From: Ihitih

Subject: I know you… remotely.

Well, I am still at work and may have to be here for a while more so let me keep this light. How are you? How is everything? Life is well on this end.

Oops I forgot to make this light. I don’t know a lot about you.
What is your favorite colour?
Who do you hang out with?
What do you do when you go out?
What is your favorite movie?
What is your favorite beer?
How often do you drink?
What is the happiest moment of your life?
What would you do over if you could?
What is something you have never told anyone else?
Or is it all a secret?

Also tell me why so much of what you do is secretive. It is kind of saddening but angering at the same time. Why is everything- from how much you make to what your favorite color is- a secret? Anyways, explain yourself to me on this next email so I can understand your reasoning more and in turn can be more reasonable to you.

Okay, back to work.

Ihitih.

To: IhitE

From: Wendimish

Subject:

Wey, ahun gena CHewatawun ameTashiw. I was afraid that we were going to continue on the path that we started. It was quite taxing to talk about something that was personal, and maybe I should do it more often. I just don't know how much good it does to unravel personal things.

Anyway, I'll try to answer your questions starting from the lightest on. I'll try not to be so defensive (as some of your questions are tinish accusatory, but I'll blame that on perception. Ye CHewa T’yaqEwech endhonu wosdachewalehu), but if I do, I apologize as this has been quite an interesting week (more to follow on this after the questions).

1. How are you?
I'm fine Egzer yemesgen.

2. How's everything?
Everything is everything.

3. What's your favorite color (colour)?
Blue (but not Tar Heel blue...yeesh!) I have been told that about 90% of people say the same thing.

4. Who do you hang out with?
Anybody that's willing to put up with me. I put my friends in different categories (bar friends, work friends, regular friends, Sunday night dinner friends, etc.) and deal with them in those scenarios and not let them intermingle.

5. What do you do when you go out?
Dinner, movies, dance, drinks, etc. I guess everything that normal people do when they go out. I'm also involved in the church and hang out with the priest from time to time.

6. What's your favorite movie?
Ahh, there's too many. But Malcom X (and most of Denzel’s movies minus Fallen), Pulp Fiction (and most of Samuel Jackson movies), Godfather (of course), As Good As It Gets (and most of Helen Hunt movies), A Night Falls In Manahttan, Snatch, and Heat (and ALL of De Niro/Pacino movies) come to mind.

7. What's your favorite beer?
I flip flop between Bass and Guinness (if they have a good tap). By the by, the first time I had Bass was when I came to watch your school play football. I wonder if it's because it reminds me of that moment? Something to chew on for the ages.

8. How often do you drink?
I assume you mean beer. In this regards, I try to follow doctors’ rules strictly (two beers a day). When they came up with that study (although there's a debate whether they said wine or alcohol), it was a great day. On the weekends and extra-ordinary weeks, I tend to have a couple more than the recommended dosage.

9. What's the happiest moment of your life?
It's a tie. The weekend I spent with dad at the monastery and the plane flight from the mother country, soaring through the sky validated my desire to be a pilot.

10. What would you do over if you could?
Really, I don't know. I'm quite happy where I'm at...family around, good job, good friends, decent accommodations, etc. Although, every time I visit my mechanic I wish I had studied cars. I think I'm single handedly paying for his kid's Harvard education.

11. What is something that I never told anybody?
I never talk about my sex life...just completely out of the question or how much I make/spend.

12. Is it all a secret?
Nope, it's not all a secret. I don't talk about how much money I make or how much I spend on things (I feel guilty spending that much money on personal items when there's homeless people, cancer, etc..) and sex life. I don't think it's anybody's business. I don't like to be forced to "volunteer" information, but mostly I don't talk because I don't like to waste the listener's time with trivia. Now if you ask me any question, I'll answer it to the best of my effort or if I don't think it will start an argument or deal with other people's shortcomings.

13. Why do we fight?
I think you're right about the control issues. But I think there’s another component to it as well. I guess I put up with different things from the older siblings, in regards to them ordering me around and getting me to do stuff for them. You see that and expect the same thing, whereas I think that it should be the reverse and things start to escalate. In regards to me controlling everything, you’re right about that as well. A lot of times, I prefer to be by myself and provide for myself. But other than the TV, I don’t think I demand to control anything at home or anybody else’s action. I get a little frustrated when everybody makes suggestions on what I should do. As far as gebeta is involved, if I’m not hungry, I don’t eat and I don’t meqreb. Why does it upset you that I don’t eat with you so much? I have the same discussions with mom, but she doesn’t understand why anybody wants to eat by himself/herself and I don’t see why we all should eat together all the time.

As far as the compromise, I do what I think is important. And yes you’re right, there’s no negotiation. Usually, for good or bad, once I make up my mind, it’s a done deal. I have a hard time expressing myself as well, so I think it’ll be a waste of time trying to talk about it, so it ends up me saying "because I said so!". But as long as we fight about "trivial" stuff, I think we’re okay. We just have to be careful not to have the "trivial" stuff escalate to a point and make us say "aynish/aynih lafer" situation. Just look at mom and her siblings. Everything escalated to a point where they had to involve lawyers.

Having said that let me explain why this week has been quite extra- ordinary. The beginning of this week, I took mom to her doctor’s appointment. There were a couple of situations that arose and we exchanged a couple of words. Mostly me. Maybe I shouldn’t have been that upset, but I was and it kinda ruined the day basically. Then the next day my boss CHra awTita, qend abqila TebekechiN. It was quite a struggle to be around her and be calm while she was going off and throwing a temper tantrum about everything that needed to be done. I had to use some of the Tebel from Abba’s house to calm her down and make her a decent human being again. THEN, if that’s not enough, one day after work I was talking to this one girl that I’d been talking to, and that didn’t quite turn out so well. She ended up with "yiblaN lenatih, yagebachihis tfetahalech". You know me, I don’t play that, so I retorted with "endafish yaregew" (not for the divorce, but egzer dbn argo aqaTlo endibelat enji), paid for taxi cab and sent her home.

Anyway, I guess I better conclude with this. I hope you enjoyed this one and continue to have more of the "lighter" side of the conversation. But I know if it’s too light, the Seleda rep will not like it so much. Ende TrE sga anTeltilew yeqorariTutal.

Ewnetegna yanchiew (yours truly),

Wendimish.