Monday, November 25, 2019

Stupid E-Bikers; Zapruder Film on WeChat; My Own World; The Salvation Army; Winnipeg Blue Bombers Win the Grey Cup; Walking Down the Street Looking at a Laptop


  • Friday morning, I drove Jenny to downtown Wuxi. At this huge intersection, you had to wonder if the e-bikers were short-sighted or stupid or both. On a green go straight ahead light, I was going straight ahead and saw an e-biker coming from my left, who I figured was trying to cross the intersection diagonally and thus cut in front of me. This sight made me feel sadistic, and it appeared I gave the rider the scare of her life as I honked the horn and made her come to a sudden stop. As I passed her, coming as close as I could to almost brushing her, I swore, hopefully loud enough, through the open driver side window, for her to hear f***! Continuing on through the intersection, I saw another two e-bikers who were also ignoring traffic signals and trying to beat oncoming traffic. Jenny swore at them.

  • I really thought I had gone too far when I had posted the crucial fifteen seconds of the Zapruder film on my WeChat Moments. I was hoping that someone would say I was a sicko for posting the images. Instead, I brought out a couple tin-foil hatted foreigners who said they didn't believe the official account of the assassination. For what it's worth, I was a JFK assassination buff when I was younger. I bought many books about it and I was even able to visit Dealey Plaza when the assassination occurred. I didn't believe the official account either till I actually read a book that said Oswald did it. That book made the official account seem reasonable and ultimately the truth. Also, going to Dealey Plaza, site of the assassination, I was struck by how small it the place was compared to how I imagined it. Oswald had an easy shot and was able to kill the president despite actually shooting very erratically as any person trying to kill a president would similarly do.

  • "Andis you are in your own world!" says my wife Jenny. When we argue, she says this in a mocking tone to which I respond that her way of being hard on our son Tony makes me want to retreat into my own world. Her world of scowl garners no desire to join from me, as well as no sympathy. But to be fair to her, I am a loner. It was my affliction growing up, but in the world that is now, it is a necessity. The urge to belong can make people go crazy or do crazy things like my wife.

  • I was very disappointed in Chick-fil-A when I heard they had decided to not give money to the Salvation Army. (For what conceivable reason? I shudder to learn the details.) I had made a point of going to to Chick-fil-A when I was in the US because they seemed like a restaurant worth supporting. I am eternally grateful to the Salvation Army because of the comfort they provided our family during the death of my father. And it was a lady from the Salvation Army who said a prayer at my funeral – things that wouldn't have been done for us by fucking social justice warriors!

  • The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup this week. I was happy because Tony & I had attended one of their games this year and I have a soft spot in my heart for them. I wasn't aware that the Blue Bombers had gone 29 years without winning the Cup. It was so long ago that I was living in Winnipeg at the time it happened. After that 1990 game, a friend and I went to Portage Avenue to watch the celebrations. I remember seeing some people walk off with a newspaper dispensing machine, and this repetitive process of people climbing on top of some bus stop shelter only to shooed down by a policeman and then a few minutes later seeing some other people getting the same idea until they got shooed down. I also remember being happy in 1982 when the Argos ended a 31 year stretch of not winning the Cup, and even more happy in 1983 when the Bombers ended a 21 year drought. The Bombers won three Grey Cups in the 80s and so I figured, for 29 years, that their drought was over. It was only after this game that I realized that it had gotten worse. Which goes to show you how old I am.

  • It is not an unusual sight to see someone walking down the street looking at their phone. I thought it was unusual when I saw a guy walking down the street while looking at his laptop.


No comments: