La vie

Today I received a priority mail package sent Dec. 19, 2005. Yes, that was sent 10 days ago. What can we expect of non-priority mail? And postage is going up in January?

I have decided to blackmail the man whose motorcycle I am borrowing. When he comes to reclaim it, I will hold it hostage until he fixes my own relic of a motorcycle. Just kidding. I think. I love riding a bike. Even the part about every vehicle out there is trying to kill me. Yes, especially that. It is an adrenaline thing.

Only a couple more days left in 2005. I guess I am suppose to reflect/make resolutions. Let's see. I got another year older. And the same thing is going to happen next year. There. Got that done.

Actually I am quite pessimistic about my future. Oh, here and there there will be highlights. But I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Unless it is THAT tunnel. Because I believe in THAT tunnel or whatever it is one sees when one is in extremis. I have a ton of questions for the generations past in my family. One will be why they did not instill the importance of learning foreign languages into their children? My grandparents spoke three languages. Many people in Europe still do. But I, only the second generation in this country, do a fair job in English, a poor job of French, and abysmal in German, Spanish, Polish and Latin. I find poor language skills to be a terrible lack in American education. I didn't even have the chance to study German until I was in Grade 12. I am not one to pick up foreign languages easily, but just like being bad in math doesn't mean you don't have to figure the tip at a restaurant, being bad in language doesn't mean students shouldn't be taught it.

From the stranger than fiction department: the other day I met for the first time a person who lives 2 miles from me through a mutual friend who lives 2000 miles from here. C'est bizarre.

So I will wrap up today's post with a warning. Don't watch so many crime shows on TV that you think there is a criminal behind every bush and that the world can be so easily divided into right and wrong. There are crooked cops and kind-hearted criminals. Mostly we are just in-between, average folks trying to make life bearable for ourselves and those around us. Maybe we can do a better job in 2006.