22.8.07

The Chimney

When two cans of coke explode in your face in one week, you can look at that week in one of two ways:

1. Hey! Coke showers! Great week!
2. Someone's gunning for me. And his name is God.

The good news is that if I see someone with fistfulls of cash, I'm going to give them a big sticky coke-hug and walk away a richer woman. :)

Last night I went into city centre to visit an apartment in the centralist of locations, with a reasonable price tag at that. I should have known this place would be too good to be true. Situated between a meat market and a bar, as you slipped past the squeaky door you found yourself in a dark, musty entryway, packed full of a four-story, boxy plywood spiral staircase. As you climbed the rickity stairs (which rocked with your steps), you'd approach floor after floor, each one containing a moldy bedroom to one side and maybe a tiny crusty kitchen or damp dark tv room on the other side. It was horrific. The worst part was that as I toured, people were actually signing up to live here! The place was a chimney with a staircase through the middle--who could possibly lower themselves to that standard of living? I know the answer to that question, but only because I myself lived in one of Zaki Alawi's dens of ill repair...college kids. Like roaches, college kids can live just about anywhere.

So I recently wrapped up reading Khaled Hosseni's sophmore novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. This is a book definately worth reading, and I think Elisa, who read it with me, would say the same. It is warm, it is honest, it is a welcome refresher in forthright prose that leaves you wanting more. In fact, I'll be picking up Kite Runner later this week as a paycheck treat. Definately check this book out.

And lastly, before I go, I want to pay tribute to the total and unabashed lack of synthesis that this post boasts. In no way do these 3 anec dotes cohere. I am, as it were, the worst blogger in history.

Fine by me! See you tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. sounds like there should have been a kreacher living there yelling at all the mudbloods walking through. oh and i'm going with 2.

    start taping all the lids of your pop cans, someone's after you.

    ReplyDelete