I'm just now beginning to understand that I'll never *be* happy until I figure what *makes* me happy.

I'm sure that some international perspective will help, but I think the biggest benefit my happiness radar will receive from getting out of here is getting out of the ground clutter of the traditional American consumerist worldview.

Spending the last year with school kids has really emphasized how we (they? whoever "they" are) program our kids to believe that life is a means to an end.

Its nigh impossible to get kids to understand that something can be good or beautiful just for itself, not because it has some greater payoff. Even when we bitch at them we tell them "if you don't learn this you'll never get into college/get a good job/graduate." I wish I knew some way to show them that education makes life more interesting and fun, and that's more imporatant than how many extra dollars per year they'll make knowing who won the Battle of Hastings.

We're teaching them to look for shortcuts instead of teaching them to enjoy the scenic route. The big lie is that no matter how fast you go you never get there.

Whoa.

Maybe I need to take a walk. I think I breathed up all the air in here.

Songs I remember hearing while I wrote this:
I Love This Bar
Shut-up and Kiss Me
You Can't Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl
Tough Little Boys