Haz Mat

The following from...

the rat's nest is a health hazard. Maybe not the actual nest, but that hole in the ground-floor hallway that gurgles up (raw?!?!? haven't actually gotten close enough) sewage has got to go. Why don't people care about it? Somebody's kid is going to fall in that hole, get sick from the sewage, and worse. They've got a couple of planks sort of covering it up. Lots of those black bugs swarming around. And the stank? You can smell it from the street. World's best birth control: Live in a building with effervescent, uncovered sewage right by the elevator door. You won't be inviting anybody in. Promise. But since I'm apparently the only person that thinks this is barfy (there's probably some of that in the hole, too), it'll most likely be around for a while. Maybe I'll post a picture of the hole because you probably think I'm exaggerating.

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Today K said: "It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."
True actually. Not directly for me, but still.
Basically there was a pall over everything at work. I think something sad is happening but upper management (so to speak) is being very hush-hush about it. Vamos a.



Also: MILK is a great movie and you should see it.

Every day I walk through a big park on my way to work. It takes about twenty minutes or a little less. (You knew it wasn't actually a cat writing this, right?) The best thing about walking through the park is all the dogs. It's unbelievable how many people can leave their dogs off-leash and they just romp and come when they're called. Most times I am panting like a dog myself, because I'm usually running late. Of course the park also has cats and pigeons. And there are about eight cats that look like Lou. No real point to that, just an observation.

Guess what. Sometimes when I'm speed-walking down the lanes, listening to the MQP iPod, I'm just happy to be a normal person with hair, walking to my normal, undemanding job. I think about what I went through to get there and smile to myself. People who pass me surely lump me with those who make the park their home, as I carry a big red bag and have a goofy look on my face. PS to Pierre, thanks for providing me with every rap 'tune' recorded since the inception of the genre. Peace out. Word.

What not to buy

in a supermarket.

This from the perch:

Rules to live by.
This might be a new feature of this blog.
It's started to look like we're grasping at straws lately
So an OCD person like me can logically present a list of
Things that should come directly from the source
And which I cannot bring myself to buy here in the big, bad city.
In no particular order:

1. lemons (and oranges and clemmies in season)
2. table wine
3. olive oil (actually that should have been first)

All of these things were carried back to the city tonight by me and K at the risk of a major hernia and anything else bad that can happen to you when your suitcase weighs 100 kilos/220 pounds/a tenth of a metric ton/you get the idea.

PS Weather on the perch was brilliant.

edited to add

All the way from the rat's nest:

Ok gotta add Mom's favorite,
which I forgot but here is the last of
the fart-related 'I am rubber"-type
comebacks:

The fox is the finder
The stink lies behind 'er

PS
Hey, George,
Do you remember that the building next to the Fart Factory
had these two guys in the lobby who were always shaking hands
no matter what time you drove by? It was a big glass lobby.
They were mannequins but it was a side-splitting joke to say,
"Hey look, those two guys are still shaking hands!"

Remember the Fart Factory

The rat's nest reports:
On our way to little ethnic kid school M-W-F we used to pass the sewage treatment plant on McCormick and that place smelled, man. So what could be a more hilarious nickname than "The Fart Factory?" Also guaranteed to crack you up for the gazillionth time: Asking, "who farted?" when passing the said factory.

All this has a point.

And not to dwell, but how weird was it when I remembered the following comeback the other morning while waiting for the elevator, after more than twenty years:

He who smelt it, dealt it.
He who knew it, blew it.
He who thunk it, dunk it.

Then you wonder why I can't remember other things. Obviously my brain is full of other really important (albeit temporarily repressed) things that take up all the space.

So what's the point? Dude, I knew I knew what I was talking about when I started calling this place the rat's nest. Now there's this giant hole they dug and left on the ground floor. The nastiest ever sewer smell as well as a million billion of those little bugs that turn into black dust when you smash them are continually being emitted from that hole. You cannot believe the stench. At the meeting Sunday they said they have to collect money so they can start fixing it, but they haven't even started collecting the money yet, so I have no idea when it'll get fixed. Possible cost to dig up the pipe and replace it and the damaged electrical cables: ten large.

So that's where the Fart Factory comes in. I guess you could say I've come full circle in my life. Feels damn good.

New Year's Resolvations

all the way from the rat's nest...
Good and I mean good riddance to 2008. The best thing that I can say about it is that it's over.
2nd worst year in 35 long ones.

Olympie said that there's some astrological thing related to Capricorns or the star of Capricorn or the Tropic of Capricorn... Anyway, the next few decades are going to be much better. Apparently the stars say that it's going to be 'back to basics' for the whole planet. That is music to my ears. I'd like to believe it.

So anyway, not to dwell on the negative side of this coin, with the end of 2008 come the following, in no particular order:

No more cancer.
No more unprofitable business which sucks out my very soul for less moolah than I'd be making on the dole.
No more toxic people playing a role of any importance in my life.
Hair, albeit weird and helmet-shaped or Nero-styled.

I sound negative in my positivity, don't I?

Anyhoo, it's my thirty-fifth today, so a good time to make some statements about the coming time (not only year, but more). I've spent the last fourteen months or so taking stock, didn't wait for today, but it's time to solve some of the stuff that's been hanging around for a long time, now that I have all this insight from being sick and then being well.

Hence the resolvations.

So:

Be well. This means listen to my body and inner voice about all kinds of things.
(This also means not being a chicken shit.)
Listen to live music.
Get my half-moons to the gym.
See my friends often.
Take walks by myself.
Be nice to everybody but extra nice to some people.
Be MYself. Keep working on figuring out who that is (am).
Buy and cook as many natural foods as I can afford.
Cultivate plants on the balcony.
GET A DOG.
NAME MY DOG ARFUR.

more as they occur to me