Having been incredibly busy as of late, I have not had much time to write in the blog. But now, for all of you who have been waiting with baited breath, there comes a special installment of Strange Things and Weirdos.
First, we shall begin with a sight I beheld a couple of weeks ago. I've been working a lot, sometimes on a late schedule. I had just gone home and was walking back to campus around 10pm to do another 5 hours worth of work, up Shattuck Ave. Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley is sort of like Grand Blvd in St. Louis or Broadway in New York. It's where everything happens, both good and bad. So, as I pass by two homeless guys smoking crack, I am not surprised. I'm sure those of us who have lived in the city are now wondering "Why is this strange or weird?", but no, my friends, this is Kalifornia. The whole picture was ridiculous. Imagine, if you will, two homeless men, completely soiled and smelly standing around a storefront at night. Now imagine that one of the bums is huffing through a rolled up piece of aluminum foil held over a spoon containing crack which the other bum is heating from the bottom with a cigarette lighter. Ordinarily, this would not be strange, except for the spoon. It wasn't any ordinary spoon--it was one of those free giveaways like you get from Microsoft with the blinking light-up pink neon handles. So, imagine two bums smoking crack from a neon-pink light-up Microsoft spoon in front of a really upscale Scandanavian furniture store and you have Berkeley.
I also play in the orchestra in town. It's a good time, and the people are cool. My stand partner this year was an 18 year old freshman. She was a tiny little Asian, really nice and cute in a puppy-dog sort of way. She's from the LA area orignally and completely naive. She comes in one night at rehearsal with her hair cut. Nothing big, but noticeable. I asked her if she got her hair cut. It went something like this:
Me: "Did you get your hair cut?"
Her: "Yeah, but I need to get it cut again, it's really messed up."
Me (oblivious to what is wrong): "Really? What's wrong with it?"
Her: "Well, you know, guy's hair isn't that big a deal, but girls hair has to be layered and cut specially. I went to SuperCuts this time because it was $17 instead of my usual haircutter who's $33. I went in and it was really weird. There were all these people in there, like guys and stuff. I think some of them drove busses. I was waiting for this woman to cut my hair, but then this guy called my name, and I was too embarassed to say that I didn't want him to cut my hair, so he cut my hair and did a terrible job--he just cut it straight across. I mean, I let a guy cut my hair and he wasn't even gay!"
At this point I was almost rolling out of my chair onto the floor with laughter. She was so sincere about being affronted by having a non-homosexual male cut her hair that it was hilarious. No discrimination that someone is gay--but the complete taking for granted of the stereotypes of homosexuals that they are more artistic and can cut hair better. It makes me smile even now thinking about it. The naivety and sincerity of it all was hilarious. Only in Kalifornia would you have someone like that.
The last strange piece of news also comes from the orchestra. One of the girls in the orchestra told me that she saw my stand partner at the dentist and didn't recognize her. This girl I was talking to is Asian. She says to me "Yeah, I didn't recognize her--but it wasn't my fault--she's Asian, this whole orchestra is Asian, and all Asians look the same." This also sent me into fits of laughter--what some people say about Asians we have one saying about themselves--with total sincerity.
Sometimes I wonder about the naivety of the people here.
Labels: Strange Things and Weirdos
