So I started wondering if I should get my nose pierced or something. So people would know that I'm Indian. That I own it, that I relate culturally, not just genetically. But I don't like having piercings, and I think having one in my nose would drive me crazy, especially with my allergies.

On the other hand, maybe I don't need to. A few days ago I stopped at El Sombrero Taqueria in Berkeley to grab a burrito. It looked a little bit different inside. The salsa bar was gone (very sad). Then I noticed a blackboard behind the counter informing me that Pakistani and Indian Food Now Available!--3 or 4 things, Chicken Tikka etc. But taco/burrito menu was still up on the wall. Then finally someone came out to take my order (I think they were about to close) and it was this South Asian guy who met my look of recognition with one of his own. I ordered the vegetarian burrito and he said "Leke jaana?" I was surprised enough that I answered in Hindi that yes, I did want it to go.

So maybe I don't need a piercing. At least not for South Asian people. What about white people? How will they know I'm not white, or that I haven't been here for so many generations that I might as well be? I could get some kind of tattoo, maybe one that looks like henna or something, but I think that smacks too much of hipsterism and fetishizing forms of orientalism. I mean, I suppose then if I did it--and somehow people knew that I did so knowingly--it could be some kind of ironic post-modern commentary on blah blah blah. But that's not really what I'm trying to say. Plus, if I don't like piercings, why would I like a tattoo?

I actually think it would be easier if I had a kid or kids. Then we could do all the holidays for them, and read them the Ramayana and Mahabharat and make sure they knew the language and food etc. But kids are a lot of work.

Maybe I will just cook more Indian food at home. And I added the "What kind of Desi are you" app on Facebook.
- posted by k @ 10:56 AM

 
Superfoods!
If you can ignore the initial paragraph of body-hating/weight-loss rhetoric, this article has good information about good foods and is more about nutrition and whole foods than about supplements or gimmicks. All 8 foods are things I like and eat and are all vegetarian, so maybe I just enjoyed a feeling of validation. I like that the article includes suggestions for easily incorporating the suggested foods into daily eating habits. That's what it's about.
- posted by k @ 9:40 AM

 
Hey! I must be an athlete!
I was at the doctor's to ask about allergy medicines and the nurse taking my pulse said "You must be an athlete." I said "Well, I work out; I go to the gym and run a little." She said "What's a little?"

Anyway, the point is 60bmp (bp 114/72) and someone mistook me for an athlete. Even though all my working out is not leading to a lot of weight loss.
- posted by k @ 1:48 PM

 
Your moments of zen

1. Cool "behind the scenes" feature about For Better or For Worse. One of the things that surprised me was the use of drawing from posed photos, because Alison Bechdel has talked about doing that too. On the other hand, maybe it's not that surprising since I think DTWOF
   is pretty much the political, lesbian version of FBOFW.


2. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens. Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
   I could make some thoughtful comment about comparative systems of belief colliding, but to be honest I was too busy laughing my ass off.


3. I don't know anything about this except I think it's at a museum in Argentina?? and that it's awesome:

- posted by k @ 8:19 AM

 
Checking in
Quo sumus nunc? Quo vadimus?

In a few months, I'll have two masters degrees and yet never have held a salaried full-time job in my field (unless you count the funded graduate study I begin next year). I feel like I have a clear and consistent sense of direction and a reliable momentum in that direction, but I also recognize that there are many possible endpoints to this trajectory, and many of those could be considered success; also, that the trajectory may alter course at any point, though as each point in time passes, the range of possible outcomes narrows.

I have a sinking feeling that the 90s are about to become "retro" and that 90s music is about to appear on oldies stations. I feel like I will die of shock when that happens, but I know somehow life will go on. I still don't understand how people born in 1990 could be graduating high school now. Does not compute.

I have a single white hair that keeps coming back, but it is on my chin. If everything goes according to plan, I will soon not have any more hairs on my chin. Until after menopause.

In terms of upper body strength, muscle tone, flexibility and aerobic stamina I am probably in the best shape I have been in my entire life, but I still need to lose 10 lbs to get back to my best adult weight.

I think there is One Love, and all the loves we experience are reflections of it. Don't push me on the ontology of that, but there is a sense in which I think it is absolutely true, to the extent that I think anything is absolutely true.

Ahem.

If you had been thinking of marking this event with a gift to me, but didn't know what, may I propose the following (and if you hadn't been thinking of it, don't start, especially if you are spending money to attend the graduation next month):

• Headphones. Noise-blocking would be ideal, but even just a replacement of the ones I have would be very nice. They have lost sound quality and the insulation has torn in one spot, exposing the wires, which might fray.

• Mix CDs are always nice. There is a lot of great music in the world I haven't heard yet. I know what some of what I am looking forward to hearing is, but I'm sure there is a lot I don't even know about.

• Renew membership to Cal Alumni Association. I am about to lose "recent grad" status, so the rates are going up. A lifetime membership would be good, too, but those are even more expensive. Sort of.
  

• I am going to buy myself the following:
• A body butter from The Body Shop
• A Gifrants CD
  

Labels: time capsule

- posted by k @ 12:12 PM