to Dr. E, of the psych dep't:
"Birds they fly so high, and they can shit on your head, yeah they can
almost fly into your eye and make you feel so scared but when you
look at them, and you see that they're beautiful,
that's how I feel about you." -Kate Nash
Or in my words, you're scary, and annoying as heck, but you're an admirable sort of person. ...I'd just prefer to admire you from far away, outside your circle of influence.
the end.
E.O.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Kenari - part 2
So today I did some more of that thing where i stand in the store and try to make people taste and wonder about and buy that Kenari stuff.
I was outside today, which was a very different vibe from the produce section from yesterday. Sampling things outside is much less respectable and less likely to catch peoples' attention than actually being inside the store. 'Cause you know who stands outside- the salvation army, the girlscouts, the boyscouts, random people selling whatever - the people you don't pay much attention to, except to shrug them off as graciously as you can. So it's surprising that I managed to sell as much today as I did.
The other drawback to being outside at this time of year is, of course, the temperature. I had not been prepared to be out of the warm, protective atmosphere of the produce section, and so had not brought a coat/sweater. It was ok for the first couple hours, but after that, I got COLD. Not 'cause the temp was terribly low, but simply 'cause I was there, standing, losing body heat in the most efficient way possible. I think I may have even scared the last few customers, 'cause I was shaking while talking to them and trying my best to smile. Oh well. :P
Then, another thing happened today... In every store there are people who keep the parking lot and the outside of the store clean. They put the carts back in their places, bring out piles of hand-baskets, keep the hand sanitizer filled (yes, american grocery stores have hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, it's ridiculous, and so typically american, i know). There was one in particular today who... well, who talked to me, and took an interest. He's from Ethiopia, which I think is awesome, and he has a super thick accent. I had to ask him to repeat stuff all the time, which is unusual for me: I can usually make out what people are saying without too much trouble, even if other people find them hard to understand. Anyway, he was friendly, and seemed genuinely kind - that is, he noticed I was cold, and offered to go get me a jacket, which could be more indicative of his interest than real kindness, I suppose. Anyway, we talked - flirted, I guess. i can never tell when flirting is going on, though I really ought to be able to pick up on these things by now - and he eventually asked for my number. As that was a new experience for me, I decided to give it to him, and see what happened.
What happened was that, soon after I packed up, and he helped me wheel the stuff back inside., he proceeded to call the number I had given him. He said that someone had left stuff outside, and he thought it was mine, and was it? - which I'm quite certain was an excuse to make sure that really was my number, since he watched me pack up all my stuff.
The upshot of it all is that I met a guy, got asked for my number for the first time ever, and am giving him a chance. We had a conversation via texting after I left, and presumably might hang out next weekend. Only time will tell.
I also bought a beautiful purple scarf. Partly 'cause I was FREEZING and had lost most of the movement in my fingers, and partly to commemorate the occasion, the place, and the job. =)
the end (for now).
E.O.
p.s.: I'm not sure whether I like coming back to my family or not. But I WILL enjoy sleeping like a log in a beautiful bed, for as long as I want, without burning up because the thermostat is broken. Wahoo! Sleep, here I come!
p.p.s.: irk. what was I thinking? The guy works in a grocery store, his English is bad enough to tell me that he's either really not good at languages, or hasn't been here long enough to pick stuff up. I know absolutely nothing about him...
the experience was really more flattering than anything else.
...i think i'm just gonna leave it at that.
I was outside today, which was a very different vibe from the produce section from yesterday. Sampling things outside is much less respectable and less likely to catch peoples' attention than actually being inside the store. 'Cause you know who stands outside- the salvation army, the girlscouts, the boyscouts, random people selling whatever - the people you don't pay much attention to, except to shrug them off as graciously as you can. So it's surprising that I managed to sell as much today as I did.
