Little Sister Does Tucson

Little Sister arrived in Tucson yesterday afternoon for an entire 5 days of ridiculousness. She's been saying one hilarious thing after another. So much that I can't keep track to remember even half of it.


When she exited the secure area of the airport, i.e. we haven't even left the airport yet, I overhear her on the phone with Dad telling him how much she misses grass already.

The very first thing she did upon exiting the airport was hug a cactus:


She was astounded by how big a lot of them are. Somewhere she got the idea that cacti were fairly short...


From the airport we went to a local taco joint in South Tucson so Little Sister could have her first "real" taco. She loves tacos, and they're one of only a few meals that she can make herself, but she's only ever had gringo, Ortega grocery store kit or Taco Bell "tacos." She liked them, but found her nose starting to run and her tongue on fire from the "hot" salsa. It was spicy compared to most stuff you can find in New England, but wasn't much compared to a lot of salsas you find around here. Now those will make your nose run. She decided that it was the "most ghetto" place she's ever eaten. And seeing as it was a taco joint in South Tucson, she's probably right.


After some food we went to campus so a few friends could meet her (after all, she's pretty hilarious, and I do talk about her quite a bit) and so she could start to get the lay of the land. One of the first years asked, "Are you twins?!" Uh, not quite. Two minutes later E's advisor said in his usual total deadpan, "You don't look anything alike. Not at all." Dallas said we're "like the same person," mostly based on us being about the same height. And then she simultaneously offended and charmed the die-hard Yankees fan with her Red Sox cap.


Driving back from buying roller derby tickets for Saturday she noticed that the fire hydrants are all silver.

Little Sister: ANNE, did you notice that the fire hydrants are all silver?
Me: Uh, no.
Little Sister: What?! You've been here 4 years and you never noticed that???
Me: Uh, no.
Little Sister: No wonder it took you 3 years to notice that the hall is narrower at one end than the other [true story]. The color of the fire hydrants is like the 6th most important thing to notice in a city.
Me (interrupting): OH really now? What are the other 5 things??
Little Sister: Well uh...
Me: No really, what are the other 5 things??
Little Sister: Well, I'd have to think about it.
Me: That's ok. Think about it.
Little Sister: Um, first the size of the street signs; second, the color of the street signs; third, the arrangement of the traffic lights; fourth, um, the closest Starbucks; and fifth, something about the sidewalks. Like if they exist or not...
Me: Uh huh...

She has since asked most of my friends if they know what color the fire hydrants are in Tucson.


Before we went to walk down 4th Ave, where a bunch of shops and cafes are:

"I'm bringing my camera, for all the beautiful Tucson sites that need documenting."

Good...because I'm bringing mine in case (when) you do something silly.

While on 4th Ave, we found these redneck wine glasses:

Little Sister: Oh, it's a goblet of the Lord.
Then I see the tag on them saying they're "redneck wine glasses."
Little Sister: Wait, so they're saying the Lord is a redneck because that's what he serves his wine in??

I also found this awesome sparkly blue dress:

Wouldn't this make a great bridesmaid dress for E's wedding? I sent her pictures just in case she thought so too. :P


Once we were home for the night, she was checking her email on my computer. Now I have my cursor on the "dinosaur scheme" because it amuses me. Apparently it amuses her too:

"I love when your little dinosaur tries to walk because his legs are so little."

While in control of my computer she took over a gchat convo with my boyfriend:

me: omg [Little Sister] keeps saying so much ridiculous stuff that i can't even keep track of half of it

when she walked out of the airport terminal the first thing she did was hug a cactus

Boyfriend: hehe

how is she liking the 100 degree weather?

me: it's HORRIBLE

literally i always feel slightly moist

and if you're not outside you're inside

and everywhere inside is wicked over air conditioned

so then its more like vancouver in december instead of tucson

Boyfriend: so if you're not outside you're inside, how profound. :)

How are you doing [Little Sister]?

me: i've always been profound

its a strong point

Boyfriend: haha

me: i'm contemplating majoring in philosophy...following the footsteps of big bruddah [who majored in philosophy and is now marginally employed and living with our parents]

Later in the evening, I'm telling her about this weird leprosy-rash thing I've got going on, that apparently I just have to wait out. She's into biology, so she's googling to try to figure out why a rash would be a reasonable immune response - like why does it happen or what purpose does it serve? In her googling she's reading various bits aloud, and keeps pronouncing the word "dermatitis" as "derma-tit-us" (with a short i, to be clear), and laughing uncontrollably. I totally think she's mispronouncing it deliberately. But then as she's reading she's like wait, so it's like a skin-itis...so it's probably pronounced "dermatitis" (with a long i). We're both in tears laughing at this point. I just can't believe she was actually earnestly pronouncing it "derma-tit-us"...


All afternoon and evening she kept remarking on the time difference. She'd look at her watch when it was say 7:30, and be like oh my goodness, did you know it's 10:30 at home?? Everyone at home is doing 10:30 things, but we're doing 7:30 things, AND it's light out here but it's dark out there...


She's entertained and entertaining. Tucson is really, really different from anywhere she's been before, and she clearly thinks it's a really strange place. We'll have to see what the rest of the weekend holds in store... Maybe we should find some javelinas to really weird her out. :)