The most forthright Russian guy I've ever encountered was on the other side of a vast cultural gulf -- he was repeating "I love niggers!" to us with such glee I thought he was going to wet himself.

Ah ha. Like the young woman I met who was so happy to tell us "my parents were Cossacks!" She didn't realize I'm Jewish.

Timelies all!

Need sleep...

The most forthright Russian guy I've ever encountered was on the other side of a vast cultural gulf -- he was repeating "I love niggers!" to us with such glee I thought he was going to wet himself.

Ah ha. Like the young woman I met who was so happy to tell us "my parents were Cossacks!" She didn't realize I'm Jewish.

I'm stuck here for at least twenty more minutes while this upload finishes.

t twiddles thumbs

I like Lisah's CD a lot. I am not musically literate enough to write good reviews, however. But, you know, supporting a "hometown girl"...and they are fun songs.

Ah ha. Like the young woman I met who was so happy to tell us "my parents were Cossacks!" She didn't realize I'm Jewish.

Oh dear. That's like the guy who was trying to pick me up once and slipped about 3 unprovoked anti-Semetic remarks into a 10 minute conversation. I myself am not Jewish, but most of my closest relatives aside from Mom & Dad are.

I only wish I hadn't been too flabbergasted to think of toasting "l'chayim!"

Everyone who was wishing to come to my house was right thinking. Jesse, miss know it all dampercakes, was only halfway right in that I wanted manual labor. I also wanted company and opinions. It is hard hanging a bunch of things on the wall and having to get down from stools and around furniture between each one to make sure things are spaced ok and straight and blah blah blah.

Point is - good day at my house. laundry done and 10 things hung up in the kitchen. I also revisited the paint stripping project in my bathroom that has been dormant for a couple of years. Maybe by the end of teh week I will actually finish it.

That's like the guy who was trying to pick me up once and slipped about 3 unrpovoked anti-Semetic remarks into a 10 minute conversation. I myself am not Jewish, but most of my closest relatives aside from Mom & Dad are. I only wish I hadn't been too flabbergasted to toast "l'chayim" with my drink.

The closest I've ever come to that was the store clerk at a Clothestime who cheerfully said something about other stores trying to Jew you out of all your money, and who when I objected explained patiently that it was just a expression people use, it didn't have anything to do with Jewish people. When I sputtered out the correct etymology, she looked completely nonplussed and said, "Well, my best friend is Jewish. I'll ask him about it tonight and see what he says." Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation.

There was also the time a boyfriend's father invited BF and me to a steakhouse where he was treating a bunch of friends to dinner; during the pre-meal cocktail hour, several of the more lubricated among them were making snippy little deeply encoded remarks that I can't even recall exactly -- just, the sort of thing one says when one wants to say that kind of thing without actually saying it.

I was just barely self-possessed enough to smile hugely and say, "My grandfather is Jewish!", at which everyone audibly cringed.

Then one woman said with a nervous twitchy grin, "Oh, dear, no, we didn't mean it negatively."

"Oh, no," chirped the twitchy Greek chorus behind her.

Her husband leaned in, all whiskey-hot in the face. "We really admire the Jews, as a people," he said earnestly.

"Oh, yes," his wife nodded, and then ground to a halt, apparently pondering the exact nature of their admiration. Finally, she brightened, and said in a warmly confidential voice, "They're so thrifty."

San Francisco. In the mid-nineties. My hand to God.

One of my old bosses used to make those kinds of remarks, of course prefaced with "I'm not prejudiced or anything, but..."

Dude, I'm a little welsh-cajun-white girl, and if I'm buying something direct wholesale, Imma try to get a deal too. Funny how it never came up when people tried to bargain down at a show.

Jesus, I don't even remember having this conversation with Emmett. Thank god for BRQG:

*********

Emmett: Dad, can you name a monster for every letter in the alphabet, except for the vowels?
Me: So...starting with "B"?
Emmett: No, go ahead and do the vowels too.
Me: Okay. A is...Alien. B is a Balrog.... [bunch of other monsters] and L is....uh....
Emmett: Living Dead!
Me: Right. Good one. M is for Mummies. N is uh....hmmm.
Emmett: National Living Dead!
Me: Excellent choice.
Emmett: I know a good one for Z.
Me: Okay, I'll save that one for you. [bunch of other monsters] ...and U is for Undead. And V is for Voldemort. W is Werewolf. X is X-Ray Vision Man and Y is for Yeti and Z is?
Emmett: Zombie!
Me: Perfect.
Emmett: I helped with some. Like National Living Dead. That was a good one. It would be like a sport like National Football League. Except they wouldn't have any balls they'd just kick around their heads and their hands.