I really enjoyed the readings today about the fashion senseless man and the Tip-Top Club.However neither, especially the radio one, struck me as particularly funny. When I first read the radio story I kept waiting for the punch line, when I finally got to the end I had an empty feeling that perhaps I just missed something, which is possible, but for the life of me I can not figure out what it is. The story was a good one and I could see the irony between the positive point of the show and how its listeners actually react poorly to a new host, but this still did not make me laugh. Perhaps the story was more of a parody on radio shows, the industry, and its devoted followers but I could not really get into that side of it.
What I did gain from the radio story was more a sense of inspiration. I actually liked the idea of a "news" show that focused on a community and finding joy in stressful everyday life. This is a great contrast between typical news shows that seem to point out all of societies flaws. Before the Club got hostile and cultish I really like the flow of the story. Perhaps because I was inspired by the first part, it stopped me from finding more humor in the second half because I took it too seriously. Either way, it left me entertained and refreshed but I would not say amused.
The next story was much more funny to me, although not quite laugh out loud. The story itself was so human, talking about the insecurities all people face with fashion and their external appearances. I enjoyed this story because it was relatable and realistic. I wouldn't say the story had wit, but it certainly had honesty, which made it that much better. I loved the imagery and silly rhymes for all the fashion don'ts. The crazy clothing choices the man makes throughout the story and all his self doubt and depreciation were definitely amusing. I especially loved the butt enhancing pants and catheter. Each fashion fail was a story of its own that ultimately led to the full circle completion of the story. I really enjoyed how blunt the narrator is and the way he shares all his misfortunes and internal thoughts.
One of the things that was best for me was the reliability of this story. As a woman I have certainly struggled with body image issues and bad fashion decisions. There have been many a time where some over the top body enhancing product or crazy clothing item has been tempting for just a moment. My mom also happens to be great at the same game the narrator's sister plays where she convinces you that you NEED some silly item. Keeping up with fashion is a task all of its own and I have definitely felt behind before. I was a tomboy in elementary school and did not figure out how to dress myself properly till my Junior year of high school. Even today I find myself fighting Texas fashion with my California senses which often gets me made fun of. Clothing and fashion will always prevail to be ever changing and demanding and the way this story combined all these problems into a very personal narration definitely kept me amused.
Today I got to meet with Bandar again. We both talked about our weekends and our break. I told him about my trip back home to California and we discussed the weather for a bit. I talked about how I liked sunny days with a blue sky in comparison to the gray overcast Texas has been having lately. Bandar disagreed, saying that he enjoys the gray sky and that he had visited Seattle once and that he really liked the weather there.
I asked if he had success getting a car in Dallas the week before but he told me that the man selling the car was asking for too much money. He explained that there are frequent car auctions in the area and how he might go to one of those. We discussed cars some more and he talked to me about why he likes European and Asian car companies so much better than American. I told him about the Acura my family owns and he explained that Acura does not exist where he lives so he would not be able to get service on the car or parts for the car if he shipped it back home with him.
Later he asked me how my classes were going. I told him about how I was struggling in my Spanish class and he was surprised that TCU had a significant foreign languages department. He asked why Spanish was so difficult when many of the words were close to English and I explained that it had been a long time since I had taken Spanish and I was lacking in my basic knowledge. He then empathized with me, talking about how he had learned English at a private school when he was young but that there was a long time between then and TCU where he didn't have much practice or training. I talked about this class for a while and how professors make a big difference in learning experience. This he also empathized with. He told me about a teacher who had travelled the globe teaching english and how they were so much better at understanding accents and respecting the variety of culture among the students. It is always really cool to hear how the different perspectives between students can still be so similar. Bandar feels that learning is mostly something he does on his own though, and that teachers are just there to help. He strongly suggested I find someone fluent in Spanish to converse with, just like he does with me.
I met with my conversation partner again last week but completely forgot to write about it till now so here it goes. We met up earlier than usual and sat down at our usual spot in front of 1873. He told me about how he was going to be traveling to Dallas that afternoon to check out a car he hoped to buy. I talked about my new car, a mustang, and we both got to share our appreciation for nice cars. He said that he was looking for a used luxury car but that many of the cars he had tried out were in bad condition. One of the phrases Bandar says a lot when he dislikes something is "no way." He described a Lexus he had tried that was gross and gummy, "no way, no way," he told me.
Later we talked more about his family and about his parents. I learned that his mother used to work in an education department but that she no longer works. This was funny because my mother didn't work before but now she works an office job at a University. He joked to me that his mother now spends all her time asking when he is going to get married. He explained that it is common for people to get married early on where he lives but that he is here to study and is in no rush to get married. I empathized with this because Texas is very different from my home in California with its views on marriage.
Neither of us had big plans for the weekend at the time so I talked to him about my living situation last year and how hard it is to share one room between two people at times. Somehow we got on the topic of my roommates and how I was one of the youngest. He laughingly told me he felt very old when he found out I am 19. We both agreed that it is good to travel and experience the world now before different responsibilities and difficulties arise later in life.
I asked him more about how his classes at TCU are run and where he takes them. He told me about how he was struggling with some of the English language rules and spelling. All letters/characters are pronounced in Arabic and so he does not understand why some of our words have silent letters. He then went on to tell me he had to write a brief paper about our meetings that day and that he misspelled my name "Shlby." I laughed as he explained the conversation that him and his teacher had after she told him it was wrong. He also explained that people from his country see everything very logically and that when teachers say "because" as an answer it frustrates him a lot. "How am I supposed to learn if there is no rule?" he asked me. I agreed that the English language is very unfortunate and then we talked a bit about my last name, which is japanese. It was a pretty good meeting and although I was tired I think we both managed to get a few good laughs in.
