Thoughts Which Are Random

1. Isn't garbage collection fantastic? Think about this: you produce garbage. Slimy, smelly stuff that even YOU don't want. So you wrap it up in a bag and put it on your sidewalk at night. The next day you go out, and it's gone. Apparently someone WANTED your crap. Cause they took it. Some places (like Quito) they take it for FREE! No complaints. No comments on how bad your trash smells or how much you seem capable of constantly producing. Just quietly disappearing in the night.

2. Last night I got a massage. It lasted 30 minutes and cost me $10. It was wonderful. And yet, as I laid, mostly naked on a table, paying a complete stranger kneading my body, it occurred to me how strange the whole concept of a massage is. "Hurts So Good" was the song that was playing through my head. My back is pretty tense, so in order for a massage to be of use to me, it has to hurt a bit. In fact, when the masseuse finished with me, her comment was that my back was very tense and hard. No kidding. Then she gave me some stretching exercises that I hope will help. Weird, massage. Weird, but really great.

3. Big restaurant birthday parties stink. The problem is, you get there and the nice wait staff has set up twenty-seven four-person tables end-to-end. You all crowd around them and then realize you can only talk to five people: one on either side of me, one directly across from me, and the two on either side of him or her. So here I am with 30 people, waiting an hour and a half for the food (because the group is so big) and only talking to 5 people. It's dumb. I'm 29 years old, but I just figured this out. Hence, I intend to have 6 birthday parties this year, and only invite five people to each one. I think it's a sign of my advancing intelligence.

4. Next week I get to go to a work conference. It's in Santiago, Chile, a country to which I have never been. Know how much it costs to enter Chile? $130. Yep, one hundred and thirty smackers just to walk out of the airport. This is craziness. But the nice thing is that I won't be paying that redunkulous cost. The school pays for my whole trip, including exorbitant and superfluous fees and even a food stipend. Isn't that weird? I pay for my own food while I'm in Quito, teaching for the school. But should I go sit through seminar after seminar, requiring a sub to take my classes, sleeping in a hotel and flying internationally, the school pays for my food. I do not understand this reasoning, but if you want to pay for my food, I will always say yes. Santiago, here I come!

We have reached the end of my random thoughts for now. Over and out.