The other drawback to being outside at this time of year is, of course, the temperature. I had not been prepared to be out of the warm, protective atmosphere of the produce section, and so had not brought a coat/sweater. It was ok for the first couple hours, but after that, I got COLD. Not 'cause the temp was terribly low, but simply 'cause I was there, standing, losing body heat in the most efficient way possible. I think I may have even scared the last few customers, 'cause I was shaking while talking to them and trying my best to smile. Oh well. :P
Then, another thing happened today... In every store there are people who keep the parking lot and the outside of the store clean. They put the carts back in their places, bring out piles of hand-baskets, keep the hand sanitizer filled (yes, american grocery stores have hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, it's ridiculous, and so typically american, i know). There was one in particular today who... well, who talked to me, and took an interest. He's from Ethiopia, which I think is awesome, and he has a super thick accent. I had to ask him to repeat stuff all the time, which is unusual for me: I can usually make out what people are saying without too much trouble, even if other people find them hard to understand. Anyway, he was friendly, and seemed genuinely kind - that is, he noticed I was cold, and offered to go get me a jacket, which could be more indicative of his interest than real kindness, I suppose. Anyway, we talked - flirted, I guess. i can never tell when flirting is going on, though I really ought to be able to pick up on these things by now - and he eventually asked for my number. As that was a new experience for me, I decided to give it to him, and see what happened.
What happened was that, soon after I packed up, and he helped me wheel the stuff back inside., he proceeded to call the number I had given him. He said that someone had left stuff outside, and he thought it was mine, and was it? - which I'm quite certain was an excuse to make sure that really was my number, since he watched me pack up all my stuff.
The upshot of it all is that I met a guy, got asked for my number for the first time ever, and am giving him a chance. We had a conversation via texting after I left, and presumably might hang out next weekend. Only time will tell.
I also bought a beautiful purple scarf. Partly 'cause I was FREEZING and had lost most of the movement in my fingers, and partly to commemorate the occasion, the place, and the job. =)
the end (for now).
E.O.
p.s.: I'm not sure whether I like coming back to my family or not. But I WILL enjoy sleeping like a log in a beautiful bed, for as long as I want, without burning up because the thermostat is broken. Wahoo! Sleep, here I come!
p.p.s.: irk. what was I thinking? The guy works in a grocery store, his English is bad enough to tell me that he's either really not good at languages, or hasn't been here long enough to pick stuff up. I know absolutely nothing about him...
the experience was really more flattering than anything else.
...i think i'm just gonna leave it at that.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Kenari
So occasionally on bulletin boards and things there will be job offers. There was one in the Culinary Club the other day, and I responded. The upshot of it was that I got to stand in a Whole Foods grocery store today for several hours, pouring and handing out a locally grown and brewed herbal beverage called "Kenari"
Yep, I was one of those people standing at the entrance of a store when you come in and offering you samples.
I was surprised by how many people actually took and subsequently bought the stuff. It was CRAZY expensive for the amount in one bottle, and yet, people seemed to have absolutely no problem shelling out. Maybe it was the neighborhood, I don't know.
What I do know is that the position avails itself very well to people watching. It's almost like being a fly on the wall, or at least, as close as I've gotten in a while. There were people of all different sorts. One person was "allergic to sugar" whatever that means, another refused to touch a product if it didn't have a kosher stamp on it. There were some people who clearly came in the store just for the samples, notably this one big black lady with her little son. They walked around, she trying things as he watched, and all the while trying to convince him to try them. They were such a fun pair! And then there was another lady with one of those really infectious smiles. The kind that absolutely transforms the owner whenever they put it on. Now she could have sold anything!
It was odd, too, I noticed that if you falter in telling people the ingredients, they immediately lose interest. If they know you're not with the company producing the product, they lose interest. If there is a person at the table, making positive comments, then more people are likely to come, or if people see other people leaving your table contentedly, they are more likely to approach.
These are only a few of the things I noticed- but I also noticed my back slowly starting to ache, and my smile fading with time. It's an exhausting job, and it took a lot out of me, especially as I'm not one of those people who is energized by meet-and-greet type environments. But hey, I learned a bit about selling, I got to be in a new environment, and I got well paid: an afternoon well-spent.
here's the website... i guess i should go check out what i'm associating myself with... oh, college, how I love you with your varied experiences. Anyway, here is their official website, but you'll get a better idea of who they currently are out of their facebook page.
over 'n out.
E.O.
Yep, I was one of those people standing at the entrance of a store when you come in and offering you samples.
I was surprised by how many people actually took and subsequently bought the stuff. It was CRAZY expensive for the amount in one bottle, and yet, people seemed to have absolutely no problem shelling out. Maybe it was the neighborhood, I don't know.
What I do know is that the position avails itself very well to people watching. It's almost like being a fly on the wall, or at least, as close as I've gotten in a while. There were people of all different sorts. One person was "allergic to sugar" whatever that means, another refused to touch a product if it didn't have a kosher stamp on it. There were some people who clearly came in the store just for the samples, notably this one big black lady with her little son. They walked around, she trying things as he watched, and all the while trying to convince him to try them. They were such a fun pair! And then there was another lady with one of those really infectious smiles. The kind that absolutely transforms the owner whenever they put it on. Now she could have sold anything!
It was odd, too, I noticed that if you falter in telling people the ingredients, they immediately lose interest. If they know you're not with the company producing the product, they lose interest. If there is a person at the table, making positive comments, then more people are likely to come, or if people see other people leaving your table contentedly, they are more likely to approach.
These are only a few of the things I noticed- but I also noticed my back slowly starting to ache, and my smile fading with time. It's an exhausting job, and it took a lot out of me, especially as I'm not one of those people who is energized by meet-and-greet type environments. But hey, I learned a bit about selling, I got to be in a new environment, and I got well paid: an afternoon well-spent.
here's the website... i guess i should go check out what i'm associating myself with... oh, college, how I love you with your varied experiences. Anyway, here is their official website, but you'll get a better idea of who they currently are out of their facebook page.
over 'n out.
E.O.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
so...
...I'm still working on Hungarian.
and...
...I may or may not have pierced my ears for the first time since I was eleven (ten?). With awesome anodized hoops. With a turquoise-colored captive bead.
yeah.
I most definitely DID accompany G to get her cartilage pierced. Which looks awesome, but not as awesome as her tragus piercing, which I have admired since last year.
:D
Hungarian can't beat me today!
over 'n out.
E.O.
and...
...I may or may not have pierced my ears for the first time since I was eleven (ten?). With awesome anodized hoops. With a turquoise-colored captive bead.
yeah.
I most definitely DID accompany G to get her cartilage pierced. Which looks awesome, but not as awesome as her tragus piercing, which I have admired since last year.
:D
Hungarian can't beat me today!
over 'n out.
E.O.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Concentration? What?
Yeah... my store of concentration has gone waaay down the tubes. I don't know what happened to it.
I am attempting to write a paper on Hungarian Phonology. We have to write a description of a language for my linguistics class and I (foolishly) thought that choosing a language I don't know would make the thing more interesting. I would like a large stamp that says "FRUSTRATING" and some red ink. If I owned such a stamp, I would print the paper, and then stamp it. I'd stamp the books I'm currently poring (read: sleeping) over to get the information, and I'd stamp the professor's face, the one who assigned this thing and encouraged us to look for "interesting" languages in the first place.
Yes, I now know why Hungarian writing has so many z's in it. I also know why "Budapest" is not pronounced (as the average European would imagine) /budapest/ but with a "sh" sound where they've clearly written an "s," and why the same goes for the town of Sopron. However. It has required of me extra hours of painstaking, detailed work and analysis, synthesis, and comprehension- and I'm not even through the phonotactics (syllable construction) of the thing! I have to describe: phonology, phonotactics, suprasegmentals, morphology, and maybe a little syntax if I feel like it.
I won't say that I'm not learning though. Did you know that, contrary to what public school taught you, words are not solely made up of syllables? No, in some languages, there are things called "edge clusters" of consonants. Consonant clusters are normal- they're things like the "cl" part of the syllable "clap". What this one book I've been fuddling through intimates is that, in some languages, there are extra consonants that just sit around on the edges of words, for no particular reason, with no particular cohesion to the word. They're "licensed by some special mechanism limited to the edges of domains and not by an onset or a coda constituent (read: the consonant parts of a true syllable) dominating them." Take a wild guess at a language that might have these weird clusters? BINGO! You guessed it. Hungarian.
