Mouthwash, Ancestors and Chocolate

Ever noticed when you use certain brands of mouthwash, you feel like you need to brush your teeth again? No, well I thought I would share, as not much else is happening.

It is nice to have relatives stay at your house, especially if you only get to see them a few times a year but only if they are not annoying. When my grandma stays with us, we always get to learn something about other relatives, be they alive or dead. I never got to meet my grandfather, and it is nice to have such a close a secondary source. He would talk rarely about his time in the military with anyone, and if he did, he would only disclose facts that were already known; things like being in a foxhole for 3 weeks, and nearly having to have his feet amputated, or being separated from his unit and presumed dead for 2 months. Everything else that we know about that time comes from photos, and his last surviving sister who is now 90 something. All that we can tell from the photos, is that before he was drafted he was a smiling cheery lad, and after the war he never smiled.

Apart from his military experience, other things that I recently learned about him were that he dressed up for everything and even wore a suit to cut the grass and do oil changes. He also would not leave the house unless his clothes matched my grandma's perfectly. Something that really illustrates this fanaticism is that just before he died when the ambulance came to get him, he would not leave until his socks matched his shirt and he had made sure that he was not wearing the same clothes he wore on his last hospital visit.

One last thing I would like to share, is possibly where I inherited some of my dislike of taxes. My grandfather, who worked as a mechanic in the army until he retired felt very strongly that the government took too much of his money. Instead of actively campaigning for a more fiscally conservative tax code, he handled the problem a little more directly. During the night, when his workplace was deserted, him and his brother would show up in a large and stereotypically Italian black Pontiac and with plenty of trunk space, and help themselves to light bulbs, tape, shower heads and hand tools and anything else that happened to be lying around his workplace. My grandmother will flatly deny that this activity ever took place, but that does not explain why her attic is still full of army cardboard boxes, or why my dad's pegboard in the garage has hand tools with things like "motorby 5, US Army" scratched onto them.

Apart from relatives, I had a good day at college. Unfortunately, during my class at 8, my professor put on possibly the most boring video about the history of New York ever.. I don't know about you, but whenever I am tired, I do not find watching the History channel to be a good way of staying awake.. Anyway, after my class, I drove to Cumby's. I was feeling adventurous, and so I tried some chai tea. Unfortunately, the machine was broken and I was startled to find that when I pressed the button for chai, sugar and powdered tea poured down my sleeve, and I was left holding a cup of hot water and cinnamon. This disappointment did not last, as I soon made my way to my awesome class, to find panpipes awaiting me. We had a guest professor, and he organized the whole class and taught us to play a Peruvian song. He then gave a highly interesting lecture about Peruvian instruments and tradition, with some very crude misconceptions about Catholic theology thrown in for good measure.

I could keep going on about my day, but I am not interested enough to tell you about it, and you lost interest a few paragraphs back, and are now only skimming. Tonight after dinner, which will be delicious, I am going to play American folk music.. I could tell you more, but I will not. Stay tuned.