Hello and welcome back to my little corner of the web :) It’s 2010 and time to get back in the swing of things. I feel like I’ve been living in an alternate universe for the past few weeks, with nothing happening as it usually does. For some reason, every day seemed like a Sunday, while Monday and returning to some sort of normal schedule never seemed to come. Lost track of all time, I did, and yesterday found out I had a heap of things overdue at the library, with the fines to match. On Christmas music CD’s of all things :). Ho ho ho.
So what have I been doing with all this lost time? I’ve been sorting and re-evaluating, and planning and getting organized for the new year. Got a lot of projects in mind, and just need to get myself focused enough to get them done. Like the blog with Marc that I announced weeks ago, 400 Days. We’ve finally sorted out the length, content and tone issues, and I plan to begin that, posting every other week, next week.
Louis was released from the hole just before Christmas, so that was a welcome surprise. I got to see him twice before the snows hit. And what a fun time we had. For me, trying to find something to eat in the vending machines other than boiled eggs, which he continues to peel for me every visit, is always a challenge. One day, there was nothing sandwich-wise that appealed to me. So I went on a shopping spree—jello, pudding, eggs, chips, peanut butter cups, coffee and juice. Louis’s eyes widened at the sheer volume of food I bought. “I’m stressed,” I said. The drive there had taken half an hour longer than usual, due to snow on the roads.
I don’t like to drive with snow on the road, but I went because I refused to let fear stop me from going. If I chose not to go, that was different, but I wasn’t going to stay home just because I was afraid of the unknown. So I went, and I made it there, just to prove that I could.
When I got home, he called and said, “When can you come back?” I said, “When the snow stops.” He said, “You can drive in the snow. You just proved you could.” “Yes,” I said, “And that’s why I did it. So I know that I can. But I’m not doing it again.”
“You don’t want to come see me?”
“Not if I have to drive in the snow to get there.”
So that’s where we left it. And now it’s a running joke. “When are you coming back?” he’ll ask, and my answer is, “It’s still snowing.”
He just called. “Doesn’t look like you’re coming up this weekend, does it?”
Nope.
So today I want to talk about Louis and germs. Louis is very aware of germs. More than the average person. We’re not sure if he’s a germaphobe, or just cautious. You have to take environment into consideration. Whenever I go to a conference, he’s asking me…did you check the mattress? Did you take your own pillow and sheets? Did you take your slippers? He doesn’t think I should walk in socks on the carpet, much less bare feet. He’s not the only one. According to this article, there are many things you can and should do to avoid germs in hotel rooms.
But anyway, last time I was heating up his sub (remember, it’s against the rules to do it himself), I took the wrapper off, ripped the sub in two—which he looked startled about until I told him it heats up more evenly in two pieces than one big one--put the sub in the microwave, and then tossed the wrapper in the trash. It was one of those cans where you have to push the trash in past a little flapping door. I didn’t think anything of it.
He says, “You’re going to touch my sandwich again after you touched that trash can?”
I frowned. “Sure. Why not?” I’d barely grazed the little door with the backs of my fingers.
“Germs,” he said. “You probably picked up germs.”
I blinked. “You’ve obviously never been a parent. Babies crawl on the floor and touch everything, put everything in their mouths, then touch you. If I concerned myself with every little germ my son might have picked up, I’d have driven myself nuts.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t crawling around in a prison.”
This lead to a brief discussion about AIDS and hepatitis and the Swine Flu and how fast disease can spread in his environment. How he never touches doorknobs or salt shakers or trash cans directly. How he never shakes hands. How the lack of hygiene on the part of some affects the health and well-being of others.
By the time the sub was finished in the microwave, he had me reaching for the handle with a paper towel in hand to keep from touching it directly.
“Happy now?” I asked.
“You’ll probably blog about this, won’t you?”
“I thought you told me you didn’t want me to blog about you any more.”
“Well, you can blog about stuff like this. Just not stuff you don’t understand.”
Like when I mentioned the hole-dwellers, and how kind they were to share their food and reading material with Louis when he first got there. That wasn’t kindness. That was the result of a long-standing friendship that went years back. People who come to the hole aren’t automatically offered food and books, etc. Because most would take advantage, then forget about the person who fed them as soon as they were released back into population. Remember, kindness is weakness in a prison environment. Anytime you can pull one over on somebody else, that adds to your sense of self-importance.
He said, “You’ve got guys in there with nothing begging all the time for a handout.” And those who live there long-term are pretty much broke. They don’t call them buried or the walking dead for nothing.
You know how hard it is to keep up with your friends and family on the outside. It’s very easy to forget about someone you can’t see or talk to but maybe once a month, if that.
So I was painting a more positive face on the situation than there was.
I tend to do that. I tend to see the goodness in people rather than the reality. Louis says, “You tend to exaggerate my good qualities.”
That remains open for debate, because he tends to downplay his good qualities, so the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Stay safe and warm, and next time you go to a hotel, don’t forget to take your slippers.
So what have I been doing with all this lost time? I’ve been sorting and re-evaluating, and planning and getting organized for the new year. Got a lot of projects in mind, and just need to get myself focused enough to get them done. Like the blog with Marc that I announced weeks ago, 400 Days. We’ve finally sorted out the length, content and tone issues, and I plan to begin that, posting every other week, next week.
