on a bad day.

yeah, so i had kind of a frustrating day today.

i say this because i hear my blog seems like i'm always having a good day. and, i mean, i kind of am. but it was just one of those days in which i spilled my water bottle all over my bed, and everyone's in a may teacher mood [it's like senioritis, only worse, because you're all, "why must students YELL ALL THE TIME! STOP YELLING!" and such], and i left school late, and was tired, and then the wait was really long at the burrito place, and my heel hurts from running [once again], and blah.

anyway, to start, here's one of the best things that happened:
as i was approaching the coffee grinding machine, my ipod headphones [excuse me, "earbuds"] got caught on my trader joe's shopping basket. and i thought, OH NOES! i'm an urban stereotype! hehe.

so i smiled for a minute. and the checkout guy was cute, and bearded.
b: [with overflowing shopping basket] heyyy, so i just stopped by to get the absolute essentials.
cg: yeah, and you definitely need... persian cucumbers.
b: yeah, are they good? do they taste like cucumbers?
cg: yes. the reason they're called "persian" is that they're from the fertile crescent, which is where most food originated.
b: [checks label] ahhh. they're actually from mexico. i feel like i've learned a lot in this conversation...
cg: hey, never stop learning.
b: i know! i'm a teacher. [usually a good lead-in, with people who have a potential of liking me later.]
cg: oh yeah? where do you teach? [i told him.] oh, my boyfriend lives in that neighborhood!
and on to a conversation about how cute his boyfriend is, even though he is the executive director of a dance company but NOT a dancer himself. sigh. dear cute bearded trader joe's checkout guys, please stop being gay, especially when you're kind of cute and my day already kind of sucks. thanks. [no, it's okay. you can be gay. i like it.]

please note that, above, i had already typed "trader joe's carrying thingy WHAT IS THAT THING CALLED when you know you'll get too much stuff if you get a cart and you won't be able to carry it home" when i remembered. shopping basket. okay, frb. too tired to blog.

and that brings me to the LAST BAD THING that happened tonight. i was carrying a bag of groceries, a thingy of toilet paper, my huge purse [obvi], and this takeout from the burrito place. ["essentials only," my ass. i always do this.] the problem, i think, was the burrito - i'd gotten a burrito DINNER, which comes in one of those styrofoam meal things. i already hate styrofoam, right? and those meal things are so annoying, because the refried beans get everywhere when you try to carry them in a plastic bag, because the styrofoam container won't stay horizontal. YOU KNOW?! grrr.

anyway, getting to the point, i dropped the little containers of salsa while i was trying to balance everything. and one BROKE OPEN. and it got all over the sidewalk. and then i had to clean it up, because i always complain when people leave things like that on the sidewalk. because, like, who else is going to clean it up? NO ONE, except the person who DROPPED it. so i picked it up, and it got all over my bag. then i couldn't put my bag on my shoulder, because it would have stained my new cute shirt. and i had to try several contortions to get everything in my hands again and get home. blarrrghhh.

i told this story to my roommate pretty much verbatim, and because she is awesome, she said, "awww. you really DID have a bad day."

:)

this is one of these moments where my grandma would remind me that i have my health. and i do. and everything's really wonderful - but i just wanted to blogvent. thanks, friends.

"everything is amazing right now, and nobody's happy."

has everyone seen this video, of comedian louis ck on conan? i found it here, but obviously it's a copyright infringement and nbc has already taken it off youtube.

[update: here? although i don't like it so much when it's called "people in today's society take things for granted."]

also, is everyone still WATCHING GREY'S?! [again, the link has sound] because it is AWESOME.

i was in cvs today, doing my usual thing where i talk to the cashier about how i don't know how to use the credit card machine. whatever. and she goes, "you know what's the worst? the guys who are on public aid who play dumb. i'm like, i THINK they taught you how to use the cards when you GOT them." then she scoffed. and i was like, WHAT?!!?!???! on the inside, though.

i wish i reacted better to this stuff, especially since i feel like this happens to me a lot. like, i've become insta-acquaintances with this stranger just this minute, and all of a sudden, she's like, "i hate poor people!" and i'm like, oh no! now what?

