Festival of Lights Part II

Before, when I used to get calendars for Christmas, I wouldn't know what to do with those six days between the new year and Christmas, when I couldn't yet dig into my new calendars. Now I know that that uneventful period with nothing on TV and no food in the house is called 'Kwanzaa.'

Now, nouns who were big in '06.

1. Motherlands: Scotland + China. Much of the earlier two thirds of this year was spent discovering my roots and living in the land of my ancestors. I read, I learned, I saw, and immersed myself in the lands. And now, in the last third of the year, I spend my days telling stories from abroad, missing friends from one motherland as I do academic work on another, all in this land I call my second, but most comfortable home.















2. The library. In Eddie Bert, and now back at the Bo', I visit these book barns too often and owe all these institutions too much in late fees (left Eddie Bert Uni without paying any of my dues, suckas!). It says something about one's life when I have a regular spot in the science computer lab, a desk in the main library with my name on it, and have a favorite reading room.

3. V-caffeine drinks: Vietnamese iced coffee. Vanilla milkshake with a shot of espresso. So sweet, so strong, so cold.

Nouns that weren't big in '06:

1. Goat. Lamb. And all their cousins. I don't feel like eating any of you for quite awhile. Especially not in any of the ways I had in Chinar. None of your milk either. Or milk tea. In fact, a ban on all the teas I had in China. And that cow-penis wine. Come to think of it, most drinks I had in China were quite vile, except for my bottled water and iced tea.





2. Immune system. I need to trade mine in. It's failed me everywhere. Hence me falling ill in Eddie Bert, France, Chinar, and now, in the US of A.

3. Procrastination. I wish I had more time for you, I really do. But since the academic year has started, I've hardly had time to put things off. It's really too bad, because we had a good thing going for some years.