I was approached recently and asked for an interview for a recently launched expat website that posts the experiences of people who have moved and are living abroad.
“If you are considering an international move yourself, let ExpatInterviews.com show you examples of real people who have done it successfully. Learn how they did it, how they managed to survive the difficulties of moving to another country, and how they are happily living their life’s dream. You too can make such dreams possible; this site will be one of the first steps in the right direction.”
***
I spent a lot of time the last year and a half learning how to say no to the increasing demands on my time and energy. Recently, I have begun to wonder if I need to begin re-learning how to say yes. Or if what I am feeling is just an slippery possessive sense of obligation. Or if it’s just another one of my control issues. It it will come down, as I suspect it will, to a choice between an activity I love and an activity I feel strongly about supporting, how will I make a decision that I can live with?
***
Today is my last day of vacation. Last night I was up until after 3 a.m. because I could not manage, try as I might, to fall asleep. When I am not working I have the slow tendency to turn my bioclock completely upside-down, sleeping in longer and longer, and staying up longer and longer, until gradually I have become a nightbird, singing love songs to the moon and unable to put down whatever book has currently captivated me.* Tomorrow morning’s alarm at 7 a.m. will, I am sure, be an abrupt uppercut return to conventional hours. Alas.
***
Which is worse?
a) the news that a favorite author has died and the knowledge that you have already read all the books he/she ever wrote.
b) the news that one OR MORE of your favorite online authors, whom you shamelessly stalk read daily (or thereabouts) and whose viewpoint, humor and writing you admire and enjoy is/are retiring, or quitting, or taking an indefinite break.
*Right now, it’s the The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett.