Memories of a daytrip in the city that I used to live in, before I moved.

When my one (art school) colleague who wears (women’s) clothes was living in a temporary apartment in an odd part of town in the city that I used to live in and the pandemic was just letting up and many people were vaccinated, we were going to go do dinner with a group at a (Bulgarian) restaurant that he had gone to and was crowing about, so I went out very very early, to go to a (somewhat nearby) (local) (Marian) shrine that I had always heard about but had never got around to going to, ever.

The giftshop was closed, unfortunately, and one of the major churches was closed for wedding practice for some (Latino) family, where the bride was in the aisle doing something when I went up and saw the sign on the door.

In one section by a big outdoor devotional statue, too, many of the fundraising bricks with people’s names on them were from (presumably local) (Italians), going by their first and last names, though that version of the Virgin Mary was definitely not from their or their families's part of the world, it must have been something that they just did in order to honor the Virgin Mary however they could.

Also, at the back of the big outdoor shrine there was a(n entirely empty) small outdoor chapel tucked away with benches, and all around it were just tens and maybe hundreds of pinned photographs of people who’d been helped, and flowers and all of these flaming candles and like crutches and stuff like that, with so many candles alight and just no-one there at all, though you had all of the people's faces on the photographs.

. . .

(Later that night at dinner when everyone was saying how good the food was, my one [art school] colleague who wears [women's] clothes said that he had actually gone there with a friend very randomly when they were both really stoned and walking by and and he didn't even remember telling any other people about the restaurant at all, so the entire night he was really worried that the food wouldn't be any good at all, since he wasn't sure if it was. He said he felt very, very relieved, that the food was so good, given how much we said he had talked about it.)

Remembered banter with a (gay) (Brazilian).

I forgot --

This summer when I was at a local brewery in a different part of town with that one (gay) (Brazilian) visiting student in (STEM), he was asking the bartender what this one beer that wasn't on the list was like, and the bartender was like, "Dark and strong."

"Like you," I cooed, as I put my arm around him and felt his arm muscle.

. . .

(He's Afro-Brazilian.)

. . .

(He reminded me of that joke in an email a bit ago, he seemed to have enjoyed it. Another time when he had a bunch of [Brazilians] and a few other people over for lunch, which I guess is something that [Brazilians] do to socialize, there was something someone brought that had a bunch of adjectives on the label like dark sweet etc., and I had also used that occasion to make some similar joke, which is what he actually referred to in the email.)

A coworker backstory, of evenings and weekends.

Like last month at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now, the (husband) owner scheduled me on a night that I had specifically requested off so I could go to a local (classical music) concert, and so I began asking around among my coworkers to see if anyone could cover for me.

And, my one (very tall) (very skinny) (just graduated from high school) (Mexican-American) coworker said he couldn't, since he was going to a house show.

"Are you in a band or something?", I was like.

And, it turns out that he isn't, but his (quiet) (very pale skinned) (very dark haired) girlfriend who likes my jokes is, and sings punk.

"Does she like scream and hurt her vocal cords or is she all like sweet and menacing?", I was like, and he said a mix.

I also kind of raised the L7 tampon-throwing incident -- "I've heard of that!", he was like -- and I said that that's what I think of, when I think of women in punk bands.

And, he said that the most that's happened is that his girlfriend threw him into the mosh pit, and from there he got thrown into a microphone stand.

"Like she wanted you to get thrown into something, so she arranged for it to happen?", I was like.

"No, it was just something that happened," he was like.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I was like. "Sometimes relationships can be passive-aggressive like that."

Ribbing at work.

This summer at work at the (Thai) restaurant where I work now, my one (chubby) (Thai) worker had this like little tube of chapstick that she’d hold up to her nose and put her hand over and sniff it, and when I asked her and my one (older) (Thai) coworker who’s a whiz at the phones about that, it turned out to be something like a Vick’s Vaporrub smelling salts thing that they use in (Thailand) a lot, only you use it not to revive yourself, but to sniff it when it’s hot outside, and it makes you feel colder.

Like once or twice, too, then, I would point at her and be like, “She is always a problem at work, she is a major cocaine addict!”, which the two of them didn’t laugh at, exactly, but would nevertheless tolerate, and occasionally smile at.

Then, when the owners came back from vacation and my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker used that thing again, I was like, “Hey, you can’t do cocaine now, the owners are back, they’ll see you!”.

And, she liked that joke a lot better.

A pleasant mistake at work.

A few months ago at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now, I was distracted and I saw a kitchen worker coming out of the kitchen to go get some soda from the front soda machine, so without thinking  I was like, “Hola,” only I turned around and it turned out to be not a (Guatemalan) coworker, but the one (older) (Thai) cook who works a lot of shifts.

And, right away in (Thai-accented) (Spanish) he was like, “Hola,” and then with a big smile on his face he was like, “Como estas,” and when I said good and asked the same of him, he was like, “Bien,” all the time with a big smile on his face.

And, I asked him if he knew (Spanish), and he said no, but just a few words.

Then, like a few days later the next time we were working together, as I was coming through the kitchen to come in and clock in, I was saying hello to everyone, and when I said hello to him, he just turned to me and with a big smile on his face was like, “Aloha.”