The news from Lake Texcocobegone, part 3.14159265

12 December 2004

It’s been a quiet week here in Lake Texcoco-be-gone. This is — por supuesto — the slowest time of the year (and, when you’re doing business, you start to dread the long holidays). I had a bad bout of insomnia for the last week or two, but I tried not to lose any sleep over it … which put me on Dracula Standard Time for a while. While it was nice to talk on the internet with Australians and Chinese, there’s not a heck of a lot to recommend that kind of schedule. At least in Mexico City, there’s no problem taking the dog for a walk at … 3 or 4 AM.

Now that it’s “officially” unofficially Christmas. My next-door neighbor, Felipe the Jehovah’s Witness owns ONE, AND ONLY ONE, CD THAT HE PLAYS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER… usually about 1 in the AM. “¡Yo soy un testigo…yo soy un testigo!” … could work like those tapeworms that eat their way into your frontal lobes and cause unpredicable behavior. I’d never heard of Cysticercosis, but apparently, it’s a fairly common disease in rural Mexico and can cause weird and wacky behavior (jumping out of your car while driving, or joining the Mormons or such).

Anyway… I hesitated about hanging my Christmas lights on the front door, but … ah, the hell with it. Benito Juarez (who is something of a saint for Jehovahs’ Witnesses, mostly because he left them alone) said, “peace is the respect for the rights of others,” and this is supposedly the season for Peace on Earth, Good Will towards men (except for Iraqi men, according to our Christian Leader). So, if I can put up with Jehovahs Witness choir music, he can deal with Christmas Lights. My bonsai is decorated and I’ve put my teeny-tiny electric train (bonsai electric train?) around. I’ve yet to hang a piñata, but that’s coming. Hopefully, so is Santa… I’m trying to save him having to land his flying burros (led by Rudolfo) on my roof and tangling with Manches, the roof Jack Russell Terrier. They’re a bit more expensive here, but one of these is all I really want for Christmas.

AND AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM EVA PERRA…