Deluxe Crackers

Ingredients

Peanut butter crackers

Grape jelly

More peanut butter

Nacho cheese

Make deluxe crackers by spreading jelly, peanut butter, or nacho cheese onto already peanut-buttered crackers. Each mouthful is an explosion of flavor, except for the peanut butter peanut butter crackers of course, for which every mouthful is an explosion of peanut butter.

New Phone

This week, in honor of the new year, I decided that I would stop hanging on to my flip phone. In the past, I've worried that if I get a smartphone I'll accidentally start using it at restaurants and when I'm having conversations with people. On the other hand, there are several pros of smartphones that have accumulated over the years: the camera, internet access, and google maps in particular are what made my mind up.

The decision was a push as much as a pull. My old phone plan, for reasons beyond my understanding, jumped to $30 a month, so with my new $30 smartphone and its pay-as-you-go plan, I expect things will end up being cheaper than before. As I see it, using a pay-as-you-go service means that I'll either have an affordable phone bill or I'll become some sort of social butterfly, so it's really a win-win situation.

Happy Returns

I told myself that I would return to blogposting when I returned to Atlanta, and now it's all happening together. There's no telling what the future will hold, but with any luck this will keep going.

Returning to the US in general has meant getting a new phone, switching back to Fahrenheit when talking about temperature, and enjoying the services of websites (like Pandora) not necessarily accessible in many other parts of the world. It also means getting back in touch with familiar people and places.

One such place is the Walmart Supercenter near me, and on the subject of returns, I saw at the cash register a sign saying that non-defective airbeds in opened packaging were not eligible for cash returns. Fair enough, I think, in the grand scheme of things.

The weather is hot and the roads are long, but air conditioning is plentiful and I know the bus routes. It's good to be back.

Language Progress

Today marks one month into my effort to learn German and relearn French. At the moment, I'm spending about half an hour a day on the two languages-- it's not a huge allotment, but I feel like anything more would result in me fizzling out a lot sooner. In German, I can say things like "The horse is eating a newspaper" and "I don't have any potatoes". Similarities to English are helping a lot.

French, a language I spent three years on in high school, is going much faster. I was able to play through the tutorial level of The Witcher 2 in French, but that may not the best measure because The Witcher 2 is decently confusing even in English. After a few more months of French, and several of German, I'm hoping to start reading childrens' books in the two languages and ideally escalate from there.

Fun With Packing

In my current stage of life, I move around from year to year and it may be a while before I have a long-term residence. My parents are moving soon as well, so there's no such thing as storing things at their house until after college. In order to travel light, I have a few thought experiments to go through whenever I need to pack:

How Bad Would I Feel If Everything In My House/Dorm Was Consumed By Flame?
It would be a big setback, to be sure. I'd have left whatever clothes I was wearing, my wallet, my phone, and maybe my computer and some books if I had my backpack with me. I'd probably need to go through a lot of red tape to replace official documents like my passports and birth certificate. I'd also lose the envelope of sentimental objects important enough to take along through every move. However, most of my digital files are in the cloud, and getting new clothes and other stuff would be pretty easy. I'd also have a good story to tell in the future.

How Bad Would It Be If The Suitcase I'm Packing Got Lost?
For the first few days of my year in England, this was the case, and by the time my suitcase finally did arrive, I was happy but didn't need it quite as much. In my carry-on backpack I had brought my documents, my computer etc, and a change of clothes; I had to buy cheap suit and some household items to get through the first few days, but was pretty much set from that point on.

With these thoughts in my mind, I feel more free to get rid of unimportant or easily replaceable items before I travel. I'm sure things will change once I get furniture and more permanent, expensive household items, but I like to think that the concept at the heart will remain the same: the destruction of my material possessions isn't as bad as it may seem.

Internet Language

Unless you take very deliberate steps to be anonymous on the internet, it seems that you count on your actions being recorded and used for advertising purposes. I recently started relearning French using an online program and today, while browsing, I was shown the first advertisement I've seen online in French.

I suppose it's one way of increasing immersion. A few years ago, I resolved that, unless my life plans changed significantly, I would never be fluent enough in a second language to be really comfortable in a conversation. Reading and writing, however, may be more accessible. There's a lot of French literature I may one day be able to access without having perfect pronunciation.

There's also the internet. Several years ago, I used to play Runescape on European servers so I could talk to people in broken French. Internet forums also have a fair diversity of language, the most popular 'French' phrases among many being "hon hon hon" and "omelette du fromage." Recently, many of my online encounters with French have been research papers from Francophone African countries where insects are eaten. In these cases, I can understand the titles and some key words, but usually end up just looking at the figures.

In any case, I suppose I am now resolved that, while I may never carry out a smooth conversation in French, learning how to read and write second languages may have plenty benefits of its own.

Walking in the Rain

As I've mention before, I like to wear raincoats in the rain so that I can experience the elements without getting my clothes wet. I like the sound and feel of rain, and also the mood it brings wherever it falls.

When it rains and I'm out in nature, I listen to the sound of rain on leaves and watch water dripping from the trees and running along the ground. Insects seem to go into hiding during the rain, which can be nice.

When it rains and I'm in a city, I like watching the streams that form on sidewalks and roads and (hopefully) show an efficient drainage system at work. Rain can have an isolating effect on pedestrians-- people are less likely to stop and talk to me when I'm walking in the rain. On the other hand, sheltering from the rain in a bus stop or something with other people seems to make folks more friendly.

Sometimes it seems a bit strange that water falls from the sky, but I suppose that's the world we live in.