my backyard just happens to be a helipad
For a couple of mornings in a row I got really annoyed because I was quite rudely interrupted by the sound of a freaking HELICOPTER outside my window. In New York you kind of get used to this kind of thing, but you also get used to it going away. On one of the mornings in question, the helicopter sound seemed to persist for an inordinate amount of time, as if the guy was hovering right out the window. So once the sound started to move away I felt somewhat relieved and went back to reading The War of the End of the Worldby Mario Vargas Llosa (it’s awesome). But then the sound freaking came back, and that’s when I started thinking, well it’s about time the CIA decided to recruit me out here but I thought they were supposed to be a little more subtle than that. Of course this would explain a lot regarding the war and pretty much everything else they were supposed to be doing and apparently, um, weren't.
So at this point I was thoroughly ticked off, and was just like “What the f*?” to the point of where I must have blacked out from being so annoyed and forgot about it until the next morning. But then it happened again and I started to think, “maybe there is a pattern here … “ I’m pretty slow so sometimes you really have to drive something through my brain before it takes hold. Anyway, the morning after that I heard it again, but this time noticed that the sound was coming from the back of my apartment building rather than the front (where it had sounded like it was coming from before but because of the acoustic mayhem caused by the loud noise of a helicopter I couldn’t properly identify). I stuck my head all the way out of the back window of my apartment to mitigate the acoustic effect somewhat, and it turns out the sound was coming from what would be my backyard if I didn’t live in a 9th story studio. There’s a hill out back that’s covered mostly with thick palm trees, and the sound of a helicopter starting up came right from there. After staring for a good 10 minutes I actually saw a guy in a yellow signaling jacket and a rotating helicopter blade.
So it only took me 2 months to notice. Maybe since vacation season is in full swing people are taking the helicopter out for a spin with more regularity, hence me noticing finally.
While this kind of thing may be only mildly interesting to you (not that the rest of any of this crap, i.e., my blog, should be of interest to anyone) it’s of particular interest to me because there was a recent image in a Brazil travel book I read of something like “the rich traveling above the fray of impoverished millions in helicopters, etc., etc.” which to me is a pretty revolting image but I’m finding that a lot of the things that are either joked about or thought to be true by would-be conspiracy theorists here have more truth to them than anyone would want to think.
Through some fluke which I’ll explain elsewhere I met and was invited to visit the ultra-ritzy high-rise apartment of an *extremely* well to do family here in Salvador. I didn’t see a sniper eyeing me through his scope from the top of the building as I rang the front gate buzzer, but I knew he was there. The apartment was the entire floor of a highrise (which had a pool, was immaculately clean, etc.) and would have made David Bowie feel like his Manhattan apartment was a bachelor crash pad in Queens (sorry Queens, but it’s true). None of this would have bothered me so much if the mother of the family hadn’t been an employee of, yup, the local government. Maybe it’s just coincidence but not likely, since government corruption around here (this state, and this country) is well known to be rampant. You wouldn’t expect a clueless idiot like me to come into contact with this kind of reality, but there you have it. Hopefully I’m wrong.
So at this point I was thoroughly ticked off, and was just like “What the f*?” to the point of where I must have blacked out from being so annoyed and forgot about it until the next morning. But then it happened again and I started to think, “maybe there is a pattern here … “ I’m pretty slow so sometimes you really have to drive something through my brain before it takes hold. Anyway, the morning after that I heard it again, but this time noticed that the sound was coming from the back of my apartment building rather than the front (where it had sounded like it was coming from before but because of the acoustic mayhem caused by the loud noise of a helicopter I couldn’t properly identify). I stuck my head all the way out of the back window of my apartment to mitigate the acoustic effect somewhat, and it turns out the sound was coming from what would be my backyard if I didn’t live in a 9th story studio. There’s a hill out back that’s covered mostly with thick palm trees, and the sound of a helicopter starting up came right from there. After staring for a good 10 minutes I actually saw a guy in a yellow signaling jacket and a rotating helicopter blade.
So it only took me 2 months to notice. Maybe since vacation season is in full swing people are taking the helicopter out for a spin with more regularity, hence me noticing finally.
While this kind of thing may be only mildly interesting to you (not that the rest of any of this crap, i.e., my blog, should be of interest to anyone) it’s of particular interest to me because there was a recent image in a Brazil travel book I read of something like “the rich traveling above the fray of impoverished millions in helicopters, etc., etc.” which to me is a pretty revolting image but I’m finding that a lot of the things that are either joked about or thought to be true by would-be conspiracy theorists here have more truth to them than anyone would want to think.
Through some fluke which I’ll explain elsewhere I met and was invited to visit the ultra-ritzy high-rise apartment of an *extremely* well to do family here in Salvador. I didn’t see a sniper eyeing me through his scope from the top of the building as I rang the front gate buzzer, but I knew he was there. The apartment was the entire floor of a highrise (which had a pool, was immaculately clean, etc.) and would have made David Bowie feel like his Manhattan apartment was a bachelor crash pad in Queens (sorry Queens, but it’s true). None of this would have bothered me so much if the mother of the family hadn’t been an employee of, yup, the local government. Maybe it’s just coincidence but not likely, since government corruption around here (this state, and this country) is well known to be rampant. You wouldn’t expect a clueless idiot like me to come into contact with this kind of reality, but there you have it. Hopefully I’m wrong.
posted by n10471 at 7:53 PM
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