Living in Other Countries

Bordeaux France

I have spent practically every summer of my life growing up outside the U.S. I spent my summers in France with my family and I loved it. I was contemplating moving there to continue my studies after college, I backed out because I felt that I was not up to the challenge academically, because even though I speak French, my written French leaves a bit to be desired and I was scared to fail. Honestly, my decision was based on fear of failure and a certain lack of faith in me. I am trying to grow out of this fear, it is a work in progress.

Can you ever know someone too well?

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postaday2011

I don’t think so. I think that the phrase arose from wishful thinking. People are, in my opinion, full of surprises and if you actually could know someone too well, you would be able to anticipate their moods, reactions, likes and dislikes and etc.I don’t actually know anyone who can say that. I don’t know myself too well, so I don’t see how I can know someone else too well. My husband sometimes complains that if I knew him better, I wouldn’t do or say the thing that made him mad. My answer is always, “I didn’t think that you would get mad at that, sorry”. Moreover, most people evolve or change over time, they either get more rigid or less rigid with life experiences. I think that it’s rare for someone to stay the same over time. The basic core stays true but the outer layers tend to flow with encounters with people, different challenges and opportunities.

Do we really want to know anyone too well? Where would the dynamism, intrigue and surprise be in relationships? Learning something new or even a degree of different in someone in your life keeps you on your toes and reminds you to the business of cultivating a relationship. Relationships are like gardens, they need work, might not need daily work, but work is required and even with the same level of maintenance your most constant plants can occasionally give you a surprise, welcome or not. I think that people are similar, you often think that they will so or say one thing and then they go and surprise you. That may be where the saying taking someone for granted came about, and it is not a positive saying. It implies thinking that you know someone too well and not doing the necessary work to keep the relationship healthy. I think that actively getting to know someone better over time keeps the appreciation for the person alive and the relationship valued at the same time. This sounds great on paper but then life gets in the way and we do what we do, which is all individual. And you never know what that may be, do you?

Stocks, Bonds More Or Less Unaffected By Threat Of U.S. Default

All that this tells me is that this a game that Washington is playing with each other at the sandbox, similar to the games that Clinton and Gingrinch were playing back in 1995 and 1996. People are losing patience especially since the debt ceiling was raised how many times during Bush’s administra­tion? Get back to the business of job creation, stop wasting our time with all this posturing over debt and spending and light bulbs. Get us back to work and you will see that everything will get sorted out in the wash.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Paul Ryan: Obama Must Accept Greater Spending Cuts In Debt Ceiling Deal

Paul Ryan and his cohorts need to come to grips with the fact that just because you say the same thing over and over again does not make it true. Our deficit, has been caused primarily due to GOP mismanagem­ent of the economy. In the short term, the Bush tax cuts and the two wars are the primary drivers. The Great recession is also a hefty contributo­r followed by the stimulus package, which was instituted because of the recession. The long term cause of the deficit is the health care costs of caring for an aging population­. Another fallacy the GOP keeps spinning adnauseam is the notion that we are broke, the central issue is not that we are broke, it is the spending priorities that are at issue here. All the tax cuts, tax breaks and loopholes are monies allocated or spent to the benefit of the wealthy and the corporatio­ns. The subsequent doesn’t trickle down, the rest of society doesn’t benefit one iota. I don’t think that this is fair or just for our society as a whole.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Debt Ceiling Press Conference: President Keeps The Pressure On

I am so glad that the president spelled it out loud and clear to Cantor and that he is taking his case to the people today. This intransige­nce on the GOP part over corporate subsidies, tax loopholes and the like is clearly a message to the majority of the American people. The GOP doesn’t care about us common folk and the faster that their base wakes up and realizes that sad fact, the better off we will all be. The GOP and their friends have done a heck of a job selling all their economic theories, that in the long run only benefit two groups, the wealthy and the corporatio­ns, to their base. However, in the long run there are reams of empirical evidence that show that their economics have devastated the middle and lower classes. This strict dichotomy between government and private business in terms of which is most productive to society is becoming our Achilles heel. Why does it have to be one or the other? Government has a place in all of our lives, and it isn’t a negative one either. Case in point, corporatio­ns are sitting on tons of cash, the demand out there is essentiall­y zero, private sector will not launch any employment plans so this is when the government can step in to fill the vacuum and start infrastruc­ture projects and get Americans back to work.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Can a camera truly capture a moment in time?

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postaday2011

My favorite photographer is Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photo-journalist, the first pioneer in the field. If any photographer can capture a moment, it was him. His talent was the art of capturing the moment in the street.

I am not talented in the least with photography, but I can really appreciate Cartier-Bresson’s work.