Some stories of my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker (2 of 2): Parents.

That same day the other week when I was talking with my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker, she said her mother was a hero.

A few years before the Chinese invasion of Tibet, her mother saw what was coming, and so for a long time she used her freedom of movement to go around and stockpile food in different caves between where she lived and the border.

Then, one day she took her husband and her old parents, and they just walked away from everything except for a few things that they carried with them on their backs, and they secretly went from cave with supplies to cave with supplies on foot, until they finally made it over the border.

"She is my hero," my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker was like.

She also said that she was extremely upset when her mother died, and she had just had her daughter, who was around a year old.

"She was sent to me to keep me alive and to love, when my mom died," my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker was like.  "One came, and she went."

Some stories of my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker (1 of 2): School.

The other week I was talking with my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker after she was telling me about how she and our one (solidly built) (Tibetan) coworker had to go outside and run after a resident with dementia who'd gotten outside the building, and how our one other coworker stopped running halfway up the street but she had managed to keep running until she had caughten up with the resident.

"Have you always been athletic?", I was like.

And, she told me yes, and that she did very well in sports back in India growing up, like running and basketball and badminton.

"And soccer?", I was like.

"No," she was like, and she said that in India when she was growing up, women didn't play soccer.

She also said that she went to a private (German)-run school that she had gotten a scholarship to go to since her family was refugees, and that in the school all girls were divided up into four groups so they could play sports against one another.

Two food experiments: Fermented carrots, noodle dish.

After my last batch of sauerkraut turned out all right, I've moved on to fermenting carrots.

I chopped up some dill and put that and some mustard seeds on the bottom of the big glass jar that I bought a few years ago to ferment stuff in, and then I cut some large carrots down to size and wedged them into the jar so that they'll stay put and won't bob up and break the surface as the fermentation starts happening and there's bubbles.  Some of them I put slits on running up and down the sides, so that the bacteria can get inside and ferment them easier (I meant to put slits on all of them, but I forgot for some).

That same night that I did the carrots, I also experimented with a noodle dish following the recipe of my one (thin) (Tibetan) coworker.  You basically saute some vegetables in oil with chopped up garlic and ginger (I did onions and thinly chopped carrots and some leftover sauerkraut), then you put soy sauce over it to boil down a bit, and then dump it all over noodles that you make up separately.

The other week when we were working, she let me try a forkful of her version that she had made up, which also had pieces of chicken that she had marinated in soy sauce.

"And what noodles do you use?", I was like.

"Barilla," she was like, "Just use the spaghetti, it stays firm, Chinese noodles get too soft."

My one (Ethiopian) coworker who's a single mom on the U.S.

The other week me and my one (Ethiopian) coworker who's a single mom were talking about jobs and work in the U.S.

"This is the worst country," she was like.

And, she told me about how she got some medical certifications and diplomas and whatnot, but she couldn't get a job since it was all online and you had to apply and apply and apply and then refresh your application for the same job in 90 days since it expires every 90 days and the same job for the same place is still posted.

"This is the worst country!", she was like.

She then said that since she finally knew a manager at a chain pharmacy, she finally got a job there that way and they hired her right away, even though there was a supposed online application process.

She also said she's in touch with her ex too and he's involved in her son's life even though he's in a different state, but she's very careful so that he's not involved at all on paper when it comes to financial things.

"He's nurse," she was like, "Money."

So, she was saying she got her son a K-8 education at a good Catholic school in her neighborhood for a huge discount and the principal met with her and asked her if she could pay and she was like, "No, I am a single mother."

"That's it," she was like.  "I am a single mother."

She also made sure to get into public housing, too, and her son has gotten into good summer programs by writing about hearing gunshots there.

"And diversity," she was like, "I don't know why diversity in this country, but diversity," and at that she pointed at her arm at her skin.

She then was like, "This is the worst country!  You need to be rich, or you need to know the system."

. . .

Hours later I thought of that conversation and I just bust out laughing, the whole thing was so ridiculous, how she sees how everything works and doesn't really believe in it or get the spirit of the logic but is just like "Okay," and then she goes through the paces to get what she needs however she can.

The one retired psychiatrist at the resthome who's now passed away always really liked her, and said she was very smart.

She used to be an architectural drafter, too, which maybe explains her free spirit and maybe an arty side and why she's a single mother?

Just thinking out loud here.

One time, too, I asked her if she ever celebrated major American holidays like Christmas or anything by putting up a tree in their home, for her son.

"No," she was like.  "Why?"

Disambiguation: (Ethiopian) coworkers.

I should disambiguate my (Ethiopian) coworkers.

I have three right now:

- One who's Muslim.
- One who's a single mom.
- One who I can just say is (Ethiopian) and leave it at that since the other two already have more ready-at-hand distinguishing characteristics.

At some point I should disambiguate my (Tibetan) coworkers as well... I have like 5 or 6, all female except one.

Unintelligible notes.

I usually keep a jotted list of points for blog posts, but every great once in a while I can't read my own handwriting since I'm careless or I write down the shit too hastily or something like that.

Discernible phrases from my illegible notes lately are:

- two young hipsters
- manager
- 5 years more

I really have no idea what the f*ck any of that was.  I wonder if it was interesting?

On the socialists nowadays: Snark and heresy.

The socialists nowadays are something else.

What gets me is how they have this snarky online style that is technically inessential to the shit that they're proposing and that actually puts a certain amount of sympathetic people off from the group, but that's actually key to many members, since it's an attitude/style thing almost like they're some know-it-all teenagers rebelling against their parents and they have to establish some edgy identity against authority or some shit.

I met one the other week who wants to build up a local civics group and take out the incumbent from my past race, too, and she grilled me on positions, and she liked all my major issue stances on taxation and social investment and shit since they're the same as hers, but then she was like, "Are you a socialist?", and I was like, "No."

They always do that where you have to say that word, and it's almost like an interpersonal power thing where they want to put you on the spot and say some very specific verbal formula, almost like they're the Inquisition or it's the Arian Controversy or something and you have to say a creed or some shit.

It's honestly like, Say the word, and if you don't, bye.

Honestly, wtf.

It doesn't make sense, but it does, it's part of their little culture that they have going.

I guess I can see the importance of normalizing certain labels and ideas, but at some point being attached to that word can cost votes and maybe some races...  It's why candidates like Elizabeth Warren say shit like "responsible capitalism" and stuff, they know what's going on with that stuff.