Praise Allah!
I TOTALLY just did the "praise Allah" hands here at work. I don't know if that gesture has stuck around in my "lexicon" all these years, or if maybe I've always made similar happy gestures, or if I really did just pull it back out this very moment. (I won't tell you what it was that made me happy; it's terrifically dorky.) Good thing I didn't realize the motion until I'd turned back around to face my monitor, as the coworker I was speaking to is a practicing Muslim, and might have wanted an explanation if I suddenly burst into laughter. And well...it's certainly not MEANT to be insulting (heh, that was the very point of the Cultural Analysis course), but I don't remember enough to explain without making a fool of myself.
It's surprising to realize I still have fond memories of Cultural Analysis...actually quite a few of them! (Terribly-unfond memories of discussion section, given that the adjunct was so nervous he couldn't spark any discussion, and Aaron spent the entire hour EVERY TIME trying to steal my pen cap and put it in his mouth. I went through a lot of pens that semester.) I guess it was preventative - we made ourselves laugh because otherwise it was painful - and I think the professors loved us for it, because even if we were disruptive, at least we kept everyone awake. I know there was much hilarity; wish I could remember more of the specifics.
It's surprising to realize I still have fond memories of Cultural Analysis...actually quite a few of them! (Terribly-unfond memories of discussion section, given that the adjunct was so nervous he couldn't spark any discussion, and Aaron spent the entire hour EVERY TIME trying to steal my pen cap and put it in his mouth. I went through a lot of pens that semester.) I guess it was preventative - we made ourselves laugh because otherwise it was painful - and I think the professors loved us for it, because even if we were disruptive, at least we kept everyone awake. I know there was much hilarity; wish I could remember more of the specifics.