no, don't worry. there's no such thing.

"can i get sick from eating too much goats cheese?"

can we all just agree that this is absolutely wretched weather in which to be single?

non-native spanish speakers say stupid things / hispanohablantes non-nativos dicen cosas tontas

1. dicho: "estamos verde por las llaves."
significado: "[las montañas] son verdes por la lluvia."

2. persona #1: [hablando de un muchacho de 18 años subidiendo en piedras altas] "¡no tiene miedo!"
persona #2 [yo]: "¡así son los hombres de ochenta años!"

/

1. said: "we are green because of the keys."
meant: "[the mountains] they are green because of the rain."

2. person #1: [talking about an 18-year-old boy climbing on high rocks] "he doesn't have fear!"
person #2 [me]: "that's how eighty-year-old men are!"

the trip was huge.

i'm still having a tough time coming up with something concise to say about the trip to bolivia. it was good and i am so glad that i had the opportunity to go. those things are true. it is a country in transition right now, and there is a lot of hope and fear and excitement because of the promise of the future and the dangers of the past.

it was a powerful experience to be a white, comparably wealthy, north american in that post-colonial country. we stayed at a hotel where my (shared double) room was about $47 (US) per night. the average monthly income in bolivia is about $100 (US). i kept thinking about how crazy it would seem to me if someone came to the us and stayed in a $12,000 per night hotel.

and it wasn't the nicest hotel in town, either. don't misunderstand——it was nicer than anywhere i've ever stayed in the us, and the staff, from the doorman who stood at the door all day to make sure that i didn't have to open it myself and to keep other people out, to the kind desk clerk who was calling me "sarita" by the second day, to the polite 60 year old men who snatched my suitcase and sprinted up the stairs with it——it's just that there were fancier places in the city.

i certainly don't want to seem like i'm complaining. it was just another observation, and not a particularly comfortable one. being confronted with one's privilege is rarely (if ever) a pleasant thing. but it is important.

i've seen it other places, even here at home, but the free pass that my pale face so often provides is such a strange and unsettling thing.

i am tired, and it's been a crummy day, and i need to go to bed. but i would like to recommend "white privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack," by peggy mcintosh. it is a good essay for generating discussion and for getting a start on thinking about these sorts of things.

more later, i promise.

update: my cousin asked me what i meant by "being confronted with one's privilege." i mean that it was uncomfortable to see when i was being treated differently because of the fact that i am white and american and much wealthier than the average bolivian person. because i was definitely treated differently. i didn't do anything to deserve this special treatment, of course, but because of systemic racism and classism (that is by no means unique to bolivian society), people were politer and quieter and more subservient when dealing with me. and that felt gross. it was particularly upsetting when i was with bolivian friends and acquaintances, because in some cases the differences in treatment between me and them was really striking. was it because my friends were acting substantially different than me? no! it was just because of how i look and where i'm from. thanks for asking, dawson.

oh.

ouch.

boliviapology

i really did intend to keep you up on my travels. but then i ended up traveling. i will have some stories and perhaps fotos for you in the next couple of weeks, but if you're really curious, please ask me.

adios a bolivia / goodbye to bolivia

manana me voy a salir de bolivia. tengo muchas cosas para contarles. hoy fuimos a las ruinas de tihuanaku, y estaba pensando en esta cancion todo el dia. es de neil young originalmente, pero aqui tienes built to spill. buenas noches.

/

tomorrow i'm going to leave bolivia. i have a lot of things to tell you. today we went to the ruins of tihuanaku, and i was thinking of this song all day. it's by neil young originally, but here you have built to spill. good night.

update: this is not the video that i want it to be. i was trying to find it while using one of the public computers at the hotel, so i couldn't listen to it first. i didn't want the jammy version, i wanted you to hear the lyrics. but i've scoured the internets and i can't seem to find it. i have a scratchy cassette tape with a live version on it, and it is amazing. i hope that you can encounter one as well.

"cortez the killer" built to spill

¿podemos estar todos de acuedro que es fantástico estar en bolivia? / can we all just agree that it's fantastic to be in bolivia?

¡de veras! un poco menos fantástico es tener enferma de altitude, pero gracias a dios por hojas y té de coca.

más pronto, amig@s.
/
for reals! a little less fantiastic is having altitude sickness, but thank god for coca leaves and coca tea.

more later, friends.

i'm bringing cranky back

here are some bad ways to spend your two 10 minute breaks from a job that makes you feel dreadful anyway:

1. navigating the phone options of your health insurance's member services department in an attempt to speak to a real person (your fifth call in three days) to find out if they have finally received your application that will allow you to spend a very large sum of money on kind of crappy coverage because people chose to be dishonest about your benefits;

2. making your second call (because they didn't call you back the last time you called over this) to the dentist to find out why they have suddenly started sending you large bills (complete with finance charges!) over an appointment you paid cash for months ago (because you don't have dental insurance);

3. trying to get in touch with people who are both failing to hold up their part of a group project AND being incredibly passive-aggressive about it.

awesome news!

jesse has a blog. it is called "I Punched a Flower in the Face." you should go read it. you can learn some theology, or just make fun of people who have made new year's resolutions to improve their lives. so pretty much, it's like having a conversation with jesse. but with more punctuation.

sometimes, parents are no fun.

