Nota Bene

All Holidays Should be Celebrated with the Electric Slide (Electric Sliding into 2012)

Things are going well in ResearchLand. I’ve been productive, it’s been hot, and I heard it was December and now its January. That’s right, I’m still suffering from seasonal vertigo. When it’s 100+ outside, it’s hard to get behind songs like “Let it Snow!” and “Frosty the Snowman”, let alone to use an oven to make butter-laden food. We have, however, been making cocktails in the evenings. Alas, it still feels like July.  

The area of ResearchLand Town where I live is predominately Muslim and secondarily Hindu (and then Buddhist, for those of you playing at home). Christmas passed pretty much unnoticed around here. This, however, is ok by me as Eid and Dawali are totally rocking around these parts. The more reasons to eat good food, spend time with friends, and celebrate, the better.

Speaking of which, New Years was great. All of my neighbors came together and bbq’d on New Years Eve. We grilled water buffalo in the front yard of our apartment, there was a local form of moonshine made from coconut tree sap, and I brought guacamole and cassava chips (corn chips are hard to find). My apartment complex was built during colonialism and its inhabitants are an interesting mix of young and old people of all different ages, ethnicities, race, nationalities, religions, genders, and dispositions. At midnight we all came together to do the electric slide  in the middle of the road in front of the apartment. Why? I don’t know. But everyone seemed to know the steps. Everyone. Even the lady who has lived in the apartment complex since it was built by the British in 1952. Seriously. It was awesome. My resolution for 2012: to teach my grandmother the electric slide when I go home. Oh, and to finish this dissertation. 

On second thought: maybe my grandmother already knows the electric slide. I will ask. 

Questions: 1) What did you do for NYE? 2) Do you know how to do the electric slide? 

PS: I learned to do the electric slide in 5th grade gym class. Who knew that it would stick with me for so long or become such a cross-cultural dance craze? 

Remember the Old Internet?

I was chatting with my little sister yesterday on Facebook chat. She asked me if I remembered our old dial up internet connection from “when we were little”. Um, yes, I remember it clearly. I was in high school and then college before my parents upgraded our home internet. She was 8 when I graduated from high school, so maybe it makes sense that the finger nails on a chalkboard sound of a dial up modem reminds her of her childhood. Then she asked me if I remember the Christmas letter my dad would send out each year. I do. It was a gaudy spectacle of animated gifs and awkward family pictures. 

I’ll spare you the awkward photos. Merry Old-Internet Christmas. Try not to have a seizure.