Tuesday, August 25, 2009

strange neighbor

I'm confused with how to deal with this topic...
On one hand I want to appear neighborly, and on the other hand I want nothing to do with this guy...
Story: For the past 7 month (perhaps a year?) I've had a new neighbor that lives a few doors down from me (not sure exactly which apartment he lives in). He's a strange looking fella... skinny, blond hair, perhaps in his mid 50's, though I suspect he might be younger than he looks, and that his 'life experiences' have aged him prematurely. He kinda looks like an ugly version of Tom Petty (I know, that's not saying much, apologies). He has an odd habit... he walks the parking lot almost constantly with shorts and no shirt on. I'm not sure if he's on disability, but I don't think he works, and he walks with a strange limp - not to mention about 1/4 the speed of an average walking pace. Well, I've passed him in the past, and I always try to keep my distance from him. Just one of those 'gut feelings' that I can't explain that the guy's bad news. Well, about 2-3 weeks ago, I cracked... I walked out to take my garbage to the dumpster, and he was out strolling. I finally acknowledged him just by giving him a "head nod" as if to say "hey, what's up" without actually saying the words. Boom... that's all he needed for an invite. A few days later he approached me as I was headed out somewhere, and proceeded to tell me that he used to have long hair (which I do - what's left of it anyway). He went on to say that he had long hair up until one day when some strangers stopped on the side of the road thinking he was a girl - so he cut it off.
Um... great. You're telling me this why? Are you calling me a girl? Are you trying to say you're 'cooler' than me cause you cut it? I didn't get it, nor did I wish to find out. I simply laughed, nodded, then went on my way.
Tonight, he cornered me again...
He asked me what I did for a living and what hours I worked, because he noticed my vehicle in the parking lot is always out there in the morning and that I usually come home late. Yes, I said, I have odd hours (without telling him what I did for a living). Then he said, "Oh you mean you work the 'lazy a$$' second shift?" - Um... yeah I said, if you say so.
So now he's basically called me a girl, and a "lazy a$$" - how's that for neighborly?
Actually, I guess I just answered my question. I think I'll go back to ignoring him. If I just have to 'nod' and acknowledge him and leads him to insulting me - I guess the answer is pretty obvious. But I'm not that type of person, so I'll continue to fight with this internally - AND I'm also aware too that this is 'twice' now that he's spoken with me, and with each time it will get easier to bring up things to talk about. Ugh.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Vocabulary Test


A little back story first... While on twitter, one of folks I follow was talking about a FREE e-book that he just got for his Kindle. I have enjoyed his tweets, so I thought, 'it's free - why not give it a try'. I finished the book last night and I have to say it was one of the toughest books I've read in as long as I can remember. It seemed like every other page, I was coming across a word that I didn't know the meaning of! Luckily the Kindle has a "built-in" dictionary, and I obviously took advantage of that feature. In my defense... the book was written around 1911, and it was originally written in French, so some of the words have a French origin.
But I'm curious: out of these 86 words, how many do you know the meaning of?
(also, some of the words, I was able to deduce the meaning of based on the context, but even so I marked it as a word I didn't know). (also: any misspellings are from the book).
Oh - and if you're interested... you can download the book here. I found it a good read overall (the ending kinda fell apart for me only due to an increase of character names and I was getting a bit lost).
>>>
munificent
remunerated
coign
vexation
chit
copse
presentiment
escritoire
circumlocutions
pretermitted
vouchsafed
gendarme
peremptory
navvies
quietened
crapulous
monomania
paroxysms
adduce
efface
dentelated
pilules
peremptorily
képi
impassivity
fastidiousness
wen
equipage
felloes
perambulator
rushes
mien
pursy
squireens
ulster
disquisition
obloquy
deferent
abstracted
impudence
conciliate
abdicate
expiate
peremptory
throve
anodynes
unctuous
evinced
discomfited
ministrations
interminable
libations :one of my favorites
evincing
potations
unctuously
garrulity
peremptorily
brooked
alighted
jemmy :one of my favorites
vouchsafed
peccadillo
privations
adroitly
plucky
major-domo
paroxysm
peripatetic
warder
blenched
acclivity
soliloquising
vituperation
calumny
Bosh
Torquemada
lorgnettes
adducing
Proteus
perfunctorily
deprecatingly
inveterate
callow
toffs :one of my favorites
lugubrious

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Mall

Today I took a trip over to the local mall. I have not been there in quite some time so it was interesting to see how things changed. I used to frequent this mall regularly in most cases to eat at the food court. They had a big array of restaurants and I enjoyed "people watching". Well, the first change was that the food court moved. Some of the same names there, but also quite a few were missing from the lineup. It seemed like a more condensed version of how I remembered it. Now, perhaps, it was a HOT Sunday afternoon, but it also seemed very crowded. I have a feeling people were there just sucking up the free air conditioning (and it was nice and cool there, I admit). The main reason I went there is that I thought I might get my new eye-glass prescription fulfilled at the Lenscrafters (which is where I got my glasses about 4 years ago). At the same time, I wanted to see what their selection of Rx Sunglasses were and to check out the prices. Wow. That was a bit of a setback. JUST to get new lenses into my existing frames... $325!!! Suddenly I can see much better today! For a "cheap" pair of sunglasses the prices started at $119 for the frames, and went up from there. Needless to say, I walked out of there to re-think my options. I'm still not sure what I'll do now.
Back to the mall...
One of the things that struck me most about all the shops (some new some old)... MOST of the shops are geared to the younger crowd. Hard to pinpoint an age, but I'll say late teens to mid 20's. I actually started to feel 'old' as I was walking around!
One other observation... I thought while I was there, I might as well check the Apple Store there. It was PACKED with people! But as I looked around, it was packed with kids! I mean like 12-15 year old! At one point, the iphones on display were all being "played" with by little kids!? Other teens were just surfing the web, one kid was watching "ultimate wrestling" online. It was like a day care center in there or something. So throw in all the hustle and bustle, the loud music, and I just couldn't wait to get out of the store!
So maybe it is a sign I'm getting older, but I doubt I'll be headed back to the mall any time soon (unless I do decide to get the sunglasses there - but I won't be "shopping").

edit: This was just a great coincidence, I had to update this post...
As I talk about the younger kids hanging out in the apple store, I have seen this youtube clip (and soon to be internet star (if he isn't already)) popping up all over the place.
I admire this kids creativity and his ability to make a name for himself at his local apple store.
So enjoy a little "Boom Boom Pow" lip sync from Nicholifavs...