Hey there,
We returned home on Tuesday night and the brain is still a bit hazy from jet lag and America's finest dispensaries, so am not gonna launch into any long winded trip recap just yet. I will say the last few days in Seattle were so gloriously cool, with just the right misting rain at times that I though my soul had been healed. That recovery was instantly undone stepping out of the airport doors into heat that Ichiro best described as "two rats fucking in a wool sock". Have been worried that having so much hair would make matters worse but am trying to keep it wet as much as possible so it acts like a wet rag up there.
As expected, all the chicks totally dig what's going with the locks and if you're a female that didn't, you just ain't a chick. No offense, not all women can/want to be chicks. The bald fellas were unanimously behind this experiment, obviously cause their hair growing days are over and they have an appreciation of something they don't have. Most everyone else rolled their eyes and kept quiet with only a couple of uptight guys making a scene, but they are the ones with the self esteem issues. On the last day in town, was in the lobby of our hotel and a woman bumped into me on accident and said "excuse me ma'am". Not sure if I was more offended that I looked like a woman to her or that I looked old enough to be called 'ma'am'. In other public shaming news, went to pick up a pair of shoes at the repair place here yesterday that I left before we hit the road, and the dude that runs the joint, who speaks no English, made the international "you've gotten fat" gesture to me. It's true. We ate everything this summer and more. I need to get started working on the gut.
Made the first foray into Costco Taiwan yesterday, to the one that is compact and always crowded, but it was busier than I've ever seen it. Am in midseason form as some knucklehead abandoned his cart in the middle of the crowded aisle while he waited for a sample that was not done cooking. The cart was situated in such a way that no one could get by, so I took that thing and moved it two aisles over and have to think that he never found it. I wonder what goes through their minds when their carts disappear? I doubt that they get the point but it always makes me feel better. Upon checkout, headed to the exit doors and inevitably, the lady in front of me doesn't have her receipt ready and the world stops while she digs deep into her giant purse looking for it. You know that vault that they built somewhere in the Scandinavian mountains where they put all of the world's seeds as an Ark should something cataclysmic happen to the planet and we need to repopulate the Earth's flora. Those seeds were more accessible than this lady's gawdamn Costco receipt. It's Costco...have your receipt out and ready!
Since we see America only once a year, we notice changes that are probably imperceptible to those living in it and have a list that I'll share another time. As a teaser, pork belly figures prominently. One thing that I will share now is that people felt different. This is our 7th one of these and like to think that I have a decent perspective and don't think I am being hyperbolic when I say that people seemed really fragile and frayed. Little things seem to set folks off in fits of indignation like they are personally being targeted by others. As an example, Betty and I are driving and we hit a red light. A young dude with headphones on (probably didn't have to point out that he had headphones on cause they all do) starts to cross the street from our left to right. A car that is going from our right to left is going to make a left turn and starts to do so when he sees headphone dude in the intersection and stops. Headphone dude stops and gives her an extended version of the palms up 'what the fuck' is wrong with you and added a "can't you see I am a pedestrian walking here' gesture. The driver obviously didn't see the guy and stopped far away, but Dude was going to let it be known that his personal space had been violated. Betty was not happy when I yelled at Headphone dude that the driver didn't "fucking hit you but I won't miss.". Headphone dude didn't react to me cause you know... headphones. I related that scene a few times and a couple of good people admitted they had similar reactions as Headphone Dude to situations that really didn't warrant it. Have to think these reactions are by good people cause the overreactions by the other side manifest themselves by calls to the cops when brown people invade their space by having the nerve to look for a parking space, or in a hail of gunfire
This type of scenario played out a lot this year so much so that it was noticeable. I have to think that the whole tenor of dialogue has been twisted to such a degree that every moment or interaction is taken as a personal assault. You're probably saying, "Hey John, you were offended by the dude leaving his cart in the aisle to the point of taking action". That guy was spacing out in a very public space, like the driver above, but I did not feel like he was personally attacking me. Was my cart hiding reaction the same as Headphone dudes? Maybe/probably? It is no secret and see a ton of opinion pieces that attempt to quantify the polarization of social discourse. Ultimately, the best I could come up with is that we are all now living in an abusive relationship and most of us are now Edith Bunker. You have to understand All In The Family to get it, but Archie/current President will yell something about Pinko Commie Fags and Edith/us will say "Oh Archie". I always assumed that off screen she was spitting on his pork chop and figure that since they only had one child that she secretly gobbled birth control pills so as to not allow that side of the gene pool to continue. Meathead would go to the mat arguing with him. Meathead ultimately directed Spinal Tap, perhaps the funniest movie ever made, so that guy wins in my book.
How does one cope with being in an abusive relationship? Lots of ways of course and none of them seem great. Mine is to get out of them altogether. I give a pass to my mom cause she is old and poisoned by Fox News (and has had multiple holes drilled into her head), but that's it. I am fortunate that my friends are mostly Commies, Pinkos and/or fags and was able to avoid the folks I have known for a long time that have doubled down on supporting that piece of crap inhabiting the White House. I did talk to folks that still keep them in their lives and when their name came up, they averted their eyes and said that they avoid any talk of politics...even their kids. I get that we are never gonna convince them that their views are odious and that people being conned are always the last to admit it. I am hardly convinced by the ones that talk about all the charitable shit they do at church or how they are rally all about small government. The only way I have to let them know I think they have made some bad choices is to sideline them. And I am quite happy if they hate me cause if they like both that guy and me, then I'm doing something wrong.
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