tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post111156311615331235..comments2024-01-30T01:16:43.488-08:00Comments on The Paper Tiger: Decline and FallOther Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111949273885676152005-03-27T10:47:00.000-08:002005-03-27T10:47:00.000-08:00Dear JR,I don't speak Italian. I think I could pro...Dear JR,<BR/><BR/>I don't speak Italian. I think I could probably learn it though (I'm not bad at learning languages, at least the spoken part - Chinese characters don't count!). <BR/><BR/>I'll keep all of those suggestions in mind...and hope that we head in a better direction here in the US as well...Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111948410530172452005-03-27T10:33:00.000-08:002005-03-27T10:33:00.000-08:00Lisa,Do you speak Italian? How about Italy? Did ...Lisa,<BR/><BR/>Do you speak Italian? How about Italy? Did you see under the Tuscan sun? I would prefer to move to warmer climate, so I prefer Costa Rica than Canada. It used to be just $50,000 or $1000 monthly income to get a citizenship in Costa Rica, but now it is $200,000. I think Costa Rica is the best amongst other Latin American countries. People in Belize speak English, and you can bring a car from the US without paying customs but the country is backward and corrupted. There is an island off Honduras, you can buy a beach front property for $5000. The rest of these countries, Guamtemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama are pretty much like third world countries with starving children.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111907220383460602005-03-26T23:07:00.000-08:002005-03-26T23:07:00.000-08:00Dear JR,Murphy (the cat who was ill) is doing grea...Dear JR,<BR/><BR/>Murphy (the cat who was ill) is doing great. She seems completely normal (and in fact is asleep on my lap as I type this). Mags, who has been up and down for the last year, slipped a little while I was taking care of Murphy but is better now (she's the tortoishell, and you know how stubborn they are!). <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure where I would like to live. It's sad, because I love California. It's a wonderful place in many ways. I'd certainly think about a Spanish-speaking country - I can speak some Spanish and I think I'd pick it up quickly. I've thought about Ireland, Canada, Scandinavia, the EU in general...I've actually thought about China, mainly because I know I could get work there. and also, for whatever reason, I like it, though I'm well-aware of the difficulties...<BR/><BR/>It's not so much that these places are better than the US - some are better politically, some certainly are not - but that it's too painful to watch this happen to my own country, and I don't wish to participate in it any more. Which is kind of a cop-out, I know...<BR/><BR/>So I think about it. I am giving myself a few years to really decide, to settle my financial situation, to I hope establish an alternate career where I could leave and have a pleasant life. But I haven't made up my mind yet.<BR/><BR/>How about you?Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111906284742067302005-03-26T22:51:00.000-08:002005-03-26T22:51:00.000-08:00Lisa,thank you for the poignant post. Glad to hea...Lisa,<BR/><BR/>thank you for the poignant post. Glad to hear your cat is doing better again. I pretty much feel the same way like you about what's going on nowadays. I missed the 90s generally and the happy time living in LA. (I went to LA alone like Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive, the movie made an impact on me. It shows how people felt before they killed themselves.)<BR/><BR/>My friend has moved to Costa Rica, he speaks fluent Spanish and teaches English there. He made it sound like heaven oven there. Another friend is moving to San Miguel in central Mexico. Where would you like to move to?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111619460378396592005-03-23T15:11:00.000-08:002005-03-23T15:11:00.000-08:00Dear Daithi,Thanks for your kind words. A lot of t...Dear Daithi,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your kind words. A lot of the enjoyment I'm getting from doing this is that people I've never met somehow find their way here. It's sort of humbling in a way, and also very gratifying. <BR/><BR/>BTW during the first Gulf War I wrote a song whose chorus goes, "living in the age of decline." And I thought it was bad THEN!<BR/><BR/>Here's hoping you and yours and all the rest of us make it through this with some grace and joy.Other Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08079055348844157557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10492881.post-1111599726367162952005-03-23T09:42:00.000-08:002005-03-23T09:42:00.000-08:00I always enjoy your postings, Lisa! I particualrly...I always enjoy your postings, Lisa! I particualrly was touched by the memorial of your former boss a few posts back. But this one was especially excellent. It IS a scary thing to be living in the age of decline! I share George Kennan's gloomy assessment with you, but reading your blog reminds me that if we all can each keep working to nurture a little garden of happiness and peace, we just might ride it out. And maybe we'll even learn to enjoy watching our current amped-up America crash and burn it's plutocratic empire and emerge from the ashes a more humbled, saner place...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com