Rise and Shine, Puto Gringo

Guadalajara, Guadalajara;
Guadalajara, Guadalajara.
Tienes el alma de provinciana,
hueles a limpia rosa temprana;
a verde jara fresca del rio;
son mil palomas, tu caserio.
Guadalajara, Guadalajara,
hueles a pura tierra mojada.

Don’t get me wrong; I like this song as much as the next guy, but I don’t need to hear it coming up from the courtyard my building shares with a neighboring restaurant. Not at the volume level of “once" at which the kitchen staff prefer. I love Mariachi music and most of the time I find the workers’ music and singing accompaniment to be fun and charming, a perk to my apartment, but I was up late last night. I like to be drinking tequila with music this loud and uproarious; not three and a half hours into a night’s sleep.

Here is the punch line to the above paragraph: The restaurant from which the fiesta is emanating is a Thai place. Perhaps I have finally discovered the “mystery” of the Orient. The beauty of this set-up is that all of the people working in the front of the restaurant are Thai with varying skill levels in English. The interaction between the two cultures in this restaurant would make for a pretty entertaining, three language sitcom.

Letter to the Editor

Since I'm a little short on material today I'll pass along a letter I sent to Dan Savage, Village Voice columnist of Savage Love. For those of you people who don't read him (does anyone in America NOT read him?) he writes a sex advice column. He recently ran a piece on a strange sexual proclivity for dressing up in an animal costume for sex. These people call themselves "furries."


Dear Mister Savage Love,

I read with intense interest your column regarding this rather distasteful and deceptive propensity to dress up as one of God's lesser beasts for cheap sexual gratification. Just the other evening I settled down in front of the VCR to watch a few minutes of unwholesome entertainment. Imagine my horror when I discovered that what I thought was an unspeakable act of bestiality turned out to be something as harmless as a strung-out runaway and two guys in a moose suit. I applaud your crusade to educate the general public about these weirdoes.

God Bless,

Someone who thinks animal impersonation is the depth of depravity

OK, I said I was low on material today.


Boring Economic Stuff

If you have some free time and would like to listen to an excellent lecture on Democracy and Globalization hit this link. John Ralston Saul has helped to shape my views on everything from economics to literature, from celebrity worship to modern art.