(mom to two-year old): "no, we don't take our clothes off on the airplane."

can we all just agree that snowshoeing is rad?

i'd never tried it before today, but dudes! it's great!

i lol'ed. thanks, cat.

and merry christmas to all you folks out there.

apparently, there is more than one music video that includes bmx bikes and furries.

who knew?

and thank you to meh-wee-uhn for showing this to me.

special bonus feature: this one stars a pretty girl instead of cute boys. there's something for everyone here at c.w.a.j.a.?. at least for everyone who likes girls/boys/furries/bikes.

update: link fixed! yes! go watch it! (thanks, brother bear!)

bat for lashes "what's a girl to do"

blogday time!

happy blogday to c.w.a.j.a.?.! two years of existence is a grand thing indeed. thanks for reading.

can we all just agree that buying international plane tickets and then forgetting about it and then opening up your credit card bill is a really,

really good way to freak yourself out?

because it is.

he's just so dang cute.

the four year old is quite the finicky eater. tonight he was disturbed to find that there was a "LEAVE" on his broccoli. (the horror!) so i told him about photosynthesis, complete with interpretive dancey beautiful arm unfolding movements, and ended up convincing him to try the leave. which he pronounced "GOOD!"

we then had a talk about how vegetables are healthy for you, and dark green vegetables are extra healthy for you. then the conversation turned to the carrots he was eating, and he also pronounced them "GOOD!" (seriously, it's like chapter one of genesis sometimes, when i trick him into trying something he's decided he hates without tasting it.) i mentioned that carrots have lots of vitamins in them, and that they're especially good for one's eyes.
"BUT WHY ARE THEY GOOD FOR YOUR EYES?" he asked.
"the help your eyes grow healthy and strong," i answered (this is pretty much my stock answer for why any healthy food is healthy. i think it's true, and if he notices that i always say the same thing, he hasn't mentioned it yet.)
"OHHHHH. YESSSS," he answered, in his WATCH ME I'M ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING ADORABLE voice, "THEY HELP MY EYES TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS WINKING THING."
and just as i was getting ready to watch him blink all twitchy-like, he opened his giant, blue, giraffe-eyelashed eyes wide, and winked. four. winked!

and as if that wasn't enough, the two and a half year old did a great job bringing the truly surreal to the table, announcing loudly and to no one in particular, "I AM A DOGGY! A MEAN, MEAN, SCARY DOGGY! AND I WILL EAT PEOPLE! BUT NOT BOYS! THEY ARE GIRLS! BUT I GET NICE WITH COOOOKIESSSS!"

vintage audra saying funny things:

(we found this tonight with some papers from more than a year ago! it was like finding a time capsule of funny.)

on eating popcorn: "so, you just shouldn't do it. it's like eating a porcupine or something."

brother bear recommends:

feist's 1-2-3-4

can we all just agree that jesse is a person with whom we can all just agree?

on minnesota:
"it's damn cold
no one should live there"

500 is a lot!

wow!

this happens to me too.

jesse: "im so tired im not thinking right
my bed is trying to seduce me"

can we all just agree that being sick sucks?

i have that weird kind of sore throat where it kind of feels like i'm drowning most of the time. i guess it's postnasal drip? but i don't have any sort of prenasal drip. is that even possible? (paging dr. beat! i mean, dr. joe!) also i kind of feel like i'm going to barf, but not because of a sad tummy situation; it's because i feel like my throat is gagging me.

and i think i'm a little feverish. so now i'm conflicted: do i go to work tomorrow? i have so much to do that being gone will be kind of awful, but i feel gross, but maybe i'll feel better tomorrow, but maybe i really do need to take it easy.

i also feel ambivalent about most forms of food. microwaveable bean and cheese burritos are still making the cut, but not much else. bleh.

i talked to the mamacita today and she said i should stay home tomorrow.

dear blogger, what the hell is wrong with you?

why, why, WHY do you screw up my links? not all the time, just often enough to really, really frustrate me. if i am trying to use your handy little link button, i DON'T want you to delete my text and insert this link instead: http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif. because, in addition to making my text vanish, you garble the link location too. this pretty much ruins everything.

update: i also do not appreciate it when you insert "http://www.canwealljustagree.blogspot.com/" in front of my links. that doesn't mess up the order of my text or randomly delete part of it, which i appreciate, but i would appreciate it more if you could really just stop doing that.

also, i know that i keep mentioning it, but it really burns my biscuits that i can't use a different gmail address in a different tab while posting. lame.

recommended reading

bikesnob nyc. hilarious. a little bit of hipster-hating, a little bit of mocking las bicicletas superfeas. it is good times, and you might learn some things about bicycles.

sleep is the new sex. also funny, and frequently also about bicycles. you will like it.