69. Nice

Day 69

Location 15: Lisbon

Jan. 8, 2023

My life is privileged. People in my life support me, but there are doubters and haters, too. My haters aren't parents who say things like "you'll never amount to anything" like you'd see in a 2004 made-for-tv-movie. Instead, my haters are mild. Like a manager at the job I'm quitting sending me a list of the world's most beautifully designed basketball courts with a message that reads "post a photo when you play at one of these" with a hint of hidden sassiness that says "I don't think you'll actually play basketball while traveling". Well, Keith, it's a little dirtier in person, but I made it:

Left: The list sent to me by my haters. | Right: My photo of a court from the list.

Okay, so actually when I arrived it was raining and the fence around the court was locked. So I haven't played at this court, or any court on the list yet. Dammit, Keith, you win again.

Later, while hanging out in the hostel lounge, one guy stood up to exit the room and posed a question to the group. "Why is the door a pull if it says 'PUXE' which I assume sounds like 'push'?"

I confidently chimed in "oh no, 'X' in Portuguese is pronounced 'ul-yeh'" with a thick, vague European accent. "So it actually is pronounced more like 'pull-yeh'" I continued. Fully convinced, the exiting man thanked me for my informational gift. A few of the people I'd been chatting with in the room turned to me in surprise, "how'd you know that, Dylan?". But of course, I didn't know that. It was completely made up. In fact, immediately after the guy left a native Portuguese speaker clarified "that's completely wrong, 'X' sounds like 'shh'".

Last thing: as I lay in bed hoping to fall asleep quickly, I was tempted to reach for my phone. It's an impulse we all have: scroll through Twitter, watch a YouTube video, tap through Instagram stories–whatever your fix is, we've all been conditioned to crave some entertainment before bed. Luckily, I was able to stop myself because I had real, in-person entertainment: an impromptu shadow puppet show. Let me clarify. At 2am, a man who I already wasn't a fan of entered the room, turned on his iPhone flashlight, pointed it toward the ceiling, and put on a horror shadow puppet show featuring mostly his head that scared me into a deep slumber.