There is a 10 gallon fish tank in my father's office that is perpetually empty, yet never gets dirty. On the other hand, for some reason my black tea is cloudy--no, I did not put milk in you--no, I am not going to put milk in you. No.
On the way back from my friend's house to my mother's workplace today I not only drove all the way down N. Greensboro St. until it turned into Hillsborough Rd. but also until it turned into Old NC-86 and hit Homestead Rd. Once at my mother's workplace, I then proceeded to drive half-way over a median (3 feet wide, 1 foot tall) before realizing "oh shit".
I am distracted.
My camera is broken. Likely culprit? Rechargeable batteries do not come fully charged.
My family is bad at Christmas. My sister opened her Nintendo DS yesterday (after begging and pleading for 2 weeks) and my mother opened some fancy running-device. Yes--they knew what they were opening. I am not so innocent, myself. I am discovering portable music--with wifi!
My sister and I listened to WCPE ("The Classical Station") as I drove her back from piano lessons last night. Around 9PM a joke was made: "And today we celebrate the birthday of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, without whom WWI would not have been possible." I got to explain the joke to my sister (with heavy emphasis on "this was not the only reason WWI started"), and she laughed, at the end. I wonder how much different my life would have been had I had parents able to explain these cultural references to me, to correct my pronunciation. I have found myself, for many years now, explaining to them, correcting them. I think I have learnt things, though, and not because I am the one in the authority position--I am not. I have learnt things about other countries, and other worldviews, and destruction, and oppression. These are pretty valuable lessons.
All the same, in all likelihood I won't be giving up being able to explain cultural references, and correct pronunciation to my potential children by moving across the globe.
