Fish and Fruit (and oysters!)

 Bad news yall: last night, Katie’s fish Spotty went belly-up. I mentioned earlier that I felt guilty for shopping at Walmart. Ironic because I’ve driven there four times in the past three days. I had to go back today to return the fish, because apparently you have to take the dead fish back in order to get a new one. I thought that was absolutely disgusting, but somehow everyone at Walmart seemed to be totally cool with the idea. I figured it would be better to get it over with sooner rather than later, so this morning I scooped the fish out of the bowl and dumped him back into the bag he came home in. Drove him back to Walmart, just me and this dead goldfish in my car. Waited in the customer service line—gingerly holding the bag away from me—for ten minutes (apparently Walmart is busy at 9 o’clock on Saturday mornings?). The woman at the desk told me I had to bring her the new live fish as well as the dead one in order to make the exchange. So I went back to the fish tanks and found an employee to help me. She paged someone else to come, but no one came. So I found someone else to help me, and he paged someone else to come too… but no one came. By then I was going to be late to work if I waited around any longer, so I left. Just me and poor Spotty in the car again. I stopped by the apartment to drop him off, because no way was I leaving him outside in the heat (or in my car, ugh). Wrote a note to Krissi apologizing for the dead fish on the kitchen counter, and left for the market just on time.

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June 1st: the start of hurricane season!

This city is bursting with creativity. I spent most of my run this morning admiring the striking architecture of the houses lining the street. And I see such creativity everywhere: from the music to the art to the food to the way people decorate their shops and homes. And in instances that are hard to categorize as well: like the man I saw today riding a bicycle that he somehow attached a motor to so that he didn’t have to pedal. Or the front porch showcasing a handmade skeleton-band display.* I don’t necessarily understand all of the things I’m seeing, but it makes me happy to see such creativity in action.

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NOLA Day One!

After a 950 mile drive that took about almost 24 hours to complete (stopped in Clemson for dinner and spent the night in Montgomery), this afternoon I finally arrived in New Orleans! My Uncle Jimmy (a New Orleans native and the best tour guide I could ask for) took my dad and me, along with my housemate Katie, to a local lunch place for some of the best po’boys in the city. There were Christmas lights all over the ceiling and lots of random stuff on the walls in this restaurant. Dad called it tacky but it reminded me of my dorm room… oops. But we all agreed it was a fun atmosphere.

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The Braeburn Backstory

Is it strange that my newest ambition is to be a Braeburn apple? This started when I was brainstorming for a blog title. I remembered an icebreaker game where I chose an apple to represent me because the fruit typically symbolizes school and learning, and also health— a few of the most important values in my life.

Since then, I’ve realized apple metaphors are much more numerous than that. The tree: deeply rooted and newly sprouting, always reaching and growing. The seeds: giant potential in tiny form, hidden within. The core: healthy and strong, or secretly rotting with a deceptively flawless exterior. Biblical parables about the production of good fruit. An apple a day. One bad apple. The apple of my eye… The apple is our archetypical fruit, and the associations we’ve given it permeate our understanding of the world.

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