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April 28, 2008
Land of the Magical Underpants
I couldn't put my name on it, but I was just creeped out. As I was walking down the street in Salt Lake City, it wasn't the eerily-friendly all-white people, the bumper crops of SUV's, or even the numbering system with the origin of (0,0) at the Temple. It was the total absence of those disgusting little black blobs of chewing gum. They have pedestrians, but they just don't have pedestrians that spit out gum.
I'll admit something now. I really, really admire the Mormons. I grew up in a lot of different types of churches, and none of them compare to the church based in Salt Lake City for the true definition of religious donations. When Katrina struck, the LDS church was there first. When the tsunami crashed a few years ago, the LDS church was there. We took a tour of their charity HQ, and I really wish that my time in the Peace Corps would have been organized by them. They have a whole 'hive' theme, and it is part of their whole creepy goodness. Everything is focused on their family, their church, and planning for disasters. They invest so much time into not just doing good works, but doing them well.
They also have good beer. I really liked their Porter, as it wasn't too malty.
Now that I've praised them for what I think they should be praised for, I'm going to point out that they are also deeply opposed to my basic existence as a gay man, they believe that an entire extra white people tribe lived in America thousands of years ago, and like any religion in the US, they have an entire scary right wing that they pretend they can't see, which also tends to find sanctuary in Texas.
SLC is actually this little liberal blue gem in a sea of red, beautiful mountains surrounding the city, good beer, and affordable housing. By the final day, I was desperate to get out of there, wearing my extremely non-magical underpants. I guess I just would rather have my boxer briefs.
Posted by G at 07:40 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
April 27, 2008
Whole Different Soundtrack
Last night I traveled across vast distances of time and space from Harlem down to the Lower East Side for Dr. Jeff's birthday party. I saw a lot of friends that I see too rarely, ate Foxy's superdelicious bacon cake, and managed to get my iPod stolen.
It is always frustrating to lose something rather valuable, but even more frustrating to have to adapt to the lack of that technology. As it was 2 in the morning, it was easier to walk 8 avenues to get to the A/C than wait endlessly for the L train to arrive, and I was aurally assaulted by all the strange sounds that I'm normally insulated from by my own personal soundtrack to my life. Headphones and the new Madonna song block a lot of things, plus the right tempo makes me haul butt across the cityscape.
The traffic buzzed past, their tires sucking to the wet pavement, while the crazy man who I normally would have ignored managed to point out the swarms of at least 30 rats milling about the sewer drain at 6th and 14th. Oddly enough, I moved closer to him. The shrill drunken girl conversations, the loud vomiting of the man in the suit against a building around 7th Ave, and the reflexive honking of cabbies morse-coding their way down the street invaded what is normally one of my favorite strolls. I love NYC, but my walk showed me how much I'd built up a defense against the part of it that isn't so pleasant.
The bar was so packed before I left that I was unable to grab any reading material like the Onion to entertain me, and I could no longer play Solitaire on the iPod. The 30 minute wait for a train did nothing to improve my crankiness, making me at least wish I had drank more than two beers over four hours.
So now I guess I'm buying a new iPod, as I know my love affair with my city has certain limits. My 40 gig model was bursting at the seams, but it is honestly pretty rare that I listen to all of my songs. I will buy either a 60 gig iPod Classic, or an 8 gig Nano. Any recommendations from anyone? I really have no idea how I would pick ONLY 8 gigs of music, but I like the small size and solid state construction. Having 60 gigs of music wouldn't exactly help my really prioritize, but it is also an excellent backup of music.
I figure I'll be shopping for something on Monday or Tuesday, so any advice is appreciated. After that, I promise to write about the magical underpants quest.
Posted by G at 12:05 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
April 23, 2008
Test Triangle
Click here, comment if it works for you.
Posted by G at 03:38 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock
Ahhh, nothing like almost a month of no blogging. Just like my current spring break from school, sometimes it is just a good idea to recharge the batteries.
Funny thing about blogging. When I was younger, I never had a diary, as introspection wasn't exactly my strong suit. I did write letters to family and friends, and with the advent of word processing, I started sending out mass emails to keep everyone updated on where I was living in the world at that point.
Now, after almost 6 years of blogging, I was beginning to think that I might be running out of things to write about. After almost a month of not blogging, I know that's not even close to being true. It was necessary to take the break (completing a 30 hour online course, taking a trip to Salt Lake City for a math conference, and doing 80 hours of extra work after regular hours does that), but blog absence sure makes the blogheart fonder.
I'll start tomorrow or Friday, telling everyone of my narrow miss of converting to Mormonism.
Posted by G at 03:09 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack