Experimenta!

It's going to be hard to explain the feelings I've had since arriving in Brazil. But let me try to start.
It began, without a doubt, when I encountered a first helpful stranger in the São Paulo airport. I didn't speak Portuguese really but understood some & spoke mostly poorly affected Spanish in response to people who spoke to me. This made getting a SIM card a bit difficult. Another complicating factor in this endeavor was the fact that I, being a foreigner, am not a bearer of the all important CPF, a sort of citizen tracking number that is requested or required for many purchases (from online bus ticket purchases - ouch! - to SIM cards and more!). This guy in the store spoke on the phone with people from the carrier, then ended up just starting over with another carrier and getting a pre-paid SIM for me as if it was for him. This is apparently common practice, and it allowed me to procure yet another phone number.

Greetings, Readership!

On the bus to Salvador from Maceió, between watching Coraline and Miss Simpática 2, and then after the latter, I had some thoughts. Why have I not been writing more? Why have I not been posting more?

Very recently I experienced a major breakthrough and had a minor flood of revelations. Those may be revealed externally as time goes by. Suffice it to say that I'm cautiously optimistic about the future at present.

...so... WELCOME BACK! It's certainly not for want of thought that there've been relatively few -- er -- practically no posts over the past few months. I've been traveling and experiencing and encountering and eating, but not necessarily recording ideas or memories like one may have wanted or expected. Moreover, it seemed to me that much of my record of travels in Perú was too much of a journal or even itinerary or timeline. Or was it?! At any rate, there are posts to come, in various flavors and from various locations around South America. Some readers will like some styles of writing/content while others of the faithful will like others. Natural, não é?

Ya can't always please everyone. Am I just learning this? No. Am I just now putting this into practice? Trying to.

Acceptance, people. Acceptance was the word I chose when my friend Lisa asked me a month ago what word I'd want to be mine for the next year. What would I like to work on or realize in my life for the next year, in one word. Acceptance. Acceptance of myself, shortcomings, gifts, skills, all of it. And also acceptance of other people, with all of their character traits. This is not the same kind of Acceptance I've wanted in the past, which was Acceptance BY others OF me. My worth is not determined by whether other people like me or not. Lots of people like me. I'm happy about this. If, however, someone somewhere along the way decides he or she does not like me for some reason, I'm just gonna have to be ok with that.

No blog posts for a while. Have I disappointed people?

Perhaps.

Is there anything I can do about their disappointment?

Not really.

Would I have been ok with this in the past?

Not really.

Am I now?

I'd have to say yes.