How My Prince Charming Turned Out to be a Frog: Eureka!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Eureka!

In case you hadn't heard, energy saving light bulbs will become mandatory in Europe soon...
already normal Edison incandescent light bulbs are getting harder to find and the old 'eco' light bulbs we bought a few years ago (which still run and run and run) and which are quite ugly, bright white and stick out too far, are now being replaced with nicer, smaller, normal looking, softer light emitting bulbs.

I also learned this morning that some new models now work with dimmer switches, so we can get rid of our bright overhead lights. Yeah.

I was curious to see what's happening Stateside...yes, well it looks like the old Edison models are going to be phased out in the states, too starting in 2012.

content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/11/esl-new-energy-efficient-lightbulb/1

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=LB

Golly, that was an enlightening blog now wasn't it?!

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Nothing New Under the Sun

There is, according to the Song of Solomon, nothing new under the sun. How completely depressing? Yes and no. It's amazing how we keep opening our eyes every morning to greet yet another sun rising if nothing were new. What would be the point?

The point is, is that nothing is new, but it's new to us. This became clear to me during the birth of my son. The two French sages-femmes (midwives) stood there gossiping between contractions. I half-pictured them grabbing an expresso and balancing them one on each of my knees their conversation was so intense. While the experience of giving birth was new to me, it was not new at all for them. So while I huffed and puffed they moaned about who was on duty that weekend. Did it make my experience any less "new"--hell no.
When I pass women in the street with children or think about every single human being on this earth and how they got here, does it make my experience any less "new"--no.

The trouble is, who cares about reading about someone ELSE's experience.

I ask this (who will read this blog, for example?) and yet I delight in reading other traveler's accounts. I like to know they experienced the same things I did or dared to dare things I would never dream of doing. We like to know that in our unique experiences, we are all the same somehow. We are not alone.

But my god can listening to unasked for experiences be frustrating.

I sat on the airplane returning to Nice trying to help my frantic toddler "find sleep" (as they say in French) and was subjected to the high-pitched whine of the American girl sitting behind me who, as she put it, was "doing France." (I wanted to ask what that meant exactly, but she went on to clarify--pacify her conservative neighbors who, like myself were privy to her private thoughts on the travels that awaited her.) She was going to try to live in the South of France for a few weeks and test out her French. How admirable, said the middle-aged man on her left as he readjusted his eyeglasses and opened his Financial Times all the wider. How annoying, I thought.

But haven't we been there? Annoying youthful exuberance?! All too shiny and new, before the jadedness sets in? This girl's rattling on and on brought me face to face with a 24 year old me. I can only hope I didn't project my voice as well as she did in the hopes that half the cabin would marvel at my upcoming adventures. I probably did.

How My Prince Charming Turned Out to be a Frog

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Eureka!

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Nothing New Under the Sun