Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

On every trip to Turkey I have come home with some derelicted tale of men making offers, a stack of phone numbers, scarves given to me because my eyes and smile are so charming, and the list goes on. One lamp shop owner, in Istanbul, proclaimed that when I spoke it was "like honey to [his] ears."   Though, when I went and gave an invited talk at Dogus Uni in Istanbul, in December 2008, there I was offered Turk cigarettes, raki, and there may or may not have been a few offers for dates.  Oiy.  Anyone ever noticed that I am something of a magnet for the oddities of life, or that my adventures turn into borderline criminally insane escapes? Yea.  Today's run-of-the-mill errands turned into . . . well, they became an adventure of borderline criminally insane activity. I trotted my happy little self up to Steinway Street this afternoon, not for glitzy reduced priced plastic goods and new sweaters.  Instead, I was headed to have one ring setting resottered, have my ...

These days I've been thinking a lot about what has transpired in the past year. Last year this time I was fretting away the days until a defense, battling severe anemia, and then there was that pesky surgery on the horizon. Don't forget I was staring the prospect of unemployment in its ugly face. Funny how much things have changed, and it is also funny at how they haven't come that far from where they were. Last month I realized that I hadn't gone out much in almost two years. That was when things started, well I should reword that. That was when the health started to go sour. I didn't feel like explaining so I let that conversation make me sound like more of a loner and nerd than I really am. I defended just fine, had the bloody surgery four days later (yes, a bad pun I know), and things went awry. What I let people know is that there was an unplanned blood transfusion, which coincidentally gave me my bat wings. And seriously, for those of you that are ap...

Istanbul was a lot of things, and good was certainly one. Drunk another. I’ve decided that I drink best internationally, and I’ve come to realize that being sick for far too long kept me form getting my drink on. Hmmmm. Anywho. Those that know me know that I fell in love with Turkey the first time I went, and this time was really hard coming back to the states. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a great gig at ODU, but Turkey is Turkey and Istanbul is Istanbul. There is something about walking along the Bosporus, drinking too much white wine, and knowing that you are thousands of miles away from where you began. Yet, this time things got a little crazy. If I ever get my laptop fixed (another story for another day), I’ll upload the delightful pics I took. Though, right now there are horrid photos of me at the conference. That is one of the many reasons why people aren’t allowed to take pictures of me. That and I don’t really care to have shots of me giving papers. I always look tri...