Louis was released from the hole just before Christmas, so that was a welcome surprise. I got to see him twice before the snows hit. And what a fun time we had. For me, trying to find something to eat in the vending machines other than boiled eggs, which he continues to peel for me every visit, is always a challenge. One day, there was nothing sandwich-wise that appealed to me. So I went on a shopping spree—jello, pudding, eggs, chips, peanut butter cups, coffee and juice. Louis’s eyes widened at the sheer volume of food I bought. “I’m stressed,” I said. The drive there had taken half an hour longer than usual, due to snow on the roads.
I don’t like to drive with snow on the road, but I went because I refused to let fear stop me from going. If I chose not to go, that was different, but I wasn’t going to stay home just because I was afraid of the unknown. So I went, and I made it there, just to prove that I could.
When I got home, he called and said, “When can you come back?” I said, “When the snow stops.” He said, “You can drive in the snow. You just proved you could.” “Yes,” I said, “And that’s why I did it. So I know that I can. But I’m not doing it again.”
“You don’t want to come see me?”
“Not if I have to drive in the snow to get there.”
So that’s where we left it. And now it’s a running joke. “When are you coming back?” he’ll ask, and my answer is, “It’s still snowing.”
He just called. “Doesn’t look like you’re coming up this weekend, does it?”
Nope.
So today I want to talk about Louis and germs. Louis is very aware of germs. More than the average person. We’re not sure if he’s a germaphobe, or just cautious. You have to take environment into consideration. Whenever I go to a conference, he’s asking me…did you check the mattress? Did you take your own pillow and sheets? Did you take your slippers? He doesn’t think I should walk in socks on the carpet, much less bare feet. He’s not the only one. According to this article, there are many things you can and should do to avoid germs in hotel rooms.
But anyway, last time I was heating up his sub (remember, it’s against the rules to do it himself), I took the wrapper off, ripped the sub in two—which he looked startled about until I told him it heats up more evenly in two pieces than one big one--put the sub in the microwave, and then tossed the wrapper in the trash. It was one of those cans where you have to push the trash in past a little flapping door. I didn’t think anything of it.
He says, “You’re going to touch my sandwich again after you touched that trash can?”
I frowned. “Sure. Why not?” I’d barely grazed the little door with the backs of my fingers.
“Germs,” he said. “You probably picked up germs.”
I blinked. “You’ve obviously never been a parent. Babies crawl on the floor and touch everything, put everything in their mouths, then touch you. If I concerned myself with every little germ my son might have picked up, I’d have driven myself nuts.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t crawling around in a prison.”
This lead to a brief discussion about AIDS and hepatitis and the Swine Flu and how fast disease can spread in his environment. How he never touches doorknobs or salt shakers or trash cans directly. How he never shakes hands. How the lack of hygiene on the part of some affects the health and well-being of others.
By the time the sub was finished in the microwave, he had me reaching for the handle with a paper towel in hand to keep from touching it directly.
“Happy now?” I asked.
“You’ll probably blog about this, won’t you?”
“I thought you told me you didn’t want me to blog about you any more.”
“Well, you can blog about stuff like this. Just not stuff you don’t understand.”
Like when I mentioned the hole-dwellers, and how kind they were to share their food and reading material with Louis when he first got there. That wasn’t kindness. That was the result of a long-standing friendship that went years back. People who come to the hole aren’t automatically offered food and books, etc. Because most would take advantage, then forget about the person who fed them as soon as they were released back into population. Remember, kindness is weakness in a prison environment. Anytime you can pull one over on somebody else, that adds to your sense of self-importance.
He said, “You’ve got guys in there with nothing begging all the time for a handout.” And those who live there long-term are pretty much broke. They don’t call them buried or the walking dead for nothing.
You know how hard it is to keep up with your friends and family on the outside. It’s very easy to forget about someone you can’t see or talk to but maybe once a month, if that.
So I was painting a more positive face on the situation than there was.
I tend to do that. I tend to see the goodness in people rather than the reality. Louis says, “You tend to exaggerate my good qualities.”
That remains open for debate, because he tends to downplay his good qualities, so the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Stay safe and warm, and next time you go to a hotel, don’t forget to take your slippers.
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3 comments:
I hate hotel beds, but I sleep in them anyway. The first time is usually more mentally gross, than actually gross. And I wear gloves 90 percent of the time, so...I understand the germaphobe thing. I even cover my drinking cup with a plastic bag a work, just in case. You can never tell when someone will cough on your straw.
But...what about the bottoms of your slippers? :)
What hotels are you all staying at? :-) My last hotel stay was at the Hyatt Regency San Diego, and I wanted to take the bed home. .... Good to hear about Louis. Glad he's out of the hole. He had said he didnt think he'd be out til much later. ... one day I'll see snow more than once a year! For now its been in the mid 70s all week in Los Angeles.
These posts are wonderful, Liana. You should gather them into a book. Change names and such.
I take slippers to hotels and put them in a plastic bag in my suitcase. Bare feet on hotel carpet is a very gross thought.
And in Louis's defense, if I put my hands on my own garbage can lid, I wash them before touching food. Mine has a foot open device so I don't have to touch it. ;-) And yes, I do wash it regularly with bleach, lol.
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