Slept too well

I woke up at 7:30am, checked the time, and rolled back in bed. I woke up again maybe a couple hours later, checked the time, and… it was 7:30pm. Good grief!

The short day

I went up to get detergent from Juyoung (we’d agreed to share) to do some laundry. She’d gone on the hike that started at 7:30am, apparently it was amazing. Was somewhat disappointed but will have plenty of chances to hike later!

Decided to wait on the laundry. Took a quick walk, made myself some dinner. Got into a good conversation with Abi, the “brain hacking” fellow from yesterday; we argued about bad startup ideas. When I’d liked his research project the previous day, he’d stated that every idea sounds cool but there are a lot of hidden uncool fiddly details, a statement which I understood well and agreed with. But this evening I came back at him with the notion that there are many ideas, behind which hide fiddly details, but that also aren’t even cool! (By the way, nearly everyone in Culmannstrasse is conversant in English, especially the non-native German speakers.) He was skeptical and demanded an example; after some thought, I produced a startup I’d heard of that filled people’s gas tanks in corporate parking lots.

Abi immediately praised the startup, which identified the argument as a raucous BS-session. I expounded on the logistical and legal difficulties of driving large tanks of gasoline near centers of industry and the short-lived nature of the business model in the face of electric cars. He shot back that the business sounded excellent as a lazy consumer and that the firm could pivot to charging cars; to which I responded that electric cars actually solve the very problem this startup tackles because chargers are inexpensive, permanent installations that are ideal for parking lots, and besides, charging a commuter car at home is easy. The argument then moved to Abi’s next example, inductive chargers, which I attempted to persuade him were not nearly the same thing as the gasoline-filling service despite their shared respect of consumer laziness. It was a good time.

While cooking I met several other people, Gio and Carmen. We got into a conversation about Swiss education.

Eating my omelet was not nearly as fun as cooking it–everyone had left the dining area by 10pm. So, after washing it down with a little Scott Galloway, I decided to head out. I found a well-reviewed restaurant and bar that was still open and set out. I went down the hill and crossed the river. The downtown in my part of Zurich at night has a gritty flavor, despite all the expensive shops–cast-iron bars shutter windows on buildings, lurid neon lights and lit-up signs poke from every open business. Yet nice shops and banks had no iron bars, I saw an unlocked bike and several women walking alone. Interesting..

Finally found my way to the Volkshaus, which was not a populist establishment but looked really expensive; there was no live music as I thought there might have been, so I turned around. On my way back, I passed “Le Cactus, American Biker Bar”.

Music spilled from the door so I walked in. Turned out it was Thai Karaoke night–there was a whole group of Thai fellows sitting under a TV playing YouTube videos. Along the bar, a gang of young men appeared to be drinking Cokes. After enquiring whether the bar-lady spoke English and receiving a negative (some Cafe Americain) I ordered a beer by pointing at the tap, which strangely enough had a PBR can wrapped around it. I don’t know whether the beer was a PBR but it didn’t hold a candle to the Pilsner I had in Frankfurt. Interesting place!

I returned to Culmannstrasse without incident and set to email and Messenger. After that I wrote this log, unpacked my room, and hit the hay.