09 November 2011

Things I learned in Philly

Everytime I hang out with B, I learn a bunch of stuff from him and in conversation with him:

  • Grooveshark is like Spotify, only freer
  • Organic food is crap
  • Solving uncomfort problems on a bike requires adjustment of seat
  • Live where you live, don't live one place and drive to another. If you can't cycle there, you're too far away.
  • If you're going to believe something, believe it 100% and stop trying to pretend that you aren't who you are
  • The dominant culture doesn't think about retaining itself because it is unopposed and perpetuates itself unobstructed while consuming the bits of minority cultures it finds useful; minority cultures struggle to not be consumed, and this appears to the dominant culture as aggressive and oppositional (bell hooks, Eating the Other, anyone?) 
  • Say what you want about Occupy Wall St., protest puts pressure on the apparatus and bends it, however slightly, towards the concerns of the oppressed (Things I learned from myself: Hippies will protest anything, all the time, given the opportunity)
  • Call your wife before you buy expensive tequila, but make sure you married someone who knows you well enough to say yes without hesitating
  • Have friends who say, upon drinking the expensive tequila, Oh wow, there's a lot going on in there.
  • Have friends that challenge you
Things I learned from B's friends:
  • You can say about tequila, Oh wow, there's a lot going on in there
  • Headphones don't get a lot better after $150
  • Onesies can, in very, very limited circumstances, be worn by adults, but you must have a beard
  • Do what you're paid to do, but try to influence the people who are paying you
  • Michelle Bachmann needs to spend a month in B's house with his friends before she says anything about anything
  • It's okay to shop at Trader Joe's: the whole point is that it's ironic
  • Cycling is a culture, not transportation
  • Cycling is transportation, not culture: get what you need, not what makes you look good
  • You can share everything and be much happier