National Freakout Day

This morning the red line was its usual self, creeping along from station to station as if being pulled by mules. It was crowded and I was late, of course. I love that. There was some afflicted dude on the train, he was seriously freaked out by the stops in the tunnel. He was sort of singing his lament: "Why isn't it mooo-ving, why isn't it mooo-ving, why is it so sloooooow, what's the problem with the train?" He was also one of those people with the personal space issue, like "get out of my way" woman and the guy on the tricycle who makes a siren noise as he rides. "Excuuuuse me, do me a faaaavor, excuuuuuse meeeee!" he sang. He kind of kept his eyes closed and swayed in place. Everyone ignored him, until Charles St, when a drunk guy got on, and engaged in a mumbling "conversation" with Singing Loon. Singing Loon would say "Why are we stopped, what's the prooooooblem, we should be moooooooving," and Drunk Guy would mumble, "waitinfuhtheguy,thuhtrainguy,gottamovethuhtrain,theguy,waitinfuhthetrainguy."
Dueling nutjobs!
on the train!
the city is the place to be.

gah

one of most uncomfortable business lunches ever. Not the most. The most was this other time when my boss' boss, who was horrible and unpleasant and, like, allergic to everything the restaurant had, that was THE worst.
but this was bad
ig'nant comments that make me bury my face in my glass of water to stop myself snorting in disbelief? check.
mr. annoying telling the same story again? check
mr. annoying pontificating on the 'secret' of good food? check
boring chow? check
host who talks incessantly about the price of fish! the price of gas! the price of blueberries! the price of the filet mignon! check

bah
least it was free.

what to do

The social worker at our adoption agency has labeled us a biracial couple (this is an advantage in many agencies, because birth families often request biracial families). The problem is, in the adoption context, I have only ever seen the word "biracial" used to mean black and 'other'. When children are labeled biracial, it means they have one black parent and one "other" parent--white, asian, whatever. So it seems like a very narrow definition, in the adoption world. Now, in the regular world, we are definitely different races, whatever that means, I mean I am white and she is not white, but she's not black either. So I'm not sure we fit the biracial category as adoption people would use it.
We're a little nervous that the social worker has mistaken (we met her face to face). Sometimes people see what they're expecting, you know? In south and central america, she has been briefly mistaken for a south or central american by other travellers. People of her own heritage usually spot her as "one of us", but other people--not so much. You know, people ask "where are you from" and that kind of thing. So could the social worker have identified her as black without realizing? How do you correct someone when they've done that? Will she think we misrepresented ourselves? (She said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are a biracial couple, aren't you?" and we said yes, cause, you know, we are.) Will she be embarassed? will it no longer be an advantage in the matching?
Do adoption workers every use biracial to mean 'two different races' instead of 'black plus one'?
Ok, I just realize this sounds vague. She is Indian. The actual color of her skin is brown, you know, like people call "black" for some reason.

Subway quiz

Which of the following is an excellent way to get past someone in the doorway?
A) "YOU GOTTA MOVE! JESUS!"
B) Grab person by arm, and pull
C) "If you MOVED outta the DOORWAY, I could get BY!"
D) Any of the above

Seriously, I've seen all of these employed today. Very classy, Boston.

In other strangers-are-rude news, a bag lady told me to sit up straight as I lounged in the park reading yesterday. Uh, thanks, except not. Have I a sign on me that says "Please Boss Around"?