The other night when me and my one spacey (African-American) coworker were going home, we were paused at a stop, and there was a train pulled up on the opposite side of the platform, and it was packed and in the middle of it there was a (young) (African-American) guy standing in the middle of the car facing away from us, and he had his shirt off and he was looking down and starting to unbuckle his pants, just as our train started pulling away again.
"Did you see that?!", she was like.
"Yeah," I was like, and I told her about the other night when I had seen some guys walking up and down between cars, and one of them had propped open an intercar door behind him with an empty bottle that someone else had to go and reach down and get out so the door would close between the cars, though it didn't stop the train from moving since it was a door between cars, not a door between the car and the platform.
. . .
I was so tired that same night with the shirtless guy because so much had been going on at work, when I got home that night I was taking a plate out of my cupboard and it accidentally knocked a bowl out and it fell in my sink and shattered and a piece of it hit a glass salad bowl that I use a lot, and that cracked and a big piece fell out of it, and there was cheap porcelain and glass everywhere, and I was so tired and yet I had to go and sweep it up right then, since it was everywhere.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Friday, September 14, 2018
A resthome coworker (1 of 2): Her.
One of my resthome coworkers is a (young) (African-American) woman who's a bit spacey.
For example, the other day I was saying something about how I had cooked up some lentil soup, and she didn't know what a lentil was.
She lives pretty far away from the resthome on the other side of the city with her parents, and her commute takes her like an hour to an hour-and-a-half, she says.
Sometimes, we take the subway together after work for part of our commute, and the other night when I had been reading and she had been zoning out on her earbuds, she got up to change trains and I said goodbye, and when I said that, she got all surprised and was like, "Oh, I forgot you were here!".
She told me, too, that she likes to sit at the second train car from the front, not the front one; the front one would be closer to where she has to go so she would have to walk less, but the people who walk up and down trains selling stuff stop and rest a lot in the end cars, she says, so she doesn't use them.
For example, the other day I was saying something about how I had cooked up some lentil soup, and she didn't know what a lentil was.
She lives pretty far away from the resthome on the other side of the city with her parents, and her commute takes her like an hour to an hour-and-a-half, she says.
Sometimes, we take the subway together after work for part of our commute, and the other night when I had been reading and she had been zoning out on her earbuds, she got up to change trains and I said goodbye, and when I said that, she got all surprised and was like, "Oh, I forgot you were here!".
She told me, too, that she likes to sit at the second train car from the front, not the front one; the front one would be closer to where she has to go so she would have to walk less, but the people who walk up and down trains selling stuff stop and rest a lot in the end cars, she says, so she doesn't use them.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
The power of a word.
I edit all of my political writings like a mofo, since even small changes can make a big difference, and I always try to run the drafts by multiple people, to see what they say about this or that way of saying something or organizing something.
In my last big piece of writing I was working on, for my campaign, I ran adding the word "verifiable" in, by a guy I know from the local bar.
"Oooooooooohhhh," he was like, "I like that."
When I dug further, he said he liked how it was like, 'Go check it out' and 'this is real' and 'I'm not bullshitting you,' vs. the usual crap you see thrown around on TV, where it's nitpick-y stuff blown up to be something big.
With what I was writing about, it was in the context of statements I'm making about my opponent from different campaign disclosure reports, on whose money he's getting.
He liked that, too, since it was all major.
In my last big piece of writing I was working on, for my campaign, I ran adding the word "verifiable" in, by a guy I know from the local bar.
"Oooooooooohhhh," he was like, "I like that."
When I dug further, he said he liked how it was like, 'Go check it out' and 'this is real' and 'I'm not bullshitting you,' vs. the usual crap you see thrown around on TV, where it's nitpick-y stuff blown up to be something big.
With what I was writing about, it was in the context of statements I'm making about my opponent from different campaign disclosure reports, on whose money he's getting.
He liked that, too, since it was all major.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Resthome profanity.
At my one resthome job, this one retired psychiatrist who I help out a lot really likes to use the word "motherfucker."
He uses it a lot in random conversation, and one day, too, I was helping him out by his kitchen table, and he had a note out by his computer, that said -
Password:
motherfucker1
. . .
So, the other day I was helping him out with his bedtime routine and I was looking for his eyedrops, so I talked to myself describing what I was doing like I do a lot when I'm helping out people, and I was like, "Now where are those motherfuckers."
At that, he put a serious look on his face and was like, "Who taught taught you that language?!"
He used a curt, brusque tone as well.
. . .
LOL.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
My mother got a tie-dyed t-shirt.
So, my mom came out of retirement a bit ago to help out at the local library where she used to work since they had been needing temporary help, and this one volunteer who's been coming in is this old hippie woman who is good at the internet and so she comes in to sort through donated books and put some of them up for sale online.
"She's really nice," my mom was like.
And, a few weeks ago, she brought in a tie-dyed shirt for my mom, since she makes tie-dyed stuff at home a lot.
She gave it to my mom, my mom said, and was like, "Now go smoke a joint."
"She's really nice," my mom was like.
And, a few weeks ago, she brought in a tie-dyed shirt for my mom, since she makes tie-dyed stuff at home a lot.
She gave it to my mom, my mom said, and was like, "Now go smoke a joint."
Monday, September 10, 2018
My one lawyer friend from Missouri is dating a very young guy.
So, my one lawyer friend from Missouri is dating a very young guy.
She's like 40 and he's like 26, and she met him at the local bar in her neighborhood, where she goes sometimes and he has been bartending since recently.
They had hung out forever as friends, and then they started dating even though he was thinking of moving back to the part of the country where he's from, but then he didn't and he even ended up moving in with her, the first time that she's ever lived with a guy.
