybe a bit before noon, and this (cleancut) (very dark-skinned) (young) (black) guy was sitting across from me for much of the ride, me on one side of the car in the middle of the car, and him on the other side of the car in the middle of the car..

About three stops before where I was going, I noticed he's sprawled out just a little bit, and he has a cigarette lit up, and he's just holding it out there and the smoke's getting everyone's attention, and every once in a while he takes a puff.

I looked out of the corner of my eye, and he knew he was imposing on everyone, and it was almost like he wanted someone to challenge him.

Very very odd behavior, very very threatening behavior.  Sometimes that shit happens late at night in major (black) areas, but never in the area where we were, or so early in the day.

You could tell other people were looking at him out of the corner of their eyes, too.

I got up very nonchalantly, stood by a door, and then at the next stop hopped out onto the platform and went into the next car and sat down there.