two-for saturday

story I

today i had to buy an ink cartridge for my printer. the place to buy ink cartridges is in a building downtown named 'computer world.' you can generally find anything technology related there from cameras to copiers to (i'm pretty sure) computers. it's a trek to get to from my home - about an hour walk or 20 minute busride. i decided to walk since it was relatively nice out and i had eaten xushuur** for lunch and i already had to go downtown to meet some students.

however, much to my dismay - computer world no longer exists. after my hour long jaunt, i found it had completely disappeared and in its place was an empty shell of a building. d'oh! so, that's that i guess. hello amazon.com.

***
story II

in one of UBs larger and busier intersections, there was a fake crash site set up almost in the middle of traffic. it was like those kinds of things high schoolers do to teach about drunk driving: a severly bashed up vehicle is parked in a very public place and a few mangled people lay about covered in fake blood.

except in liu of a mangled person, this particular crash site had a guy dressed up as the grim reaper complete with ominous scythe. he was chatting aimiably with the police officers.

visual interest: check
extremely public setting: check
creepy, mythical being: check
irony of fake crash site meant to teach about safety actually being unsafe for drivers: check


i like it.






**xushuur: a popular mongolian food - it is essentially a fried pancake filled with mutton. much like beany mexican food, it stays with you all day long.