SJ and Helen's Day Out: Part I

Helen came from her native Taiwan to the USA last week to visit a trade show in Chicago, and then to visit with me here in Massachusetts. For the Massachusetts leg of the trip, she chose a hotel in Foxborough, a town 90 minutes away from me that provides nothing interesting to tourists who are not rabid New England Patriots fans, which Helen is not.

Her hotel in Foxborough was 45 minutes away from both Boston, MA and Providence, RI. Out of those two cities, Helen chose Providence to be the one she wanted to visit.



I was going to suggest that we go to Boston, but then I realized that I have lived most of my life within 50 miles (80 km) of Providence, but I've never once visited it.

If you do your homework, you'll find that every city has at least a few areas of interest within it. Helen sent me an itinerary with these items.

(1) Rhode Island State House
(2) Providence Athenaeum
(3) Brown University
(4) Wrentham Village Premium Outlets

The Rhode Island State House? Really?

I searched through Reddit threads for things to do in Providence, and the Athenaeum was mentioned as being a very old, continuously active library, so that was a possibility. Near to that, but not on her list, is the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, which is highly regarded in the Reddit threads, so I decided on those two as a starting point.

Just before I left on the 90 minute drive to pick up Helen, I texted her this:

All right, Helen. I'm heading your way now. I'll be driving so I won't be able to use my phone until I arrive. See you soon!

I wanted to avoid another spot like the one a few days ago where Helen called me and texted me more than a dozen times while I was in the shower.

Halfway through the drive, my phone started going off, then the text alerts began, then the phone and text alerts alternated. I stopped at a rest area an confirmed that my previous text had been ignored.

Here is where I wanted to quote to you a certain text from Helen, but she has deleted it. The gist of it was that her Uber driver was talking on his phone in a foreign language (i.e. not English) and that that scared her, and that she didn't like to take Ubers because the drivers were all Black men or foreigners. The irony of her being scared of foreigners was apparently lost on her.

I fought with myself for a good three minutes about whether or not to just turn around and go home and ghost her forever after, but I've been working very hard on breaking my habit of ragequitting from challenging scenarios, so I drove on.

Look, some form of bigotry and/or racism is alive and well in every country on Earth. We spent our first 96,000 or so years as a species living in isolated, fearful tribes, where people who didn't look or speak like us were legitimately dangerous. It's hard to get that deeply embedded instinctual fear out of our systems in only 4000 years or so.

But we can at least make a ****ing effort.

One of he things with Helen—I found this out soon afterwards to my dismay—is that for the past year or so she's been faithfully watching American right-wing cable news channels, and their ideas have captured her imagination.

I don't want to talk politics here. That always enshittifies any non-political thread. Let's just say that I later found it tiresome having to respond to Helen's occasional canned right-wing talking points disguised as questions about the USA.

When I got to the hotel, Helen was at the check-in desk, arguing about a $20 refundable deposit on the room. I tried to give her a friendly hug, but she grabbed my arms and blocked me.

Publicly rejected by someone I wasn't interested in. Check. Taiwanese are not huggers; I should have remembered that, except that I've gotten drunk with a few who were.

Off we went on the 45 minute drive to lovely Providence, RI. I had researched and found the highest-rated parking garage downtown, where it's only $10 all day long, right near the Rhode Island School of Design (henceforth RISD).

I got us parked, and Helen realized that she had left her purse at the hotel. She wanted me to drive back to the hotel to get it.



The RISD campus is very pleasantly laid out, like many city colleges, and I enjoyed the walk through it. Helen asked me why there were so many beautiful American women around. I deadpanned that I hadn't noticed, but that the non-scholarship students at RISD have the means to ensure good health, good cosmetics, elective surgical alterations, top-notch dental work, and fine clothes.

She didn't buy that. I don't know why she didn't, exactly, because I can only understand about one third of what she says. Helen's knowledge of English is excellent; she has a master's degree in teaching English, but her accent is tough, and she speaks very softly, and she won't speak louder, even when prompted several times.

We walked to the Athenaeum library and I paid the $10 suggested donation for the two of us to go in. It was hot, no AC, and there were just books and faux-marble busts of literary figures; which is good enough for me, but Helen wanted to leave within literally one minute. I was fine with that; I don't mind throwing a little money at libraries.

All right. I have to head to work. I'll have to make this a Part 1 of 2 and finish it eventually.

Part 1 of 2? I was hoping for 5 parts. Oh well. Popcorn gets stuck in my teeth anyway.

the text on my next never purchased custom t-shirt
still no clear decision if the buttons are located front or back, left or right
suppose it all depends on how you unbuckle up for a sword fight

Oh wow, everything about Helen is quite unappealing. Yes I finally get it.

Thanks, CowboyCold! Two is just the estimated number of parts, could be more.



Well done. I like the rhyming scheme.

Yeah, well, I'm no George Clooney, either. The point is that we're not compatible, and it's nobody's fault. The tragedy is that the person who is smitten is unable to see it that way.

It's a pretty common spot, but it's never easy to deal with.

Me: I've had enough of a workout for now. I got my ass kicked at the table yesterday. I was rivered hard twice and nothing went right.

I'm taking today off, football promo be damned. My mental game is more important, and it's not where it should be today. So this week will be Mon. Wed. Thur. Sat.

I'll catch up with the tally after Monday; I don't feel like posting it now.

Speaking of workout Suited, do you exercise outside of the aforementioned walks you take??? My recommendation : even something as little as 20 minutes of exercise before you head out to the casino, does absolute wonders for energy levels/concentration throughout your 8-10h sessions. Disclaimer :

Anyhow, just my 2 cents and I hope it does not come across as overly preachy friend... All the best bro