Wednesday, November 22, 2006

holidays

it started drizzling just before lunch and still has not let up. all day, people trundled up and down campus with suitcases in tow, struggling towards buses and trains in the frigid cold. dr. detre was one of the few people in the cfn, sipping three squash soup and telling one of the pre-med stragglers about how he was the only bastard this year to not invite his graduate students and post-docs over for thanksgiving. there's a little grinch in all of us.

honestly though, turkey day is of very little moment to me -- i'm mostly glad i can sleep in. that the advisor (and his family) are having me over is a bonus -- human company and homecooked food are always nice when the campus is otherwise deserted.

confession: i do get a perverse thrill out of telling americans that i'm not going anywhere -- i guess being more or less alone and away from family on thanksgiving is kind of unthinkable for most. i even bait them.

me: so when are you leaving for thanksgiving?
random american person: this evening. how about you?
me: oh, i'm gonna be here.

and then like a snort of cocaine i relish that one awful moment of silence that comes right after that where the sentiment "oh, that's awesome" gets swallowed like strychnine as whoever it is tries to scramble out of the pit of awkwardness that (he thinks) he's just thrown himself into. it's perverse and addictive -- pretending to care about something that you don't so that you can orchestrate a situation that wins you self-pity -- perverse, but oh-so-good.

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