At the farmer's market last week I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said on the back: "We learn Arabic so you don't have to."
........
Nice obtuse fear-mongering? We have the Defense Language Institute here in town, where army guys and gals go to learn languages that might come in handy for people in the army to know for intelligence purposes. Dave, the guy who lives behind my house and who I went surfing with a couple times, was learning Arabic for a few years, for example. That's all they do. Just spend eight hours a day learning a language. Yikes.
I don't know if they guy wearing that shirt went to DLI or if it was a DLI-sanctioned shirt. But really? Are we feeling that vulnerable to the Arab threat? ....
Oh yeah, and he was standing at the table to sign up Republicans to vote. Big surprise there.
---------------
I had another fun time when I signed my new lease with Amy yesterday. Our new landlord, Ray, is a 72-year-old white guy who likes to chat, as most old people do. He told us a variety of things: that he likes to take care of himself - ie, never drank or smoke and keeps active (and to his credit, it shows); that he's a Christian and that's "worked out pretty well" for him; and then he gave us a mini-speech about how travelling really opens your eyes and gets you out of your bubble.
Ok, so I didn't mind hearing his life story. I actually like listening to old people. He reminded me a lot of my grandpa, too. Probably my grandpa believes the same things this guy believes. But I found it really entertaining. So he's a Christian, with three boys, grown with children. He said that he tries to lead a moral life and that's worked out pretty well for him so far. That's so sweet! Isn't it nice when things work out like that? He worked hard in Silicon Valley, didn't go out drinking with the guys, just got where he is through pure sweat and tears. He got married, had kids, now he has a really nice family he can be proud of. But the thought flitted across my mind... would his Christianity have worked out so great for him if one of his boys had been gay? How would that work then? What happens when a monkey wrench like that gets thrown into his clear life path?
Am I sadistic for thinking these things? I'm just curious how people deal with this kind of thing.
He laid out to us that he's a creationist ("maybe you guys believe in evolution or whatever", he said, waving his hands dismissively, "but I don't."). He told us that he believes since Adam, humans have had the same mental capacity. (Ok.) But then he said that "I know some people think that 3,000 years ago people were living in caves and hunting with bows and arrows, but that's not true! I was in Pompeii, and those people had running water!" Etc.
Right. Pompeii "happened" 2,000 years ago. I'm not sure who he thinks believes that people were living in caves 3,000 years ago. It's certainly not the creationists - if according to the Bible the earth was created 6,000 years ago. And it's not the "evolutionists" either (if that's the opposite): the Neandertals (if those are the cave people we're talking about) disappeared in Europe around 30,000 years ago. Cave paintings were around about 24,000 years ago.
Anyway I guess I'm just still astonished that people stick their heads in the sand about this. Fine, he's 72. And my Oma, who's almost 90, is extremely intelligent and well-read, as well as open-minded, but she might just take Ray's side on this. Not to mention all the people my age who will probably never change from being creationists. It just seems weird to me, is all.
Especially when he gave us the pep talk at the end about how travelling really opens your eyes to things and pushes you out of your little bubble. I couldn't help snickering inside a little bit. So he's a nice guy and I'm a jerk. But I just don't get it.
Whatever, as long as he fixes my sink when I need it.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
blooming
Amy has been reviving her hydrangea for a couple months now. She left it out in front of our house in the sun during the day and brought it in at night, and it was looking much better. But then she started getting really busy. I brought it in sometimes when I came home; it looked so forlorn out the dark and cold. But then it started getting left out all night. Which was fine (Amy said) as long as it didn't frost overnight.
I wondered aloud, though, why no one took the plant. If someone were to walk by every day (/night) when It was just sitting out on the wall beside the sidewalk, they could possibly think we were leaving it to fend for itself in the wild. Perhaps some kind soul would have mercy on our poor wilted hydrangea and take it in. Maybe we should put up a sign saying we were just sunning it and it had a home? So don't take it?
