The Wayback Machine's Cool Kicks

I am devoid of anecdotes. My life consists of work and not sleeping. I had lunch with the Band Man this week (when he asked me, for the fifth time, what my plans were for next year, because that's his natural small talk instinct, and oh God we're only in October) and there was not a single awkward moment I could take away to share. Except when, in a sweet reversal of fortune, we discussed the fact that he had no friends in college. And even then, it was less funny than just... odd?

And so we look to the glorious past in this entry, harken back to a time when life was simple, when my choices in food were between lamb and lamb, and my choices in companion were between distant aunt number one or distant second cousin number four- namely, we are going back to China.















This is a distant uncle I like to call "Vic," because his name means victory in Chinese. Seated next to Vic is his wife, who I like to abbreviate as "VW." As you can see from the picture, Vic has led and still lives a life of hard work. His arms are strong and his hands calloused. In his sixty-some years, Vic has been an accountant, a cart driver, and a farmer, but his time as a farmer far more surpasses his other careers. He has a mule, chickens, cows, a few kids (the goat kind) and a few kids (the human kind). Vic's life is simple, as is his dress. His older sister tells me that he never buys clothes for himself so she sometimes buys shirts for him. But despite all this, Vic has a very cool pair of sneakers.















Honestly, I wish I had my distant-farming-old-uncle's sneakers.