Is there a twelve step program for this?

Hi. My name is Lisa. I'm a MUSHer. This morning I was stuck in stop and go traffic on the freeway, so I called in to work to let them know I'd be five minutes late. "Hi! This is Lisa. Yeah, I'm running late. I'm hitting patches of lag on the freeway." Thankfully, this didn't seem to throw the person to which I was speaking. (Her name is Daniela, pronounced Dah-nehl. Pretty name!)

Still, aside from that auspicious start, the day is starting rather nicely! It's beyond beautiful outside. I slept with the window open last night, just because it's so lovely and cool and breezy. They sun is shining, the sky is as blue as it gets, fluffy clouds up there, and of course the wind. A little breeze makes everything bearable. Then I get to work, and one of my coworker trades me an onion bagel with butter from her food stash for hot chocolate from my food stash. We both win, and get onion bagels and hot chocolate for breakfast. Woo!

Even better! I scored plane tickets to visit my family in Austin in mid-September! I'm leaving September 14th and coming back on the 18th. I'm going to try to take the 19th and 20th off as well and just have an entire week off. Insert Homer Simpson impression: Oohohhooouh. Vacation.

Oh, joy. The boss came in. In addition to the pile of work she's dumped on me, she also wants a list of all the things she's dumped on me in the last month. So instead of actually getting things done, I'm listing what I'm supposed to be getting done. No, actually I'm writing a Livejournal entry. Woo! Motivated me!

Just one word

It's amazing to me sometimes how much difference one single word can make in an entire conversation, not just on how you respond to the person, but in how it can really put a more distant, global situation into perspective. I have several international students in my classes, which is really neat. I like the perspective of having lots of different backgrounds. I was talking to one student, one of those young men who's just so energetic and enthusiastic, he's fun. The first day of class, I got to his name, called it (his first name is Osama), and was answered with a rather embarrassed, "Could you -please- just call me Sam?" Frankly, the name 'Sam' fits him really well. It's as happy-go-lucky as he is. Anyway, I've gotten off track. The point is, he mentioned his family was coming next week, and he was glad the test was ending early so he could pick his parents up at the airport. I asked where he was from, and if his family lived in the US. They do not. They live in Palestine. He is from Palestine. To clarify this, he explained he was born "in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born". Needless to say, I thought this was all sorts of neat, not just for it being Bethlehem, but just being a fascinating part of the world in general. What I found interesting, is not once did he call it Israel. In fact, he mentioned the area as being 'Palestine' several times. There was no animosity in his voice, not even rebellion. It was simply as if that entire area were Palestine, had always been Palestine, and always would be. Israel was a non-issue.

I'm not sure what this mean, really, but the armchair anthropologist in me is still pondering the implications. Does this have something to do with the issues Israelis and Palestinians are having? Is it a failure to recognizes each other? Or a failure to recognize similarities? I don't have any clue, and I'm sure I'm not the first to have thunk these thoughts. Of course, now's right about the time for me to look out the window and wonder why the plane is flying backwards, right? ;)