But then maybe that would just tempt someone to take it even more. "Don't do this." They hadn't taken the plant so far, so why tempt fate and put up a sign?
Alas, yesterday, the very day that our Lord rose from the dead, the plant disappeared. This morning I was told by Amy that "somewhere between noon yesterday and noon today" the plant had been taken. The horror!! How could those bastards take a poor, defenseless plant right from someone's front yard?! On Easter?! Who even wants a sickly hydrangea??
Of course I figured maybe someone had taken pity on it and saved it from those evil people at 582 Van Buren who abandoned this poor defenseless plant.
In any case Amy made a sign pleading for its return and posted it out front. We'll see if the people around here have souls or not, I guess. So far no plant, but at least the sign has been vandalized or anything.
[apparently I can't rotate pictures. grrreat.]
Right, I also went to Victoria this past weekend. Let's see, how can I summarize Victoria. I don't even know enough to say if our hotel was downtown or not. It was right across from the harbour, and down the street was the area (I guess) where the tourists go. Actually really nice Irish/English/Scottish pubs, things-white-people-like type cute organic-coffee cafés, little "historical" alleys where Chinese immigrants a hundred years ago used to crowd into to smoke opium...
I was only there for Saturday and part of Sunday. Saturday was sunny and warm-ish and Sunday wasn't. Adam and his girlfriend Amanda came down on Saturday just to see me! We had dinner at someplace that A. was way closer than we thought and B. whose cool roof with volleyball courts was closed. So sad...
It was a great little getaway! Nothing like leaving Monterey for a weekend, and it's so nice just to sit and read... I got through a novel in two days, it feels nice.
A week and a half till final exams. And I'm stuck without Internet at home.
I wondered aloud, though, why no one took the plant. If someone were to walk by every day (/night) when It was just sitting out on the wall beside the sidewalk, they could possibly think we were leaving it to fend for itself in the wild. Perhaps some kind soul would have mercy on our poor wilted hydrangea and take it in. Maybe we should put up a sign saying we were just sunning it and it had a home? So don't take it?
But then maybe that would just tempt someone to take it even more. "Don't do this." They hadn't taken the plant so far, so why tempt fate and put up a sign?
Alas, yesterday, the very day that our Lord rose from the dead, the plant disappeared. This morning I was told by Amy that "somewhere between noon yesterday and noon today" the plant had been taken. The horror!! How could those bastards take a poor, defenseless plant right from someone's front yard?! On Easter?! Who even wants a sickly hydrangea??
Of course I figured maybe someone had taken pity on it and saved it from those evil people at 582 Van Buren who abandoned this poor defenseless plant.
In any case Amy made a sign pleading for its return and posted it out front. We'll see if the people around here have souls or not, I guess. So far no plant, but at least the sign has been vandalized or anything.
[apparently I can't rotate pictures. grrreat.]
Right, I also went to Victoria this past weekend. Let's see, how can I summarize Victoria. I don't even know enough to say if our hotel was downtown or not. It was right across from the harbour, and down the street was the area (I guess) where the tourists go. Actually really nice Irish/English/Scottish pubs, things-white-people-like type cute organic-coffee cafés, little "historical" alleys where Chinese immigrants a hundred years ago used to crowd into to smoke opium...
I was only there for Saturday and part of Sunday. Saturday was sunny and warm-ish and Sunday wasn't. Adam and his girlfriend Amanda came down on Saturday just to see me! We had dinner at someplace that A. was way closer than we thought and B. whose cool roof with volleyball courts was closed. So sad...
It was a great little getaway! Nothing like leaving Monterey for a weekend, and it's so nice just to sit and read... I got through a novel in two days, it feels nice.
A week and a half till final exams. And I'm stuck without Internet at home.
Monday, April 18, 2011
sun times part dos
O-M-G! Santa Cruz is soooo much better than Monterey.