This is only one of the many lovely complications and news-flashes I have encountered in the past week or two, which started with old, semi-indescipherable IPA and hasn't come to a conclusion yet.
Sigh.
Back to the slaughterhouse. If you find me wandering around somewhere, lost, with mush dribbling out my ear and nose, don't be too surprised- it'll just be my brain that finally disentigrated from a mixture of confused incomprehension and tedium.
over 'n out.
E.O.
I am attempting to write a paper on Hungarian Phonology. We have to write a description of a language for my linguistics class and I (foolishly) thought that choosing a language I don't know would make the thing more interesting. I would like a large stamp that says "FRUSTRATING" and some red ink. If I owned such a stamp, I would print the paper, and then stamp it. I'd stamp the books I'm currently poring (read: sleeping) over to get the information, and I'd stamp the professor's face, the one who assigned this thing and encouraged us to look for "interesting" languages in the first place.
Yes, I now know why Hungarian writing has so many z's in it. I also know why "Budapest" is not pronounced (as the average European would imagine) /budapest/ but with a "sh" sound where they've clearly written an "s," and why the same goes for the town of Sopron. However. It has required of me extra hours of painstaking, detailed work and analysis, synthesis, and comprehension- and I'm not even through the phonotactics (syllable construction) of the thing! I have to describe: phonology, phonotactics, suprasegmentals, morphology, and maybe a little syntax if I feel like it.
I won't say that I'm not learning though. Did you know that, contrary to what public school taught you, words are not solely made up of syllables? No, in some languages, there are things called "edge clusters" of consonants. Consonant clusters are normal- they're things like the "cl" part of the syllable "clap". What this one book I've been fuddling through intimates is that, in some languages, there are extra consonants that just sit around on the edges of words, for no particular reason, with no particular cohesion to the word. They're "licensed by some special mechanism limited to the edges of domains and not by an onset or a coda constituent (read: the consonant parts of a true syllable) dominating them." Take a wild guess at a language that might have these weird clusters? BINGO! You guessed it. Hungarian.
This is only one of the many lovely complications and news-flashes I have encountered in the past week or two, which started with old, semi-indescipherable IPA and hasn't come to a conclusion yet.
Sigh.
Back to the slaughterhouse. If you find me wandering around somewhere, lost, with mush dribbling out my ear and nose, don't be too surprised- it'll just be my brain that finally disentigrated from a mixture of confused incomprehension and tedium.
over 'n out.
E.O.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Eschew Obfuscation...
...will never, never again go to sleep at 3:30 and then (attempt to) get up at 7:45.
But why, you ask. Other people get by on minuscule amounts of sleep. Why should you be different? I will tell you.
All I could think about when I got up was how tired I was. I went to find A & G so we could go meet E for breakfast, like we do every Friday. I had actually gotten up mostly 'cause I was psyched to see her- she's really busy, so we don't get to spend much time just hanging out like that. Anyway, I found them still grooming themselves, so I promptly curled up on A's bed to wait. And slept. Then we actually went to breakfast. We had an ok time, were almost through eating, when somehow the subject of work came up, and how A gets paid a bit more an hour than me and An, even though we do pretty much the same job. We started faux arguing about it, like we always do... and then for some reason, it got serious for me. I accused her of waiting 'til I was dead tired and not quick on my mental feet to argue with me, and asked that we stop. Which we kind of did, but then got sucked back into it, as will happen with us- at which point I decided I needed to just leave, because I was not going to be beaten in yet another argument by A, simply because I had the disadvantage of not being at full mental capacity. Also, it wasn't fair to E. I needed sleep.
