A bar worker's stories (2 of 2): Her old coworker who was in the Unification Church.

That same (younger) (Korean-American) woman also said that back after she first got here, she worked at a Baskin-Robbins out in the burbs where her parents live, and one of her coworkers was this middle-aged woman who was in the Unification Church and who drove out every day from the city to work at the Baskin-Robbins.

Once, it was really really super cold and a blizzard, and her coworker's car wouldn't start no matter what anyone did, and so her coworker just got out her phone and called into the city to some church member friends of hers there, and they drove out all the way to the suburbs in the blizzard and picked her coworker up, and then they turned around and drove right back to the city, driving all those miles in the blizzard just to pick her up.

"She could have stayed at my parents' house," the (younger) (Korean-American) bar worker was like.

She also said that the woman once told her that most of her money went to the church.

A bar worker's stories (1 of 2): Her old apartment.

The other week, I popped off into a neighborhood (hipster) bar for a nightcap after some friends from the neighborhood's holiday party, and I ended up chit-chatting on the way out with this (younger) (Korean-American) woman who came over as a teenager and has been here ever since, and who mans the ID/takeout part of the bar up front.

She was saying that at one point years ago she lived in this one apartment with this mom and daughter, who always looked really well dressed up and nice and everything, but once you got into the apartment, it was just really really dirty.

"The dust was so deep all over everything," she was like.  "I asked how long they lived there, and it was seven years, and they never cleaned."

She also said that they had cats, and that once when there was a problem with the sink, she went to go look at the pipe in the cupboard underneath, and at first she thought there was some kind of protective foam all over the pipe like you see sometimes, but then she realized that it was actually all cat hair.

She also also said that the two women drank a lot together, just them two, the mother and the daughter.

A night at the student bar (2 of 2): An anecdote of me.

When he was introducing me to his friends, the one (very nice) (Puerto Rican) who I know said that one night I had gotten hammered and vowed to unionize my last work place, which I did.

"I don't remember saying that," I was like.

"Well, it doesn't matter, because you spoke your heart," said one of the guys there.  "When people are drunk, they don't speak what their mind says, they speak what's in their heart."

"Actually, [a mutual acquaintance] told me that," the one (very nice) (Puerto Rican) who I know was like.

"Oh," I was like.

. . .

I've heard several exaggerated stories like that about myself so far, where people make me a larger-than-life super-dedicated labor figure.

I can't figure out if it's really true, or true for them, but since it's at least true for them, I don't really correct them, but just say something like, "Yes, I worked very hard on that drive."

A night at the student bar (1 of 2): A Cypriot's ruse.

The other week, I popped into the student bar for a nightcap after meeting a friend for dinner, and there I bumped into a (very nice) (Puerto Rican) who I know, and I ended up saying hi to him and some of his friends, one of who was a 1st year doctoral student from Cyprus.

Somehow, she got on the story about how during her undergrad, she was a social chair and the school wouldn't pay for alcohol for student clubs, so she just would go and buy alcohol anyway and the food that she needed, and then she'd go and run up personal grocery receipts for a roughly equivalent amount of money, and then she'd go and turn *those* receipts in, so that everything would work out and people could get their free alcohol.

"You have to figure out how to work the system," she was like.  "Otherwise, the system works you."

Then, after a pause, she was like, "I'm Greek, you know."

"I knew I was forgetting something..."

The other week I had this lingering feeling that I was forgetting something, and then as I was going into work one day, I finally remembered -

I had watered my friend who was on vacation's plants only once so far since she had been gone, and I was late on the second of three sessions.

So, as soon as I set my bag down at work, I pulled out my planner to double-check, and there it was, I had forgotten.

At first, I justified it to myself, that I was a day late the first time, so I was only stretching it two more days, and so there probably wouldn't be a problem.

Then, I thought of a joke, that I was slimming the plants.

Only, I could never share that with my friend, because she might get pissed, especially if something went wrong long-term with her plants.

In any case, the rest of that day, I continued to be vaguely uneasy, out of concern for the plants.

That same week I couldn't remember if I had paid my rent on time, either.

A thought on cleaning my apartment.

Why do people make things that need to get thrown out, like little tin boxes for chocolates or mints, or souvenirs that people won't use and just gather dust?

I've held on to a number of these thing even though I don't want them, because there's nowhere else that they can go.

I was very proud of myself, that during my top-to-bottom house cleaning recently I finally just chucked a number of them in the trashcan, to take out to the dumpster, as a matter of self-assertion over the material world.

I do wonder, though, about all the people who buy so much, and throw it out, all the time.

Don't they think of others, or not want to be frivolous?

The act of consumption is a very self-centered practice.

Remark of an elder care client, on her home state of Ohio:

"What it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in prejudice."