That was pretty much the conclusion we all reached after today, anyway. We drove through the thick fog blanketing Monterey and surrounding area to Santa Cruz and hit the Boulevard on the Beach, which is basically a permanent county fair type deal. So we spent the day basking in the sun (and wishing we were wearing shorts) and riding roller coasters, surrounded by corn dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, and pretty much every (deep) fried food that's ever been thought up. People strolled along the boulevard in shorts and flip-flops, sailed through the streets on their beach cruisers, and played beach volleyball out on the sand.
In short - ohhhhh. THIS is what California was supposed to be like!!
Thank God paradise is only a 45min drive away. :)
That was pretty much the conclusion we all reached after today, anyway. We drove through the thick fog blanketing Monterey and surrounding area to Santa Cruz and hit the Boulevard on the Beach, which is basically a permanent county fair type deal. So we spent the day basking in the sun (and wishing we were wearing shorts) and riding roller coasters, surrounded by corn dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, and pretty much every (deep) fried food that's ever been thought up. People strolled along the boulevard in shorts and flip-flops, sailed through the streets on their beach cruisers, and played beach volleyball out on the sand.
In short - ohhhhh. THIS is what California was supposed to be like!!
Thank God paradise is only a 45min drive away. :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
sun times
Today I got to sweat like a pig three times.
First off, this beautiful day was begun by a trip to the Barnes & Noble in Gilroy with Sarah (Burns) to scope out the Nooks and the difference between color or regular. (For her, not me. Maybe one day I'll think about an e-reader. Right now reading for pleasure is a rare privilege.) We then cruised by MIIS campus with schoolwork on our minds, only to see the library parking lot filled with people. We'd forgotten it was the international food bazaar - and what convenient timing, just at the lunch hour! So we mingled with our friends in the sun, eating random nationalities' food - I got Taiwanese (calamari and deep-fried chicken apparently) and cupcakes from the Japanese stand. What a friggin' beautiful day. Standing in my light sweater, I broke into a nice sweat. I couldn't complain about that, but then I had to pry myself away from the festivities and try to do a bit of homework. I wasn't very successful.
The second pig-sweat came about at the climbing gym with Burns. This was possibly the nicest day we'd gone climbing, and the wooden roof at the gym seems to soak up the heat, so that when we get to the top of the routes, it's positively pounding with warmth. But even down at the ground we were sweating. So we did our best and looked forward to a shower at home.
The third episode came about after we had dinner with Dan, Becky, and their friend Sam at the Cannery Row Brewing Co. (amazing beer selection, great food and service = excellent place) and headed to Luxe (random, somewhat sketchy, minimalist bar that's popular here for whatever reason - has some chairs, some bartenders and a lot of space for dancing... guess that's all you need to succeed here) for Antonio's birthday celebration. Burns and I were on the dance floor most of the time, busy sweating and fending off random meaty Latinos.
Thus ended a sunny Saturday in Monterey. Good fucking Lord is it hard to find time for school right now. I know the semester's wrapping up and now's the time to be doing all that shit I kept saying I would. But this week's just been a write-off, what with free Ben & Jerry's day in San José on Tuesday, Paul's birthday on Thursday, the Stop Trafficking wine and cheese chez moi on Friday... time's getting away from me. I didn't even find time to put the dishes in the dishwasher - Nick did it for me. Tomorrow heading to Santa Cruz for a mini day trip. Next weekend I am going to Victoria (B.C.) to hang out with my parents, and Adam maybe.
I have more good news even... first of all is that I have a place to live next year. Amy's boyfriend and his roomie are moving out of their 2-bedroom apartment after school ends, so we can move our stuff at the end of May, and I'll have somewhere to come back to after the summer. Saweet!
