Early Writings

Second grade! As always, click to go to the Flickr pages.

I usually trace my writing style to reading Douglas Adams, but this is a few years before that. Apparently I was already finding my voice.

I'm occasionally funny in Spanish, too

In the bakery near school yesterday (Panadería Inglés, I highly recommend it), the TV was playing Chile's Got Talent, where some unappealing guy was trying very hard to sing a song, and failing. He could have been more out of tune, but he couldn't have been more earnest or self-assured about a really bad performance. The women behind the counter were, like the rest of us, mesmerized by the train wreck.

I finally got bored watching, and in Spanish I said to one of them, "Maybe a little more practice?"

She snarfed her tea, told her co-worker while she dried herself off, and they both cracked up laughing.

in the kitchen Wednesday night

Oscar reminded me that there were no classes Thursday due to the teacher stoppage/march.

Chris: Where's the protest happening?

Oscar: Downtown. Call Ximena, she'll be there.

Ximena: Yeah, I'll be marching.

Oscar: You'll be marching, all right. You should be marching around this kitchen, with a broom.

Chris: I'll, uh, leave you alone, clearly you two need to talk.

Ximena: [laughing] Hey, no, we're modern women now.

Oscar: You're right. Times have changed, you should march with the vacuum cleaner.

It's nice that our senses of humor line up so well.

we need to talk

Dear Reader:

I'm cranky these days, I know. It's the fabled low point in the adjustment curve, although, so far as I can tell, it's about the separation from my support systems, and has little to do with being in another culture. It will pass.

But, you, dear Reader! According to Google Analytics, it appears that many of you have been doing things other than reading my blog. Maybe you have "families" or "jobs" or whatever, but my real concern is that your priorities are completely out of alignment. You should be paying attention to me. It's for your own good, really.

You've never been a problem Reader before, so I understand this will be a one-time thing. I'm glad we had this little chat. I look forward to seeing your improved readership in the future!

Love,

Chris

an apt description

Steve has commented on how much he enjoys the seemingly endless discoveries of things I'm interested in or have tried out. It's a long list, because I'm just that way; I tell people that my primary hobby is dilettantism. The cycle: I try something out with a bit of intensity, achieve some basic level of competence--perhaps just to assure myself that I'm generally competent and that I can if I really want to--and then I drift off and try something else.

To me, it feels like a small list, but considering I did most of them for at least six months, some for quite a bit longer (usually because they were family activities, like skiing and sailing), I guess I've been accumulating them steadily through my entire life, but especially as an adult, being out of school and having some money and leisure time to indulge myself. Some, like motorcycling and ceramics, are not uncommon; others, like bookbinding and blacksmithing, are a bit more esoteric.

Steve, as he can, summed this up:

You have the interests and attention span of a kid with a checking account.

Not bad.

nunchuks, weapon of hilarity

Bruce re-posted this classic on Facebook:




Which gave me this delicious related video:

And then this one, to remind us that it's difficult even for experts:



Makes a gun look safe, doesn't it?