Saturday, February 23, 2019
Love Thy Neighbor
Things have gotten weird with our neighbors across the courtyard. Or perhaps I should say that they've gotten weird again, as they have repeatedly deemed us both their best friends and their worst enemies, sometimes over the course of the same day. Our intro to them came when the doorbell rang literally five minutes after we officially closed on the place and walked into it for the first time; we were vigorously accosted about how the condo board president was definitely a sexist alcoholic who was 100% embezzling from the association. I kept looking for a housewarming gift to accompany the rant, but it was not forthcoming.
The first major rift came when Ian inadvertently failed to respond to some sort of email -- I can only assume a funny forward about cats -- which resulted in a full week of the silent treatment, followed by a speech about "our generation." We got out of it through a combination of apology and effusive response to future emails, but it was a setback.
There was also the "drunk shoveling" incident, where Ian heard someone grunting and crying outside on a cold winter's night, only to find that one of our neighbors had fallen while severely intoxicated and for some reason engaged in snow removal, despite the fact that we pay a crew to do that. There was a heroic rescue, but also lots of awkwardness afterwards.
Oh, and my mother pissed them off by refusing to assist with their quixotic anti-littering campaign against the public housing in the neighborhood. There were definitely some quaint racial attitudes revealed.
Anyway, things have gotten weird again, and as usual I don't really know why. Lots of icy silences and meaningful looks. I guess I should be happy, though; our other neighbors ended up with a restraining order against these neighbors, and I am not making that up.
Things have gotten weird with our neighbors across the courtyard. Or perhaps I should say that they've gotten weird again, as they have repeatedly deemed us both their best friends and their worst enemies, sometimes over the course of the same day. Our intro to them came when the doorbell rang literally five minutes after we officially closed on the place and walked into it for the first time; we were vigorously accosted about how the condo board president was definitely a sexist alcoholic who was 100% embezzling from the association. I kept looking for a housewarming gift to accompany the rant, but it was not forthcoming.
The first major rift came when Ian inadvertently failed to respond to some sort of email -- I can only assume a funny forward about cats -- which resulted in a full week of the silent treatment, followed by a speech about "our generation." We got out of it through a combination of apology and effusive response to future emails, but it was a setback.
There was also the "drunk shoveling" incident, where Ian heard someone grunting and crying outside on a cold winter's night, only to find that one of our neighbors had fallen while severely intoxicated and for some reason engaged in snow removal, despite the fact that we pay a crew to do that. There was a heroic rescue, but also lots of awkwardness afterwards.
Oh, and my mother pissed them off by refusing to assist with their quixotic anti-littering campaign against the public housing in the neighborhood. There were definitely some quaint racial attitudes revealed.
Anyway, things have gotten weird again, and as usual I don't really know why. Lots of icy silences and meaningful looks. I guess I should be happy, though; our other neighbors ended up with a restraining order against these neighbors, and I am not making that up.
Saturday, February 09, 2019
The Music Man
As a general matter, I tend not to be very "up" on the "jams" the kids are listening to these days. I can't tell you who Halsey is and hearing the name Post Malone just makes me think about stamps. It's true that there was a time when I was all over the Billboard Hot 100, but that time was back when Alanis and Jewel were still tearing up the charts. (I even hosted an "alternative music" show on the local public radio station, which I interpreted broadly to include whatever the hell I felt like playing. Shostakovich is super alternative, believe me.) But now I'm kind of just listening to whatever I like, wherever it comes from, and I'm pretty used to not knowing half the songs on the radio.
Which is why it did not strike me as odd that I didn't recognize the music my gym was playing in the mornings while I work out. What did seem weird to me was that the music is on a weird loop so that the same songs seem to repeat on successive days during the time I'm there. Do they just have a 7:45-8:30 AM mix that they feel is super essential for that time of day?
Anyway, when I finally mentioned to Ian some of the songs I hear over and over there that I've never heard anywhere else, I was surprised to find out that they are not, in fact, popular or current songs in many cases. To wit, it turns out the song "Basketball" by Kurtis Blow is not currently sweeping the nation, but was in fact released in 1984, which I probably could have guessed based on some of the players referenced if my knowledge of basketball weren't as shitty as my knowledge of current popular music. Similarly, the song "Mama Said" by Lukas Graham is unlikely to feature heavily in the Grammys, but rather achieved success in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland in 2014, per Wikipedia. So the question is now more urgent that ever: who the hell is coming up with that playlist?
