Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Cafe Rangoon
My coworker Richard -- a Chinese National raised in Burma (it figures in the story), devised a way to get a really good pot of coffee at work. He says he shakes the basket, which is true, he does. But he also brews a half pot using a full pot bag. That's where the flavor comes from. I call this brew "Cafe Rangoon" in honor of his adopted homeland. And every day I walk into his office and say "Hey Richard what time is it?" Sometimes he tells me what time it is, but sometimes he catches himself and says "It's time for Cafe Rangoon" -- which is the correct response.
Well, I walked into his office to do our bit and he said he had just poured himself a cup of tea. He said "I am trying to be more Buddhist and drink tea. Coffee is an imperialist drink." I said "You have a good point, let's discuss it in Tibet ... I'm sorry, I mean China." He threw up his hands and said "I can't get away with anything around you!" I told him he wasn't going to get too much traction with the Imperialist round-eye thing with me.
OK, yeah it wasn't that great, but it was fast and it was like ten minutes after a very fast one I had at Borders books.
I was talking to an older black woman (it figures into the story) and she was telling me about her braces and how hard it was to speak with them in. She said "I hear myself speak and I don't know what that is, I know it's not Ebonics but I don't know what it is." I said "It's orthobonics." She kinda crossed her eyes a second and said "It IS! It's ORTHOBONICS!! You're RIGHT!"
So you see what I'm saying. If I sat around for an hour and came up with that, it would be a sad effort. But it was fast, it happened in real time so I think it was alright.
Well, I walked into his office to do our bit and he said he had just poured himself a cup of tea. He said "I am trying to be more Buddhist and drink tea. Coffee is an imperialist drink." I said "You have a good point, let's discuss it in Tibet ... I'm sorry, I mean China." He threw up his hands and said "I can't get away with anything around you!" I told him he wasn't going to get too much traction with the Imperialist round-eye thing with me.
OK, yeah it wasn't that great, but it was fast and it was like ten minutes after a very fast one I had at Borders books.
I was talking to an older black woman (it figures into the story) and she was telling me about her braces and how hard it was to speak with them in. She said "I hear myself speak and I don't know what that is, I know it's not Ebonics but I don't know what it is." I said "It's orthobonics." She kinda crossed her eyes a second and said "It IS! It's ORTHOBONICS!! You're RIGHT!"
So you see what I'm saying. If I sat around for an hour and came up with that, it would be a sad effort. But it was fast, it happened in real time so I think it was alright.