So, I went promptly to the library (where I recently discovered the most amazing sofas on campus) and slept. And in my sleepy brain, I imagined that my Really Important Class started at 11:30, which is when it ends, instead of 10:40, which is when it actually begins. So I set my phone to ring at 11:15. Of course, it was only when I woke up at 11:15 that I realized what had happened. Let me be clear- this class? Yeah, it has no book, no text to study from. The professor doesn't think that any book is arranged properly. Which is all well and good, you don't have to spend book money on him. But it DOES mean that you have to be in EVERY. LECTURE. in order to ensure that you don't miss anything important. Plus, the material is detailed and somewhat complicated, so generally I have to record the lecture and listen to it twice to really cement it in my head. And this is the class that I inadvertently skipped, plus the class I intentionally skipped, dance.
So, what happened? I got pissed off at my friend for no reason, didn't get to enjoy my other friend's company, and played hookie both intentionally and unintentionally. All because of lack of sleep. Was staying up cooking for a big event 'til 3AM worth it? Only time will tell...
Never did I think I'd see this day.
Next thing you know I'll be going to parties and drinking alcohol. Yikes! (No, don't prepare yourself for that variety of stupidity- even sleep-drunk, that's not something that would appeal to me, ever.)
over 'n out.
E.O.
But why, you ask. Other people get by on minuscule amounts of sleep. Why should you be different? I will tell you.
All I could think about when I got up was how tired I was. I went to find A & G so we could go meet E for breakfast, like we do every Friday. I had actually gotten up mostly 'cause I was psyched to see her- she's really busy, so we don't get to spend much time just hanging out like that. Anyway, I found them still grooming themselves, so I promptly curled up on A's bed to wait. And slept. Then we actually went to breakfast. We had an ok time, were almost through eating, when somehow the subject of work came up, and how A gets paid a bit more an hour than me and An, even though we do pretty much the same job. We started faux arguing about it, like we always do... and then for some reason, it got serious for me. I accused her of waiting 'til I was dead tired and not quick on my mental feet to argue with me, and asked that we stop. Which we kind of did, but then got sucked back into it, as will happen with us- at which point I decided I needed to just leave, because I was not going to be beaten in yet another argument by A, simply because I had the disadvantage of not being at full mental capacity. Also, it wasn't fair to E. I needed sleep.
So, I went promptly to the library (where I recently discovered the most amazing sofas on campus) and slept. And in my sleepy brain, I imagined that my Really Important Class started at 11:30, which is when it ends, instead of 10:40, which is when it actually begins. So I set my phone to ring at 11:15. Of course, it was only when I woke up at 11:15 that I realized what had happened. Let me be clear- this class? Yeah, it has no book, no text to study from. The professor doesn't think that any book is arranged properly. Which is all well and good, you don't have to spend book money on him. But it DOES mean that you have to be in EVERY. LECTURE. in order to ensure that you don't miss anything important. Plus, the material is detailed and somewhat complicated, so generally I have to record the lecture and listen to it twice to really cement it in my head. And this is the class that I inadvertently skipped, plus the class I intentionally skipped, dance.
So, what happened? I got pissed off at my friend for no reason, didn't get to enjoy my other friend's company, and played hookie both intentionally and unintentionally. All because of lack of sleep. Was staying up cooking for a big event 'til 3AM worth it? Only time will tell...
Never did I think I'd see this day.
Next thing you know I'll be going to parties and drinking alcohol. Yikes! (No, don't prepare yourself for that variety of stupidity- even sleep-drunk, that's not something that would appeal to me, ever.)
over 'n out.
E.O.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
literalists unite!
Awesome conversation:
Friend 1 quotes: "Shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
Friend 2: The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years from earth. So actually, if you shoot for the moon and miss, you are much more likely to wind up in the void of space than among the stars. That doesn't mean you shouldn't shoot for the moon. It just means you should probably go really really fast in case you miss.
Friend 1 quotes: "Shoot for the moon because even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
Friend 2: The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years from earth. So actually, if you shoot for the moon and miss, you are much more likely to wind up in the void of space than among the stars. That doesn't mean you shouldn't shoot for the moon. It just means you should probably go really really fast in case you miss.
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