Had me a hysterical gigglefest last night: so me & Kosh were talking sleepily, and I dunno what I said but I musta said it funnily cos this dialogue ensued:
- Kosh: Why'd you use that accent?
Me: Huh? What accent?
Kosh: You spoke like, ummm, ummmm, [obviously searching for the right word],,, like Scotty.
Me: Eh? You mean a Scottish accent?
Kosh: Urgh. Dammit. Yeah.
Oh, and for the record, Kosh has said I sometimes sound like Wakko. Of course the one time he calls me on it, he says Yakko, no Wakko, so we waste some time figuring out which one he actually meant, so by the time I ask him to repeat what I'd said in Wakkoese to see if I remember/agree with him, he's forgotten what I'd actually said, LOL!
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TWO
Another of those cool coincidences: So yesterday I moaned about the R&RHoF nominees, and last night I caught that PBS special about music as a medium of protest & awareness ["Get Up, Stand up"] again; even tho I'd seen it once before, I didn't mind catching it again. And thanks to that I re-encountered Patti Smith, and maybe this time around I might remember Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five as one of the early hip-hop/funk/rap artistes. Made watching the show kinda cool, because I now recognised a few *more* groups/artistes, y'know?
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THREE
So I can't go about committing any crimes here,,, or at least none where I'd be leaving fingerprints behind! At least, before, all "they" had on me was prints of both index fingers and a retinal scan [and that's bad enough already!].
But this morning I went for my "biometrics" appointment, and got majorly fingerprinted. All ten digits. And boy was it a comprehensive session! First the four fingers together; then the thumb; repeat other hand; then the individual digits, slowly rolled across the scanner to capture the entire upper finger, each one done at least twice.
I'm surprised they didnt ask me to spit / take a mouth swab for a DNA sample *rolls eyes*
Oh, and the funniest thing? I handed over this form we were given to fill up; the checker looked at it and said, with feeling, "Oh, thank you!". I was like "Huh? She talking to me?" After all, she didn't look up and say it... but then she did look up because I didn't way anything I guess, and repeated the thanks... turns out that it's really rare for anyone to fill the form up correctly and completely.
Wow.
Scary.
It was a *simple* form. I'd think that anyone intending to stay in the U.S., no matter what their background & upbringing, should have enough of a grasp of basic English to be able to fill up such a simple form.
Then again, I've been brought up speaking primarily English, so I'm at a huge advantage compared to others in that aspect.
And it helps that I believe it's important to assimilate oneself into the culture/environment you are in: doesn't mean I bend over backwards and abandon all cultural identity... but neither do I clutch to that identity at the expense of being able to communicate and interact with the rest of the community. [yeah yeah, I know many would argue I don't have much of the Malay/sian culture to hold on to in the first place, and they wouldn't be too wrong... but still...]
All too many people/communities put this cultural (and/or religious) identity above and beyond practical realities of functioning properly within a foreign environment.
I understand the desire of such communities to not lose/forget themselves/ their roots/ their heritage... but you can't [well, you shouldn't] create such an exclusive community such that people brought up within it just can't function "out there"!!?
Then again, maybe I'm the odd one who feels I bring my culture with me, *in* me, because it is part of who I am; there's no need to assure myself of my Malaysianness by sticking to a Malaysian community here.
Eh.
I've always been different. This is just one of the many aspects of the proof.
Cheers!
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