“My lines, my lines! I can’t remember my lines!” Hehehe, that Detroit Zoo commercial was funny. I just barely remembered it, but when I watched it again it all came back. That must have been from eons ago. Speaking of stuff from eons ago: When I was visiting my boss in China, he was downloading scads of movies and TV shows via eMule, and one of them was the second season of Get Smart. Just by looking at the titles, I found myself remembering a lot of those episodes. Like “Cutback at C.O.N.T.R.O.L.,” when the budget gets slashed and the Chief has to move his office into the elevator. And I haven’t even seen the show for more than ten years, back when Nick at Nite was airing it.

Yes, I definitely think we could stand to take a couple pages from our Asian and European counterparts, but the society we’ve created for ourselves makes that difficult. Apple and I actually had a long talk about this subject last night, though, and it’s pretty clear that we’re both just too enamored with the great things about American life to live anywhere else. My boss, meanwhile, was already asking us about buying property in Thailand — before he’s even been here! “If I had enough money to acquire all the places he has, I’d just buy more property in the U.S.,” Apple muttered. Heh…

The Asian’s description of American life is right on the money – “fast, full, and busy…” and getting more so by the moment it seems to me. I do think we could take a lesson from the Asian (and some European cultures as well) who are so much less pressured in their attitude toward life. Historically, it all stems from our Puritan forefathers, you know, who were so determined to do whatever it took to make it in what was at that time, a totally godforsaken place. If that meant endless work and pushing to get ahead, no matter how many Indians they had to displace or kill, then by god, they were going to do it.

Travel certainly is a mind altering experience, isn’t it!

I do hope you feel better really soon

Hope you feel better soon!