.1. Baba no longer says ‘goodbye’ when we are finished having a conversation on the telephone. From what I have been able to deduce, he has concluded that ending a telephone conversation is by hanging up; no more, and no less.

This troubles me because I like clarity. A prime example is the following conversation we had several evenings ago:
“bla bla bla”
“bla bla bla”
“So, do you remember his last name, then, ya baba?”
“No. Not at all, actually.”
“Oh. Ok, well…uhm…if you remember it, just ring me and let me know.”
“Ok.”
CLICK
“Allo?”
…
“Allo?”
…
“Baba?”
…

Baba wasn’t always like this for he too liked clarity. He would say things like: “Okay, yalla habibti, bye” or “Okay habibti, have a good day” or “Good bye, habibti”. I don’t know at which point it became okay for him to stop this when speaking with me.

I’ve been evesdropping on his conversation with others and I hear him declare: “Okay yalla, Salaam” and I am left wondering if it is simply with me that he has dropped the goodbyes.

Apparently, Sharon has been having the same problem with her baba. It may be contagious, so consider yourselves warned.

I’ve decided that next we have a conversation, I am going to hang up quickly without saying goodbye. Then I will throw my hands into the air and declare: “I win” and see if he rings back to ask me why I didn’t say goodbye.

Will let you know the outcome soon enough, Inshallah.

.2. I leave rambly messages for my friends. I talk about everything and bumble through my voicemail messages to them because I don’t know how to leave short succinct messages. I figure: If the tape’s long, it’s long for a reason.

.3. I just discovered that a chicken’s babies are not CHICKADEES, but rather CHICKS. Did you know this? Was I the only one out of this particular loop?

chickadee This is a Chickadee.

chick This is a Chick.

Go figure.

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