Comment of my one (Ethiopian) coworker, on her country.

Like last month when I was working with my one (free-thinking) (Ethiopian) coworker, I mentioned the recently breaking news story about a provincial coup in Ethiopia.

"What?", she was like, and then I mentioned a few details of the story, and then after I said that it was like she had just suddenly remembered about it and was like, "Oh yes, I read that," even though that was surprising since the story had just happened a day or two ago previously.

I must have looked confused at why she didn't immediately know that, then, because like right away after a short pause she was like, "Africa is like that."

Weird solidarity, post-campaign.

The other week, I was coming home from the grocery store and I bumped into the (older) (white ethnic) dad of the last candidate to run against the incumbent.

We talked for a while - he's very gregarious, and says stuff like "Now I don't know much, since I'm an old man..." - but then at the end of our conversation he started saying how he can't get his sidewalk near his house repaired now.

"They hate us, we're on the list, aren't we," he was like, and it was like this secret solidarity of people who tried to buck the system against the local political dynasty.

To be honest, it was kind of great, it's like a statement of who you are.

Misheard "Kids Nowadays" comment.

The other week I was talking with my one client with disabilities about her support of her (lesbian) sister, and she was saying that she had been going to her (lesbian) sister's lesbian feminist concerts for well over twenty years now, and I was saying how cool it was that she showed support like that from way back when, and I was also saying that that's perhaps why this one smaller choir engagement of her sister's recently that had been so well-received by a young audience was so well-received, because kids now see the strength and persistence of this group of strong older (lesbians) and want to show the love now, because things are different and they weren't there then to help but wish they could be and had been.

"Totally," she was like, and then she started saying that they still had no idea what it was like, what with the difficulties and the challenges and all, etc.

"They don't know who Gloria Steinem is," she was like, and then she started talking about different feminist challenges for a while, etc.

Then, she was like, "And they weren't there when Ms. came out," and though she kept talking, I was a bit dumbstruck, because I was still thinking "choir" and not "Gloria Steinem," and so when she said "Ms.", I had though "Miz," as in "Les Miz."

I told her that, and we laughed a lot, and then we started making jokes about how she's this secret Les Miz addict, where she's been hiding all the cast albums from me all this time.

"They have no idea how long we had to wait in line for those tickets!", she was like.

LOL.

Earplug awfulness.

The other week my landlord needed to do a quick repair to the water heater in the basement, but I was still asleep and didn't get his text or hear his knock at my door, so he ended up coming into my apartment while I was still there, so I heard something in bed and I shot right up and shouted out, "Who's there?!".

Anyhow, it all worked out and he apologized later, but later that morning, I took out my earplug from my one left ear, but the right one had somehow got jammed a little bit down my right ear, and I couldn't get it out with my fingers like I normally can.

I messed around with that for like ten minutes, and I got a bit nervous that I might have to go to the emergency room, since I don't have any money.

So, I went upstairs to my landlord's to see if they could help me, but no-one was home right then, so I went back downstairs to my apartment and I tried using a Q-tip that I had cut the cotton off of to go pry it out, but that didn't work, and finally I used a metal fork to try and stab it, but that didn't work at first, but then the tines got around the end of the earplug, and so I was able to just pull it out that way.

That night I threw those f*ckers out, and started using new ones.

I hadn't realized that the rubber had degraded so much, and had put me at risk.

Feeling at home at my one job.

The other week when I had just gotten to my one client with disabilities's apartment and right before her (lesbian) (feminist) sister had left, my client was like, "And free free to open the door, if you want some air in."

"Who's Aaron?", her (lesbian) (feminist) sister was like.

Sounds on the subway the other day.

Last month when I was going in to work on the subway, at some point I kept hearing these loud thumb snaps like every twenty to thirty seconds or so, and they just kept going and going and they were really annoying, and they didn't seem like they'd stop at all.

So, I looked around and couldn't see anything, so I got up to change cars at the next stop.

And, I look, and halfway down the otherwise perfectly quiet car there's this (later middle-aged) (medium-shaded) (bearded) (black) guy in light grey jogging pants and an off-white t-shirt that's not dirty per se but somehow looks unclean, and he has his eyes half closed and he's rocking around in his seat and it's like he's singing something to himself to practice it, and every once in a while he throws in a thumb snap.

On the next car, two different people were listening to music, one on headphones next to me and one on a portable speaker down at the other end of the car, and right before I got off at my stop to go to work at my one job, a (young) (maybe hispanic) autistic kid howled and stomped and threw himself on a seat near the entrance.

Random conversation with random steelworkers.

Like over a month ago, I was coming home from work at the resthome, and when I went to go unlock my bike, there were like three (white) utility trucks lined up by the curb, all idling at the side of the street.

"I'm surprised that bike is still there," said the (older) (white) guy from the nearest utility truck through his open window as he sat there in the passenger seat and his (younger) (Latino) partner was at the wheel, as I leaned over to go and unlock my bike.

Then, he started talking, apparently out of boredom, and when he found out that I was in assisted living, he started talking about how his mom had been in this one home where people didn't have enough attention for her, and once when a (black) (female) assistant had said that she would give his mom a shower next, he waited, but nothing happened for over two hours, and meanwhile she was sitting out with her friends eating by the nursing station in the hall, and when he finally went out, she was surprised because he had caught her.

"A lot of places are like that," I was like, "They may pay higher, but the staff-client ratio is bad, so people can't get around to everyone, and at some point stuff doesn't get done and people are just like f*ck it."

And, I started saying how everyone deserves an assisted living home like the one (private) facility that I work in, it's not fancy, but it's there for people, and that that's a basic.

Then, we talked a bit more, and it turned out that they were steelworkers working the night shift to start repairing the girders of the nearby subway platform, once the work train arrived.

Just as they were saying that, the guy was like, "Oops, the big boss is coming, goodbye," and he rolled up his window just as another (white) car pulled up, its lights flashing.

Him and his partner were staring straight ahead like I didn't exist at all, I could tell, so I just hopped on my bike and road off.

The next night, I saw them again.