From "Never Look at Someone While They’re Locking Their Bike" by Clio Chang (NY Magazine).
Things I spent time doing this morning:
1. Looking up O-rack (and just getting a lot about Rack-O, the Milton Bradley card game from the 1950s).
2. Looking up Kumon (and finding something else from the 1950s ("Toru Kumon, a gifted maths teacher in Japan, begins providing self-learning based education to his son, Takeshi....")).
3. Wondering if this writer is quite cute and amusing or if she's too nervous and nutty to get by in this world.
4. Resolving the question raised at #3 by reading the 3 comments over there:
1. "Everyone wants to be able to pick their wedgie in peace before interacting in any social situation."
2. "Love this! I've never felt so seen."
3. "I totally agree with you, it can be disorienting and feel like an invasion of privacy...."
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I'm amazed she has any friends at all.
Must be a girl thing, because I don’t know of guys who are so concerned about appearances.
Can anyone explain how to square such feminine concerns with feminism? Either women are equal or not. Or is the point of feminism to cherry pick where equality matters?
I'd hate to live my life with such shallow concerns. She's way too concerned with how she looks to others. If they're her friends, doesn't seem like she wants much vulnerability in her relationships.
first world problems.
I do understand a bit. I have to concentrate as I lock my bike with 2 heavyduty locks. I use a large U-lock and a heavy chain. Both add significant weight to my rear basket on an already heavy steel bike. I get my workout.
Property crime in B-town (run by 100% pro-crime progressives) is off the charts. The left preach they want us to ride bikes, but make it almost impossible to do so without threat of theft. The drug-transients (imported by Polis) are cutting locks and taking any bike they can find.
yay progressives!
Let me guess: physical labor and multitasking is not her forte?
"Like flossing, or licking Bolognese sauce from the bottom of a bowl, locking up your bike is a task meant to be experienced alone, unobserved."
The writer sounds like she is going for charming and relatable in the modern world. In Cleveland, we had a commentator who could do a 5 minute reminiscence on the local news about playing Rack-O or eating fried bologna sandwiches. Clio Chang is doing the cosmopolitan version.
Someone familiar with Kumon worksheets should probably have a better bike than a Schwinn.
It's excellent comedy writing. Look at the sentences. She's supercompetent at her *actual* work.
My favorite sentence: "It is possible that the breeze, once a source of my power, blew something gross — an insect, the torn corner of a Snapple label — onto my face."
Especially "once a source of my power."
There will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.
West Union hosted Ragbrai last night. So While i read this post, about 35 bicyclists rode by my front door. After 6 days of riding, most of them look the worse for wear.
Another 12 went by as i wrote this sentence.. Soon, we'll get our town back!
"Like flossing, or licking Bolognese sauce from the bottom of a bowl, locking up your bike is a task meant to be experienced alone, unobserved."
She's good. Can't wait to read the comments.
my distant Baptist memories delivered these dulcet tones to my mind:
Cast your nets aside
And join the battle tide
He will be your guide
To make you fishers of men.
He said, Rise and follow me
I'll make you worthy
Rise and follow me
I'll make you fishers of men.
He said, Rise and follow me
I'll make you worthy
Rise and follow me
I'll make you fishers of men.
Calm seas and prosperous journey. The ship's belly will be full.
>"Like...licking Bolognese sauce from the bottom of a bowl..."<
Lot of people do this, do they? Well, it's a new one for me. Never done it; never seen it done.
What is it that Bette Midler said....."the only way to eat a taco is naked - and alone."
She's not a multi-tasker.
If she's not cute, I hope she doesn't wear the weird spandex bike pants.
There are many biking groups around here comprised of lots of 50+ riders.
Only one or two have any right to be wearing tight shorts.
If she is cute...
It's excellent comedy writing. Look at the sentences. She's supercompetent at her *actual* work.
=======
Q: so how did so many manage not to appreciate Trump Comedy
The only way to eat a mango is naked... and alone.
check out the 40–50 year old bikes around Greenpoint in Brooklyn. Only risk so much!
“ Q: so how did so many manage not to appreciate Trump Comedy”
Many people have low perception of humor, but also when a person with a threatening degree of power uses humor, it’s not felt as humor. If someone were torturing you and making genuinely funny jokes, you would not appreciate them.
You’re a captive audience of sorts when the comedian is President. That’s wrecks the humor unless you’re enjoying how he’s wielding his power and how the unhappy people are anguished.
Fried bologna sandwiches - also known as hot dogs.
You’re a captive audience of sorts when the comedian is President. That’s wrecks the humor unless you’re enjoying how he’s wielding his power and how the unhappy people are anguished.
==========
Q: how do we factor in 'Separation of Powers' between/among 5-6 branches of Government/Media
in dialing/calibrating degree of comicability?
Q : so was Trump the Court Jester who tried out The Throne? and ruling classes are not happy ?
Speaking of biking, this year's Tour de France Femme has seen a lot of bad crashes. I've only watched through Stage 3, but on Stage 2 there was a crash with riders lying on the road when another rider (who apparently didn't see they were down) came zooming in at full speed, smashing into the pile with the rider sent flying down the road.
Aside from the difference in athletic ability, it seems the women also have something to learn about strategy and technique.
“how the unhappy people are anguished.
Well, how the unhappy people are ridiculous. It doesn’t seem to matter who’s President. It’s the same people falling into hysterics. You bet I enjoy it.
"Many people have low perception of humor, but also when a person with a threatening degree of power uses humor, it’s not felt as humor. If someone were torturing you and making genuinely funny jokes, you would not appreciate them."
