Trekking Home

I know everyone has been waiting for this post in dire anticipation (Lorenz) but without further adieu, my trek back from DC and any hilarity that ensued.

So I was in the Atlanta airport for a layover. I was on my way to the bathroom when I see this guy’s shirt. It said “Made in IL (Illinois).” I started busted out laughing which continued throughout the process known as micturation (I was pissing). Made in Illinois, ohh the possibilities. So here is my rant>>> So what is with this guy’s shirt, was it literally made in Illinois, maybe a suburb of Chicago or maybe in the ghettoes of East St. Louis to the south? I hope this becomes fashionable. I want to see new NIKE t-shirts that say “Made in Taiwan” in bold letters above the “Swoosh.” Or how about this plain green Old Navy sweatshirt that I’m wearing right now; we can spice it up by encrypting it with “Made in Lesotho.” Pop history question: where the hell is Lesotho? Answer: it, along with the country of Swaziland, is one of the two countries completely surrounded by the nation of South Africa. Didn’t think you would learn something on this today, did ya?…well there is more to come (foreshadowing). I digress. I also laughed at this shirt for another reason as well (yup, a twofor). “Made in IL.” I wonder if he wears this because he was conceived in the state of Illinois. I imagine him as a very proud man walking with his chin up proudly proclaiming, “Yes, my parents did have sex in Illinois, which ultimately led to the arrival of me in the world. Truly a fine day!” Ohh yes my friend, for me that day, was truly a fine day!

On my journey toward the town of Michigan City, I finished the book I was reading, Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. I want to share with you, my readers, my favorite word used throughout the book, my favorite paragraph of the book, and where the title Trainspotting comes from for all those who have seen the movie (starring the gifted Ewan MacGregor) and not read the book.

1)Soap-dodger- a person that smells bad (you Scottish folk are absolutely brilliant with your diction!)

2)Alright, so on a side note Irvine Welsh writes phonetically as the people of Scotland talk. So I encourage you to read this excerpt aloud if you have trouble understanding it. And another side-note that it is true one of the characters name in this book is Spud.

“The woman and her friend are being chatted up by a guy with a round, puff face, and an open-neck shirt which strains at his bloated guts. Renton, who has cheerfully undisguised prejudice against overweight people takes an opportunity to indulge it. –Spud: deek the fat radge. Gluttonous bastard. Ah dinnae go fir aw that shite aboot it bein a glandular or metabolic thing. Ye dinnae see any fat bastards on tv footage fi Ethiopia. Dae they no huv glands ower thair?”

See, I wasn’t kidding, a tough read…this was a mere one paragraph in a 350 page novel…it made it exciting that’s for sure.

3)The reason for the title Trainspotting is completely missed while the script was written for the movie version. In the book, the gang is walking back to their homes in the town of Leith, Scotland. It was after some major party so they are all nice and drunk. They stop by an old train station which is about to be torn down to make place for a supermarket to urinate in the bathrooms. And elderly drunk man comes in and asks the gang, “What are you guys up to, trainspotting I suppose?” To which Begbie responds in typical drunken response followed by the elderly drunk man again, “I’ll leave you to it, keep up the trainspotting.” And that was it. That is why the book is named the way it is named. So if you are watching the movie and trying to figure out the how actions or possessions are symbolism for something (like my sister did), you are wasting your time. It is just something an old, drunk man says in the book.

Don’t worry I didn’t forget about the foreshadowing I mentioned previously. Here is a little historic and ironic history lesson.

It has to do with our 7th President of the United States Andrew Jackson, who is probably the most bad ass president we have ever had! And don’t worry, I will soon be reading a biography on him called American Lion, to which, I will include several posts proving why he is such a bad-ass! Anyway, one of two of Andrew Jackson’s, who is easily recognized on the $20 bill, which, of course is paper money, main political platforms during his run for the presidency was to eliminate all paper money and have the United States use precious medals like gold and silver as currency. This never went through due to the fact that his other platform took a majority of his time: bitch-slapping the Bank of the United States!