This summer alone has seen some tiny openings of my world and worldview - stuff I never thought I'd like or appreciate. Here are a few.
Good toilet paper.
The thick, soft kind. It sounds silly, but every time I'm in a bathroom with the good toilet paper now, I go "How nice! A little luxury in my day." One of those weird, tiny little affordable luxuries that I probably won't spend the extra on for my own place without prodding, but which is... I mean, face it, comparing that stuff to single-ply is like driving a new Lexus versus a 2-decade-old Honda. Sure, they both get you there just as fast. The Lexus is totally a luxury buy. But it's so... nice.
Rap lyrics.
Roll that around on your tongue a bit. Taste the (thick, rich) spitting explosion of off-cadenced syllables - then try to say it faster, then faster, then faster, while still folding your lips fully around each word. It's a whole different sort of mastery of the English language that I've only slowly - and just now - become aware of. Whoa. I want more. I want more... who and what should I listen to? I want to learn how to appreciate it better. I'd like to learn how to do it. Need to listen to and read more, though, in order to get a feel for it.
Beer.
It really is tasty. I drink beer like I drink tea - not for the physical effect it has on me, but to appreciate the artistry of the taste. (In fact, I dislike being even mildly inebriated, and hate the jittery
feeling I get with caffeine, and do my best to avoid both.) The Cambridge Brewing Company's summer hefeweizen is currently tied with fresh-drawn Sam Adams Boston Lager for my favorite.
Cold, fresh, filtered drinking water.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, delicious. With the water cooler at OLPC's office not far from the mess of tables I work in, I'm closer to being not-dehydrated now than I think I've ever been in my life.
$2.
You can do a lot with $2. You can get a sandwich of some kind - a whole meal, reasonably filling if you eat it slowly. You can get a large drink - one that comes in a 24 oz. sports bottle, so that you can reuse it as your water bottle and have a way to tote around free hydration with you. When I have $2 in my pocket, I feel rich and free - like I can get something useful (that is to say, food) if I need to. I don't think I've thought of $2 this way since I was in elementary school.
Good toilet paper.
The thick, soft kind. It sounds silly, but every time I'm in a bathroom with the good toilet paper now, I go "How nice! A little luxury in my day." One of those weird, tiny little affordable luxuries that I probably won't spend the extra on for my own place without prodding, but which is... I mean, face it, comparing that stuff to single-ply is like driving a new Lexus versus a 2-decade-old Honda. Sure, they both get you there just as fast. The Lexus is totally a luxury buy. But it's so... nice.
Rap lyrics.
I got a thick, rich mixed bitch, handling bricks/And a quick-witted slick clique to manage the chick (from one of T.I.'s raps)
Roll that around on your tongue a bit. Taste the (thick, rich) spitting explosion of off-cadenced syllables - then try to say it faster, then faster, then faster, while still folding your lips fully around each word. It's a whole different sort of mastery of the English language that I've only slowly - and just now - become aware of. Whoa. I want more. I want more... who and what should I listen to? I want to learn how to appreciate it better. I'd like to learn how to do it. Need to listen to and read more, though, in order to get a feel for it.
Beer.
It really is tasty. I drink beer like I drink tea - not for the physical effect it has on me, but to appreciate the artistry of the taste. (In fact, I dislike being even mildly inebriated, and hate the jittery
feeling I get with caffeine, and do my best to avoid both.) The Cambridge Brewing Company's summer hefeweizen is currently tied with fresh-drawn Sam Adams Boston Lager for my favorite.
Cold, fresh, filtered drinking water.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, delicious. With the water cooler at OLPC's office not far from the mess of tables I work in, I'm closer to being not-dehydrated now than I think I've ever been in my life.
$2.
You can do a lot with $2. You can get a sandwich of some kind - a whole meal, reasonably filling if you eat it slowly. You can get a large drink - one that comes in a 24 oz. sports bottle, so that you can reuse it as your water bottle and have a way to tote around free hydration with you. When I have $2 in my pocket, I feel rich and free - like I can get something useful (that is to say, food) if I need to. I don't think I've thought of $2 this way since I was in elementary school.
3 comments:
Listen to some Del the Funky Homosapien (aka Deltron 3030) for some smooth and intelligent rap.
Then try Kool Keith (aka Dr. Octagon, Black Elvis, Dr. Dooom, Nogatco Rd., etc.) if you want to hear abstract rhythms that almost completely defy the measures they're in yet still sound great.
Twista if you want to hear some of the fastest rhymes there are (I think he holds the world record). Although you'd probably be disappointed by his trick of ending every link with "and I" or something similar.
I <3 T.I.
Older Jay-Z is good; Wu-Tang Clan is amazing for rhymes, and so is the GZAs solo album Liquid Swords.
I really like T.I. because his production is really good to match his flow, but he's still pretty commercialized. I don't know how much T.I. you have, but if you like him you should definitely listen to "What you know", "Top Back", "Rubberband man", and "Bankhead".
soft toilet paper? charmin!! by p&g of course :)
"to appreciate the artistry of the taste"...sounds to me like an AA in the making :)
looking forward to hanging out with you sometime...i'll supply the beer and the toilet paper...lol
miss you!
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