Now do Ronald Reagan. The President isn't a comedian, and I can't think of any Presidents that tried to be one. That shouldn't mean that humor is off-limits to them though. Regan's self-deprecating humor was good-natured, gentle and often not directed at anyone but himself. How is that oppressive? Or, put differently: If someone were to find it oppressive, maybe the problem wasn't Reagan's humor.
more about court jestering v ruling class who consider themselves elite brainy etc.
""I have many kind friends with wonderful attributes, but one horrible thing they all have in common is a compulsion to come up and talk to me when they see me arrive on my bike.""
*******************
Notice how she attributes a "compulsion" to people who simply come up to talk to her.
DON'T THEY KNOW she wants to be left alone? DON'T THEY KNOW that coming up to a friend for a chat is a tell-tale behavioral disorder?
But don't worry: in the upcoming NYT Sunday magazine, another self-absorbed "woman" will be bleating about being shunned or ignored by her friends, who don't seem to understand she craves conversation every time they run into each other.
Ditzes: it's ditzes all the way down.
President Biden's bike crash was caused by tires with record-high inflation.
West Union hosted Ragbrai last night
WOW, so wrapped up in my world, I forgot ragbrai was happening.
Today is a killer ride. In and out of a couple major river valleys. Gunder? Is the Famous Gunder burger still happening?
I see they are coming into Lansing from the South, and not the west. The west path is a Looong, steep, curvy, downhill into Lansing. But the South route takes the riders in and out the Yellow River valley through the Yellow River State Forrest.
I came to know a girl from chatting her up on our bike commute into downtown San Francisco. It was a regular thing because we both took the train which stopped about 2 miles short of our offices. Although she was dorky (hoodie or baseball cap under a bike helmet) I came to think she was absolutely beautiful during our chats at red lights, etc. Graceful and powerful with rosy red cheeks, yoga pants, dancer's body. I met her a few times for lunch and she was just regular, sort of dorky, in office attire, not near as wonderful.
How hard is it to say "Give me a moment. I'll be with you in a second."
In that Mel Gibson movie "What Women Want" he and Helen Hunt work on an ad campaign for Nike running shoes. It's basically: the Road doesn't care what you look like. All the social niceties women worry about are left behind when they exercise. You can be yourself, be aggressive, be sweaty, be ugly, be self-centered.
It was a pretty good fictional spot. I can see why Nike let them use their brand.
Is the Famous Gunder burger still happening?
they went out of business (or, the owner retired).. and were closed for a while
But last year someone bought the building and reopened..
I've yet to go (been by a few times, and the parking lot was always full)
The only way to eat a mango is naked... and alone.
i see where you're going with that (i think), with a shower after..
However, the 1st time i Ever ate a mango (or, had even Heard of them), a beautiful 24 year old sliced off slices of mango, and holding each slice on the edge of her knife; placed the slice into me mouth. Between the exoticness of the mango, and the (seeming) danger of having a very sharp knife placed into my mouth; it was something i'll remember.. FOREVER
THAT'S The Way to eat a mango!
Now that i think about it; she stuck the mango slices on the tip of the knife, not balanced them on the edge; so the knife was inside my mouth when i took the slice off
Am i STILL in love with her, because of the mango? well, Yeah
After slowing down in progress in math after zoom learning for a trimester during the early stages of Covid, we signed my youngest daughter up for Kumon. She's been making great strides.
It's basically math the way I learned (70s and 80s) math. Lots of repetitive worksheets that reinforce a specific mathematical exercise. It has an emphasis on speed as well as accuracy. Students work at their own pace
There are no "number stories" in Kumon math. There's no "estimating". It is the antithesis of "whole math".
I wish we had found it 5 years earlier.
gilbar said...
"West Union hosted Ragbrai last night. So While i read this post, about 35 bicyclists rode by my front door. After 6 days of riding, most of them look the worse for wear.
Another 12 went by as i wrote this sentence.. Soon, we'll get our town back!"
I remember West Union (actually, Clermont, but same locale) from David Lynch's charming movie "The Straight Story." Alvin Straight's John Deere lawnmower started down a long hill approaching the town and got going so fast he couldn't downshift. Townspeople and a local fire crew helped him slow it down and let him 'bivouac' while awaiting transmission repairs. RAGBRAI also figured into the movie. It's still one of my favorites, but seeing it in a movie theater was the best experience.
Here's a local news report remembering the time when it was filmed.
I suppose the fact that Trump was in office (and thus in "power" for a time) did play a role, but were the Trump haters scared of Trump or of his power? In the end he had more reason to be scared of them than they had to be scared of him. I think they just hated him. Therefore, they didn't find him funny.
Joe Biden has a lot of power, and if what you say is true, I am his captive audience. I still find him uproariously funny, mostly when he's not trying to be.
President Magoo can and has messed up the country horribly. That's part of the comedy.
About Clio: Some people like cute or clever or pretty writing. It makes other people gag. It has a lot to do with taste and temperament, but also with your mood at the time.
Get back to me when the Tour de France Roller Derby starts.
Speaking of biking, this year's Tour de France Femme has seen a lot of bad crashes.
I don't have Peacock, so I only got to see the one they showed on CNBC last Sunday (and am recording the upcoming one in the afternoon). After watching three weeks of the men's Tour, I was astounded by the drop in production values for the women's event. I wasn't expecting the studio analysts or anything, but it would at least be good to have more graphics with the leaders' names in it, for the benefit of those of us who aren't familiar with the women riders at all.
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