I went on a road trip with a bunch of French people to the
jungle. We tumbled up to Cape Tribulation for the day, and I was in charge of
tunes for the drive up.
Being DJ makes me nervous because I have to try to guess
what other people like. Down to that very moment. One time I had to bring a
playlist to a laser tag party in 7th grade. I put a Jerry Seinfeld
track in between Franz Ferdinand and Green Day. It actually worked out great
but made me super anxious. I take music pretty personally.
I tend start with something a little more poppy than I would
normally listen to. I mean I was really feeling Messugah at the time, but I
opted for Chance the Rapper. But the French didn’t feel it until I got into my
more traditional territory, Queen, Wolfmother, Blink-182, Billy Joel, Etc. I am
unable to not sing along, and they found that amusing too. One guy was a
saxophonist, who just picks up and plays where he can, super cool, and invited
me to sing at a show they were doing later that week (didn’t end up happening since
he never went to practice with them).
In the jungle we found “The Blue Hole”, which is just an
unmarked spot where a deep pool collected a deep blue. In the hole were a bunch
of fish, I think they’re called Jungle Cod, or something like that. Jungle
“marine fish” of some sort.
Do you know what “French shopping” is? I think it’s only an
Aussie term. But if you go French shopping it means you go stealing. The French
were upset by this association, but the guy did admit he steals sometimes. So I
think I’ll use the phrase.
I made a joke!
Sitting and talking to Danier, who’s a bartender, and he was
telling me about sours, traditionally whiskey, but there are other kinds as
well. I didn’t know real eggs are used to make the froth, but apparently if
your place is nice that’s how they do it. And a girl tells us about how you put
your eggs in water to see if they’ve gone bad. If they float it means there’s
gas in the egg and that could only come from bacteria. So she says “when you
get eggs take them all out and place them in a bucket of water” and I say “Yes
but whatever you do, DON’T PUT THEM ALL IN ONE BASKET!”
Turns out that’s an American phrase only. I still think it’s
very funny.
On my days off I sometimes go walk dogs at the local
shelter. It’s really lax, you can just walk in and point at a dog and say “I
want that one” and they hand you a leash and you walk out. I’ve walked Misty and
Max and Sally. I’ve never had a dog, though I’ve made plenty of dog friends in
my life. I’ve always wanted a dog, so this is good for both of us.
And here’s a list of cool animals I’ve seen in the wild recently:
Mudskippers: They’re fish that skip along the mud when it’s
rainy.
Croc: My first real live outdoor, non-zoo croc! A little
guy, but fierce, he flipped out when I tried to talk to him.
Hercules Beetle: They crawl all around here like tiny
boulders
Crazy Yellow Ants: An invasive species also known as
electric ants, they sting like electricity I guess.
Batpocalypse: Not really an animal, there’s just a billion
bats that’s migrate out of town every night to eat.
Archer Fish: Little brackish fish that hang out in the
marina. When they see a bug or something tasty above the water on a leaf they
can shoot out a little stream of water from their mouths and knock em into
their territory.
