The title of this post is actually borrowed from a pop song from the 1980s, which is originally perfomed by "Edie Brickell and New Bohemians". I thought is would do a great motto, also because I think it is a nice combination of funky music and cool lyrics. Click here to watch the video on YouTube - I wish my singing and guitar-playing skills were this good, as I would then perform the song myself instead, but I'd better leave it to the professionals.
As I said, the chorus line, "What I Am", is a good motto for this post, because in the recent past I have been judged by two people in a very different way. Dr. Aashani (see her picture on a previous post) told me that a fellow Sri Lankan, who works as a graduate student just down the hall from my office, has noticed me around, and for some reason that is inexplicable to me she thinks I am very scary. She even told Aashani that if I started talking to her she would actually faint! Well, perhaps there is more than just stereotypes to nationalities, and maybe I being a German do have a rough edge. Maybe some people think that I might be harsh. That may be so, but please also note that the frightened girl's name is Harsha ... I swear I didn't make this up! (What's even better, part of her last name can be understand as German for "grab 'er" - no, I didn't!)
Nevertheless, not everyone seems to think that I would do a formidable scarecrow. My new student Zhu, whom I dedicated another one of the previous posts, told me that she thinks I am as cute as a panda. I am not sure how much of a compliment that is, but maybe she actually meant "panther" ...
Turning back to Edie Brickell's song, there is another interesting line, "Religion / Is a smile on a dog". While I will certainly not start a discussion on faith here, I must admit that I do love this part. I used to date a girl a long time ago, whose family has a collie; the dog and I were best friends, and I do remember that I used to think that he looks like he is laughing when he was hackling. The reason, however, why I raise this matter at all is that it seems to me that one's image with fellow human beings is just as little substantiated as "a smile on a dog".
PS: I would like to apologize to Harsha that I am making fun of her - but hey, at least that means she is right about me!
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Sometimes when a woman says she thinks she might faint if a certain male speaks to her . . . well, it means she would be so nervous about wanting to make a good impression she couldn't hold herself together. There could be more to this story.
Perhaps you could consider asking her out for coffee (then if she fainted she would be sitting down).
I didn't mention that the said lady is married and has given birth to her first child just this year.
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