There's much to be negative about in the world. In the month since my last post, world peace still hasn't befallen the planet, the US political scene has remained as crazy as ever, and I'm still back in the States and not overseas like I wanted to be. However, I've started to settle into life back in the US. The coming back earlier than expected was jarring--my lemons--but I've decided that if I'm going to be here the foreseeable future, I might as well make the most of it--my lemonade. I'm not necessarily a negative person, but I'm also not the most positive around. So this lemonade out of lemons thing is a bit different for me and is taking some work. But I'm actually really happy with the way it's working out so far.
Last week I moved into a new apartment. I went from a three-bedroom townhouse before going overseas to a one-bedroom apartment, but I'm very happy here. Granted, I'm only one week in, but I'm living in a high-rise building, which is something I've always wanted to do. If I'm forced to be back, why not shake up my life and really just go for it, right? That's the attitude I took. The apartment is only about 2 years old, so the newness of it and all its finishings was something that attracted me to it. Furthermore, it's a FIVE-MINUTE WALK to a Metro station. That's closer than I've ever been to the Metro. So as long as WMATA doesn't permanently break down (not a guarantee these days), this is a perfect location.
Three weeks ago I bought a new car. I need some sort of transportation to live in this area, and I thought that if I'm going to be here for awhile, I might as well invest in something. So a new car (well, a 2016 model) I got. And five weeks ago I invested in a new iPhone. I was an Android guy, but in Khartoum I had an iPhone and I realized that it really is a good phone. I caved. I'm not proud of it, and over internal protestations, I'm adding my conversion to an iPhone (but no other Apple products...yet) to the list of "new me" elements. My lemonade from lemons.
As noted above, I have to work to maintain this mostly positive attitude. Getting cable was a major test (obviously), but this new outlook definitely has its benefits. Things don't bother me as much as they possibly could, and I feel like I'm being more flexible than usual. Projecting positivity outwards has improved the internal positivity. We'll see how long this attitude lasts, but in the five weeks I've been back in the US, it's kept me going and it's something I hope to be able to continue in the weeks and months ahead!
I feel like I've posted this song before, but Tangled was just on TV and I think this love song from it--"I See the Light"--is completely underrated. And it sounds amazing in pretty much every foreign language I've heard it in. I debated whether to post the English version here (featuring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi), the European French version (featuring Maeva Meline and Emmanuel Dahl), or the Hebrew version (featuring Meshi Kleinstein and Michael Einav). Ultimately, though, there is something about the way Inna Voronova and Zakhar Klymenko sing the song in Ukrainian.
Three weeks ago I bought a new car. I need some sort of transportation to live in this area, and I thought that if I'm going to be here for awhile, I might as well invest in something. So a new car (well, a 2016 model) I got. And five weeks ago I invested in a new iPhone. I was an Android guy, but in Khartoum I had an iPhone and I realized that it really is a good phone. I caved. I'm not proud of it, and over internal protestations, I'm adding my conversion to an iPhone (but no other Apple products...yet) to the list of "new me" elements. My lemonade from lemons.
As noted above, I have to work to maintain this mostly positive attitude. Getting cable was a major test (obviously), but this new outlook definitely has its benefits. Things don't bother me as much as they possibly could, and I feel like I'm being more flexible than usual. Projecting positivity outwards has improved the internal positivity. We'll see how long this attitude lasts, but in the five weeks I've been back in the US, it's kept me going and it's something I hope to be able to continue in the weeks and months ahead!
I feel like I've posted this song before, but Tangled was just on TV and I think this love song from it--"I See the Light"--is completely underrated. And it sounds amazing in pretty much every foreign language I've heard it in. I debated whether to post the English version here (featuring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi), the European French version (featuring Maeva Meline and Emmanuel Dahl), or the Hebrew version (featuring Meshi Kleinstein and Michael Einav). Ultimately, though, there is something about the way Inna Voronova and Zakhar Klymenko sing the song in Ukrainian.
