it's not life that matters but the journey...

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This one, which is on my user profile page, by the fabulous Mark Twain:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely... Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one's little corner of the earth."


I truly believe that traveling, and living abroad, experiencing other cultures and languages and customs, is the best thing for the soul and the mind. I only wish I could do more of it...
someday maybe!

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Half a bottle of red wine, one can of beer, a can of some other alcoholic beverage, camembert cheese, yogurt, soy milk, grapes, mixed fruit, three bottles of water, strawberry jam, peanut butter, margarine, coffee, and some medicine for my cat's eyes.

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If that were the case, I'd have no friends! And if my husband felt that way, he certainly wouldn't have married me. I like all of what he likes, but he doesn't like much of what I like. His musical interests have greatly enhanced our relationship, though - and my life. And I think the same could be said for any friendship - if your friends can introduce you to new music, and if you share musical interests, it can be a lot of fun! And I certainly would never judge anyone for his or her taste in music. that's just silly and juvenile.

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Um yes, I was defriended once without explanation - thankfully only once. and I never found out why. it was a bit annoying because I felt I had been dumped. But on the other hand, I did defriend someone once without saying anything; I just got kind of annoyed with her attitude. she was kind of full of herself, and when I wrote comments on her posts, she was rude. also, we had nothing in common.

I've been hesitant to defriend anyone in a long time, mostly because I like all the people I friend on LJ, and it always makes me sad to cut off a contact. It seems so final.
But here's a good opportunity to ask some de-friending etiquette:

I've been wondering if it's bad taste to delete someone from your friend's list because either they haven't posted in many months. There are several people on my friend's list who haven't posted even one message in over six months. One friend hasn't posted in over a year. but there's really no reason to delete them right? They might come back.

But what about this: what if someone posts, and you reply, but they never reply back... or they used to reply to your posts all the time, but now they don't, and they ignore all your replies and even your personal messages. Is it then okay to delete them? Should I tell them first?

And another situation: What if you "friend" someone on LJ, and you read and reply to their posts, but they never once write anything back, or reply to even one of your posts? is it then okay to defriend?

oh and while we're on the subject, just yesterday I found out that three people, all supposedly related to each other, had all deleted their LJ journals. Their names were crossed out on my friend's list. But I don't know what the heck happened? One of them has been opening and closing her LJ for a long time, and now she's even deleted her facebook page. her father did too. it's weird stuff... (java_fiend knows who I'm talking about)... And if she's reading this, I hope she'll give me an explanation.

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I was just telling my husband the other night, actually it was on New Year's Eve, that when I was 11 years old, I was in love with ABBA. I so so much wanted to be like those beautiful girls - I would sit and stare at their pictures on the album covers, and listen to ABBA albums over and over again. Agnetha and Frida were my idols. They got to wear the coolest clothes, they had amazing singing voices, and they were supremely popular all over the world. Even 30 years later, their music is still popular, and they still reign as the kings and queens of international pop!

So, I'm not ashamed to admit, I'd love to be a member of ABBA - perhaps Agnetha since she was always my favorite. I mean just look at her when she was younger:

( Mamma Mia )

And here's a clip of ABBA doing what they did best:




and I had to throw in this clip, because - wow - look at those outfits!!:

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Today's theme:

On Wednesday I work
Why does it go so slowly?
Sleep is all I want


and the theme of the month:

Days and days to wait
Mile after mile to travel
Life once more begins

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I've lived in 2 countries (U.S. and Japan), 6 states (in the U.S.), 10 different cities in the U.S. and 2 different cities in Japan, and altogether I've had 20 residences (including apartments and houses). That's the equivalent of moving once every two years.

The longest I've lived any one place was both Colorado (where I spent 9 years from age 7 to age 16), and Sacramento, California where I spent 11 years (from age 16 to age 26 and again for another year before I went to Japan in 1998).

my shortest stay anywhere was Portland, Oregon where we stayed for maybe 2 months. we got a great apartment in a suburb of Portland, but couldn't find jobs, and didn't have the patience to stay without any income.

When I was young, we moved around because of my father's job - he was with the U.S. Geological Survey, so we moved whenever he had a promotion or project. It was hard as a kid, but for some reason, once I became an adult, moving just became second nature. I get bored if I stay in one place for too long - I've been in the Chicago area since 2006, and I'm already anxious to move somewhere else. There are good and bad points about moving a lot. The best thing is that I've experienced many different places, and seen a lot of things. It's exciting to move and start over. But it's also expensive to move, and you have to always get rid of lots of stuff. The worst thing about my nomadic childhood, though, is that I have no nostalgic childhood home that I can always return to. My parents have lived in their current home in Washington for just 10 years - it feels like home when I go there only because they are there. But the childhood homes I remember, especially the one in Colorado, are only in my memories. I can no longer to back to the home where I played and enjoyed my formative years. That has always been sad for me, and I've envied people who grew up in just one home, and can still go back to that home for holidays and feel all warm and cozy and sentimental.

My favorite residences have all been near the water: Port Angeles, Washington; Arcata, California; and Kambara, in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan - where I also had a view of Mt. Fuji from my apartment. I don't remember much of my birthplace, which was Falls Church, Virginia, but I loved the homes of my childhood, which were in Sunnyvale, California and Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver). My least favorite place to live, especially as far as the weather and location, has been the Chicago area. I really want to get back to the coast again, and to milder weather.

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I've had apologies ignored. That's probably worse, because it shows that the person doesn't even acknowledge your apology. It would be better if the person says something - anything really - because saying nothing is even more cruel.

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How interesting - the month of March was the opposite for me: came in like a lamb and out like a lion. I spent the fourth week of the month recovering from a surgical procedure, which caused me some pain, nausea and various other ailments which I don't need to mention here. And then, just when I thought I was getting better and returning to work, yesterday morning I slipped and fell on the ice in front of my building. This was because, even though we had gorgeous, near-70 degree weather in the middle of the month, mother nature decided to dump two inches of snow on Sunday, the 29th!

So, needless to say, I'm so glad March is done.