The term “meme” could mean, apart from being the cultural equivalent of a gene, those weird lists that people tend to cross post to each other and that you’re supposed to fill out or answer or whatever.
Here is one from the Jessica. Apparently, she gives me a list of five words (but I got six) and I write about those words here. Then someone can comment and I give them five words. And so forth. Right.
1. Hair
Hair is tricky. It has to match the wearer and be properly taken care of. Sodium Laureth Sulfate and other weirdness are in all probability not good for it, especially not in the long run. After some careful testing, I go with egg yolk. That works, and definitely has no additives.
2. Gods
Now here’s a subject that really defies description, doesn’t it? Also, they don’t quite live in this blog.
3. Languages
Yeah, that. It can’t be avoided, can it? They’re fascinating, in all their glory and individual uniqueness. Ironically, they’re also very hard to describe in words.
4. Friend of a friend
And who might that be? Is the Jessica referring to herself being the former and Tom being the latter, perhaps? If so, I can tell everyone that I met this Idaho Spud and her husband at a house party hosted by Tom and his wife. The Jessica was somewhat tipsy (and even admits it!), and we struck up a conversation most probably involving language. Then she declared me her brother, and I keep wondering how it came about that brother and sister were born on different continents. She never answers that.
5. Bread
The very definition of civilization. Well, that, and beer. Anything that ferments, really, and that requires civilized preparation that takes as long as it takes, and that can’t be enjoyed until it’s done.
6. Carolina
Carolina is a colleague of mine that has serious feet phobia. I shit you not. She absolutely hates them. I have exploited this by e-mailing her images of feet.
Or maybe the Jessica is referring to North Carolina, the 12th state of the Union, also known as the Tar Heel state, a place where I once lived for almost a year. It’s an interesting place, one that probably defines me still, some 13 years later. I guess it came about during a period in life when I was the most impressionable. The Jessica likes to point out whenever I slip back into that Southern drawl that reasonably must have come out of this experience. (“Hayunds? Whadduyamean, hayunds?”)