Closer Than Rust
June 1st
Vespa Tsang
June 1st. 5:32pm
Today has been... unexpectedly disappointing.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 5:32pm
But no doubt a second trip to "Heavenly Fried Country Goodness" will change everything!
#heavenly
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 5:33pm
Besides, it's only 14 more days...
#countdown
... until the PhilanCoffee results, until Hart quits her job and moves here to be with me... until we become cafe owners.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 5:34pm
Please Hart... I miss you!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 5:34pm
Ok, time for
#fry
!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 5:35pm
Also time for
#airConditioning
!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
-----
June 1st. 8:15pm
So I'm reading the menu - wondering if I've ever seen "grits" in reality, or just on tv?
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
When this tall, wrinkly Southern guy says,
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"Look at this, Dottie - We've never had a China doll in here."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#ChinaDoll
!! ... Should I look up? Should I pretend I didn't hear him? Or?
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#noTime2Think
- "Maybe she don't speak American. Do you speak American, darlin'?"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I turn to him -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Want to say, "the
#word
is
#English
!"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
But then I realize - no - perhaps he is right...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Perhaps he is speaking "American"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
A particular brand of it - shunned in most of the country, but apparently
#justFineHere
!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I say: "I do speak English, yes. Hello."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Well
#whatWasISupposed2Say
?!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I'm not sure which is more offensive - the "China" or the "doll"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I'm a human, not a play-thing
#obviously
!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Also, I'm Vietnamese American.
#thanks4NOTAsking
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
My mind is swirling.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"Well, you must be new 'round here, so welcome."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I smile. "Thank you, I--"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"We don't get a lot of China'ns 'round these parts, pro'lly 'cause we ain't near the water."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"China'ns eat the fish."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
He nods.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#defiantly
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Like he knows something about something.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Woman -- doll.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Oval eyes -- must eat fish!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Note to self: If I ever meet someone who isn't White or Black, #talkAbtFish!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Call her a doll.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#sureWay2MakeANewFriend!
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"Well, I'll tell you somethin' - since you ain't from around here -"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
And here, I really want to interject -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#listenDude
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#youKnowNothing
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I was born in Georgia.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
My parents were in grad school. Lived here 'til I was five.
#showsWhatYouKnow
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
But there's no time for such things - for me to actually
#contribute
to the conversation -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
because he's intent on telling me about this land I must know nothing of...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"We ain't got no oceans, no, but we got lakes."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"In the beginning, there was no lakes in Georgia."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"All the lakes here - made by men."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
He
#straightensHisBack
and
#puffsUpHisShoulders
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#srsly
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
What a proud stance -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Such a regal peacock -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
As if he individually hand-crafted each of the glorious puddles that litter this state -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I'm not sure what to say...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Some witty remark about how we should rename each one after the slaves who
#actually
did the manual labor...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Or was it the
#NativeAmericans
... before they were ejected from their land... forced down the Trail of Tears...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
But these topics...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#delicate
and
#dangerous
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I don't feel safe here.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
And of course, it keeps going.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
He's still eating - mouth full of eggs and grits and chunks of ham -
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
He offers me this nugget of information:
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"But ya' know - lakes got fish too."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"We don't got the orange ones like you pro'lly like-"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"But we got all kinds - bowfins, trout, suckers, gizzard shads & the blueback herring - we got a lot."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
He chuckles.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I can't imagine the look on my face.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I manage to stutter out a few words - "actually, I'm vegetarian."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
It's not even true. I don't know why I said it. I was just so mad.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
His bottom lip drops and a chunk of half-chewed 'country scramble' falls out of his mouth, followed by a trail of saliva.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#srsly
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I think I'm gonna vom.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Apparently, he might vom too. This idea is totally offensive to him.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
(Glad I didn't tell him I'm gay. And a Democrat. A "Yankee"! And an artist...)
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"Well, not me. I'm a proud Southern redneck, by God I am, and I'll eat meat every day til I'm gone."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"Now, Frankie!"
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
#waitress2theRescue #justInTime
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
"You leave her be."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Wearing a faded dress and holding a coffee pot, she's right out of a movie...
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Frankie nods. "Aww, calm down, Dottie. I'm just trying to get to know her."
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
Indeed, that might actually be true.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
The ironic thing is... he hasn't learned anything about me.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later
June 1st. 8:15pm
I, however, have learned a few things about him.
UNABLE TO POST -
Please try again later