Chapter Six: Oh, a Rose, Oh?
September 23, 2006I’m starving. Like actually starving. Today is the first day of the Islamic holiday Ramadan, or as the cool Kyrgyz speaking folks say, Orozo. And I’m participating in it. Well, sort of. It’s a lot like Lent in the way followers “give up” something, in the hopes that when they are tempted by it, they refrain, reflecting on the Lord and his sacrifice(s). In Ramadan, however, a believer doesn’t just give up one thing, they give up a lot of things: food from sunrise until sunset, alcohol, drugs (including cigarettes), relations, and then a bunch of other stuff is done in addition like cleaning one’s body and reciting the Koran. I have a slight feeling my participation the affair is a sacrilege, but I’m using this next month as a self-cleansing blah blah blah.
This morning I got up just in time to down a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee (Just remembered caffeine is a drug as well, oops). It wasn’t sufficient. It’s 6:21 PM now, and I am waiting for the sun to set. I’m making Curried Vegetable Couscous. I have the entire meal ready and waiting to be prepared over my solitary electric burner. I’ll be drinking green tea, and a lot of it, in an attempt to wean myself of my mud-like, black as the night coffee fixation.
It’s getting darker outside. I am getting pumped. I feel like I should read a passage in the New Testament or The Art of Happiness or something.
Does my candle burn at both ends? The other day, I recalled a time during high school when I was in a tête-à-tête with my US History teacher and he told me that I was burning my candle at both ends. That was years ago, and he didn’t end it with, “But ah my foes, and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light.” If I am correct, it was more or less, “It will not last the night, and by the time your 20, you’ll be on one form or another of Prozac.” It was really touching.
In all seriousness, I think I am just losing my mind. I need food.
October 1, 2006
It’s a new month. One week has gone by, and while I am cheating by drinking coffee on a daily basis, I am still fasting during daylight hours. Oh, and that Veggie Couscous I made last me for the entire week. Sanitary? Not so sure. Delicious? Definitely. Good for me. My meat is thawing.
October 5, 2006
Yesterday I picked apples in my backyard. It was fun. But I got yelled at because I was aggressively taking them from the tree and throwing them into the bucket without their stems.
It's late. But I just wanted to say:
“I am my own sandman tonight. Goodnight! Goodnight, all you infuriatingly uncommunicative people.”
RHTRB,C
posted by C @ 12:19 AM
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