Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. ― Plato
Darren is doing a 30 songs in 30 days music challenge which he got from clever Sarah, and they inspired me to do it!
Continue reading “Give me MUSIC or give me death! (a music challenge)”
Hey, people who travel with their bed pillow. You look insane. – Jim Gaffigan
Is everyone on holiday but me? Even though my vacation is later this month, I’m still burning with jealousy at everyone else’s Instagram feed. I’m convinced everyone’s loaded with unlimited cash – and having a great time. *sobs into monogram handkerchief*
Continue reading “Skip the vacation (or the ugly side of traveling)”
The other day I went to a tourist information booth and asked, ‘Tell me about some of the people who were here last year. – Steven Wright
Until recently, I’ve pretty much lived in tourist towns.
Continue reading “From tourist to non-tourist towns (six months in Rayong)”
“What happens when people open their hearts?”
“They get better.” ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
I’ve wanted to start a newsletter for some time (and podcast while I’m at it), but I didn’t know what to share. I’ve also contemplated starting another blog and even to find other sites where I can talk about everyday stuff. Then a few things happened.
First, we moved (and kept moving), and I started to miss having friends, particularly girlfriends. Second, I started to get into my appearance (hello, forties) and felt bad for my boyfriend as I shopped for Korean sheet masks that would make me look thirty again. And third, I started watching British period romances (again) and wistfully remembered the lost art of letter writing.
As an expat, it can be easy to make new friends, but I’m living in a town that doesn’t have much of an expat community. Now, I’m not opposed to making local friends, rather the opposite, but I’m discovering, like other times in my life, how difficult it is to make new friends.
Being coupled-up doesn’t help either. Oh, there is all manner of excuses. When you’re comfortable it can be challenging to start something new. You might want to branch out, but other people might not want to. There are compatibility and schedules to contend with – and I freak out when I have too many social engagements.
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ―William Faulkner
It’s possible I haven’t lived anywhere long enough to make new friends yet. Even so, I’m going to take this opportunity and enthusiasm I have for this project and try something new. We’ll see how it goes! (I’m also considering putting a newsletter archive page here so folks can see what I’m writing about if they’re not sure what they’re getting into.)
I’m going to aim for a bi-monthly email drop. I hope you’ll see it as a letter from a friend with no pressure to write back, but of course, I’d love to hear from you.
Interested?
Thanks!
“You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.” ―Brené Brown
There’s a debate regarding what education is for: is it to prepare students for work or is it to stimulate the soul? But one of the key components I feel is missing is that we go to school to learn to get along with others. We, then, continue to play nice when we enter the workplace. Although, we’re not usually taught how to get along with diverse characters, right? There’s a lot of trial and error. So here are some things I’ve learned along the way. I hope you share your experiences, too.
Continue reading “How do you relate to people different than you?”
It was my junior or senior year in high school when I fell in love with poetry. I think like a lot of people I had a preconceived idea of what poetry was and I had decided it wasn’t for me. Since English was my first class of the day, I used to put on makeup while sitting at my desk, and my nerdy friend Keitha watched as I lined my eyes or curled my lashes.
