Yes folks, it’s “intermittent metaphor and rampant praise” day. Enjoy it while it lasts; i’m due for a visit over to Amy’s any minute now…
by krisis
Archives for November 2000
Working at the Coffee Shop is like acting on a teevee show in six-hour increments. While i’m behind the counter all of the problems of school and friends slip away so that all that’s left is the idle banter between myself and my coworkers and customers. In fact, we refer to certain combination of people behind the counter as their own sort of show… Josh and I are the Josh and Pedro Show while Sara and I are some sort of manic comedy act unleashed upon the poor unsuspecting business world. While there, small flirtations i made while away from the shop turn into full-blown plot elements so much that they bare no relationship to my actually life and instead seem like some sort of soap-opera script. And all of the problems i encounter at the shop? They fade away by the time i step onto the magical trolley that transports me back into the rest of my life. And here i am.
Now my windows are closed and the heat is on, despite the fact that tonight is beautiful and still and perfectly Autumn. I also have ice on my head, either to keep myself cool or to prevent the huge lump emerging from the top of my head from that window that tried to shatter itself on me.
Each week is like a wave crashing upon and then receding from a sandy shore. Monday seems safe but by Tuesday night the whole thing is looming rather large and on Wednesday i’m lucky if i’m not totally bowled over. Thursday is not as difficult, but if i’m not careful i’m pulled down by the undertow, unable to take a breath. Finally, Friday is just a rapidly quieting echo of the powerful surge i’d encountered. Saturday and Sunday are like that weightless sensation you feel as your feet are sucked down into the wet sand by the vacuum of water escaping back to sea all around you. And then i wake up and it’s monday again and i can see another one coming..
I found a rather off-kilter search in my referrer logs and i wanted to share the story behind it with y’all.. You see, I am a cheese fries addict, and will order them at any food truck, diner, or restaurant where i can find them. However, i’ve only ever mentioned these delectable treats twice in my blogging history: on two pages seperated by at least a month. Despite this, i’m ranked in the top ten on this yahoo/google search. Also very odd is that at least three of the other links originate in Philadelphia, and that the person searched just for the words “cheese fries” … and i can’t imagine what they expected to find through those means. Anyhow, rather interesting, huh?
I really dislike my landlord. You can revisit my initial reasons for this feeling in the first three weeks of the archives, but i felt as though i should take this opportunity to update them for the present. Aside from his general incoherence and unbusiness-like manner (and once threatening me with a gun, but that’s another story), he inserted a clause into our lease that our windows were to be kept shut while the building’s heating system was in season or be fined $200 dollars. What he neglected to mention was that there is no control of heat per apartment or per floor, and that the heater decides to come on whenever it wants and started to do so as early as September. After finding out all of this i just assumed his clause was more of a reminder than a literal threat, and so i generally keep my living room windows cracked as to relieve the incessant heat on nice sunny days (the same way i generally wear three layers of clothing on the mornings when the heat doesn’t work).
Today when i arrived home from work i found a note written on my realitor’s “letter head” (read as: shitty photocopies of his address typed onto white paper) stating that many tenants were in violation of the window clause, and that there would be a building wide check of inside windows and storm-windows (as opposed to screens) tomorrow with open ones netting a $500 fine for their tenant. Aside from the bare 12-hour notice and the 150% hike in the fee involved, i don’t especially like my realitor having a potential excuse to come into my apartment whenever he wants under the pretense of “i thought your windows were open”
As an aside, not all of my inside frames had a maintenance check after the previous tenant moved out, resulting in one that won’t stay open, one missing the top half of its frame, and one with no lock (not that i really need one on the 3rd floor, it just bothers me). As i was shutting the screens of all of my windows i opened one and had the top of it fall out of the window and bonk me squarely on my head. If it was a glass window it would’ve shattered into pieces. Apparently, the window had never been popped into its track and so just had been sitting on the windowsill the entire time.
It feels good to have people digging through my past at 4am in the morning… it gives me a sort of addictive quality where i hold sway over sleepy people who should be hard at work. And my pen has been burning to write lately as well. Oh well, i’m verging on late for the shop. I shouldn’t complain; today i get to pick all five discs in the changer. Oh, the power!
I love the rain. Living in dorms and apartments doesn’t really give me the chance to enjoy it like i wish i could, but i love it all the same. This summer while we were training for Orientation, there was a massive downpour one really humid night, and a third of the orientation leaders decided to go outside and dance around like children. By the time we skipped and hopped the half a block to the soccer field we were soaked to the skin. On the curiously spongy astro-turf we kicked off our sandals and chased each other around for no reason at it. Towards the end we had a sort of sumo-wrestling match, which i lost at huge. The rain started to let up after a while, and without the constant torrent of fresh drops we all started to feel a bit soggy and cold, so we returned to the dorm and dripped our way back up to the eighth floor.