that person

I always wanted to be that person who gets brought up in conversations for living a crazy, impossible, but fun life, and it seems I've finally reached that most elusive of goals:

Ben: "When my friends bring up interesting careers, I always have you in my back pocket as the most interesting of all - the professional carillonner trumps everything and makes them all very jealous of your opportunity to travel and play your music."

Then again, Ben is probably better at giving compliments than anyone else I've met, so perhaps this is sligtly exaggerated. But seriously, I always wanted to be that person.

Plans are beginning to gel for Ingrid and me in terms of summer backpacking, and I'm on the verge of getting (or not getting) sponsored plane tickets for some GCNA recitalists... which is a bit ironic since I'm going to have to pay a fortune for my own.

My new wishlist: All the gadgets at FNAC (pronounced, to the dismay of the tongue-challenged, as one syllable). Just take a look at this IDJ, the super sexy JBL On Time, and this snowboard jacket with built-in Bluetooth. Good replacement for my winter coat, which broke down a week ago on the first warm day of spring, eh?

Strange news of the day: The country with the higher IQ usually wins its wars? I can't speak to the credibility of that, but open-mindedness here--except in attitudes towards immigrants, is in line with my impression of the older generation (although generational differences are, surprisingly, not mentioned in this article).