Old Habits

A older Asian man, a southeast Asian man, probably,
Is smoking a cigarette on the front porch of his house.

He squats like a tiny Johnny Bench, and his feet
Hang over the second step--his toes clinging, seemingly, to the concrete edge.

Tracy, California

Yesterday,
I saw a stray man
feed
a homeless dog.

Wishes

Some days I wish my high gear were a little
higher.

Then again,

There are days

when I wish my low gear were a little
lower.

Still, the motorbike keeps moving
up (or down) the trail (or road),

And I hold on.

World Cup Predictions: Group H

The first game is about to start, so I had better finish my predictions. The final group is Group H. And we can be grateful that the English are not in this group because the English pronounce the letter "H" as "Haytch." That would be annoying.

I like Chile in this group because they like to score goals. On the other hand, Switzerland, true to their national tradition of neutrality, prefer nil-nil draws. Honduras is in this group, and they have no chance.

Spain is the favorite in this group and to win the cup.

Enjoy the matches!

World Cup Predictions: Group G

Group G might stand for Group Good. Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, and North Korea make up what is probably the most interesting group in the tournament. Brazil, of course, is a favorite to win the cup. They have Kaka on their side. Kaka is a young man who often wears a t-shirt that says "I belong to Jesus" under his jersey, and he has said he would like to be a pastor when he retires. Kaka is okay with me.

Portugal, which colonized Brazil, has Christiano Ronaldo, but I just don't like the cut of his hair. Ivory Coast has Didier Drogba, who has cooler hair and a broken arm. North Korea's captain is the younger brother of Kim Jong Il. His name is Menta Li Il. Not really.

My prediction: two to three North Koreans will seek political asylum.

Recycling

Yesterday, I took my accumulated aluminum cans and plastic and glass bottles to the recycling station that is located in the parking lot of a now-vacant grocery store. The recycling bin has been there for years; the store left maybe six months ago. I was mildly surprised to see a new employee weighing the recyclables. The new person is a bespectacled young African-American man who is much bigger than I am, and he wears his hair (what a peculiar old expression) long and natural. The previous employee was a young woman who took some pains to look like a boy.[1] I think the best word I could use to describe her demeanor would be “guarded.” She seemed to me not so much defensive as she was protective, and she was the sort of person who made me worry about her—briefly. I actually told her I was a little concerned about her the last time I saw her because when the supermarket moved out it meant that the recycling employee became the customer’s cashier. Normally, the employee would give the customer a voucher that he or she would in turn take to the store for the cash payout. When I saw that the young woman had been given a till of sorts and the responsibility of paying the customers, I told her I hoped she wouldn’t have any problems.

By problems, of course, I meant with the sometimes-unsavory clientele who frequent the recycling station.[2] Once, while my recyclables were being weighed and valued, a young man with a loose grip on himself and reality approached the recycling station with a handful of cans and bottles. He waited a minute or two before he became unhinged about some perceived insult or injustice. I truly feared for the employee’s safety (and my own), but the deranged man ultimately threw down his tiny mess of recycling and stomped away across the parking lot toward the Taco Bell, cursing all the way.

Yesterday, when I arrived at the recycling station, I saw that a woman with a big load was being served and other recyclers were converging on the big bin along with me. I unloaded my recycling bins and got in line behind the woman with the big load. I was joined immediately in line by a black guy with a single plastic bag (clear) of cans. He seemed like he either wanted to ask a question or go ahead of me in line, but he said nothing to me—at first. Then two women in a cream, 70s-era Chevy pickup outfitted with a camper shell pulled into the parking space next to my truck. One of the small windows on the camper shell had been broken out. By this time, I had emptied my garbage/recycling cans into the garbage/recycling cans used by the recycling center, a required part of the recycling process. So I was standing next to my empty cans, which happen to look just like the recycling company’s cans, when one of the young women approached me and asked if my cans were free to be used.

I told the young woman that the cans were mine, and she retreated to her companion at the Chevy. I stacked my cans and took them quickly back to my truck. I saw then that the other woman, the one who had not spoken to me, had hopped into the bed of their pickup, and she seemed to be rearranging the contents of the bed, which included a baby stroller. The woman who had spoken to me was attending to a toddler girl, who was standing on the lowered tailgate of the truck. When I returned to the recycling center, my stuff was being weighed and tallied, and the black man finally spoke to me: “What she axe you? She think you work here or something? I knew you wasn’t working here.” He went on like this for a moment or two, which suggested to me that he, too, thought I was an official of the recycling company—based on the fact that I was standing next to garbage cans that looked like official garbage cans.

As I stepped over to the mouth of the recycling bin/trailer to receive my rewards for helping the environment, the black man stepped over to the Chevy pickup. It was clear now that the woman in the bed was sorting loose, uncontained recyclables, and that’s why they needed the cans just to get their stuff over to the place of business. The black man walked right up to the little girl and the woman who had spoken to me, and he said, “She got some black in her, ain’t she?”

Without hesitation or irritation, the young woman replied, “She’s black, Mexican, and little Filipino.” And thus began a lively and friendly conversation between the black man and both women.[3] I walked past the confab when I returned to my truck with my cash, and I learned (overheard, really) that there was another child, younger and belonging to the other woman, asleep in the cab of the Chevy. I discovered, too, that the loose recyclables in the pickup bed were piled in a cascading formation from the hole on the side of the camper shell. Most of the recyclables appeared to be plastic water bottles, and they amounted to a waterless waterfall, flowing from the intentional opening (I understood now) in the back of the Chevy.

I smiled at the cute little Black/Mexican/Filipino girl as I made my way between the two trucks to my driver’s side door, and I said, “Bye, bye.”

---

[1] Before the young woman, there was a friendly middle-aged Hispanic man, and before him I don’t remember. Actually, I remember several people but not in order.

[2] Yes, I know, I’m a member of this group.

[3] This conversation was punctuated by several double negatives and the exclamation, “Exactly!”

World Cup Predictions: Group F

Group F features the defending champion, Italy, along with Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia. I have heard some experts label New Nealand the worst side in the tournament, which makes me want to root for the Kiwis. I do not want to root for Italy, however. I have heard of one player from Paraguay, Roque Santa Cruz, and no one from Slovakia. Kind of a boring group.