Second is that it looks like I'm going to be working in Mexico City for ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, a part of the UN) as a translator for a couple months. The internship race has been crazy here, and in the end I started thinking I wanted to spend time in Latin America to work on my Spanish... and this came up, and it looks like it's the plan for this summer. Burns is also applying and will probably be my acompañante. I hope she will, I'm pretty sure she can protect me and recommend me good food :P
Janzen might also come out to visit me after my exams! I have about three weeks from final exams until I have to show up for work in Mexico City. I hope she can and that we can get up to some adventures out here in Cali. :P I haven't been to L.A. yet...
Well, I'm not sober yet, but I should go to sleep I guess... shall try to update this a little more often, and hopefully/definitely when I get to Mexico I'll see if I have anything interesting to report.
Till then, wish me luck,
yours,
the Juicemeister
First off, this beautiful day was begun by a trip to the Barnes & Noble in Gilroy with Sarah (Burns) to scope out the Nooks and the difference between color or regular. (For her, not me. Maybe one day I'll think about an e-reader. Right now reading for pleasure is a rare privilege.) We then cruised by MIIS campus with schoolwork on our minds, only to see the library parking lot filled with people. We'd forgotten it was the international food bazaar - and what convenient timing, just at the lunch hour! So we mingled with our friends in the sun, eating random nationalities' food - I got Taiwanese (calamari and deep-fried chicken apparently) and cupcakes from the Japanese stand. What a friggin' beautiful day. Standing in my light sweater, I broke into a nice sweat. I couldn't complain about that, but then I had to pry myself away from the festivities and try to do a bit of homework. I wasn't very successful.
The second pig-sweat came about at the climbing gym with Burns. This was possibly the nicest day we'd gone climbing, and the wooden roof at the gym seems to soak up the heat, so that when we get to the top of the routes, it's positively pounding with warmth. But even down at the ground we were sweating. So we did our best and looked forward to a shower at home.
The third episode came about after we had dinner with Dan, Becky, and their friend Sam at the Cannery Row Brewing Co. (amazing beer selection, great food and service = excellent place) and headed to Luxe (random, somewhat sketchy, minimalist bar that's popular here for whatever reason - has some chairs, some bartenders and a lot of space for dancing... guess that's all you need to succeed here) for Antonio's birthday celebration. Burns and I were on the dance floor most of the time, busy sweating and fending off random meaty Latinos.
Thus ended a sunny Saturday in Monterey. Good fucking Lord is it hard to find time for school right now. I know the semester's wrapping up and now's the time to be doing all that shit I kept saying I would. But this week's just been a write-off, what with free Ben & Jerry's day in San José on Tuesday, Paul's birthday on Thursday, the Stop Trafficking wine and cheese chez moi on Friday... time's getting away from me. I didn't even find time to put the dishes in the dishwasher - Nick did it for me. Tomorrow heading to Santa Cruz for a mini day trip. Next weekend I am going to Victoria (B.C.) to hang out with my parents, and Adam maybe.
I have more good news even... first of all is that I have a place to live next year. Amy's boyfriend and his roomie are moving out of their 2-bedroom apartment after school ends, so we can move our stuff at the end of May, and I'll have somewhere to come back to after the summer. Saweet!
Second is that it looks like I'm going to be working in Mexico City for ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, a part of the UN) as a translator for a couple months. The internship race has been crazy here, and in the end I started thinking I wanted to spend time in Latin America to work on my Spanish... and this came up, and it looks like it's the plan for this summer. Burns is also applying and will probably be my acompañante. I hope she will, I'm pretty sure she can protect me and recommend me good food :P
Janzen might also come out to visit me after my exams! I have about three weeks from final exams until I have to show up for work in Mexico City. I hope she can and that we can get up to some adventures out here in Cali. :P I haven't been to L.A. yet...
Well, I'm not sober yet, but I should go to sleep I guess... shall try to update this a little more often, and hopefully/definitely when I get to Mexico I'll see if I have anything interesting to report.
Till then, wish me luck,
yours,
the Juicemeister
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