ADDED: This reminds me of my favorite passage in my favorite movie, "My Dinner with Andre," quoted numerous times on the blog, such as here, in 2013, in
"What do you think the difference is between a tourist and a traveler?":
"I mean, you see, I think if you could become fully aware of what existed in the cigar store next door to this restaurant, I think it would just blow your brains out! I mean... I mean, isn't there just as much 'reality' to be perceived in the cigar store as there is on Mount Everest? I mean, what do you think? You see, I think that not only is there nothing more real about Mount Everest, I think there's nothing that different, in a certain way. I mean, because reality is uniform, in a way. So that if you're--if your perceptions--I mean, if your own mechanism is operating correctly, it would become irrelevant to go to Mount Everest, and sort of absurd! Because, I mean, it's just--I mean, of course, on some level, I mean, obviously it's very different from a cigar store on Seventh Avenue, but I mean..."
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Cigar store? What's that? J/k, sorta. 1981 cigar stores were something very different from what they are now. In 1981, they were basically dry convenience stores - candy, newspapers (several editions during the course of the day), magazines, oh and tobacco products: mass-market consumer brands. Dry because nobody drank water or soda or anything else between meals. Now the former cigar stores have a soft drink cooler and a bunch of junk food, but no tobacco: that's been de jure or socially driven from polite society. A 2026 'cigar store' is going to be a high end boutique specializing in cigars, period.
One of the drastic changes occurring in a relatively short period of time in our cities. CC, JSM
…is a sir lancelot haircut like that interwebs red head guy that asked for a mullet? “‘tis fire me liege!!!”
Gone with the cigar store is the cigar store indian.
I used to live near a serviceable post office now my local is one of those so bad people are calling their congressman. One day I went in and there were no supplies- zero. no priority boxes no registered mail or return receipts- nothing. Before I got to the front of the line someone screaming at the counter politely notified all if us they chose not to put out supplies because some people use them as scratch paper…not for nothing there was some woke quota being met. An lbgtq++ island of misfit toys, these people are…
across the street from my Boston condo there was a cigar store with an indian, and also they had the little fat guy in striped pajamas. I don’t know what that was about..
Speaking of accents
I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I was about 21, and we were in a Popeyes, and I was ordering dinner.
And the black girl behind the counter had the most amazing accent. I just wanted to stand at that counter and hear all the words that came out of her mouth. Beautiful cajun accent.
There’s a movie being made called My Dinner with Audrey.
“It’s the true story of the night in 1953 Paris when a 24-year-old Audrey Hepburn - sent by director Billy Wilder to find a wardrobe for the film Sabrina - showed up at Hubert de Givenchy’s fashion house and sparked a friendship and creative partnership that lasted 40 years.”
The movie sounds interesting but the title is a huge mistake, in my opinion. We’ll see how it plays out.
“You see, I think that not only is there nothing more real about Mount Everest, I think there's nothing that different, in a certain way. I mean, because reality is uniform, in a way.”
Sure. Everything you see is just a bunch of atoms, and when you’ve seen one bunch of atoms you’ve seen ‘em all. If you’ve seen Lena Dunham you’ve seen Sydney Sweeney. More or less.
Actually, if you want to really get down to it, you don't have to go next door. There's just as much reality to be had right there in the restaurant.
Most of the time our mind is just filling in the blanks for reality by using memory. It only works if there is something new or disruptive.
Also speaking of accents, I was in an airport bar, don't remember the city, as I was waiting for my connecting flight. I had struck up a conversation with a fellow at the bar, about sports or whether or something. A guy listening in interrupted us, directing it at me and says," Where the hell are you from?"
Apparently he had never heard a Boston accent before.
My thought on the distinction between a tourist and a traveler is a tourist is going somewhere to see something and a traveller is going somewhere to do something.
I agree with Sedaris in that I prefer to still go out to buy things when I can. That's not to say I don't order things. I order plenty. But when I can- the hardware store, the grocery, electronics, auto, whatever- I still prefer to go out and talk with people and see the thing.
Except the Post Office. I never want to go to the Post Office. I'm not even sure why I'm capitalizing it here. I hate it- always. It's like the DMV of mail to me. Neither one is a necessity any longer. They are expensive jobs programs run by people who like to keep you waiting in line.
Did I just capitalize dmv? What is going on?
Is it traveler or traveller? Perhaps both? Is it my perception or just another reality?
Tourism involves travel, but not vice-versa.
The mail was delivered today by the weekend workers. The get tomorrow off. Supposedly the regular crew gets Monday off, but the mail will still be delivered. So no 3-4 day weekend for the post office.
The streets are pretty much deserted. Too hot on the East Coast.
“ Known Unknown said...
Most of the time our mind is just filling in the blanks for reality by using memory. It only works if there is something new or disruptive.”
That’s true, the mind works by seeing exceptions to a fixed background. If you never see anything new you are never forced to see. It’s like a dog that sleeps but instantly wakes up when she hears the right noise.
>...the difference is between a tourist and a traveler?<
Tourists don't know where they've been; travelers don't know where they're going.
Travelers are what in the UK and Eire they call nomadic people, not necessarily Roma What we might call gypsies. In Scotland they're called tinkers.
Tourism is a subset of travel. So tourists are a subset of travelers. Other subsets are salesmen, truck drivers, and gypsies.
"I think if you could become fully aware of what existed in the cigar store next door to this restaurant, I think it would just blow your brains out! I mean... I mean, isn't there just as much 'reality' to be perceived in the cigar store as there is on Mount Everest?"
Set theory, anyone? I think André got his education with understanding there would be no math.
Cigar store ≠ Banff at dusk. I rest my case.
...isn't there just as much 'reality' to be perceived in one's navel as there is on Mount Everest?"
"I think if you could become fully aware of what existed in the cigar store next door to this restaurant, I think it would just blow your brains out! I mean... I mean, isn't there just as much 'reality' to be perceived in the cigar store as there is on Mount Everest?"
I've not seen "My Dinner with André", but if the rest of the script is as jejune as that quotation, I don't wanna.
Reality is NOT a quantity. To hold that Location A contains more or less reality than Location B is so mistaken that it's not even wrong. Reality is a quality -- the quality that distinguishes what is empirically demonstrable from what is conjectural or imaginary, with one exception: imaginary numbers, the square roots of the negative numbers, which simultaneously do not exist and must exist for the purposes of quantum mechanics. (Not unlike Schrödinger's cat.) The reality of Des Moines, Iowa, is just as solid as the reality of Athens, but these realities are neither equal nor inequal; they are unique. This is why our language contains here and there. The uniqueness of Des Moines does not include a Parthenon.
David feels that way because he's an author and he's not under time pressure. He can actually pick up things that might be material for a book. If you work for a living at a 9-5 job going to the Post office can be a real hassle.
"There is nothing either interesting or dull, but thinking makes it so"
I stopped at a Costco yesterday to fill up and depending on how hungry I am I go in to get an icecream, at the very least. All the tables were taken, but one had just one guy whose friendly nod was inviting to sit, so I did. He was playing a political YouTube listing liberals inconsistencies and one of them I hadn’t heard before so I said, ‘Yeah, isn’t that true?’. And we started talking. One thing led to another. Guy was from PR, I’m from DR. Turned out he lives about 15 min away from me. He grooms puppies, I told him about my side airport transportation. We exchanged numbers and it was a wonderful encounter.
You can train yourself to get as much pleasure out of going to a cigar store as climbing Mt. Everest is a philosophy that Epictetus would've approved of.
I took my wife to a nearby resort town and wish we'd stay'd at home. I would've gotten more pleasure from being in my back year on a hammock.
I could listen to Sedaris talk all day. He's one of the few writers - maybe Garrison keillor is another - whose writing is best listened to. I have a lot of Sedaris on audio, but I own none of his books.
There is objective reality
And then there is your subjective internal perception of it.
And also other people's perception.
For example:
There is great art X
There is your emotional reaction when seeing it
And there is the reaction of others to it.
Just close your eyes. Enjoy. The insides of your eyelids are as real as anything else.
I do some online commerce, and the USPS is still the cheapest reliable shipper out there. I visit our local office twice a week. The current staff is pleasant and efficient. Never had a real problem in almost thirty years.
That guy has a HARD leg cross. What is he signaling?
Maybe Sedaris could visit the post office in San Rafael, CA and turn their flag right-side up.
Live for the plate and the bowl. For the dish, too, when it doesn't run away with the spoon.
I buy things in person when I can because I like the fact that retail stores exist and I don’t want to live in a world of just houses and delivery trucks.
But what is a Sir Lancelot haircut? I did an image search, but it didn’t help. I saw a bunch of headshots of guys who have played Sir Lancelot. There was no pattern to their hair other than they had hair. None of the Sirs Lancelot were bald.
<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg2aqRPiol0&pp=ygUKcmVkIG11bGxldA%3D%3D&ra=m”>’tis fire my liege</a>
’tis fire my liege
…sorry, dog climbing on me..
john mosby said...
"..nobody drank water or soda or anything else between meals.
Now the former cigar stores have a soft drink cooler.."
i'm NOT threadjacking this; because i'm STILL talking about 'reality';
but WOW How Things Have Changed!
people used to go the whole time between meals without fluids!
Now, not only do convenience stores sell all sorts of fluids..
Many (most?) women(people?) carry a waterbottle around with them WHERE EVER they go
David Sedaris wants to live, and wear a dress. Or, is it a skirt?
I went to the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor to hear David Sedaris a couple months ago. He does something that hasn’t been done really since Will Rogers. He reads, or recites or tells stories for a couple hours. You need to listen to a lot of homoerotic stuff but it’s entertaining.
“Travellers” is what they call travelers in the US. I know this because I had to read a lot of technical documents at one time all written in British English. I ended up writing these words that way so habitually that I just misspelled it again in this comment.
When Twain made that comment about only knowing one way to spell it word, he had a point because different dictionaries had different spellings, and none were considered authoritative.
UK, not US.
When is Travel a Jaunt
"Travelers" is the UK idiom for Gypsies, which is now a racial slur over there.
... fight for the punchline.
A veranda.
“Travelers” are tourists who think they’re “special”.
“ You can train yourself to get as much pleasure out of going to a cigar store as climbing Mt. Everest is a philosophy that Epictetus would've approved of.”
The air at the top of Everest is easier to breathe.
“The air at the top of Everest is easier to breathe.”
What air? At the top of Everest you’re two miles above the altitude where there’s enough air for a normal person to breathe.
Many people have climbed Everest without oxygen.
“ Fewer than 200 people in history have successfully climbed Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Out of the thousands of overall summits since 1953, this elite, oxygen-free feat accounts for roughly 3% to 4% of total climbs.”
But I would agree that they’re not exactly normal people.
Among the pleasures Mrs. Hawkeye and I enjoy during our summer as travelers/tourists/temporary transplants is going out and doing small things each day. We go for coffee & croissants, we buy wine for tonight’s dinner, we refill the detergent at the local bio-coop. Most important: we go to the market to buy fresh food. We feel far healthier, and cooking fresh fish doesn’t stink up the place.
I have noticed that the local tabac has become a rarity, probably due to lessened cigarette and newspaper consumption.
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