So, first I would like to talk about an article. I am letting you know in advance because this has absolutely nothing to do with Saigon. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are only in it to expand your cultural horizons. A few weeks ago, I read the article that popped up approximately 36 times in everyone's Facebook newsfeed. This is the article in case you are hiding from your Facebook demons:
This article references a study conducted by Arthur Aron over 20 years ago in which two strangers were placed in a lab to see if they would fall in love. No candles, no Marvin Gaye, no Cabernet, just a boring, white space. Aron provided these two lab rats with a series of 36 questions to ask each other over the course of 90 minutes. At the end of 90 minutes, the only task left at hand was to stare into each others eyes for four excruciating minutes. Four minutes is a long damned time to stare at another pair of eyes.
The author of this article, Mandy Catron, stepped up her game a bit and decided to add some magic (alcohol) to the mix. She was also with a dude that she was immediately attracted to after creeping on his Instagram. We all know that Instagram is the window to the soul. Who isn't attracted to a guy on a climbing wall? If you were too lazy to read the entire article, Mandy ended up falling in love after answering the 36 questions and gazing into Spider man's eyes on a bridge. I think it's also scientifically proven (/I saw it on The Little Rascals) that if you stare at any other human on a bridge, you will instantly fall in love with them.
The reason that I bring this article up is because I have become slightly obsessed with this concept. You can formulate love in a lab? This article makes love seem so simple, and maybe it is. Recently I (because I consider myself and every other person to be a pseudo psychologist) have started asking my friends these questions in social scenarios. I figured that I am already so in love with all of my friends here that these questions would just strengthen our bond. Friday night my friends and I did this for about an hour over drinks and it was phenomenal. These questions slowly pry into the intimate details of your life and force you to self reflect. Rarely do we share these thoughts with our friends over beers. Usually we talk about sports, work, or the events of the past week. I did this on Saturday night as well and the results were the same. I realized one thing and was reminded of another. People have a lot to share, you just have to ask. I was reminded that my friends are the most wonderful human beings on earth.
Here is the list of the 36 questions :
I encourage you to conduct this experiment yourself to any degree that you see fit. You don't have to walk up to a stranger on a bridge and stare into their eyes; that could get you shot in Chicago. All I am saying is that you should ask anyone these questions. Ask your mom, dad, brother, cousin's boyfriend, boss, best friend, or even your husband or wife. I guarantee that there is at least one question that will inspire a riveting conversation. My personal plan is to gradually ask everyone in my life these questions so by the time that I'm old and senile, I will be surrounded by people who are in love with me. That way, I'll have a better chance of remembering at least one of them.
Ok, so for the folks who skipped that ramble, here are the cliff notes of what happened during my week.
Monday- I was pretty exhausted from the weekend, so I just succumbed to my animalistic urges and binge watched Parks and Rec and ordered Baba's. Baba's is the food of the gods.
Tuesday- For those of you who haven't talked to me for two minutes, I have been having really bad knee problems. This has significantly increased my stress levels as running is my only legal form of stress relief. Running is my crack. I finally got an MRI on Tuesday and upon leaving, the MRI technician looked up at me and said, "Well at least it's not a tumor." You could say that about anything, dummy. Apparently my knee bones aren't connected to my thigh bones...or something like that. I will get more definitive results on Tuesday. Major knee bone kill. After my MRI, I went to meet my friends for dinner at my favorite tiny chair joint. I very eloquently call it, "The Fish Place." Two "sound"(an Irish term that I take to mean cool/amazing/wonderful) Irish friends were leaving the next day and we wanted to send them off correctly; with cheap beer and copious amounts of Vietnamese grub. Before everyone got there, I was invited to sit with a group of older Vietnamese gentlemen who were very enthusiastic about me slamming some Saigon Greens with them (This happens to me quite often. Blonde hair is rare in Saigon. I could be Golem with a blonde wig and I would get invited to sit with old Vietnamese men. Once, at 8 AM, a group of Vietnamese men in my old alley coerced me into drinking two beers in five minutes. They are big on chugging). One of the guys had a guitar and wanted me to sing for them. He played his own interpretation of "Let it Be" and I tried to remember the lyrics as I sang. I was terrible, but I might as well have been Paul McCartney. I mot hai ba yo'ed them adeiu and took a seat at the other table with my friends. We ordered a meal fit for The Last Supper.
Wednesday-My co-teacher, super friend, and Facebook password gate keeper Alex wore this outfit:
That's all you need to know about Wednesday.
Thursday- Thursday was nice because I went to my first AIS soccer game. Have I ever mentioned how amazing all of my students are? They are perfect little adults and I am so lucky to be teaching them. They are also great little athletes. My wonderful, gracious boss (Hey Jeff) took us out for sangria afterwards and I got to hang out with a superb little baby, Isaac. He is adorable and lucky because both of his parents are super heroes. Miss Alayna has stolen all of the world's talents for herself. She hides them well and then surprises the masses at the last second. I found out on Thursday that she can salsa dance like a pro. I also discovered that I cannot. We went to the highest towers of the tapas restaurant and watched a dedicated, yet unseasoned salsa instructor dance his little butt off. It was entertaining to say the least.
(PS. I actually just Googled should sangria/salsa dancing be capitalized. I have no shame. The verdict was no and yes. I went with no. Feel free to correct me but, werds are wordz).
The freakin' weekend- I went to an all Danish dinner with my beautiful friend Silke on Friday night. They quickly discovered that I was an imposter, simply there for the cheap BBQ. I enjoyed imagining what their conversations were about. We moved on and after becoming one step closer to making my friends fall in love with me, we went and saw another badass friend play some music. Anja played at a new place called Saigon Ranger. Despite the drinks being [Saigon] expensive, the atmosphere was perfect for a Friday night show. (Although, at this point, I would watch live music in a haunted slaughterhouse). Saturday was spent doing what I do best; Rockin' a hungover gym and pool session. My sole superpower is the ability to wake up early after a night out. I could be run over by a tequila truck and still make it out of bed to hang out with my serious boyfriend, Gym. Most of the time, I am an awful girlfriend and put no effort into the relationship. As long as I'm present, I think he'll stick with me. Later on, I celebrated the end of a dear friend's month long sobriety the only proper way: with booze. I posed more of the 36 questions and hung out at my favorite black hole, ER.
I popped out of bed at 8AM this morning and made my roommate the obligatory, "I'm sorry I ate your panini last night" breakfast. The rest of the day was spent consuming smoothies at the pool with three hot babes ;) Al, there's your shout out.
Here are a few more pictures from the week:
Well, that's all folks. Thanks for reading and remember: you are 36 questions and a four minute gaze away from love.
I will leave you with my answer to one of these questions. Ask it to someone today!
If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Teleportation. I would wake up 6 AM, step into my space pod, and have a 5 PM deep dish pizza with my favorite Pilsen roomates. That's just at the top of my list.
What quality would you wake up with? Ask a stranger today!
Cheers, from my happy place.
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PS. I forgot that the Super Bowl was today. Ra Ra, GO BEARS!?
Sunday jamz.
I think mine would be cooking. I would love to have the ability to know what goes well together, but also quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to sing.. pleasantly.. not sounding like a truck squealing to a stop. An old wise man (Scott) once told me that singing is the sound of joy. He then proceeded to tell me that my singing does not rouse any of these wonderful emotions. I need to have the music louder than my voice at all times to trick myself and others into enjoying the joyous moment. My poor eardrums.. I'm only 24 and half deaf.. hopefully I'll be granted another one of these wishes when I'm 50.
ReplyDeleteMiss you my JessyPoo!! Loving your posts <3333 xoxo