i was sharing a similar story with a friend, and she passed on some advice from her dad. he said that whenever someone says something he disagrees with [on belief, i guess], he doesn't feel like he has to defend his belief. he just gives a weekly reader report. i don't quite remember this about weekly reader [although i remember weekly reader, oh yes i do], but apparently it's all stories about people that just give a little bit of information along with the story. so what i should have said was, "oh, i knew a guy on public aid once, and he was very competent at the use of his card!" and then, after my weekly reader personal story about the topic, what is she going to say? "no, you didn't, and you're a liar"? and i can be satisfied that i've said something, at least.

or, i guess i could have said, "well, i can't use it either!" or i could have punched her. i mean, come on. it must be humiliating enough to be on public aid without having to decipher an already incomprehensible credit card machine.

randy pausch also says, "don't tell people what to do. just tell them stories." and they'll know what you mean, and remember better than if you'd lectured them. not coincidentally, the video of randy pausch's last lecture is definitely my students' favorite thing that i show them - and i show them a lot of stuff. highly recomended.

pip and maria both ran marathons today - SO AWESOME and i'm so proud of them. links are to their race reports, so get excited and read them. and since we're talking about good deeds, i'd like to point out that pip made her goal with the help of a stranger who saw her running along, asked what pace she needed, and said "i'll get you there. come on." talk about a good deed, right? and of course my former teammate had it in her. i knew from experience - holla for team sports.

cheap eats!

i've been giving extra points [life points, not class points] to people who can use the economy in every conversation. i'm telling you, guys, it always applies. so yesterday, as we were shopping for a dinner friend date, kevin got mad points for, "i'm really glad we're staying in and cooking, in this economy." nice. later, when we picked out the chocolate lava cakes from the frozen section, i remarked that we were moving out of the money-saving kind of dinner. he goes, "oh, now we're trying to stimulate the economy." well-played.

articles like this one [not to mention my book club's reading of animal, vegetable, miracle] always make me want to cook lots of things at home - especially bagels! they're cheap! they taste really good! i could do this, right?! [this is the beginning of a dangerous line of thinking that involves, at the very least, setting off the fire alarm in my kitchen - which i narrowly avoided, in fact, this very morning.]

and, related in cheap and good eating, jezebel asks if women bear the burden of ethical eating. [a good salon article, actually, about eating ethically for cheap.] several commenters, and i, respond that women bear the burden of many eating decisions in many families. and, more notably for me, one commenter starts a string of amazing vegetable-related puns. nice!

"welcome to the train fantastique. that's the fantastic train."

cta adventure! that's right.

i got on the brown line friday evening and heard, "this is a brown line train to kimballllllaboard." see how he did that? that's clever. but, for those of you who don't know, the cta drivers don't usually talk. they have a recorded voice that can say pretty much whatever. and usually when they do talk, they sound appropriately bored and distant.

so, of course, the excited-sounding driver made everyone nervous.

at the next stop, he said, "will all the people with chocolate sculptures please come to the front? i enjoy chocolate..." some people behind me were like, is he high? what's he talking about? and i sat quietly, admiring the chocolate sculpture the girl in front of me was holding. [not very observant, my fellow passengers.]

when i got off the train, the driver was leaning out the window [i'm not sure how it works other places, but on the el, the driver looks out the window to make sure everyone's on the train] talking to chocolate sculpture girl, all "why didn't you come up?" and she was all, haha, thanks, whatever. now, the driver was cute. i told him thanks for talking. and he was like, "there were chocolate sculptures!" but then he had to go. he was driving a train.

would you all still be friends with me if i dated a cta driver? and, do you think he'd let me drive the train? i'm just asking.

after the train left, i was walking next to the girl with the chocolate sculpture and asked her about it. while we were talking, i ran into a pole. it was one of those incidents where i wasn't like, "crap, i ran into a pole" - more like, "why am i not walking anymore? and what just hit me?" it's always a little embarrassing, though, especially with a stranger who might think i'm crazy.