30 if.

as i did in my last nick b-day post, two years ago, i would like to pay tribute by reproducing an excerpt of a classic email from him from kathmandu:

Wednesday, December 4, 2002 4:42 AM

...At least I suck at the Nepali language and am tired of breathing in
fumes from burning garbage, which here is an everyday occurrence.

Which reminds me: here are some thoughts on burning garbage, originally
written to my friend Yvonne but perhaps you will appreciate them as well.

>>Yeah I am finally getting better and was able to eat a decent breakfast
>>this morning, which was quite pleasant except for the abundance of burning
>>garbage that seemed to surround me throughout the meal. I mean, I went to
>>one restaurant and was like, not this place, no way, too much burning
>>garbage around. (See I have a threshold by this point, a little is okay
>>and notice I said "too MUCH" burning garbage around, not, "there IS
>>burning garbage around.") So I go to another restaurant, Pumpernickel, and
>>the garbage situation seems to be okay, but no sooner had I begun my meal
>>than a deluge of smoke began pouring forth from over the wall. A wall
>>that, apparently, separates Pumpernickel from a place where people like to
>>burn their garbage.

For Christsakes, why do people burn so damn much garbage in this city? My
theory is the following: One person starts burning garbage, say, at 7:00 am.
And someone nearby smells it and says to himself, "Mmm...smells like
SOMEone's burning garbage. Hey that reminds me, I've got a little garbage of
my own to burn." And the whole thing chain-reacts until all the garbage in
Kathmandu is aflame, with people warming their hand over the glowing coals.

I mean, warming your hands over burning garbage is absolutely disgusting,
and I think a lot of people need to be informed of that. There is an
enormous difference- which is, I fear, not as intuitive as I at first
believed- between warming your hands over burning wood and burning garbage.
Think about it for a second. See what I mean? When I helped lead that Boy
Scout retreat here, the scouts (who are all from western countries) started
warming their hands over burning garbage. I had to inform them, as politely
as I could, that this was not an acceptable activity, by any standards
except those of the country in which they currently reside.

Okay, that's all for now. Consider it my contribution to the world of
Kathmandu stand-up comedy.

peace.
-N