As a general matter, I tend not to be very "up" on the "jams" the kids are listening to these days. I can't tell you who Halsey is and hearing the name Post Malone just makes me think about stamps. It's true that there was a time when I was all over the Billboard Hot 100, but that time was back when Alanis and Jewel were still tearing up the charts. (I even hosted an "alternative music" show on the local public radio station, which I interpreted broadly to include whatever the hell I felt like playing. Shostakovich is super alternative, believe me.) But now I'm kind of just listening to whatever I like, wherever it comes from, and I'm pretty used to not knowing half the songs on the radio.
Which is why it did not strike me as odd that I didn't recognize the music my gym was playing in the mornings while I work out. What did seem weird to me was that the music is on a weird loop so that the same songs seem to repeat on successive days during the time I'm there. Do they just have a 7:45-8:30 AM mix that they feel is super essential for that time of day?
Anyway, when I finally mentioned to Ian some of the songs I hear over and over there that I've never heard anywhere else, I was surprised to find out that they are not, in fact, popular or current songs in many cases. To wit, it turns out the song "Basketball" by Kurtis Blow is not currently sweeping the nation, but was in fact released in 1984, which I probably could have guessed based on some of the players referenced if my knowledge of basketball weren't as shitty as my knowledge of current popular music. Similarly, the song "Mama Said" by Lukas Graham is unlikely to feature heavily in the Grammys, but rather achieved success in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland in 2014, per Wikipedia. So the question is now more urgent that ever: who the hell is coming up with that playlist?
Saturday, February 02, 2019
King Kong
I am going to Hong Kong for work next weekend. I'll be there for two weeks. I have no idea if I'll actually have time to see anything outside of a conference room, but it's still kind of cool to get a free trip. Even if it is a sixteen hour flight in coach and I'm 6'2".
I've never been to Asia at all, so this will definitely be a new experience. I don't know anything about Hong Kong at all, except for what I once saw in a Murder, She Wrote, and I'm pretty sure that was filmed on a soundstage in Burbank. But it did give me a heads up to avoid eating off of a hand-painted plate, in case the paint was laced with poison. Now that's some news I can use.
I googled Hong Kong and apparently there are lots of tall buildings and big Buddhas, which all sounds good enough. I'm a bit concerned about food since about 95% of my diet here is sandwiches, but I do like white rice, so at least I've got that going for me. I just hope no one tries to make me eat an eel or something.
There's a possibility I may be incommunicado during this trip, I'm told. My work is not allowing us to bring our personal phones or work laptops for fear of data piracy. We do have an office there, so I would think I'd have regular internet access, but we shall see. If nothing else, I'll probably use it as an excuse to ignore the blog for a bit. I am so busy and important!
I am going to Hong Kong for work next weekend. I'll be there for two weeks. I have no idea if I'll actually have time to see anything outside of a conference room, but it's still kind of cool to get a free trip. Even if it is a sixteen hour flight in coach and I'm 6'2".
I've never been to Asia at all, so this will definitely be a new experience. I don't know anything about Hong Kong at all, except for what I once saw in a Murder, She Wrote, and I'm pretty sure that was filmed on a soundstage in Burbank. But it did give me a heads up to avoid eating off of a hand-painted plate, in case the paint was laced with poison. Now that's some news I can use.
I googled Hong Kong and apparently there are lots of tall buildings and big Buddhas, which all sounds good enough. I'm a bit concerned about food since about 95% of my diet here is sandwiches, but I do like white rice, so at least I've got that going for me. I just hope no one tries to make me eat an eel or something.
There's a possibility I may be incommunicado during this trip, I'm told. My work is not allowing us to bring our personal phones or work laptops for fear of data piracy. We do have an office there, so I would think I'd have regular internet access, but we shall see. If nothing else, I'll probably use it as an excuse to ignore the blog for a bit. I am so busy and important!
