Friday Five

1. You have the summer and plenty of money to travel abroad. Where all would you go?
The United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, and China, to start.

2. What foods would you be sure you got to eat?
Shepherd's pie, bread pudding, proper fish & chips ... a lot of the same foods I eat now, but where they came from, really.

3. What landmarks would you be sure you got to see?
The London Eye, the Tower, Whitehall, Lord Nelson's statue, the Monmouth/Wye River valley (including Tintern Abbey's ruins), the Battlefield of Culloden, Hadrian's wall, the Guangzhou Mountains, Mt. Fuji, the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace of Japan, Kyoto ... I could go on forever.

4. What airline would you use?
Eh. Who knows? If I was going to the UK and money was no object, probably first-class British Airways.

5. Would your knowledge of other languages influence where you went? (i.e. would you be more likely to go to France if you spoke French?)
Not really.

10 Things I Wish More People Understood

1. When someone says something that is in disagreement with your own opinions, it is not a personal attack unless they attack your character. Just saying they disagree and why is not an attack, it's a conversation.

2. The fact that someone is your friend does not mean they are obligated to agree with you or approve of everything you do or believe.

3. If someone disagrees with your friend, on or offline, it is not necessary to jump on the poor bastard like he's just kicked your baby. For fuck's sake, people.

4. Happiness is not an on/off switch. No matter how well your life is going and no matter how happy you are with it, it's ok to be upset/worried about something that isn't going so well.

5. The fact someone doesn't hate you does not automatically mean they like you.

6. Not everyone is the same. If you want them to respect your oddities, respect theirs.

7. Part of having interesting friends is occasionally being sick of them/mad at them. That's ok, just don't let it become permanent. You can rarely recover from kicking someone forcibly out of your life even if you realize you made a mistake.

8. Being wiccan/christian/buddhist/shintoist/whatever does not excuse bad behavior. You still have to atone for your mistakes. Telling me you atoned to the Goddess doesn't mean you're ok with me yet.

9. Forgiveness may be a divine thing, but it rarely comes easily or automatically. Sometimes, you have to earn it. Anyone who tells you anything else is living in a dream world.

10. Personal responsiblity is a good thing.

(no subject)

Two pages of Moby Dick paper done.

Tomorrow: Do some more, then go to Ed and Stef's.

Sunday; Do some more, and/or complete some work on Dickinson's poems, plus read a crapload of The Secrets of Mariko, for which I have a test on Wednesday.