This is life.

Sitting in an Italian cafe at Santa Monica Beach with Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez playing.

Why am I not in Europe right this minute?

Snobbish Bostonians.

I am pissed off. It’s true that everything has a price. Nothing comes free.

Yeh Yang and I are in Boston now. We walked through the theater district and someone gave us free tickets to watch a musical. It’s really true that nothing comes free. Even if there is no monetary cost, there’s always an opportunity cost of some sort.

The musical was terrible. For a while before it started, we couldn’t believe our luck at being at the right place at the right time. Somehow, we knew it can’t be that easy.

Other than having to endure many cringe-worthy moments in the musical, we also had to deal with the snobbish Bostonians. I don’t think Yeh Yang knew about this.

But after we left the theater, I overheard two ladies behind us talking about our attire. Yeh Yang had warned me earlier that some clubs and bars in Boston require men to be dressed in trousers and leather shoes, no sneakers. Yeh Yang and I were decently dressed. Jeans and sneakers. And my suspicions were aroused as I waited for Yeh Yang outside the washroom because people walking past me glanced down at my shoes, which really amused me. It was only when I overheard what those two ladies said that I realized why Yeh Yang and I stood out from the crowd.

I didn’t think we were too sloppily dressed. But the ladies mentioned “jeans”, “shoes” and “cap”, which is how we were dressed. They also went as far as to say that anyone on the streets could have walked into the theater. Theater isn’t just for rich and famous people. Blah. I am so so disgusted.

I am pissed off that people judge us based on our appearance because this is Boston after all. I don’t see a reason to dress up here. And I’m glad that I didn’t, because that would have made me feel silly, seeing how lousy the musical was. And those two ladies really should mind their own business.