Holiday Season

Is it so strange that I should continue to be in the holiday season? First, I must report that the spirit of Christmas past arrived a mere 6 weeks late. Furthermore, the as yet unreceived remnants of Christmas past might well be labeled Christmas yet to come. But I must distinguish between my Christmas from Ebenezer Scrooge's visitors. While my packages exhibit a ghoulish pale white exterior, they do have substance and may be rent by knife, bear mauling, or crazed three-year old children in search of sucrose. Furthermore, the evidence lasts more than an hour, even if it's approach wasn't predicted by the chiming of the clock. But I am most thankful for the simple gifts which cost so much to ship.

But holiday season is far from over. Even as I type, the country is, as a general rule, being lazier than I, or perhaps more productive if considered in a different light. The foolhardiness of my ignorance began last week. My essential food stores dipped below the level I deemed acceptable. With other business to complete in Kigali, I proceeded to the capital, as done so many times. Being a Thursday, the usual bustle greeted me, and much to my dismay, a thunderstorm loomed in the distance. Despite my love of such precipitation, I had little shelter and a craving for carbs. A hearty buffet lured me into a haven, although I still received a bit of spray due to a window left ajar. With the bill remunerated, the stomach substantially stouter, and the rain having relented, I ventured out for the first and primary item of business. And what was that item? It was the dreaded "s" word - shopping. However, it was price shopping for electrical breakers, water meters, and pipe threading tools, which much better suited my disposition. A couple quick trips to various businesses satisfied my work ethic. I would have proceeded back home except that I wanted to meet with one more company, and my grocery shopping had yet to commence. The groceries could have been acquired immediately, but I saw no need to lug 10 kg of food to the end of the earth and back, particularly when the bus station sits one block from the store. My plan therefore was to hit up a cafe (preferably with and primarily for internet), do some reading on my new favorite app, and get an early start on the morrow. And so I did. The next morning, I walked the 6 km to downtown only to see the place practically deserted, something I had never seen. A few potential explanations came to mind: 1) SDAs have been wrong, there is a rapture, and I have been left behind because of my error 2) I am hallucinating because the sweat on my brow tells me I am quite awake 3) I stumbled into an alternate reality where peacefulness and serenity predominate or 4) the Chinese New Year doesn't only happen in China. As luck would have it, Friday was a holiday, election day to be precise. Ergo, all shops, banks, and businesses were enjoying the day much more than I. Thankfully, the buses and a few taxis still operated. In no time, I had exchanged my bus ticket for one two hours earlier and headed home sans everything I had come to purchase.

Why am I doing something non-constructive during the middle of a Monday morning? Today is also a holiday, election day part two. This raises more questions. Why do they need two holidays to elect their leaders when Americans are allowed a couple hours on one? Why split the election days with a weekend? How many leaders need to be elected? Does the voting actually have any bearing on who will hold the office, or more importantly, the power? Any retort would be purely conjecture with finitely many lemmas. This hasn't been just a one time deal. I greatly appreciate that Americans work long and hard in their lumbar-supporting leather executive office Lazy-boy chairs with Facebook constantly updating. Here, I too often see individuals engage in a profession for no reason except the salary. In the hospital, this removes much of the caring aspect which constitutes such an important role in healthcare. Despite my jesting, the desire of some people to take up a profession for love of what they do instills in me a need to set an example. What do I want more than almost anything right now? For my Christmas/New Year's/Valentine's/President's Day present, I would appreciate some project progress so my birthday isn't like the day all the Christmas credit card purchases are to be paid.