2006-05-03
Guitar Girl, Video Games, and End of the Semester Feelings of Euphoria
So this is it. It is coming down to this. I've got less than two days in this country, and then I am out of here into the unknown. Cool!
***
I met an interesting woman at the bus stop today. I see her almost everyday I am going into school. She gets on the 61 bus a few stops after I do. She is hard to miss -- an African-American woman with a guitar. Then we transfer at the same place to get to school -- or in the case of today, to get back home. So there we were, the only two people at a dumpy, detour bus stop next to a Subway restaurant. I haven't said more than eight words to her the whole semester. I believe they were: "That guy was a bit wacko, wasn't he?" I was referring to a creepy 60-year old chatting her up on the bus about the guitar, how his daughter played the guitar, how it is romantic and all that crap. So after walking the five minutes to the second bus stop, awkwardly following each others' shadow, I said: "That guy was a bit wacko, wasn't he?" From her response, I quickly realized that I probably seemed like a wacko for following in her shadow all the way down the hill, and I stopped the conversation there. (Luckily, a 3A rolled up right after that, and I was saved.)
Today, though, it seemed really awkward to just be standing there, the two of us plus one guitar for 15 minutes waiting for the 61, so I asked her if she was a music major. No. Oh, so you just take guitar lessons? Yeah. How long? Just started this semester. Awkward pause. She was another type of major (I missed that, as we were waiting in a warehouse district, and every other car is a semi-truck.) She had just switched to graphic design. She wants to design video games someday. That struck up the conversation. She's a sophomore. She moved here with her family from Denver about four years ago. She likes it here but misses the mountains. She won't take guitar again until next spring and she hopes she doesn't forget everything. Nonetheless, she won't miss hauling the big-ass guitar on the bus every other day.
The bus began to roll and I kept asking her about what games she likes to play. Then a dude across the aisle, another African-American which has nothing to do with the story other than the fact that I liked it, because in the state of Minnesota, on the north side of St Paul just south of Roseville, you don't get much diversity, and it was so refreshing not to speak to anti-social Scandinavians. So this was great! I was sitting on the bus speaking to a 19-year old female about video games -- which was cool in and of itself, because not many females I know like discussing video games -- and a guy who looked much younger than he let on, about the addictive tendencies of games. He works to buy more video games he told me. Crazy shit. Everyone around us seemed quite disturbed by the fact that three complete strangers -- one wearing a preppy, semi-nerdy collared shirt, another with a giant guitar strapped to her back, and the third with gold-rimmed sunglasses, camoflauge green trousers, boxer shorts showing from his knees up, and a torn up green t-shirt, could hold a conversation for 20 minutes about the evolution of video games, what their favorites are, and the benefits of different systems that came out and are coming out in the near future. It turns out that the only thing all of us agreed on is that video game golf can be highly addicting. This seemed very odd to me, because it was just a hunch that none of us were truly avid golfers at heart -- neither in playing the sport or watching it on television, but we all agreed that as far as video games go, it was one of our favorites. Bizarre indeed.
Michelle got off. I doubt I'll ever see her again. The semester is drawing to a close and who knows how our bus schedules will line up next fall. Still, I'm glad I chatted with her for those 20 minutes. It kind of gave me closure to the whole semester. I never would have guessed she was a guitar playing, video gaming type. You never know unless you ask, I guess.
***
I'm pretty much all packed. All I have to do is remember to throw in my razor and I'm ready to roll. I just received a bunch of CDs in the mail today, so tomorrow night as I grade my students' final assignments, I am planning to rip them to my mp3 player and charge it for the long road to Rio.
It just occurred to me that I know absolutely nothing about Brazil other than what I learned in a third grade social studies book. That's what the book was actually called: "Social Studies." I just remember learning about Brasilia, how it was completely invented for no purpose other than to create a secure capital in the middle of nowhere... I remember reading about Rio, or hearing about Rio?, and how big it is. And that is about it. I had a friend in the #55 Middle School of Beijing who was from Brazil. But he was a Chinese-Brazilian, so in China he didn't stand out too much, nor divulge what life was like in Brazil, because he had spent most of his life in China. So... I am completely ignorant. I have to admit, I never much cared for learning about Latin America. I was too busy trying to learn Chinese, studying the Khmer Rouge, hanging with German rellies, meeting up with European friends, and returning to Hungary...
Not any more. I'm kind of interested in Latin America now. The problem is I don't speak a damn word of Spanish, Portuguese, or any Latin-based language for that matter. So I have my work cut out for me. Shit. At least I have a tour guide.
***
I met with my new advisor today. It went really well. I'm pumped about working with him and about tweaking my new dissertation proposal over the summer. I have some courses lined up for next year -- to take. And I'm just feeling very confident about my position, standing, and abilities in geography these days. As good as I have ever felt since deciding to take a hiatus from Penn State.
***
Lok-- I mean, Mette, is being a bit obnoxious recently. She is into biting everything. She is exhausting. I am feeling a little bit guilty about leaving Birgit with her for 18 days, but what the hell, I guess, she will be fine. Still... that is kind of a tough break, as it is one of the most draining experiences I have ever had -- taking care of something that gets moody, etc. Reminds me of some bad relationships in the late 90s.
***
I don't have much more to say, so I suppose I should just stop. Bugger. I don't want to. I feel like spilling my guts and shouting from the rooftops. But there is nothing to shout and everything would just come out silent screams anyway.
***
One other thing. The time on this blog is not the time I write things. I get a kick out of that. It is set to Icelandic time. I just realized that the other night I wrote "G'night," but the time said something like 8:30 in the morning. It was 3:30 in the morning. I only wish I could make it until 8:30...
