Today I had diarrhea and nausea, so I called my friend and told him that I could not come and backup his computers today.
Instead, I went upstairs, turned on some 60’s music rather loud1>and Megan and I danced2 to the music. Megan and I had a great time with the “up”, joyful music. Things around here are so emotionally depressed and controlled, so the music had a strong uplifting, joyful affect upon both of us. Mai doesn’t and has never danced!3
Well, because I played energetic, joyful music the neighbors started complaining because I was playing music and not mourning for THREE YEARS for my father-in-law’s death. I told Mai that her mother and sister listened to music everyday on the TV and that didn’t seem to be a problem.
I told Mai if the family really wanted to display mourning because they shouldn’t listen to music, they should turn off the TV for three years! That would be mourning!
I told Mai, my Irish background has me celebrating that my father-in-law made it to heaven (which they celebrated 50 days after he died). With the Vietnamese belief that “life is suffering”, they should be happy that he made it out of here and into heaven. I don’t know what’s in Vietnamese heaven — the Moslems have 37 virgins and the Christians have harps, but I don’t know about the “ancestor worship” religions.
1. The neighbor across and just up the street bought a karaoke system and he and his drunken buddies blast their drunken songs all around the neighborhood. Sometimes even during the normal hours when people are taking a nap.
2. Dancing is extremely frowned upon here in Vietnam; it’s verboten unless you do it with a prostitute in a night club (all night clubs here are for prostitution).
3. Almost all forms of joyfulness are forbidden or nonexistent here in Vietnam. Total government control and “sheepeople” society creates a situation where the majority of men are alcoholics, cigarette and increasingly drug abusers and the women are addicted to “passive, disapproval”. An increasingly, disfunctional society.
Everybody is gonna think that I’m a whore and raising my childre as such because we dance around all the time. So be it. Dancing is fun. Go for it!