Insan(e)

I'm amused that the word for human in Hindi is so close to the word for crazy in English. I don't think it is a coincidence. Maybe the whole idea that we are higher beings in the laws of Momma Nature is actually just a pacifier for this huge inferiority complex we have. Actually, we may be born with a void that most animals don't have and we will scrounge to fill the empty spaces until we are born again as an enlightened dog. Just like my Louie. Now there is sagacity at its best.

My favorite people to watch are little kids and elderly people. I had breakfast today with an 80+ woman and I was watching the way she ate her meal. She buttered her toast so slowly and thoroughly and prepared her grapefruit so precisely. And yesterday I watched Tulsi, this 2-year-old girl who lives on campus. She put salt on the table and was deliberately licking her finger, picking up some granules and eating them. I bet if you put a cupcake next to her she would have ignored it.

I need to build some thick skin so I can write without deleting and speak without editing.

I'm reading this beautiful book by Joan Didion called The Year of Magical Thinking. I highly recommend it, but it's not a light read. Jhumpa is totally letting me down with her Unaccustomed Earth, I'm going to have to balance it out with my debut novel.

P.S. My co-worker is playing Bhangra music.