Anyhow, I had been a bit out of touch with her for like over a month and I had thought that they were through since he had decided to move back to the part of the country where he's from, but then she joins me and my mom for drinks when my mom's in town visiting, and it turns out that he's living with her.
So, I kind of tuned out of the conversation for a bit, and then after 2 beers my mom was giving my one lawyer friend from Missouri relationship advice, and was calling the young guy her "man child."
Also, my one lawyer friend said that when she was talking to her parents, she told them that he was 27, since he'll be turning 27 in like three or four months, so it's close enough.
I laughed at that, since it's almost like when you have a six year old putting their hands on their hips and bragging that they're "six and three-quarters," since they're older in their head and they're trying to claim it as much as they can.
My one lawyer friend comes off as very youthful, though, and she's had people think she's in her early 30s, which she totally could be.
The other day at her neighborhood bar, too, this one regular who's 43 said that she totally wouldn't get something because she's too young, she said.
She's like 40 and he's like 26, and she met him at the local bar in her neighborhood, where she goes sometimes and he has been bartending since recently.
They had hung out forever as friends, and then they started dating even though he was thinking of moving back to the part of the country where he's from, but then he didn't and he even ended up moving in with her, the first time that she's ever lived with a guy.
Anyhow, I had been a bit out of touch with her for like over a month and I had thought that they were through since he had decided to move back to the part of the country where he's from, but then she joins me and my mom for drinks when my mom's in town visiting, and it turns out that he's living with her.
So, I kind of tuned out of the conversation for a bit, and then after 2 beers my mom was giving my one lawyer friend from Missouri relationship advice, and was calling the young guy her "man child."
Also, my one lawyer friend said that when she was talking to her parents, she told them that he was 27, since he'll be turning 27 in like three or four months, so it's close enough.
I laughed at that, since it's almost like when you have a six year old putting their hands on their hips and bragging that they're "six and three-quarters," since they're older in their head and they're trying to claim it as much as they can.
My one lawyer friend comes off as very youthful, though, and she's had people think she's in her early 30s, which she totally could be.
The other day at her neighborhood bar, too, this one regular who's 43 said that she totally wouldn't get something because she's too young, she said.
Sunday, September 9, 2018
A view into the (Chinese-American) community.
The (Chinese-American) community in my district is super interesting.
Since the city's been a center of ongoing immigration for like ever, anyone 60s on down can either be an immigrant or a born-here English-speaker, and anyone young can be an immigrant or a born-here English speaker, too.
And, with people in middle age, there's also some who are upper class and clearly recent immigrants, but their English is great, so the level of communication that's possible is very different from other (Chinese) immigrants that you meet.
They're also all split over all different parts of the neighborhood, with at least the people who are recent immigrants being closer to the historic Chinatown, but I'm still figuring all of that out, if certain waves settled on certain blocks or at least roughly did, anyhow.
Anyhow, for kids who are born and grew up here, they're a lot like any early 20s people, oftentimes.
One (young) (Chinese-American) guy answered the door in a muscle shirt, and it turns out that he was a recent college grad with loans and was working as a personal trainer way out in the suburbs, and he was all about taxing the rich.
Too, one (young) (Chinese-American) woman was an election judge, it turns out, but as a constituent, her main concern was about how to overcome the country's racially divisive atmosphere, locally.
(Millennials are all about diversity and inclusion, it goes to show you!)
Another (young) (Chinese-American) guy was in college but home for the summer, and we talked extensively.
He was born and grew up in the neighborhood, and he gushed about this one after-school program back in middle school that gathered (Asian) kids together from all over the city for photography classes and how great it was, and also how back in the day these (evangelical) people from down the block invited him and others to go play kickball at their church's gym and they did that forever, growing up, a big group of (Chinese) kids.
At some point I also mentioned the (older) (Chinese) women who meet at the tennis court in this one park in our neighborhood on nice evenings, a big group of them who wear matching shirts and do slow synchronized dancing to music.
"Yeah," he was like, rolling his eyes. "That's my mom."
Since the city's been a center of ongoing immigration for like ever, anyone 60s on down can either be an immigrant or a born-here English-speaker, and anyone young can be an immigrant or a born-here English speaker, too.
And, with people in middle age, there's also some who are upper class and clearly recent immigrants, but their English is great, so the level of communication that's possible is very different from other (Chinese) immigrants that you meet.
They're also all split over all different parts of the neighborhood, with at least the people who are recent immigrants being closer to the historic Chinatown, but I'm still figuring all of that out, if certain waves settled on certain blocks or at least roughly did, anyhow.
Anyhow, for kids who are born and grew up here, they're a lot like any early 20s people, oftentimes.
One (young) (Chinese-American) guy answered the door in a muscle shirt, and it turns out that he was a recent college grad with loans and was working as a personal trainer way out in the suburbs, and he was all about taxing the rich.
Too, one (young) (Chinese-American) woman was an election judge, it turns out, but as a constituent, her main concern was about how to overcome the country's racially divisive atmosphere, locally.
(Millennials are all about diversity and inclusion, it goes to show you!)
Another (young) (Chinese-American) guy was in college but home for the summer, and we talked extensively.
He was born and grew up in the neighborhood, and he gushed about this one after-school program back in middle school that gathered (Asian) kids together from all over the city for photography classes and how great it was, and also how back in the day these (evangelical) people from down the block invited him and others to go play kickball at their church's gym and they did that forever, growing up, a big group of (Chinese) kids.
At some point I also mentioned the (older) (Chinese) women who meet at the tennis court in this one park in our neighborhood on nice evenings, a big group of them who wear matching shirts and do slow synchronized dancing to music.
"Yeah," he was like, rolling his eyes. "That's my mom."
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