22 June 2009

Monday Thoughts

EASTERN EUROPEAN BOARDWALK SLAVES
Every summer The Boardwalk fills most of its hiring needs with local area teenagers. From what I've been able to deduce, they then fill remaining positions with slaves from Eastern Europe. Some significant portion of their earnings gets taken directly out of their paychecks so they can live in this seedy, boardwalk-owned, roach-infested, beach flats motel. And some other significant portion goes to the agency that placed them. So they end up with about $30/week to eat and live. My mom says this makes them more like indentured servants than slaves. Whatever. They can always be spotted when they're allowed away from The Boardwalk, because, well:

Easter European Boardwalk Slave

NEW CAMERA
Is. Awesome.
Also? I think it might make kids cuter. Is that science?

IMG_0098

Berry Face

POOL
There is some magic Number Of Drinks : Pool Playing Ability ratio that I'm trying to figure out. With zero drinks, I can't even hit the cue ball with the stick (yes I'm calling it a stick, please to refrain from judging), let alone, y'know, hit one ball into another ball into a pocket, or something. In the range of 2-6 alcoholic beverages, I can play. Not well, but not embarrassingly bad. I can more or less hold my own with someone else who is not embarrassingly bad. Balls! Go the places I think they should! Usually!
So what's that all about? I also speak Spanish better when I'm drunk, but I at least understand why (don't tell me my linguistics degree wasn't good for anything! Ha!).
Also? Everything I know about playing pool I learned from Donald in Mathmagic Land. The part where he's playing billiards with Pythagoras. I'm not kidding.
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11 comments:

  1. Yes, good camera absoultely = cuter kids. Great shots!

    You're European slaves are...uh, lovely. We don't have such a phenomenon here...probably because we don't have summer. Or boardwalks.
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  2. Seriously? WTF is wrong with me today? ARGH.

    Absolutely.

    There ya go.
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  3. It's a proven fact that a DSLR makes kids cuter. We were blown away by the difference when we got ours.
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  4. Those are great pictures! Seriously.

    I have now validated you. Carry on.
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  5. A warning though: the DSLR also makes the Eastern European slaves that much scarier.
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  6. For several summers Allison and I worked as assistant coordinators for the Boardwalk work and travel program. We also lived in that hotel you are mentioning, which is far from seedy even if it's old. It was by far my favorite place I've ever lived. I had a gigantic window view of the entire Monterey Bay and the beatiful beach goers, and the Pacific ocean was my front yard. I got to party with the Moscow Circus. Trenton, the property manager and BBQ chef extraordinaire, is one of the finest people you could hope to have as a friend in Santa Cruz. The work and travel students do come mostly from Europe, but also from all over the rest of the world. If you think you know how to have fun, you've never lived above an apartment full of Equadorians who are spending the summer with no responsibility beyond pushing ride buttons or making arcade change, in exchange for living in beachfront property on the CA central coast. They know how to have fun.

    If indentured servitude includes room, board and travel to a beautiful foriegn location, sign me up! I don't think there is any other way to work a minimum wage job and afford the location they are given, let alone have money left over.

    I'm not saying that if you live in Santa Cruz the boardwalk is a great place to work, but if you live in Serbia it might be a nice change of pace for a summer.
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  7. That Eastern European Boardwalk Slave reminds me of Courtney Love.

    Also, I can't imagine your kid being any cuter than he already is!
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  8. Oh.. drunken pool playing... that is the best.
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  10. The only reason I am better at pool when I am drunk is I am more willing to cheat.

    And your new camera even makes the chick with the fanny pack look hot.
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  11. DSLR's make everything look better, and a couple drinks make me better at every.single.thing in life, except driving. So, I don't drink and drive.

    I think the only reason I play better pool, though, is because the buzz gives me patience.
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I live for validation.

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