..by the inestimable
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fledgist, who said,
"Five things:
1. Carib beer.
2. Small animals.
3. Parenting.
4. St. Kitts.
5. Puns."
So now I must elaborate on these topics. Anyone who comments will thus be tagged likewise, eventually creating a giant vortex of reciprocity..but I digress.
Carib beer: Anyone who has lived (or even just visited) the Caribbean has seen this brew, which is a light yellow nearly tasteless brew that serves the purpose of sterilizing the water (thus making it safe for consumption). It is not made of Carob, nor is it made of, from, or by the Carib people, as they are generally proclaimed to be extinct. It is produced in plentiful quantities, and when you have a bunch of thirsty veterinary students with at least one who knows how to brew, then you have cases of empties sitting in the back of the "living" room. And if your classmate is really good, you end up with cases of home-brewed product that will knock your socks off and make grown men slide down the walls.
Small animals: This is one of the varieties of veterinary medicine, specializing in dogs, cats, and "caged pets", also known as exotics. When I was in private practice, this was my speciality. Dogs and cats share some anatomical similarities, but have some very different responses to drugs, and the exotic pets are completely unlike either of those. Small animal medicine is a lot of fun, particularly the puppy and kitten wellness, but the clientele in private practice is often frustrating. In my line of work, "small animal" now refers to mice and rats, as these are the smallest species we routinely work with (along with zebrafish), and they make up the majority of our research species.
Parenting: I never thought I would be a parent, until my partner came along. Since she wanted children, I knew I would have to compromise on this. Then her niece clearly demonstrated a lack of ability to parent her son, so we offered to take him. Over the years, we became his moms. It has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least. A week or so after he first came to officially live with us, I realized that I had been an idiot (probably never really stopped..) and I called my parents to apologize. For everything. They laughed.
There is a different way about looking at the familiar world, and you can't comprehend until you are a parental unit. Despite all the angst, I wouldn't miss it. I can hardly wait until he's out of the house, but I also want him to be well-prepared to meet the world and do well.
St. Kitts: Oy. This is the "certain island" where my vet school is located. It was a different world. I arrived in April of 1987, leaving the island April of 1989. Back then, Ross did not have much, so we had to make our own housing arrangements, bring our own surgical equipment and gloves, and so on. Outside the school, it is a majority black island, so once off campus, we were quite visibly a racial minority, and were treated in various ways, some good, some not. I had to pay attention to how I behaved, where I went, what I said and how I said it. When I was not treated nicely, it was infuriating, so I learned a few adaptive behaviors. What worked best for me was making eye contact at the same time as the hand contact (i.e., handing over money) and smiling. It's an almost automatic reflex -- they smiled back. Other than that, I just put my head down and went on. Crap happens, and it happened plenty of times for reasons other than the color of someone's skin.
The nice things I remember about St. Kitts are mainly food related: the bakery in Basseterre that made lovely raisin rolls, the shop that made roti (and "pizza", but we preferred the roti), the local fruits and vegetables that were fresher than fresh, the seafood place whose name escapes me, along the beach in Basseterre that was always busy, the tiny local groceries filled with bread rolls, canned (or tinned) goods mainly from Great Britain, and packets of soup mixes (fish, goat, cock) and the concession at school run by the wonderful Charmie, who befriended everyone. She cooked a mean goat water and her barbecued chicken was juicy. The scenery was awesome too. [If only my classmates could have measured up to the food and the scenery, then vet school wouldn't have been such a misery.] One non-food positive was learning to deal with traffic on the other side of the road; this comes in handy when visiting other UK countries. I adapted so fully to driving on the other side that when I came home and tried to drive the car, on an unmarked road, I automatically went to the other side. (St. Kitts didn't have road markings except near the sharp bends, so my mind learned the rule that an unmarked road = drive over THERE.)
Oh, and then there was the volcano. After the earthquakes of 1989, it was upgraded from "inactive" to "dormant", or so I recall. This may have been mere rumor.
Puns: I grew up in a punning family, where dinner and conversations occurred at high speed, often leaving guests far behind both food- and topic-wise. One of my brother's friends is still known as "Green Bug", from one of those conversations. My parents both love to read, and have quick wits; punning contests could last more than an hour before someone gave up. My partner is the first person outside my family to hold her own against me, and she's just as competitive as I am. Since we tend to drive together every day, we often have mini-contests along the way. Our son is even beginning to join in, now that he's old enough to grasp the concept. (My evil plan is working!) I appreciate good puns whenever I spy them, which sometimes surprises people; I once stopped at a vendor booth at a conference to appreciate the pun. [The concept was a blood chemistry machine that needed only a minute sample of blood. The name was Culex. The rep said I was the only person to get it.]
::sits back to wait for the
victims comments::
