Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Sudden Reminiscences
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2003 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
On New Year's Eve, my sister and I used to rent movies. We sometimes snuck a video or two when my parents were gone to a Hindu get-together for a Saturday, but New Year's Eve was a ritual.
That day we would go to the video rental portion of the supermarket within walking distance of our house, and choose movies equitably, perhaps two each. A good movie raised the chooser's Video Point Average, and film that proved unwatchable lowered it, causing mockery from the other sister, yea, even unto video-choosing sessions years later. Oh, the comments I got years after choosing Glengarry Glen Ross! And I still believe she picked Article 99.
At home, we would make lasagna. I seem to recall that I did a lot of the prep work and my sister did more of the heat application.
And then we would settle in with the dinner and some Pepsi, and we'd watch Maverick, Dave, Bye Bye Love, Clueless, second-rate stuff from a third-rate video store.
I don't much care for cola now, and though I enjoy lasagna I prefer tom yum. But I wish my last meal could be lasagna that my sister and I made, in front of that TV in our old house, watching some forgettable movie with her, swigging Pepsi and not caring whether it's the old year or the new.
