• People take so much for granted; worrying endlessly about what they don’t have rather than nurturing and cherishing what they’ve already got.
• Americans are more likely to show compassion towards strangers than to family and “friends.”
• People constantly flap their jaws about their “strong convictions” of which they know nothing of. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, these loud, empty opinions affect the lives of millions of people (ie. Stem-cell research, nuclear power, “solutions” to poverty, etc.). I am still waiting for the day in which I encounter a politician who can actually tell me the difference between multipotent, pluripotent, and totipotent cells. Go read a book, go back to college, or shut up and accept the fact that you don’t know everything… not even what you are preaching as truth.
• In a world where so many die of hunger, so many more die a different death because they are starved for something so much easier to provide: love.
• So many girls and woman don’t know their own worth; and instead, they allow themselves to be defined by other people.
• Very few mothers know how (or do not care to put in the effort) to raise real men nowadays.
• Most people (myself included) tend to blame the aforementioned on the women, when we all know that fathers also need to step it up and start leading by example.
• I missed my Dad’s surprise birthday party (but I hear it was fantabulous!).
• Africa, land of my birth, has become a continent of beggars with an absurd sense of entitlement.
• Westerners continue to throw money at the above problem. This is what created this phenonemen in the first place.
• A disgustingly large percentage of this money from NGOs is grossly mismanaged. A gamillion people die, not because there is no money, but because of the rampant (and even worse, accepted) corruption in third-world countries. You know that check you sent to that well-known organization to help children in Africa get medical care? Yah, well… unless you did your research and chose very wisely… that money was probably used by a government official or healthcare administrator to buy him/her a new car or a house or several expensive prostitutes. Awesome.
• Some of the men who work at my health center make the poorer female patients (teenagers and women) pay via sexual favors. This makes me want to vomit continuously. And I can do nothing about it without risking my own safety.

• I have this opportunity.
• I still have my best friends from elementary, middle, high school, and college. We laugh in the faces of time and distance, for they have only made us closer. Along with my family, they are my heart; the loves of my life.
• I have more than one “love of my life;” and that I was lucky enough to know, recognize, and experience love so young.
• My parents raised us well. My brothers and sisters have become beautiful people, both inside and out. They will accomplish great things. Scratch that. They already have:]
• I keep encountering the most amazing people from all walks of life. Teachers, missionaries, mon blanchisseur (my laundryboy), random people on the street (Hey Brad!), random people on Amtrak (Hey Krista!!), other PCVs (Hey, you crazies! Miss yoouu), and all the other glorious people who haphazardly light my path.
• I got an excellent education at one of the best (read- nerdiest) colleges ever.
• I am very easily amused.
• We once made our sister eat grass (see above statement).
• Although, we are poor black folk, my Mommy found a way to throw my Dad the party of his lifetime.
• In my provincial capital, I can buy a 2002 Merlot-Cabernet Sauvignon from Mont Flory, France for $8. And some delicious French cheeses (camembert, brie, beaufort, you name it) for about $4. The bright side of living in a former French colony:p
• I traded Kelly a Gin & Tonic (liquid gold) for a Burt’s Bees Shampoo Bar (Divine, though I only get to use it the 2 or 3 times a month which I actually have the opportunity to shower).
• I can travel to different dimensions (sans alcohol and/or other drugs). Yah, that’s right :D
• I have a Solio, which is lovingly wedded to my Ipod. Truly, a match made in heaven. It has preserved my sanity so many times that I have lost count.
• The lovely ladies at the patisserie already know what I want when I walk in (une Charlotte Russe, une jus mélange, et une Mambo. Quelquefois, avec une beignet avec sucre), cuz I am there every time I am in Ngaoundere :]
• I can school pretty much all of you on any dance floor on any given day >:D
• I am so modest.
• People actually read this blog, and that it actually amuses some of you.
• I have always had the most awesome birthdays ever, and this past one in Cameroon was no exception :] Thanks girls :]
• Running water and electricity await me upon my return to the “U.S. and A.”
• Time flies when you’re having fun… or dying :]

posted by Me at 9:24 AM