Grinding Socialization

This is what you can expect from raising the name "living room" to its bracing reality. There are always people around, and one hopes to enjoy the company of as many of them as possible. Feeling well, just typically dizzy and a bit tired. Slept well last night: it's a comfy sofa. Hmm, they're booting me off again... This is no way to get the least shred of work done.

Wide Awake on a Dark Plain

I will tell you what happened in Chaouen. The world became beautiful. This is not to say that the images presented by my eyes took on the attribute of beauty: but rather, that which beauty was, the world was made of that. It was in everything, as clear as a bell. The trees on the mountains, the curve of the hill, the angle of the sun. It was not only within me, but everything I saw. And things stayed like that.
I never forgot my vision, even though it dulled after months. I believe that I will find it again in the beloved land, and this remains my ardent hope. So when I say how things seemed so much clearer there, that is what I am talking about. I haven't talked about it more because I think many of you would think I was nuts. Or I lack the sufficiently eloquent skills to describe the feeling welling up in me from the vision.
I still feel it now, though it's faint. I need the strings of my heart to pull it back, and these are tied to things far from here. Without them, I am only half a man.
Bound to familiar sights in this country, you will not understand. That is clear. So I will wish you asalaam walaikum and hope that you see one day as I have. Insha'llah.

What I was writing when she called with the good news:

A recent application for graduate-level Arabic studies included an appropriately perplexing essay question: “What is the most serious problem in Islam today?” One may consider to what degree the questioner is posing a sort of political litmus test. Is a prospective Western applicant aligned to the sense of cultural self-defense, adhering to the notion that a global growth of Islam represents a vital threat to Western values? Or does our applicant take the opposite position, that the most pressing threat to Islamic mores comes from those outside the religion? But this entire line of analysis is basically flawed.

So I was already in the mindset of forging ahead, brave new frontiers, that sort of thing. While I don't think Islam itself has any genuine problems, I do think it could benefit from some defense. Why does the West take the bloody-minded approach that it does? Why does it cling to ancient stereotypes to justify foolish hatreds? Having demonstrated such capacity for intrinsic sweeping change, even to the point of solipsistic relativism, why is this so difficult? But anyway.

I will arrive in Istanbul on June 17th! We fixed this date tonight, I received the confirmation email and all. She actually is helpful! Or at least did what she promised. She knows how much this means to me. I wonder how to proceed from here. Istanbul, Bursa, then what? Syria? Lebanon? Egypt? Morocco? Hmmm... None of you ever comment on this, I doubt few of you actually read this drivel anyway, so asking my friends for their input is surely beside the point. But I love you guys anyway.

Your Useless Information for the Day

"A permanent indentation under the skin at the injection site may occur, due to a local destruction of fat tissue. Be sure to follow proper injection technique and inform your doctor of any skin changes."

I have one of these suckers on my leg. It looks like a tiny crater, as if I'm under attack from microscopic satellites. WTF? I don't have that much fat tissue to spare, bastard.

Good news: hand mobility is improving a bit.
Pragmatic Paul sez: You can almost give someone the finger. Keep it up, buddy.
Bad news: not yet able to handle nail clippers.
Pragmatic Paul sez: You can clip the right but not the left. Hmmm.....