I realize this is oversimplifying things, but sometimes simple is nice.

TOTD

I'm gettıng too old for hangovers.

Expat Life

I'm missing everything!!!!  I want to be there for important moments.  This is so frustrating!!!  I love and miss my friends.  

"I think a positive vibration is what I’d like to leave behind."

I don't like to see what's straight in front of me - I like to take a step back and look at the complete picture. Sometimes you should make what’s in front of you blurry so you can take a look at what’s clear beyond that.  

The form in which I try my best would be a formless state of form - having no style or form, just be light. 

Some things are only in your control for so long. My plans aren't always what's meant to be, my plan's to enjoy my time while I can. Sometimes what you need and what you want are two different things. 

Everybody needs to have a little more sense of humor. People need to appreciate everyone for who they are, not what they aren't. 

How people look at me is not really important - it's how I look at myself and how I carry myself. I want to carry myself so that when they look at me, they look at themselves.

Sometimes words aren’t as important as sharing times and feelings. Some things are better unsaid than trying to say them and stumbling on words.  - Gavin Beschen quotes

Bro, do you even Science?

The Holographic Principle:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/72804.html

Nature

Living in a city makes me miss the sky.  Living at the beach you see way more sky.  Here all I see are buildings.

Humanity

"Pakistani school children, who live in fear of US drone strikes, light candles for the victims of Sandy Hook."

Creation, Destruction

Why?

I've had to wake up every day of my life.  According to google that is almost 8766 days.  So, I ask you, WHY IS IT STILL SO DIFFICULT TO WAKE UP IN MORNING?!  You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

Parfois j'aimerais mourir pour ne plus rien savoir.

I have no problem keeping me eyes on the road; I have difficulty keeping my mind on the road.  

Dem lyrics

"As the mask of deception falls off the face of humanity
unveiling the grim reality of duality
in which everyone is a casualty, no one will be exempt
truth has many shades
it's not a matter of black and white, but gray
although many, we are one, so in the final analysis
could it be that we are fighting a war that can't be won?" - Morgan Freeman

1st grader

I've discovered:

I'm happier when I sing.

The Great Gatsby

I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.

Assimilation/Pronunciation

Obviously assimilation to Australian culture is much easier than assimilation to French culture for me.  Australians speak English.  However, even when I finally had a bit of a grasp on the language in France, I still felt very unsure about using colloquial expressions because different types of people used different expressions, and I wasn't sure what was appropriate.  Being appropriate can be a big deal in France.  It's the same in the states with expression though.  "Sick!" and "Bro!" aren't expressions that say, your grandparents would use or understand.  It took me awhile to figure out what expressions were appropriate for who (friends, acquaintances, older people, authority figures etc).

Anyway, in Australia they have lots of expressions that I hadn't  heard before I arrived which originally sounded pretty hilarious to me, but now I hear and are no big deal.  It still  amuses me to hear myself using them though.  Expressions like: That's heaps good! or How you going?  or Let's go to breaky! or, at work Would you like any breads for the table? (Aussies pluralize and shorten everything, breaky = breakfast, breads = bread)
But I use them every day!  And no one looks at me weird!  They look at me weird if I don't use them. Hah, like the word pepper.

I fail to say "pepper" like and Aussie.  I just can't do it.  It reminds me of first trying to speak French with French accent.  I felt like a complete idiot speaking with a French accent, versus speaking French with an American accent.  I guess I was just being stubborn.  But really, and I knew this, I sounded like more of an idiot speaking French with my American accent.  When I finally started speaking with French accent people understood me better, and took me more seriously (the exact opposite of what was happening in my head).  But, as I got used to it, I was able to take myself seriously as well.  In Australia it's quite the same.  No one understands me when I ask if they want peppeR, but I feel like a complete idiot if I say peppAH!  I still can't bring myself to say 'peppa' (as I shouldn't!).  It's a catch 22 though.  If I say "Would you like any peppeR?"  the people laugh at me!, but if I say "Would you like and peppah?"  I laugh at myself!

Again, if I say: "How're doing?"  vs "How you going?" I sound like an idiot/people think, where are you from?/I sound pretentious whereas if I just use their expressions vs American ones I can have conversations that don't start on a foreign note. I'm not very good at expressing this...I'm not trying to say I've taken up an Australian accent, but I do use their expressions which doesn't make me a sell-out!


I've come to the conclusion that using a particular groups expressions doesn't mean I'm being peer-pressured, I'm just assimilating.  Using them makes everything less confusing (ie makes for better communication for everyone).   And it applies to me in both France and Australia and maybe life in general.
Clearly I am exaggerating to make a point, however useless.  I do find it interesting though.  I think all of these thoughts stem from a moment in high school when my dad made fun of my brother and I for using expressions like "sick!" and "awesome!" or even "cool" lol.  Granted he was making fun of us because he thought we were turning into illiterates, but what I'm trying to say is: we were just ASSIMILATING dad!  Not changing our morals or losing our own vocabularies!  

sex and piano

Vous me manquez.

Postsecret

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission...Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - JFK

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. - Thomas Jefferson

"How Congress solves the obesity problem"