Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Swork

My mom called the other day and I told her not to call back until after February 11 (my projected "end of work" date). I told her, "I don't really have much to say until then, everything is basically the same.

And I guess as far as our conversations go it is. What have I been up to? I wake, work, talk with Mary and Al, go to capoeira, and sleep. I hurt my toe so I can't even play in capoeira, let alone go out and run around anywhere.

Somehow I never think she'd be very interested in the things that interest me or catch my attention. Things like this cafe I'm in right now, "Swork." I looked it up, it's all locally owned and organic, etc etc. But I find it weird that somehow everybody walking on the street, waiting for the bus is hispanic, but everybody in this cafe (not including the one black girl and asian guy) is white. I can't remember the last public place I've been in that had such a high concentration of white people. It's not overpriced, actually I think the Starbucks across the street might be more expensive. But I don't think I've seen one hispanic person walk in here yet. It's like its got some sort of weird invisible yuppie sheild around it or something. Or maybe they got scared away by words like mochalattesworkuccino. I nearly was.

Anyway, since I'm staying with friends at the moment there's that familiar tension of imposing on people scraping to get by. I want to help them but what the hell, I'm still so helpless myself. I'm still hoping we can find a way to make it a mutually benefitial relationship - that maybe I can help them out in their business venture somehow. Ideas have come up (like training me in solar installation, which would be pretty cool), but they're so stressed I think I'll probably just have to be content helping out with technological things (like setting cell phone alarm clocks) for now.

So, god willing, if I actually do finish this job by the week of the 11th like I planned I'm going to take a little celebration vacation. I was hoping to go to an all-women's capoeira workshop weekend in Santa Barbara on the 15th (if my toe injury heals), and plans to take a short, probably very short, trip to Las Vegas are in the works.

And on a final, cute note: Mary and Al are like long lost relatives, maybe long lost parents. I told Mary I was thinking about visiting Las Vegas for a day by bus, then just have 5 hours in the city and come back. She was nervous about me taking a bus because of potentially bad company, and discouraged me because "spending so much time on a bus would just not be fun." See? I didn't need to tell my mom, Mary already gave me the same opinion.

So now I'm thinking about a stay at a hostel. :P Somehow I don't think that will make her opinion of the trip plan any better.

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