Monthly Archives: September 2010
Well. I went out for an hour ride (truth be told I managed to get a little lost). But the good side was that the bike fared well so I should be able to use it next week. I did feel sa little naked without an helmet, gloves and whistle (i have a dingy bell but they are, IMO, useless in traffic and a pealess whistle is awesome). We’ll be heading to a couple of bike shops today and probably REI. My current helmet, somewhere in a box, is about 10 years old so its due to be replaced.
What I found truly interesting was that it pretty much felt like I had never stopped cycling. And the roads in this area of Los Angeles are a cyclist’s dream: perfectly smooth with no glass shards on them. This is very different compared to when I used to bicycle in Toronto. Get a smooth street with few people on was a rarity.
Hopefully the new visa stuff will come through and I can bike through more of the West coast.
Well things are settling down. K told that the movers are coming today at 7:30am. I am assuming that they have already arrived and dropped stuff off. It will be nice to have a proper desk to do work on rather than the laptop cart I’ve been using for now.
As I write this I’m high above the great state of Texas and I have to admit that there are few places where I don’t feel welcomed. Texas was a first, particularly in San Antonio. It is a very Conservative (read: Tea party) town. It is also a heavily military town but I’m not sure that is the cause. People are polite and friendly but the fact that I wore sandals ( my Keens that I wear to EVERY class and company function I’ve taught and/or been at over the course of my 5 years with my company) along with the fact that I have a single plain eyebrow was bothersome enough for one student to comment that they were not “professional”.
I raise my studded eyebrow to this.
Ya. I don’t wear suits when i teach but I will guarantee that you will get the best educational experience from me. It is that belief that things are either black or white here that would make not want to live here. I had always thought that when I had visited my dad when he lived in Houston that it was the gated community concept where he had lived way back when. I am wondering, however, if I was picking up on the fact that I would never fit into this part of US culture, that traditional Puritan view of life.
I have always been everything but traditional. Growing up from awkward child to awkward adult and the silent peer reviews done by those known and not so known remains a challenge but one I’m not as perturbed as I used to be.
California, in contrast, is a state full of the awkward and unusual life who want nothing more than the same as every Puritan traditionalist — a life to enjoy, a job to bitch and moan about, good food and better beer, and to be accepted within the tribe around them.