***
I met an interesting woman at the bus stop today. I see her almost everyday I am going into school. She gets on the 61 bus a few stops after I do. She is hard to miss -- an African-American woman with a guitar. Then we transfer at the same place to get to school -- or in the case of today, to get back home. So there we were, the only two people at a dumpy, detour bus stop next to a Subway restaurant. I haven't said more than eight words to her the whole semester. I believe they were: "That guy was a bit wacko, wasn't he?" I was referring to a creepy 60-year old chatting her up on the bus about the guitar, how his daughter played the guitar, how it is romantic and all that crap. So after walking the five minutes to the second bus stop, awkwardly following each others' shadow, I said: "That guy was a bit wacko, wasn't he?" From her response, I quickly realized that I probably seemed like a wacko for following in her shadow all the way down the hill, and I stopped the conversation there. (Luckily, a 3A rolled up right after that, and I was saved.)
Today, though, it seemed really awkward to just be standing there, the two of us plus one guitar for 15 minutes waiting for the 61, so I asked her if she was a music major. No. Oh, so you just take guitar lessons? Yeah. How long? Just started this semester. Awkward pause. She was another type of major (I missed that, as we were waiting in a warehouse district, and every other car is a semi-truck.) She had just switched to graphic design. She wants to design video games someday. That struck up the conversation. She's a sophomore. She moved here with her family from Denver about four years ago. She likes it here but misses the mountains. She won't take guitar again until next spring and she hopes she doesn't forget everything. Nonetheless, she won't miss hauling the big-ass guitar on the bus every other day.
The bus began to roll and I kept asking her about what games she likes to play. Then a dude across the aisle, another African-American which has nothing to do with the story other than the fact that I liked it, because in the state of Minnesota, on the north side of St Paul just south of Roseville, you don't get much diversity, and it was so refreshing not to speak to anti-social Scandinavians. So this was great! I was sitting on the bus speaking to a 19-year old female about video games -- which was cool in and of itself, because not many females I know like discussing video games -- and a guy who looked much younger than he let on, about the addictive tendencies of games. He works to buy more video games he told me. Crazy shit. Everyone around us seemed quite disturbed by the fact that three complete strangers -- one wearing a preppy, semi-nerdy collared shirt, another with a giant guitar strapped to her back, and the third with gold-rimmed sunglasses, camoflauge green trousers, boxer shorts showing from his knees up, and a torn up green t-shirt, could hold a conversation for 20 minutes about the evolution of video games, what their favorites are, and the benefits of different systems that came out and are coming out in the near future. It turns out that the only thing all of us agreed on is that video game golf can be highly addicting. This seemed very odd to me, because it was just a hunch that none of us were truly avid golfers at heart -- neither in playing the sport or watching it on television, but we all agreed that as far as video games go, it was one of our favorites. Bizarre indeed.
Michelle got off. I doubt I'll ever see her again. The semester is drawing to a close and who knows how our bus schedules will line up next fall. Still, I'm glad I chatted with her for those 20 minutes. It kind of gave me closure to the whole semester. I never would have guessed she was a guitar playing, video gaming type. You never know unless you ask, I guess.
***
I'm pretty much all packed. All I have to do is remember to throw in my razor and I'm ready to roll. I just received a bunch of CDs in the mail today, so tomorrow night as I grade my students' final assignments, I am planning to rip them to my mp3 player and charge it for the long road to Rio.
It just occurred to me that I know absolutely nothing about Brazil other than what I learned in a third grade social studies book. That's what the book was actually called: "Social Studies." I just remember learning about Brasilia, how it was completely invented for no purpose other than to create a secure capital in the middle of nowhere... I remember reading about Rio, or hearing about Rio?, and how big it is. And that is about it. I had a friend in the #55 Middle School of Beijing who was from Brazil. But he was a Chinese-Brazilian, so in China he didn't stand out too much, nor divulge what life was like in Brazil, because he had spent most of his life in China. So... I am completely ignorant. I have to admit, I never much cared for learning about Latin America. I was too busy trying to learn Chinese, studying the Khmer Rouge, hanging with German rellies, meeting up with European friends, and returning to Hungary...
Not any more. I'm kind of interested in Latin America now. The problem is I don't speak a damn word of Spanish, Portuguese, or any Latin-based language for that matter. So I have my work cut out for me. Shit. At least I have a tour guide.
***
I met with my new advisor today. It went really well. I'm pumped about working with him and about tweaking my new dissertation proposal over the summer. I have some courses lined up for next year -- to take. And I'm just feeling very confident about my position, standing, and abilities in geography these days. As good as I have ever felt since deciding to take a hiatus from Penn State.
***
Lok-- I mean, Mette, is being a bit obnoxious recently. She is into biting everything. She is exhausting. I am feeling a little bit guilty about leaving Birgit with her for 18 days, but what the hell, I guess, she will be fine. Still... that is kind of a tough break, as it is one of the most draining experiences I have ever had -- taking care of something that gets moody, etc. Reminds me of some bad relationships in the late 90s.
***
I don't have much more to say, so I suppose I should just stop. Bugger. I don't want to. I feel like spilling my guts and shouting from the rooftops. But there is nothing to shout and everything would just come out silent screams anyway.
***
One other thing. The time on this blog is not the time I write things. I get a kick out of that. It is set to Icelandic time. I just realized that the other night I wrote "G'night," but the time said something like 8:30 in the morning. It was 3:30 in the morning. I only wish I could make it until 8:30...
