El Chavo
Ok, scroll down for an amusingly named snack*...
Mildly annoyed at reading one of the comments on my last post - why do people equate being perturbed by noise with being elderly? Or it being some sort of character failure of mine not to forcibly evacuate myself from the apartment for 10 hours each day, seeing as I do all of my work from this very place (they are called laptops and fast internet connections). Even Clive did this, previously, and Clive works from home, too! It's not as if anybody enjoys this noise (and clearly, as is noted below, people enjoy reading about it even less!) Maybe this is why my CD, pictured below, remains steadfast in its refusal to FLY OFF THE SHELVES...
All I have done is document a change in the environment - without warning the place where I live has been turned into a construction site. That this is having an impact on what I am writing (and equally, what I am not able to write, try writing through hours of drilling) is just how it is. Equally, if they'd opened a lap-dancing club next door, I'd have written about that, I might even have posted photos ...
Would it be better to write about something else? ABSOLUTELY. Would it be better to just kill BookArmor until the noise ends? No. This thing is a historical resource for oneself, and if that means committing things here, on my own site, by my own hand, that simply testify to what was a miserable time, then that is part of the whole.
Is that so difficult to understand? The commenter clearly has another conception of what is worth writing (to a degree, as stated above, so do I), but this is not ENTERTAINMENT. This is one small history. I write it down so it does not disappear. It may not be worth reading as entertainment, granted, but neither is the back of a shampoo bottle.
Don't criticise something for lacking X when it never purported to feature X.
It is Y.
I leave in a month anyway, so please, peace be upon you, be tranquil.
Ok. Today - a mildly amusing Latin American take on the chav thing.
* For those outside the UK, or who simply don't know, a chav, Wikipedia gives this description...
"Chav also Charv/Charver are mainly derogatory slang terms in the United Kingdom for a stereotype fixated on low quality or counterfeit goods. It commonly refers to those belonging to a youth sub-culture, often stereotypically associated with a low socio-economic class, a striking dress sense and criminal activity."
I don't use the term myself, as I find it a question of socio-economic prejudice, the haves having even more fun at the expense of the have-nots. Besides, when the aristos and the royal house are slurping down a drink called a "crack baby", then it might be better just to recognise that the UK is now a Chav Nation, period. Alternatively, everybody in the UK now has the mindset of an errant toff when it comes to wreaking havoc with a life of irresponsibility...:
"The following night he splashed out £2,500 on booze with brother Wills and his girlfriend Kate Middleton, 24, at a fashionable Kensington nightclub. Their drinks included potent "crack babies" - vodka, champagne, passion fruit and strawberries - and £400 bottles of Belvedere vodka, as well as booze on the house."
Whatever. I don't believe royals are there to "set a good example for others"...
Silent tools
There was more hammering and sawing and drilling outside today. The man had put a chair directamente afuera mi habitacion and I went out there and told him so. He could not see my point. Maybe the sound of his saw is the same as a baby's cries; soon enough the parents become immune to the distress it causes. For others. They don't even hear it.
This made me think - How come, it is 2008, and saws and hammers and drills are still making just as much noise as they did way back when. Why are they not improving? Is there no market for a soundless hammer? Is there no clamour for a silent saw?
I suppose detractors would say that the silent hammer would be a gift from heaven for the muggers of the world.
And, equally, the silent saw would be an essential part of every serial killer's toolkit, perfect for midnight dismemberment..
As for drills, they appear to be getting louder. And, if I factor in my advancing age, and the inevitable decline in my hearing, then perhaps drills today are incredibly loud. If I find an old drill from the 80s and plug it in, I'll know. It won't surprise me if the 80s drill, in comparison to its modern equivalent, is practically silent.
To counter this misery, let's create! let's divulge! I've added a comment option for this post - Please contribute your least favoured and most favoured sounds
Text – Who the idiot?
I saw this Guatemalan guy who stood out last night, stood outside a tienda, drinking down a litro of Gallo in the street. The thing was, his face had this expression of glorying in his own stupidity. Far from being ashamed, I saw a life-affirming philosophy flowing out of his stupidity and laziness, and thought his speech, rendered in English, might go something like this:
Who the idiot?
"Who, me? I lazy, and I stupid, but I am drinking litro of Gallo and you not, so who the idiot? I sit at home, watching TV, and things go wrong, the wheels fall off my uncle's car, but nobody ask me for any help, why would they? I lazy, I no good. And so I relax, and I do nothing, so who the idiot? In the day, if I need money, I sell sock in the market. Is easy, no sizes like boxers, no XL, no L, no M, no... no... no other sizes. Only one size sock and I have it. They have feet, I have sock, I make money, is easy, so who the idiot? I can't write, I can't read, I can't do math, but I am drinking Gallo and I am watching TV, so I am feeling like a king. Nobody bother me, is nothing I can do. Only relax. So I party, and I relax. We all relax. And I feel like a genius, for everything so easy for me, to be lazy, to be stupid, is a gift. From God. Because God made lazy people and God made stupid people, and I am that way. So shout at me is like, is like saying God made a mistake, so tell me, if you so stupid think God make mistake, who the idiot?"
Jason Kennedy 2008